Another crazy theater weekend

Got home from my conference, stopped at the grocery store on the way home from the airport, had about an hour to put away groceries and get ready to go right out again to work "box office" for a nearby community production of Measure for Measure. Nicely done, and the woman playing Isabel was wonderful - gave a moving performance.

Today it's off to see Man of La Mancha, done by a company that tends to do a good job in its small space. I've done a number of shows with the guy playing Don Quixote; I imagine they cast him as soon as he opened his mouth at auditions.

And I just reserved my ticket for a G&S "cabaret" next Sunday. Busy, busy, busy.

Weekend house party (or should that be "cabin party"?)

We had 2 couples join us at the cabin this weekend. We know 3 of the 4 people through theater, and enjoyed meeting B's wife, a bibliophile who was happy to answer all our questions about her Kindle. I've decided the best thing about a "house party" like this is that you can have nice, long uninterrupted chunks of time with your friends instead of chopped-up conversations - 10 minutes here, 5 minutes there. It was very gratifying to see the relaxed smiles on people's faces, hear them comment on how well they slept or how nice it was to be able to linger over dinner.

The Chief & I have sort of settled into a division of labor for these things - no matter which of us cooks (usually me, though he usually helps), he usually insists on doing the dishes while making coffee for those who want it. He loves playing host and I enjoy feeding people (having grown up in a big family, I loved having up to 7 of us around the table), so it works out well.

We didn't get fancy with the menu because I wanted to spend my time visiting, not cooking, but we didn't need fancy to have a good time. We're already talking about when we can do this again.

Smiley face

My sister forwarded this. The original offered it as a reason to do a full, 360-degree check in front of a mirror before leaving the house. Me, I'm more old-fashioned - a slip would have the added advantage of making the skirt hang better.

Recruit has arrived

My nephew arrived without incident and is now safely ensconced out at the cabin with the Chief, resting up for what my sister has dubbed "Home Improvement Bootcamp". The poor Recruit doesn't know what the Chief has in store for him, but he'll find out first thing in the morning. I wonder which project will come first on the list...?

Amazing!

This fossil, named "Ida" (pronounced EE-da), is amazing for its completeness! Not only a 95%-complete skeleton from a period when paleontologists get excited about finding more than 1 or 2 bones, but skin, fur, and stomach contents. I think the media description of her as a "missing link" is sensationalist hyperbole, but it really is an incredible find. Cool stuff!

More Ida info:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0521/1224247034331.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/19/ida-fossil-evolution

On the lighter side, see what abovetopsecret.com has to say on the matter:
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread465091/pg1

And here's an a propos variation on the Google logo I got from a friend's blog:

Nice little surprise

They announced by e-mail this afternoon that they're letting us all take off 4 hours early come Friday! Hooray for starting my 3-day weekend at the cabin that much sooner, and maybe beating the worst of the get-away traffic! The Chief will be happy, too, because it means I'll be able to give him that much more help getting things ready for our weekend visitors.

More plants

The Chief and I spent the weekend at the cabin, starting to gear up for the company who'll be spending Memorial Day weekend with us there. In addition to decluttering, hanging pictures (how long ago did those picture rails go up in the new bedroom?!?) and running errands, we managed a trip to the neighborhood nursery. We were loading our buckets of compost, 2 ferns and 1 bleeding heart into the car when I saw something I wasn't sure I recognized and asked about it. Turns out I had spotted a very healthy section of hellebores, which they've just started selling. We ended up adding 3 of them to our haul. Because they're still a year away from blooming (seems they don't bloom until their 3rd year), we won't know until early next spring what colors we just bought. The Chief now has another project for my nephew to help with - a bed near the cabin's front door where we'll plant those hellebores. They assured us the deer won't eat them because they're poisonous, and they spread if the conditions are amenable, so I'm hoping our 3 little hellebores will become a nice, lush bed of them in a few years. Probably not as nice as in the picture, but we can dream...

Great weekend!

Just got back from a long weekend watching a good friend graduate. I'm so impressed by her accomplishment - single mother of many, working full time, yet she still managed to get her Bachelor's. As she put it, "It took me 31 years, but I did it!" Needless to say, those of us in her "cheering section" did our best to make ourselves heard when her name was announced and she walked across that stage for her hard-won diploma.

I'm so glad I decided to stay the extra day, as it gave us some time after Saturday's whirlwind of activities to have a satisfying chat and get caught up. Even better was the fact that my maid of honor not only managed to make it, but surprised us by bringing her parents! She had both the graduate and me getting a bit misty-eyed - what a lovely surprise! The three of us managed to do a surprising amount of catching up in the short 24 hours she was in town, and she shared my hotel room the one night she was in, which gave us that much more time to visit. The 3 of us are already talking about getting together for a "girls' weekend" at the cabin.

Yorkshire vacation!

Yesterday we bought our plane tickets and today we booked a B&B for a lovely week in Harrogate! We were able to find a fare that will run us at least $150 less per ticket than we thought we'd have to pay, and we'll be staying at very conveniently located B&B in this room. We'll be going in late October, so it'll be chilly and probably rainy but that's OK. I lived in Yorkshire for year (nearly 20 years ago!) so I know what I'm letting myself in for. We'll pack sweaters, rain gear and walking shoes and have ourselves a great time: introducing the Chief to my former landlady, taking one or both of them to Betty's tea room, exploring the local sights, perhaps touring a "stately home" or two - can't wait!