Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Annual ritual

Sunday was the annual planting of the impatiens bed. But most of the impatiens are in the lower tier of the bed, with a few of them flanking the hellebores in the upper tier (the Chief's suggestion) to fill the holes.

I also planted the flower boxes - geraniums and million bells again this year, with a few snapdragons mixed in for fun. I got a red and a deep-red geranium, but the nursery had no red million bells when I went, so I got 1 pink and 2 yellows. The snapdragons are white, yellow, red and a pink/yellow mix. We'll see how they like growing in a flowerbox.

The Chief tried the cilantro and herb boxes outside but they didn't seem to be doing too well - maybe they were getting too much direct sun? This afternoon I decided to bring them back inside; the cilantro is now back on the windowsill and the herb box on the island, where it gets plenty of indirect sun from the skylight.

Thebes is getting closer...

Last night we had a photographer taking headshots for the lobby as well as publicity shots. I didn't get the e-mail about bringing costume pieces, so all I had was my shawl. :( At least I looked presentable, since I'd slapped on some make-up so I wouldn't look all pale & washed out in my lobby shot.

We then did a full run, with the Guard filling in for Haemon (who apparently had an audition last night). Not bad - we timed out at about 1:20 or thereabouts, so once we get things tightened up, we should clock in at about 1:10 or 1:15. Given that the show runs straight through, without any intermission, we'll have our audience out in short order.

My shawl turned out quite nicely. Our director had found a white gauze shawl, but it was a bit too stark with the darker colors of my blouse and black skirt. I offered to tea-dye it; it turned out a lovely shade of darjeeling. ;) I can't remember the last time I tea-dyed anything, so I was pleased that I managed to get the color just right. It's still quite a light color - sort of a light ivory - which suits the other colors (of both my costume and the set) much better. And the blood will still show just fine.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

I'm gonna wash sawdust right outta my hair...

Worked on the Thebes set for a bit this afternoon. We learned the hard way that the theater's circular saw produced more smoke & noise than sawdust; we stopped pretty quickly when it started sparking! I called the Chief to see if he'd be willing to bring his; he brought two (one was a battery-powered mini circular saw) and stayed to work on the set with us. The director and I held plywood while the Chief plied the saw; hence the sawdust in my hair. And in my clothes, face, shoes... We got a lot done, too - all the platforms are now built and were getting a base coat when the Chief & I left for dinner.

Starting tomorrow night, a good two weeks before we start Tech Week, we'll be able to rehearse on the actual platforms, so we'll have plenty of time to work out timing and spacing. Next weekend's set work will probably finish the back wall, including the doorway, so we'll get plenty of rehearsal with the actual entrances too. I'm excited - it's very rare in community theater to get so much time on the set before opening night; the more we get to rehearse on the actual set, the better we'll be when we open.

In other theater-related news, I did a (very) little thrift shopping yesterday for a blouse for Eurydice; the first blouse I tried on worked! Got director approval this afternoon, so that's taken care of. I stopped by Joann's on the way to the theater to get fabric for an underskirt (I'm wearing a thin cotton skirt which is a little thin and needs something under it both for modesty when backlit and to give the skirt some body and flow). I found some nice "peachskin" lining fabric that's just heavy and drapey enough for the purpose, won't catch on the cotton and - best of all - was 50% off! Seems I chose a day when Joann's was having a big, fat spring sale - no wonder the lines were so long! I won't have a chance to cut out the underskirt until Wednesday at the earliest, but I now have everything I need. This will probably be next weekend's project.

Sunday, April 03, 2011

We'll see how long they last

The Chief and I went to the nursery yesterday. Too soon for the impatiens I was planning to get, but we did come home w/ some herbs (parsley, cilantro, rosemary, dill, basil, oregano) and a couple of planters for same. The cilantro is now ensconced in a windowsill planter on the sill above the kitchen table, while the others are in a larger planter on the island. We'll see how long I can manage to keep these plants alive; I didn't inherit Mom's green hands, unfortunately. A green thumbnail, maybe; hope that's enough.

The last time I tried this, I planted some parsley in a pot I already had; the stuff lasted maybe 3 weeks. I'd had something else die in that pot too, so maybe it needed to be sterilized before I put anything else in it. I do hope these things do well in their brand-new planters; aside from the expense, I just hate to see the poor little things wither & die.

On the other hand, the 2 pots of tulips (1 yellow, 1 purple) I picked up at Sam's a couple of weeks ago have been flourishing. Not only did all 6 bulbs in each pot bloom beautifully, but they are also wonderfully aromatic. I never knew tulips had a fragrance, so this has been a delightful experience - beautiful flowers (that are starting to drop their petals) that smell beautiful. Now to decide where to plant the bulbs...