Nasty scare!

Wednesday night I had a bit of a stitch in my side throughout rehearsal, that got more persistent and prolonged as the evening wore on. Driving home, I got the added sensations of tightness across the front of my left shoulder and tingling all down my left arm. That got me nervous enough to pull into a grocery store parking lot and call 911! They sent not just one but 2 ambulances, whose crews checked me out, determined I wasn't going to keel over in the next half hour, and asked me what I wanted to do next: drive myself to the nearest ER or let them take me. (Notice that forgetting about it and going home wasn't seriously considered as an option.) The fact that driving myself was an option was reassuring enough that I decided that would be the way to go.

So off I drove to the local hospital. I was relieved to see fewer than a dozen people in the waiting room; "oh good, short wait." Little did I know that chest pains are an automatic pass to the head of the line. I had barely handed in my check-in sheet (name, age, symptoms) when they asked me to come around for preliminary processing. After a few questions and a very quick EKG, they took me back and hooked me up to a monitor. They drew blood, took a chest x-ray, and decided things were stable enough that they sent me home w/ instructions to contact my doctor first thing in the morning to arrange for a stress test.

I didn't get home until nearly 1 a.m., but woke TW, whose first words were "Where have you been?" Seems he'd stayed up until 11, much past his usual bedtime. When I told him what had kept me, he let me have it for not calling him. He didn't yell, just shook his finger at me in mock ferocity and gave me that "look" - you know, the one that says "and what if I'd pulled something like that?"

Thursday morning had me on the phone trying to set up my stress test, which was something of a stress test in itself. (Some days I would cheerfully subject the inventor of voice mail to a very s-l-o-w, excruciating demise!) While I was on the phone, I started getting the pins-and-needles down my left arm again. Since I'd been having the stitch-in-the-side feeling for a while, that had me calling my HMO's advice line; the nurse's verdict - back to the ER.

This time TW drove me to a hospital closer to home (and where my HMO's cardiology department had an office). Once again, chest pains and left arm tingling zipped me to the head of the line and they took me straight back to be EKGed again. This time, when they sat me up to move me to another area, I got a nasty twinge, so they rolled me instead of walking me back. Again with the monitor, which of course didn't use the same leads as the EKG, and the blood draw, and since this was my second "episode" in less than 24 hours, they decided to admit me instead of sending me home while awaiting my stress test the next morning.

If you've ever spent the night in a hospital, you know how hard it is to sleep there. I got to my room around 6:30 or 7 p.m., actually had a halfway decent meal, but still had the IV port in one elbow and all those leads stuck to me, some of which were hooked up to a little box that had some sort of wireless connection to the heart monitor above my bed. As a stomach sleeper, I knew there was no hope of assuming my favorite sleeping position w/ 5 leads stuck to my chest and that little box to try to avoid sleeping on. Then of course there were the interruptions; a roommate wheeled in around 10:30, the nurses who came in around 11:30 to take my blood pressure and do another blood draw, another visit around midnight:30 to ask me yet again my name, date of birth and also such urgent questions as what was important to me and what worried me most about my illness! At 1 a.m., the first answer that came to mind to that one was "getting anything resembling a decent night's sleep!" Oh, and then they told me I could have nothing to eat or drink after midnight, not even water. Seems you have to fast for a stress test.

By the tme they came in around 6:45 a.m. to tell me to get dressed so they could take me for my stress test, I was a wreck. Worse, I was headachey and was resigned to being able to do nothing about it until after my stress test. Imagine my "delight", then, when they told me that could be 4-5 hours! Seems there's more to it than just the treadmill test: first you get a heart dye, which needs an hour to work; then you get "pictures" of the heart; then the treadmill test, then more heart dye and more pictures. So when the tech gave me the first heart dye and told me I needed to drink at least 4 cups of water, I was so thirsty by then, I coulda kissed him! Unfortunately, by this time the headache was definitely becoming a migraine. Only when I went in for the treadmill test and warned them that I was starting to feel migraine nausea did I learn that I hadn't needed to wait to take my imitrex. I took care of that omission immediately, knowing that the imitrex would need hours to kick in but hoping it would work just the same.

I didn't get through the whole business without getting sick, but I did manage to wait until we got home before getting sick again, instead of getting sick in TW's car. By this time, between sleep deprivation, thirst, hunger and one heckuva killer migraine, I was pretty well useless. I went straight to bed, slept for 3 1/2 hours, tried to eat some dinner, lost it, and went back to bed a few hours later. When another blasted migraine woke me around 4 o'clock this morning! At least this time I could hit it with the meds early enough that I was able to get rid of it instead of letting it pick up momentum and completely clobber me.

Today I was still a little wobbly, of course, but I was finally able to eat and to check my e-mail (for the first time since Tuesday!), though nothing else. However, TW bought me a flat of assorted impatiens when he went looking for some log screws. I'm hoping by tomorrow I'll feel up to planting them. And taking a very thorough shower and shampoo afterwards, since the tree pollen count is through the roof right now.

When I'd heard the term "chest pains", I'd always assumed for some reason that they'd be more internal; mine felt subcutaneous. If there's a history of heart problems in your family, pay attention to that symptom - don't assume, as I did, that it's just a stitch in your side.

As if trying to take a stress test w/ an untreated migraine weren't sufficient insult added to injury, the weather's been gorgeous since Wednesday. Worse, we had prepaid, nonrefundable reservations for a B&B weekend starting Thursday as an anniversary present to ourselves. So much for that! We'll have a nice dinner out tomorrow, but I still feel cheated - we both were so looking forward to a nice, long, pampered weekend with nothing to do but some leisurely sightseeing, exploring local eateries, etc. Suddenly we're seeing the point of travel insurance...

New car!

I picked up my new car today - a 2008 Honda Civic. I went with Atomic Blue Metallic; not what I would have chosen, but it's not as though I'll be spending hours gazing lovingly at its shiny new finish. It's got a lot of features I've never splurged on - cruise control, power windows, power mirrors, even an mp3 jack; now if only I could figure out why my iPod output doesn't...

I transferred the plates from my Saturn, which now sits in the driveway until I can arrange for the charity to come fetch it. I had hoped to take it over 100,000 miles, but after spending the equivalent of 4 1/2 car payments in repairs just since February, and with the steering developing a slight but consistent squeal, 99,300 miles will have to do. Maybe my new Civic will make it to the 100K mark; sure hope so.

Engineer's guide to cats

Warning: it might be best to set that drink down before watching. And watch it all the way through; I like the final sentence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXBL6bzAR4
Two professional engineers illustrate the proper care and practical benefits of cats. None of the kitties, humans, or engineers were mistreated in the making of this film. They were however, slightly annoyed. ...

Car shopping

Yesterday the Chief & I did a bit of preliminary car shopping. I liked the Vibe - nice ride, good visibility, and of course all that hauling capacity. I didn't test the turning radius, but it did OK on the slight hills in the dealer's neighborhood.

Next stop was the Honda dealer down the road. Sounds like Honda has some incredibly intelligent engineers designing their vehicles. I absolutely love the way they've arranged the Fit's cargo capacity - those seats fold 20 ways to Sunday! The gauges are a little tough to read, though, and I dearly wish the Fit were more the size of the Matrix or Vibe. Give me that, Honda, and I'll take two - one for me and one for TW! I also test-drove a Civic. Like the Fit, it had a nice ride and tight turning radius (at least compared to my Saturn). The instrument panel was much easier to read than the Fit's, for a sedan it's got good cargo capacity, and to our surprise, it actually gets slightly better gas mileage than the Fit, due to its more aerodynamic lines. Both of them had an impressive list of standard features, which is giving Honda the edge at the moment. And when the salesman started itemizing all the service features (shuttle to take you anywhere w/in a 20-mile radius, free loaner if your car is in for extended service), well, as I said, Honda's looking really good right now.

Our last stop was a Toyota dealership. This one was pretty crowded, our salesman wasn't a true salesman (or maybe just new), and we were getting tired by then, so I only tested a Matrix. (I'll test a Corolla some other time). The Matrix's acceleration seemed a bit sluggish compared to the other cars, even the Vibe (same size engine - I checked the info the Pontiac dealer gave us), which surprised me. Comfortable enough, though the full power steering would take some getting used to, after driving only power-assist for the past 9 years. We got the books for the Matrix & Corolla and left. I'll check them out at a dealership near work, maybe later this week.

The last candidate is the Mazda3. Haven't even been to a Mazda dealership yet, but there's one near work, so there's one more agenda item for an afternoon this week.

Do you have any of these? What do you like about yours, what do you not like, would you buy it again or go with something else?

Won't be much longer...

... before this day is over at last. Ugh.

I had a follow-up appointment with my new dentist so he could make a recommendation based on the records from the Chief's dentist. (For those of you keeping score, this now makes 6 dentist visits this year, and counting.) He said the jaw itself looks normal and referred me to an oral surgery practice. Turns out they don't do TMJ dysfunction; at least the receptionist warned me over the phone that they'd just give me some exercises (!) and anti-inflammatories. Great - I can't eat without pain and sound effects (joint popping), and singing in my upper register is starting to get problematic, and they don't want to deal with it. Guess I gotta start calling around and see if there's anyone who will try to fix this.

Then, as I was on my way home, my (manual) transmission went out as I was trying to upshift after making a turn. All of a sudden, my gear shift only moved forward and back, much too freely! I had first gear only, nothing higher, which meant the engine revved like crazy if I went more than 10 mph. Worse, I now have no neutral and no reverse. We found a nearby mechanic and I limped my poor car over there, but they're not open Saturdays, so I have to wait until Monday to get a diagnosis for the problem. Will I need a new transmission, or just a shift cable? If it's the 9-yr-old transmission, will they be able to fix it or find a replacement? I'm trying to prepare myself for the worst; that I'll need to rent a car to get to work and rehearsal come Monday, and will need to find a new car mucho pronto.

And of course the transmission went out just after I'd been listening to a particularly depressing NPR piece on job losses and the looming recession and was thinking I'd wait as long as possible to replace my paid-for car (which had 99,099 miles on it when I left it at the mechanic's this evening). Hah!

I'd like some good news, please. Please?

Not your usual crossword

One of my customary "stops" when I get on the computer at night is the Codebreaker Crossword. It differs from standard crosswords in that there are no clues and it uses every letter of the alphabet. Took me a while at first to figure out how it works, but now I can usually finish one pretty quickly. The fun part, at least for me, is building my "expectancy" - given a word this long, with these letters filled in, what words might I expect to be able to fill in? What letters could I expect to see in this position? (In that respect, it sorta resembles an acrostic.) Some of the words used are proper names or foreign words that are relatively common in English, so it's a nice stretch for the vocabulary.

Before and after death

Warning: if the pain of losing a loved one is still raw, you may not want to click on the link.

Dooce posted a link to a feature on the web site of the Guardian newspaper, a series of photos of people taken before and after their deaths. These are all people who learned they had terminal illnesses. The range in the photos is striking - some look no different after death; merely asleep. Others look considerably older, or more at peace. Most unexpected, at least to me, was how few of the post mortem photos show people made gaunt by the disease that killed them.

How amazing that these people were willing to be photographed and to be interviewed for their views on life, however edited, to be preserved. Requiescant in pace.

Down in the mouth

OK, this is getting old. First the pain sent me to the doctor, who sent me to the dentist. Mine couldn't make it, so 2-hour drive to the Chief's dentist. Two wisdom teeth later and lighter, I developed dry socket, so off to my own dentist. That finally cleared up, then the TMD (tycho-mandibular dysfunction, as the dentist instructed the hygienist) began. So, when my dentist didn't answer my phone messages, back to the Chief's dentist, this time to be fitted for a night guard. Went back yet again to pick it up about 10 days ago. Jaw didn't seem to be getting better yet, but he did warn me it could take a while. Then things took a sudden turn for the worse a coupla days ago. When I can't even eat salad (and I mean lettuce and tomatoes, not carrots) without pain, I'd say I've got a problem. So tomorrow I start calling some of the dentists on the list I printed out tonight.

The Chief's been through worse, so I know there are worse problems, but I'm getting royally weary of over 2 months of pain that's here far more than it's gone. And when dropping my jaw to sing in my upper register is a problem, I definitely need to get this fixed! What scares me is that my dentist had mentioned a little plate/bone thingy that sits between the upper and lower jaw plates that can get messed up and needs surgery to correct. I am so very not ready to do that and risk screwing up my jaw. Even if that becomes necessary, I sure as heck ain't doing it until after Pirates closes!

Champing at the bit

Here we are, 6 or 7 weeks into the Pirates rehearsal process, and still no cast list. Our rehearsal schedule only runs through this week, we've had exactly one blocking rehearsal (supposed to have choreography tomorrow night), no clue what anyone's costumes will involve, whether she's got a sub for "Edith" for opening weekend - heck, we haven't even seen the director in two weeks! Heard from her last week only when she e-mailed everyone to tell us that rehearsal was cancelled because we'd been bumped from the space.

It's been frustrating that she just plain doesn't return e-mails. I've had a few questions for her about the show, and even offered help (finding costumes and compiling the cast list) but not a word in response. I don't need to know every last little thing about her plans for the show, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect some kind of a response. Is it?

We're now 2 months from opening and I think we're all getting a bit itchy to get this baby on its feet; try the blocking with lines and music and all that. Wonder if there'll be any choreography for Ruth tomorrow night? Sure hope so!

Shopping? or auditions?

Not sure which you'd call this, but I've just begun the hunt for another voice teacher. Not that I've had any problems with my current one, but as she readily admits, after 5-7 years you start repeating yourself, and we've been working together more like 8 years or so. I had a lesson Thursday with someone who'd probably work well, but I want to try at least 1 or 2 more. Even if they all suit, it could come down to whose schedule works best with mine, or whose lessons are more affordable. I've heard of folks spending upwards of $100 per hour for a lesson! That might be a deductible expense for a professional singer, but it's too much for a hobbyist like me.

And while I have a better idea than I did several years ago of what to look for, I'm still not completely sure what kinds of questions to ask or what to look for (beyond a pet-free, smoke-free studio). It doesn't help that I don't know where I want to go vocally, either. I've pretty much figured out that I don't aspire to opera, and I think I'd like to learn to belt, but do I really want to learn a Broadway style? If I'd rather sing Cole Porter, Gershwin, that kinda thing, who can teach me a cabaret style? (Mary Morton's Wooing the Lorelei is just the sort of thing I'd like to be able to "sell"!) And how much technique do I still need to master before I can start that kind of fine-tuning? Tune in next week for the next installment in the continuing saga...

Playing in the dirt

Yesterday I went home from work by way of the super, serious nursery. The one that's been in business for yoiks, probably employs a hundred or more people in peak season (probably including at least 3 or 4 just to keep everything watered & fed for all us gardeners, landscapers and wannabes), and has all the fancier things, in more varieties and colors than part-timers such as the hardware stores or bigbox retailers.

This early in the season, most of their plants are still indoors. Boy, did those geraniums, begonias, kitchen herbs and such smell wonderful! They did have a few early groundcovers out, though. I came home w/ 5 different colors of phlox subulata, which I'm hoping will do well on the one corner of our front yard that gets enough sun (I hope) for it. I got a red, a pink, a white, a bluish-purple, and a striped one. Only 2 of the plants have any flowers on them right now - gardening requires a lot of faith.

I planted them all this morning because, despite all the forecasts calling for rain, it was bright & sunny. If I could get 'em all in before the rain, I wouldn't have to water, and of course, the sooner you get bedding plants out of their rootbound little plastic pots, the more likely they are to survive.

I sure hope they do better than last year's plants - the drought killed off all my mazus reptans, vinca and pachysandra. Now I need to find another ground cover to go into the driveway and make sure that this one is at least drought-tolerant, if not drought-resistant! I like goldenstar (chrysogonum virginianum), but they do warn you that it is not very drought-tolerant.

I'm considering sedges (carex species) to go over the septic field out at the cabin. The deer got the lilies of the valley and most of the ferns and the drought killed the euonymus and the ferns the deer left; only the pachysandra survived, and even that is looking a bit sickly. Maybe the sedges will do better; it looks like most of them are drought-tolerant or -resistant, which is what we need out there.

The Chief has mentioned putting in a long, narrow raised bed along the fence on the north side of the house. When he asked if I'd mind, I jumped on it - maybe then, in a bed of dirt, not clay & rocks, I'd finally be able to grow lilies of the valley. I don't know that we'll do that this year, but it's fun to think about.

Another project, for this fall - I want to use the tiller to work some topsoil into either a curving line or several patches in the back yard and plant more crocuses and some snowdrops. The Chief may want to try to do the whole back yard (that'd mean spending a fortune on topsoil!) so he can put down either grass seed or sod once I've got my bulbs in. We'll see.

Oh yeah, we've got a bad case of spring fever!

Trying to do too many things at once?

Probably. I'm in rehearsal for Pirates, adjudicated 2 more shows this past weekend, entertaining my folks this weekend out at the cabin, preparing for Holy Week and Easter, trying to see other people's shows, taking voice lessons, oh, and keeping up at work. So what do I do when my former belly dance teacher offers me a 3-minute slot in her student recital, less than 3 weeks from now? Why, grab it, of course!

The biggest challenge to be met? - finding time to practice! Not having danced in years, I definitely need to work on my stamina, and I'll need to redevelop the arm and hand muscles for playing finger cymbals. Then there's the challenge of finding music - she wants everything on CD, but all my dance music is on cassette and vinyl! (I picked up this dance habit rather a while ago.) At least I have a costume that still fits; I just need to figure out where the matching hip scarf has hidden itself and dig out the flashy silver heels I bought to wear with the dress.

The Chief is all for this - he'd love to see me start dancing again. Which is a relief - when I first mentioned doing this, he looked at me like I was crazy and asked me whether I'd have time to do it. Now he thinks it's a great idea, is all set to come along and sample the food (it's at an Indian restaurant that's laying on a buffet for the occasion), and probably have fun watching all the dancers, though he didn't mention that part. Maybe he'll want to tech... :D

RIP, Martin

A friend called earlier this evening to pass the word that Martin had died this afternoon. Martin would have been 97 next month. When I joined my church choir 16 years ago, he was already one of the longest-serving members and was often the entire bass section. (Ours is a small group.) Born in the Austro-Hungarian empire, he grew up speaking German, Hungarian and at least one or two other languages. He subsequently acquired enough English to serve as a translator to the US Army after WWII, and later worked for the Supreme Court, translating German.

Whenever we'd sing a hymn that had been translated from German, he'd always oblige me with a verse or two of the original. Physically small, his voice was quite strong until a few years ago. There was one hymn we used to sing for the first Sunday in Advent that had a declamatory introduction. That intro was the only solo Martin would ever sing, but he always made it compelling.

We'll miss him, but I'm sure the basses in the angel choir welcomed him with open arms.

My first flan

No, not the first time I've tasted it, but the first time I've tried to make it. I'd give myself a B or B+, depending on how much you want to take off for the caramelized sugar. The custard part was easy, of course, and turned out just right.

I'd never tried to caramelize sugar and the directions in my Joy of Cooking apparently weren't quite specific enough because it never did turn brown. When I finally gave up and poured it into the casserole dish, it hardened almost immediately; I barely had a chance to spread it around the bottom, and none on the sides. L, who works in food service and is an excellent cook, later told me that I had cooked it too long. He also reassured me that caramelizing sugar is a tricky process. I told him that next time I try this, I'll make him come over and talk me through it.

I had made flan for last night's Godspell cast party because it was a reference to a sanctioned ad lib in the show, and because L, for all his cooking experience, hadn't realized it was actual food and not just a made-up word. While the caramelized sugar didn't turn out, that was largely a cosmetic problem; as I noted above, the custard part turned out just fine. And it was a bigger success than the snickerdoodles I'd made for opening night, also because someone thought "snickerdoodles" was just a made-up word. The recipe was one of those that calls for multiple leavening agents, so I'd pulled them all out of the cabinet - cream of tartar, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Unfortunately, it was only after I'd measured in the baking powder that I realized I was supposed to have used baking soda. It didn't affect the taste much, but the cookies didn't rise as well as they should have. L made some a few nights later that turned out much better; not only did he use the right ingredients, but he substituted shortening for butter so they didn't spread as much but were nice and thick and chewy.

His 'n' hers techs

The Chief has occasionally helped build or strike sets for shows I've been in and was on the scene change crew when I did Magic Flute, but this is the first time we've both teched a show. It was nice learning very rudimentary lighting stuff together, and when he finished his "spot op" (spotlight operator) duties at the end of each act, he'd come down to my spot in the stage right wings and wait until the end of the act, when we could start striking props. That was fun - at the end of Act I we'd usually boogie to "Light of the World".

I also enjoyed having company on the ride to and from the theater, chatting about the previous night's performance, technical glitches or things that went well, what a delight the director was, and so on. When it came to strike, he was very take-charge about which of us would take which props (we both drive Saturns; needed both of 'em to accommodate the old door and the beat-up trash can), set to work right away pulling gels as soon as the house lights came up after that last matinee, then got to business w/ his drill dismantling the set. Taking things apart, hauling pieces out to the loading dock, loading props into our cars - he probably worked at least as hard as any of the (much younger) cast members. We both crashed & burned once we finally got home after strike, but it was nice working together for a change.

The Producers

Monday and yesterday it was researching into where in our area he might be able to find classes on the tech aspects of theater. (As it happens, our county's community college has a certificate program.) Tonight I came home from work and the Chief was full of questions about what a producer does. I could guess at a few answers, but that of course was woefully inadequate. Fortunately for him, I could refer him to 3 or 4 producers of shows I've been in or companies I've worked with. I'm hoping they'll be able to satisfy his curiosity. He said he was thinking this might be fun (!). I warned him that if that proved true, he'd have people appearing on the doorstep with candy & flowers, trying to convince him to produce for their company.

I'm glad he's getting interested in this; I had felt a bit guilty at how hard he was working on Godspell when that's not something he's ever shown much interest in. And losing sleep over it into the bargain. He works a very early day, getting up at 0440 to get to work around 0600. Not getting to bed until 11 or midnight is hard enough for me (my alarm doesn't go off until 0530); it's an hour worse for him. I don't know how long he'll sustain this interest, but you can bet I'll be encouraging it! That's me - theater habit enabler. :D

Hmmm; yep, the calendar does say "February"

We've had a winter that for the most part has been unseasonably mild. So mild that nearly all my crocuses have their shoots up, and today I had several of them actually in full bloom! This kind of weather in February always makes me nervous, as if Mother Nature were setting us up for a sucker punch, be it a snowstorm or, worse, an ice storm. But when I went out to get the paper and realized that, at 9:30 a.m., it was warmer outside (70 degrees!) than inside, I actually opened up the back door and several windows. In February!

Will he become a techie?

Yesterday was the last performance of Godspell. After the Chief spent the rest of the evening climbing around up in the catwalks pulling gels & gobos during strike, then helping dismantle the set and load it out (I sorted props, helped pull gels, and also hauled lumber to the loading dock - a LOT of lumber!), we're both very glad today is a federal holiday so we could sleep in and be lazy for a welcome change.

He got interested in the mechanics of running his spotlight and developed an appreciation for how complicated lighting design can be. Today he was pondering hunting up classes on the technical aspects of theater - lighting, sound, set design and so on. Given the plethora of community theater groups in the area, he'd be greeted by any of them with open arms anyway (it's always much easier to find folks willing to perform than to tech). If he had an actual certificate or degree or whatever in this stuff, they'd probably start actively wooing him with free tickets, free beer, power tools, etc. He may not pursue it, but if he does, I suspect he'll find himself very much in demand. Who knows - maybe instead of being a Theater Widower while I'm doing a show, he may make me a Theater Widow when he's doing one.

Fickle February

When we loaded the Godspell set into the theater 10 days ago, we were blessed with mild weather, and only slightly overcast. Temps in the upper 50s are just the thing when you're loading piece after piece onto a truck in an unheated set bay, then loading off the truck into the theater's unheated loading dock.

Today, however, it's definitely winter - sharp, gusty winds, much colder, and freezing rain and sleet that arrived just in time for the evening commute home. I cancelled my voice lesson - it just wasn't worth the risk. I heard nothing but accident reports on the traffic news and knew it would only get worse. The forecast for tomorrow doesn't sound too promising, either. I do hope this all passes us by or ends by mid-day, or we won't have more than a handful of people in the Godspell audience tomorrow night. That's always a nightmare - you never want your cast to outnumber the audience, especially when your cast is only 10 people!

Pirates!

Had my first Pirates rehearsal last night. (They had a couple last week, but because I was up to my eyeballs in Godspell, I couldn't make any of them.) We ran thru most of the music in Act I. I happened to be sitting next to our Mabel, who has already done the role twice since July. We had a great time singing everything together (yes, even the men's parts; we just turned the volume down) and clowning. Our ladies sound lovely, better than the men, but none of the men have done the show before while half the ladies have, and I think most of them have never done any G&S, making it that much harder to sightread the music. Once the men get the music under their belt (and we manage to find another tenor or two for the chorus), they'll be just fine.

I had been getting very nervous because I hadn't heard a peep out of the director in two whole weeks. No tentative rehearsal schedule, not even a "hang in there; they took the space away from us again". Finally I e-mailed her wondering what was up. I didn't see her response until yesterday evening, barely 2 hours before rehearsal. And she forgot to include the location - yike! Fortunately, she had e-mailed the cast a couple of weeks ago, so I spammed everyone asking where rehearsal was. I got a response, made it on time, and enjoyed myself thoroughly.

Our Major General, upon receiving the initial cast e-mail, sent out a short note introducing himself and some of the rest of us decided we liked that idea so much that we followed suit. I haven't seen that done before, but I liked it and will certainly remember it for future productions. I thought I knew no one else in the cast, but our Samuel reminded me that we'd done another production together a few years back: one of those experiences that was so grueling that it brought to mind the phrase "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". This won't be like that - while they're still auditioning Frederics, the cast we do have promises a good experience, and I liked the way our MD ran last night's rehearsal. (And the fact that he started w/ stretches before the vocal warm-ups.)

Next week we start blocking Act I - I'm looking forward to seeing what our director has up her sleeve.

Another open of another show

Tonight's the night the Chief makes his debut on light crew, running follow-spot #1. He's occasionally helped build sets and once was on crew to help w/ scene changes, but this is his first lighting job and his first program credit. He'll have to save one for his scrapbook. ;)

It's been a rough tech week - "Jesus" has been fighting a cold or sinus infection or some such all week long, which has made it hard for the sound tech to get his mic levels right. The lighting has been particularly problematic - we finally did our lighting cue-to-cue only last night!

I "get" to ride herd on 2 bins full of props, a trunk and 2 milk crates full of props, plus a dozen or more larger bits and pieces (scooters, a trash can, a skateboard, a stool... - it's a very long list!). I have thus taken to calling myself a "prop-herder". The cast does help some, of course, as does Ray when he gets down from the light balcony - otherwise it'd take me an hour to put everything away at the end of the night. I've also gotten better at consolidating how it all gets stored. Our theater tech rep even commented last night that we seem to have a bit more room to get the door closed every night. And that despite the fact that last night we added 3 large boxes of programs to the inventory.

Tonight we do this for real!

"Dropping color" and other lighting terms

The Chief & I reported for duty to the theater last night to help w/ lights. Neither one of us has ever worked lights before. Closest I've come was being one of the bodies told to "stand here" or "now move over there" when the lighting techs have been focussing and setting levels, while the Chief has occasionally helped w/ a set build while the lights were being worked on.

Spare some pity for the lighting tech who was saddled with 2 utter beginners and found herself explaining basic terms & procedures to us while we worked last night. "This is a gel; we generally get 9 to a sheet when we're cutting for leakos (sp???)." She was very patient and not at all condescending as she explained what she was doing and having us do, showed us how to "drop color" (insert framed pieces of colored plastic, aka "gels") into lights, and focus and otherwise adjust said lights.

Last night we learned all kinds of lighting terminology and some basic techniques. It was interesting to see how the lighting designer (or LD) had the gobos (templates which throw a design onto whatever the light is pointed at) positioned. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works on the set.

I now have a pretty good idea I wouldn't make a good LD. Ours had a lot of lights to work with, meaning a lot of decisions to be made about each. Do I want to use all of them? If not, which ones get turned off? What colors do I want where? Do I want to throw any designs on the stage? And which color combinations do I need to use to get the desired effect? An incredible amount of detail involved. I have a new appreciation for lighting design, even if I still don't have a clue how to go about it.

What's that smell?

I walked in the door after work this afternoon and coulda sworn I smelled nail polish. Turns out I was right. The Chief was getting ready to go back to the set bay tonight and had just used a bottle of bright pink polish to mark all the tools he was taking. He told me he'd started w/ the "chrome copper" but it didn't show up well enough, so he tried the pink.

This is a weird experience, not seeing much of him in the run-up to Tech Week because both of us are busy with the show - him at the set bay, me at the rehearsal site. Once we load in this weekend, though, that'll change. We'll be in different parts of the theater, but at least we'll be in the same building.

Domestic god

No, not goddess. Tonight it was TW who was slaving away in the kitchen. Steak, homemade mashed potatoes & nuked veggies for dinner; homemade applesauce to use up the aging apples in the fridge; and spaghetti sauce! Not only does the kitchen smell fantastic, but we now have dinner and a nice, healthy nosh for the rest of the week. Good thing, since he'll be spending at least one night at the set bay and I'll have rehearsals every night from tomorrow until after the first weekend. (Wonder if this theater has a microwave backstage so we can nuke leftovers...?)

What a trouper

Mentioned to TW tonight that the Godspell director asked if he might be willing to help finish the set, or maybe learn to run the light board or follow spot. Having worked on sets before, TW agreed to help out one night this week. And once I explained about light boards and follow spots - as much as I can, given that I've never touched either one - he said sure, he'd be willing to learn how to do one or the other.

How adorable - "his 'n' hers techs". ;) This means he'll be at the back of the house while I'm backstage in the wings, but at least we'll be at the theater together.

Busy, busy, busy!

This is when it starts to get exciting. Godspell opens a week from Thursday. The cast members have all their important costume pieces already and all but one or two accessories. Nearly all the umpty-gazillion props are ready & waiting, the set is close to finished, we start hanging lights on Thursday, load-in is Saturday and our first tech rehearsal is a week from today. No rehearsal tomorrow, but that's the last night off until after the first weekend. Starting Tuesday, it's rehearsal every night, folding in more & more tech until after load-in. Once we put this baby on the set, that's when the magic really starts to happen. It's when you're out of the rehearsal space and finally in the theater, with seats that will shortly be filled (we hope!) with appreciative audience members, that you realize this isn't just something to fill your time. This is gonna be an actual, living, breathing show!

I think this is gonna be good. Godspell is very demanding, in that all 10 performers are on stage the entire time. Lots of music, nearly all of it choreographed (there are 1 or 2 numbers that are more blocked than choreographed), and the blocking is very physical - a lot of crawling, reaching, running, jumping... I've joked with several of the cast members that this is such a good workout, they won't need to hit a gym until after we close.

As assistant stage manager, I'll be in the wings, helping our propmistress ride herd on the plethora of props for this show. The cast members take care of many of their own, and many will be preset, but that still leaves a LOT of props to worry about.

As if that weren't enough, the theater adjudication year has begun (it's on a calendar year). TW and I saw an Albee play a couple of weeks ago that he didn't much care for (he's not into absurdism), and last night it was a comedy with rather a Twilight Zone twist. One of the further-from-us theater companies, but my online search turned up a nice little Persian restaurant nearby where we had a lovely dinner. They won me when they brought out mast o khiyar and bread with the menus. The baklava was pretty bad - mostly dried-out filo - but the entrees were good enough to keep us happy, and TW loved the tea (some Persian blend w/ a touch of cardamom). I've got 2 or 3 more shows to cram into my schedule between Pirates rehearsals, along with 1 or 2 shows friends are doing that I also want to see. It can be crazy-making, but in small doses it's a lot of fun. And this year I've got TW home, not overseas, so he can come with me and help me try the new restaurants, discuss the show, and so on.

Too soon to tell

... whether my mouth is fixed yet. I ended up getting 2 wisdom teeth extracted Friday. Ouch ouch ouch! The joint on the right side of my jaw is finally considering forgiving me, but the pain is still very much present. It's just a different one. I saw my own dentist this afternoon for a follow-up appointment and learned that I've developed dry socket (or "dry rot", as TW likes to laugh at me). My dentist gave me chapter & verse on what it is, what happens and all that, but for me there are 2 main problems: first & foremost, that it can add 2-3 weeks to the healing process (and in the meantime it hurts like blazes when the motrin is wearing off) and that the "baby it" restrictions include stretching the mouth as little as possible, which is gonna make singing a bit difficult.

On the plus side, though, Friday & Saturday it felt as though I had a filling on the healthy side that was starting to wiggle loose. My dentist checked out all my fillings on that side, just to be sure, and found no problems, chalking it up to "weirdness" resulting from the jaw trauma and change in my chewing motion.

Friday I couldn't help but remember all the people I knew in college who had their wisdom teeth out over spring break. Even then we thought they'd gotten a raw deal. Now, however, I have a new, much fuller appreciation for how very thoroughly their spring break was ruined!

"Wait" is a 4-letter word

Especially when you're hurting. My dentist called late this morning to say he was cancelling his afternoon appointments and closing up shop for the day because of the weather (snowing like crazy, forecast predicting snow to be followed by sleet, ice or some other disastrous form of precipitation by mid-afternoon). I was welcome to leave a message with days & times I could reschedule for next week.

Um, sorry, can't wait that long. When I woke up this morning (after calling my office to say I wouldn't be in), it took the "mega-motrin" fully an hour to bring me back from the brink of the rocking-and-whimpering stage. No, waiting until next week is not an option here. So now I have an appointment for tomorrow morning (more waiting and trying not to whimper) with an associate of TW's dentist, who's about an hour and a half away from here. But close to the cabin, which is why TW goes to that guy (long, uninteresting story). I won't be seeing the dentist TW likes so much, and he doesn't take my dental coverage, but he can take me first thing in the morning. I don't have to hurt until sometime next week? For this I'm willing to pay!

We were planning to spend the weekend at the cabin anyway; now we're going out one night sooner, so we have a shorter trip to the dentist in the morning.

Looking forward to the dentist

This is the first time I've ever been eager to get to the dentist. I started having jaw pain Monday night - felt like bone pain, symmetrical across the upper jaw, and bad enough that I wasn't able to fall asleep until I got up and took something for it. Yesterday it came back sufficiently persistently that I ended up going to my HMO's after-hours care, so you know I was getting fed up. The physician's assistant was helpful, but the best advice he gave me was to call my dentist. Unfortunately, he didn't have anything available until tomorrow.

So now I'm sitting here w/ Rx-strength motrin in my system and pain that's decided to localize on one side of my jaw, counting the hours until I get to go to the dentist.

Success at last

I went into Sunday's audition for a production of Pirates of Penzance 0 for 3 but was optimistic when I found that I was the only woman auditioning who looked older than 20-something - no competition for the role of Ruth that night, at any rate. My song felt good, I thought I read well, so I went home thinking that even if I got the role by default, I'd still earned it.

This is very much a community theater company. They perform in a converted storefront in an old downtown. The place is small enough that it seats only 50, the stage is probably only 15 or 20 feet square and perhaps 6" off the floor. No orchestra pit and precious little backstage area. Which means we'll have an unusual intimacy w/ the audience and get great energy from them because even the back row will be so very close. This is gonna be fun!

Now if we can just find a Frederic and 3 more men for the chorus...

Some corners should never be cut.

Made some pumpkin pies this weekend to use up the half-and-half I'd bought. I had one carton of fat-free and one of "real" half-and-half in hopes of producing a less-guilty pleasure. Big mistake! The fat-free stuff did nasty things to the texture of the pie in the cooking process: instead of the usual smooth custardy texture, it ended up kind of pebbly, and separated a lot more than usual, producing quite a lot of "water".

Sometimes you can make these calorie-shaving recipe changes without a qualm. But fat-free "half-and-half"? In your coffee, maybe, but definitely not in pumpkin pie or anything else custardy.

Experiences of an English soldier in WWI

Just learned of this blog from yesterday's paper. Apparently someone came across letters Pvt. Harry Lamin wrote to his family while he was serving in World War I and Harry's grandson is posting the letters on the 90th anniversary of each letter's writing. (For example, the letter Harry wrote on 3 Jan 1918 was posted to the blog on 3 Jan 2008.) I plan to go back to the beginning (about a year and a half ago) and start reading a few at a time until I get caught up. The grandson is dropping no hints about Pvt Lamin's fate, aside from referring readers to Lamin's Brigade's diary. Aside from a bit of commentary explaining references, and the addition of some family photos (Harry's grade school class picture is a study!), the letters have not been edited; the spellings & grammar are Harry's own. I'm looking forward to digging into it...

Another Locks of Love donation

Because the furnace guy came early and therefore was gone by noon, I was able to fit in a haircut for another Locks of Love donation. Notice the before and after shots - hard to believe I only donated 12 inches.

Uh oh!

Words you never want to hear from the person about to fix your, well, anything: "This is gonna be hell!"

I stayed home today because we had someone coming to check a furnace leak (the Chief had noticed water around one of the seals the other day). Turned out he needed to replace a section of pipe in order to replace the seal and I think the comment referred to the anticipated trials & tribulations involved in cutting the PVC to fit. I never heard any uncouth language emanating from the basement, no explosions or anything like that, and so far the repair is holding, but he did have me worried for a bit there!

Bad news

Mom called last night to let us know that my sister just learned she's miscarried. After 2 pregnancies & 2 thriving babies, the possibility of miscarriage had probably receded. Now she and my brother-in-law have to deal with the loss of all their hopes and dreams for this little one. I know exactly how much that hurts, so I feel bad for them, poor things. And none of this "At least they have 2 healthy ones" stuff. While it might make their loss easier to bear, the fact remains that it is a loss.

Good news for Christmas

At Christmas dinner, my youngest sister & her husband announced that their 3rd baby would be arriving "probably sometime in August". Little Bit's 2 sisters are utterly adorable and, at 14 and 28 months, already very distinct personalities. (One's a performer, the other's an adventurer.) Can't wait to see how #3 turns out.

The next day, P got a long-awaited phone call offering him the job he'd interviewed for nearly a month ago. After getting laid off nearly 2 years ago, this was very good news indeed!

The Chief & I were very pleased to see how great both my parents looked. They've improved remarkably since they visited us in October. Mom has nearly all her strength back and Dad is actually, finally walking without a cane nearly all the time, for the first time in over 2 years. Hallelujah!

I love this description of English!

Why did I never hear this before? James Nicoll has said of English that

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

The Flibbertigibbet recently saw this quote paraphrased on a T-shirt as

English doesn't borrow from other languages. English follows other languages down dark alleys, knocks them over and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.

Fits better on a T-shirt than the original, but dropping the cracks about the "purity" of English is a tragic loss.

Once more into the breach

Yesterday I agreed to be assistant stage manager (ASM hereafter) for a local production of Godspell with many of the same folks I did Birdie with - same director and stage manager, several of the same cast members, and one of the Birdie cast members is doing the costumes. I'm looking forward to working with them again, and to learning more backstage techie tricks. Among other things, I have to go to the lighting rehearsals; I've never done a lick of stage lighting so I'm hoping I'll learn a bit about hanging, aiming and designing stage lighting.

The Chief has offered to help with load-in and maybe with set building. He has no desire whatsoever to set foot on a stage in front of an audience, but working on sets is something we can do together. Maybe he'll even let me play with his power tools. Well, maybe the driver drill; I don't think he's ready to share the miter saw or table saw yet. :D

Quite the social butterflies, we are

It certainly is the party season! We had 4 parties in 3 days - one Sunday, 2 last night, and one today. Last night was kind of funny because the first party was fairly casual while the 2nd was black tie optional because the singers in the crowd like to wear their tuxes & recital wear for something other than "work". The Chief has a tux he had made by a local tailor on one of his deployments and I've got a ballgown he bought me a few years ago (Nordstrom's was having a post-holiday formalwear clearance) and gold jewelry bought on various trips to the Middle East. So the Chief donned his tux and I my ballgown & gold for both. We got lots of compliments at the first party, a few photos of us in our gladrags, and comments such as "you look like you're ready for a concert". If I'd thought of it, I'd've worn the dress without the matching jacket and instead worn my vintage opera gloves; the bangle bracelets would have shown up better without sleeves to obscure them. ;)

Poor Chief - 3 of these parties were given by people I've done shows with, so he knew few or no people at most of them. Today's was the best for him, though. The hosts have an older home they've slowly been starting to work on and we not only got to talk antiques and remodeling but learned of a local architectural salvage place. Now we're looking forward to swinging by there this weekend to browse their warehouse.

A choral glossary of music

From my e-mail (no lightbulb jokes, just daffynitions)

TONIC - a smooth liquid generally enjoyed over ice after a choir rehearsal.
DOMINANT - in a choral relationship, usually the soprano.
AUGMENTATION - delicate surgery for altos involving the implantation of "falsettos."
LEITMOTIF - like a regular motif, but less filling.
SCORE - Basses 8, Tenors 0
CONTRALTO - an alto who has been convicted of a felony.
POLYCHORAL MOTET - six parrots singing "Exultate Justi"
ALEATORIC MUSIC - music composed by the random selection of pitches and rhythms. Frequently found in the choir anthem.
BASSO CONTINUO - when the conductor can't get the fools to stop singing.
CASTRATO - the highest male voice (some alteration required).
ETUDE - what comes right before the Beatitudes.
GLISSANDO - what directly precedes the highest note of the soprano part.
THEME - we hate this anthem.
THEME AND VARIATIONS - we hate this anthem, the composer and all of his/her relatives.
SMORZANDO - the "all-you-can-eat" buffet at Luciano's.
GRAND PAUSE - when the conductor loses his or her place.
ANTIPHONAL - leaving your answering machine on all the time.

OK, so let's ring in that new year already!

I know a lot of folks who've had a really rotten 2007. There are the families & friends of those who've lost loved ones prematurely or watched them die a painful death, my ex (who had not one but two friends die too soon of nasty cancers), the ones who've had jobs yanked out from under them, and all those who've just had a whole bunch of little things start piling on until they amounted to one helluva big thing.

I've got a lot to be grateful for, and we got some lovely news last week, but I sure hope the folks around me who haven't been so blessed have a better time of it soon.

0 for 3

Got a group e-mail today from the director I auditioned for the other night. She's scheduling callbacks: "The following people are called back for the following roles..." Try as I might, I just couldn't make my name appear on the list.

I was one of three reading for the mom. For some reason, I ended up reading a different scene from the others, one in which "Mom" had very little to say. So I just tried to look engaged in what the other 2 characters were saying and hoped for the best. The only other person who was a contender (the 3rd woman was much too young) is a big wheel in the company and, probably more to the point, has appeared on stage with them before. Her name is on the callback list where I'd hoped mine would be.

I don't know whether to be cynical and think "She & the director know each other, may well be best friends, she probably meant to cast her all along," blah blah blah. Or to be charitable and think "her reading must have been closer to what the director wanted." Naturally I think I gave a good, solid reading but I'm hardly in a position to be objective. It's easy to be catty about the situation, but I haven't worked with the company yet and don't know how close X and the director are, so I'll reserve judgment.

This makes 3 auditions this month and no callbacks, let alone roles. Ah well, there are 3 or 4 shows auditioning next month that I'm interested in. Hope springs eternal...

Peter Pan syndrome?

As the 2 or 3 of you who read this know, I recently hit the half-century mark. (Sounds more impressive that way, don't you agree?) Not something I'm ashamed of or try to hide, but I don't exactly advertise it when I go to auditions.

After years of performing in G&S choruses, in which the women's chorus are nearly always girls (The Mikado's chorus singing "schoolgirls we, 18 and under" is only the most flagrant example), I think I've developed a rather distorted view of how old I "read" on stage. This despite all the gray in my hair. Among other things that says about me, it should tell you I don't spend a lot of time gazing, enraptured, upon my reflection. ;) There's also the fact that, being fair-skinned and freckled, I've long since grown accustomed to people underestimating my age. Hence, I'm still adjusting to the fact that apparently I no longer read in my 30s.

I think the wake-up call was when I auditioned for Bye Bye Birdie. I asked to be considered for Rosie (realizing that was a long shot), Mrs. Macafee or Mae Peterson. The only role the director had me read for was Mae, easily the oldest of the three. The demographics of the audition pool (only 2 or 3 women who looked older than their 30s) probably figured into his decision, but I guess auditioning with my hair down doesn't outweigh the gray and the crow's feet. :D

Sure, I could cover the gray; I've done it before. However, it's messy and a pain in the rear to do it myself, expensive if I go to a salon (can easily run $100; more if I want a trim as well), and has to be touched up every month or so. I'm cheap, I'm lazy, and I'm rather proud of the gray - kinda like hashmarks.

So I'm trying to resign myself to playing moms and grandes dames - I fully accept there are no more sweet young things in my future, but had hoped for the occasional sadder but wiser girl. Ah well, a Lady Bracknell (Importance of Being Earnest) or Desiree (A Little Night Music) would be fun to sink my teeth into, or Dolly in The Matchmaker. Now if I could only get cast....

On a lighter note

Found the Daily Coyote in someone's blog roll. It's all about one woman in Wyoming raising an orphaned coyote. Fortunately for the blog-reading world, she's a good storyteller and gifted photographer. The photography is gorgeous, Charlie is adorable, and the tales of Charlie and his feline "big brother" are always fun.

Public service announcement

I've been enjoying Dooce's blog for quite some time now. It can be very funny, but today she gets serious. If you have ever suffered from mental illness or love someone who has or does, you need to read today's entry.

More FreeRice and other good sites

I checked in at FreeRice.com again today. I got all new words, and it seemed to remember my vocab level from last time. The words were a lot harder this time; I got 40 out of 42, but only because they give you 4 fairly different options for each word, making it easy to rule out at least 1 or 2 right off the bat. Some of the words I'd never even heard of before - delict and hyson are just 2 examples. I'll have to go back every so often and play again, if only to collect new words and stretch at least my recognition vocabulary. And the fact that I can help donate rice is a nice perq, too.

I think I've already mentioned the site where you can click to help fund mammograms. Turns out there's a related site that works similarly, but this time you click to fund food programs. This click-and-donate stuff seems almost too easy and painless to be for real, but snopes.com says they're legit.

And of course Locks of Love is another unusual charity in that it takes donations in the form of hair. I'm about due to make another donation, probably after the holidays when things slow down a bit.

Looks like I'll be 0 for 2 this week

Two auditions at the beginning of this week. At the G&S were the 2 mezzos I most hoped wouldn't show, as both of them have not only done leads w/ the company, but have been hand-picked for special chamber productions. Worse, they're both lovely people, so I can't even hate 'em! Anyway, they both got called back, I didn't, and as I specifically said I wouldn't do chorus (I've already done chorus twice for this show), I won't be doing that show.

Monday was the new musical. The accompanist was having a difficult time settling on a tempo, though he generally erred in favor of too slow. I hope that was was the cause of the rather strained-looking polite smiles on the panel's face, and not my singing. I think I sang pretty well, given the accompaniment, but wasn't asked to last night's callbacks. I overheard someone say they would cast the show almost immediately, offering roles as early as this morning. I've heard nothing, haven't even been offered chorus, so I won't be surprised if I end up getting a "thanks but no thanks" e-mail. Hearing the woman ahead of me, and the guy ahead of her, both of whom had been in the ensemble of the last show I saw the group do, I wondered if perhaps I should hold off on auditioning for these folks until I can belt. Or maybe I just won't worry about it.

Auditioning is a funny thing. I look forward to it, perhaps because of the "hope" factor - "I hope they ask me to play X; she gets to sing all that great music", "I'd love to do this show", "I want to break into this company"; that sorta thing. If I'm less than satisfied with how I did, I start with the "shoulda woulda"s. If I think I did well, then I start dreaming about getting this or that juicy role, only to be disappointed when they don't cast me, or offer me chorus when I was hoping for something meatier.

Not getting cast also makes me wonder how my voice sounds to others, how I come across - is there something I still need to work on, or is it just a matter of taste or something else out of my control. Maybe they don't like my freckles, or they want someone who's older, younger, thinner, fatter, taller, shorter...

New stuff!

Mission accomplished! I set out with no particular expectation of finding much clothing that would fit me, but came home w/ three pairs of trousers and 5 tops, with 2 silk-blend turtlenecks to be shipped to the house (from another store in the same chain). The process was relatively painless, too. Only found one sweater in Macy's, found nothing in Nordstrom's for which I was willing to pay designer prices, though I saved myself a lotta money when I tried on a sweater that was perfect, except that I learned that my skin won't tolerate cashmere, no matter how cuddly soft it is. Talbot's was where I hit the jackpot - all 3 pairs of trousers, 2 of 'em on sale, and 4 sweaters, also on sale.

The Chief & I will still hit the outlet mall tomorrow so I can fill a gap or two, but I can no longer complain that I have no decent winter clothes to wear to work. Whew!

Snow: a 4-letter word? Discuss

Got our first snowfall of the season today. It was snowing when I left for work around 6:15 this morning, it snowed lightly or not so lightly pretty much all day, and it's finally tapering off at 9:30 at night. It was quite a while before it started to stick, at least where I had to drive, so we aren't buried, but a few schools let out an hour early, just about everyone's cancelled evening activities, and the evening traffic reports were twice as long as usual because of all the weather-related accidents.

And why so many accidents? I once heard someone deride the way the idiot factor seems to skyrocket whenever we get any form of precipitation: "They see a drip, they drive like one. They see a flake, they drive like one."

And from a friend's blog:

From "Ancient Music" by American poet Ezra Pound (Lustra collection,
1913-1915)

Winter is icumen in,
Lhude sing Goddamm,
Raineth drop and staineth slop,
And how the wind doth ramm!
Sing: Goddamm.

Skiddeth bus and sloppeth us,
An ague hath my ham.
Freezeth river, turneth liver,
Damm you; Sing: Goddamm.

Goddamm, Goddamm, 'tis why I am, Goddamm,
So 'gainst the winter's balm.
Sing goddamm, damm, sing goddamm,
Sing goddamm, sing goddamm, DAMM.

Are you a Cosmo girl?

Wonder if she's drinking a cosmopolitan...?

To every season and all that

This weekend I finally managed to pack up my summer clothes and put them away, replacing them in the dresser with winter clothing. I also realized that every single item of is at least a coupla seasons old and looks it. Sigh; I really hate clothes shopping, but I'm gonna bite the bullet and do a bit of shopping Thursday and see if I can find a few decent things to wear to work.

This weekend I also put away the everyday china and put the Christmas china in the cabinets. I won't do much decorating, since we'll be out of town for Christmas, but we still enjoy using the Christmas china for a month or so every year.

Remembering why I married him

This project for work took me to a much warmer clime. When I got on the plane to come home, the high there was near 80; when I got off the plane here, the temp was unseasonably cold, only in the upper 30s - brrrrr! TW, bless his thoughtful little heart, was waiting at the gate w/ both a sweater and my winter coat, knowing that the fleece jacket I'd packed wasn't going to be nearly warm enough. I can definitely recommend marrying a man with a "mother hen" streak. :)

It's the most wonderful time of the year

No, not that - auditioning for the winter shows. I've got 2 auditions coming up for very different shows - an 1885 Gilbert & Sullivan on Sunday, and A New Brain on Monday, which premiered only 2 years ago.

The G&S audition is going to be a bit different from the usual routine; in addition to a song, they want a monologue! I've done cold readings at some G&S auditions, but this is the first time I've been to one where they warned you to prepare a monologue. Since I'm auditioning for one of the contralto roles, I plan to work up Katisha's monologue about being an acquired taste, appreciated only by the educated palate. I've never (what, never? that's right, never!) memorized a monologue for an audition before - wish me luck! Not that I expect to get the role, given the caliber of the folks who audition for this company, but maybe I'll get as far as callbacks.

A New Brain is being done by a company I've auditioned for a few times before; haven't been cast yet, but I'll keep trying. Only 2 mezzo roles, but both are older women (the contral character's mother and a homeless woman), so if the G&S doesn't work out, maybe I should hope that no other mezzos audition for Brain. (Oh, and bring your ice skates - we're going to Hades.)

The timing could get interesting - the G&S is auditioning Sunday & Monday, w/ callbacks on Tuesday. Brain is auditioning Monday & Tuesday, w/ callbacks on Wednesday. If I have very good vocal days Sunday & Monday, I could conceivably have callbacks on both Tuesday and Wednesday, making for auditions on 4 successive nights! What an ego boost that would be, even if neither company offers me a lead (though of course I hope they do).

Reminding him why he married me

After a month on the road, then Thanksgiving dinner out of town (in other words, no wonderful leftovers), I was going through cooking withdrawal. Sunday I fired up the crockpot and made some chicken & vegetables; not bad, but nothing to write home about. Yesterday it was pot roast in a mushroom sauce. That was a resounding success! A bit salty but falling-apart tender, and the aroma was to die for. TW was raving about it and even suggested having another dinner party w/ that pot roast as the entree. Tomorrow I plan to try a pork & cranberry sauce recipe. The crockpot is getting a workout and TW has been going on about what a great cook I am.

And I have not yet begun to bake! :D

Free rice and free vocab

Found FreeRice.com on Shelly's blog. She's a librarian, so we share a love of words. FreeRice is a funny little site - you take a vocab quiz which keeps feeding you questions as long as you want to keep answering. For every so many you answer correctly, you donate 10 grains of rice. I don't know how many questions I answered (I got 'em all right; it pays to read a variety of genres set in different historical periods), but I donated 500 grains.

Check it out - have fun testing your vocabulary and do good while you're at it.

Fabulous Fifty

Turned fifty on Sunday - happy birthday to me! We had a multi-birthday dinner out Saturday (my 50th, the Chief's July 60th, and Dad's pending 80th), but Sunday Mom & I fixed dinner. Started out simple - "I'll just slide a chicken into the oven" - but got more & more involved. Not to mention the fact that we trotted out a nice tablecloth, linen napkins, silver, good china, crystal - all the "good stuff" that makes for a fancy, festive table. I made a nice apple cake, too. Mom teased me that having to make my own birthday cake reminded her of my comment once that one of the drawbacks of being a grown-up is having to make your own chicken soup when you're sick. Not in this case, though. I'd been meaning to make this particular cake for a while, especially as our neighbor E, who loves it, had his birthday on the 7th. Sort of a "mutual" birthday cake, I guess you could say. That, at least, is what I told him when I took some over on Monday. :)

Watch this space...

Finally getting a little blog time after the pre-visit cleaning and the visit itself. Trying to pack for this trip (I am going to be missing so many friends' shows while I'm out of town!), but should have time to catch up a bit here before heading to the airport tomorrow.

Is this October or August?

Sheesh - not only are we in the throes of a drought that threatens to set records, but the past week or so has seen August-like heat & humidity. Upper 80s most of last week, 97% humidity on Saturday (no wonder we were so wiped out after walking around the festival all day!), and highs around 90 yesterday and today! Can't wait for the promised cooling front to move in and bring more seasonal temperatures. And rain. A nice, slow, soaking rain would be lovely. Please?

Stages of clean

TW and I managed to get the house to "friend clean" before my friend arrived Friday night. Today I got started on taking things to the next level - "parent clean". Didn't get too far, since I spent most of the day on laundry, iPod feeding and turkey soup, but we did get the guest bed stripped so TW and I will have clean sheets to sleep on when my folks get here. (They'll get our bed, which is larger.)

Harry Homeowner and Susie Homemaker

TW has had a busy weekend! He's spent most of the weekend building new doors for the shed out back. Those things are solid as Gibralter now! They don't look very pretty, but they'll keep the elements out; with luck, they'll keep out most of the local fauna, too.

I spent the first part of the weekend with my visiting friend, but today I've been making up for lost time, running 4 loads of laundry, folding it with frequent breaks to change CDs being fed into iTunes (38 discs!), and fixing turkey soup from the carcass of the bird I roasted for my friend's visit. (My favorite part of the turkey? Leftovers!)

Some good times to balance against the bad news

More bad news last week. My ex forwarded an e-mail from a friend from college. His wife, also a friend from college, was recently hospitalized for other serious problems and the doctors found she was full of cancer - the list seemed to include half her internal organs! When she flippantly asked the doctor whether she had days, weeks or months to live, the doctor reportedly replied sthg like, "well, unless you get hit by a bus, not days." !!! In other words, the prognosis is grim indeed, and the woman's only in her late 40s or early 50s.

Another woman my ex had told me about as being diagnosed w/ stage 4 earlier this year was also hospitalized recently. He said that while no one was saying anything, he got the impression they didn't expect her to go home again. And this one's only in her early 40s.

Then there's my friend who's barely in her 40s and so crippled w/ rheumatoid arthritis (RA) she's routinely faced with the imminent threat of having to retire on disability.

Then there's the good stuff. A friend who moved out of the area 10 years ago (can't believe it's been that long!) is in town this weekend to visit a few of us. I got her first, we visited our friend w/ the RA this afternoon, then I handed her off to yet another friend of hers before she heads back home again. It was lovely getting caught up on each other's news & families and swapping stories, then doing more of the same with our other friend. I think I laughed myself hoarse. Thanks, ladies; I needed that!

Don't have someone else pack your shoes.

TW & I were getting ready to go out to the cabin last weekend and were planning a nice dinner. While I pulled things together in the bedroom, I gave him my outfit & shoes for said dinner and asked him to put them in the suitcase. When we went to get ready for dinner that Saturday, I looked in the suitcase - no shoes. Rummage, rummage, dig, dig - still no shoes. TW had a vague memory of putting them in a plastic bag so as not to get anything else dirty, but into the suitcase? No such luck. I had to make do w/ sthg that didn't look too bad w/ sneakers.

Which is why it's best to pack one's own shoes.

Making the most of it

What was I just saying about having bits of business to do to make yourself noticed in a show? A theater friend & I went to see a Birdie friend of mine in Dearly Departed last night and I saw a perfect example of this. Delightful, a character who is on stage for quite a bit, has all of 2 words to say in the entire show. However. I don't know whether this was in the script or was a product of the director's or performer's imagination, but Delightful was played as slovenly and food-obsessed.

When we first see her, she's sitting very sloppily, stuffing her face w/ Cheese Nips. But not just eating them; at one point she was positioning them under her upper lip to resemble fangs, then making growling, biting and clawing motions. During the funeral scene, she had an ice cream bar to eat and at one point brought the show to a screeching halt while Delightful experienced a prolonged and apparently quite painful brain freeze. At the bows, she easily got the biggest appaluse.

Which was not to say that the rest of the cast were less talented. There were a few thankless roles, but I thought everyone did a good job. My friend was very believable in her role (funny how Lucille rather resembled Mrs. Macafee; both peace-makers), and I thought the cast worked very well together.

On the road again

Found out about a week ago that work is sending me on the road again. Only for about a month this time, but the timing could be better. Mid-October into November means I had to drop out of Christmas Revels, after only 2 rehearsals - wah! I've already told them I'm willing to help w/ costumes, make-up or some such thing so I don't have to go thru total withdrawal, but it's a pity this project couldn't have waited until January. (Will the world ever learn to arrange itself for my convenience?)

But when I e-mailed the Revels powers that be that I'd have to pull out of the cast, I was amazed at the response. I had showed up at one more rehearsal because I hadn't gotten a response to my e-mail and wanted to be sure the director had gotten the word. Well! Not only did I get an apology when I showed up, but the MD e-mailed that night to apologize and encourage me not to give up on the group, the chorus manager e-mailed me, the stage manager called me at work on Monday to apologize and say a few kind words, and my "husband" called and left a message on our answering machine. A friend of mine in the group had told me that the group was more like family than theater, but I guess I thought that her experience with them in time of need was because she'd done so many shows with them. But when a newbie gets that kind of response, I can't help but realize just how right she was!

One of the challenges of being in the chorus

Driving home this afternoon, I was pondering life, the universe and everything. Didn't come up with "42", but did realize a pseudo-logical connection between a performer's insecurity and the hunger for bigger, better roles. It's all about being noticed - when you're the 3rd lovesick maiden from the left, 2nd row back, and all of you are dressed in aesthetic pastel gowns, about the only people who'll notice you are the audience members who know you. If you're the character whose only function is to answer the phone in 2 or 3 scenes and tell the ingenue "It's him again", you're likely to feel more like a piece of the set than a member of the cast.

On the other hand, if you've got lines, or a big scene, a solo or a bit of special "business", the audience is likely to notice. Mae Peterson is remarkably nasty to Rosie; it was fun to hear the audience gasp at some of the vicious digs she made. ("What does Rosie need a job for? In a year or two she'll be on Social Security.") When I played Pitti-Sing, I could be more of an individual than when I've been a chorister. No worries about pulling focus; as long as I shared it with the other leads on stage, I was "legal".

I've almost never gotten comments on my performance when I've been a chorister or had a minor role (although "Sr. Mary Velcro" was a lot of fun!), and then it's been along the lines of "you moved well in the choreographies" or "you were always so engaged in the action". Which is certainly complimentary, but my performer's ego wants more. It's greedy - it wants to hear how funny or moving or just plain wonderful my performance was. ;)

And the fewer people you share a curtain call with (20-person chorus? the other 2 members of the household staff? you & your chief foil?), the more likely you are to get a hand from the audience. Lee Adams had it right - "the sound that says love: applause!"

iTunes don't know from Mozart

I've been loading some CDs into my iPod and was amused to see that iTunes assigned my Mozart chamber music to the Electronica/Dance genre! Wooing the Lorelei got an Unclassifiable for a genre. Can't wait to see what it does with my Hungarian folk, Bonnie Raitt, doo wop...

Was that Elvis?

Earlier this week, I was driving down the highway, minding my own business, when I happened to glance over and realize that the driver next to me was sporting a perfect "early Elvis" do - pompadour, sideburns, the works. An impersonator on his way to a gig? I'll never know...

Back to being a TW

Today was the first (marathon!) rehearsal for the Christmas Revels' chorus members, so the Chief is back to being a Theater Widower, poor thing. His day got off to a rather early start, too. I woke up at 4:30 this morning w/ a migraine, which despite meds was still with me as I was trying to get ready to be at rehearsal for a 9 a.m. call. TW, bless his heart, offered to drive me, which offer I immediately accepted. (Driving w/ a migraine, even one that's finally backing off, is not fun, and not a very good idea.) So instead of taking his time over his morning coffee and the Business section, he got dressed and ferried me to rehearsal, then packed up all his toys, um, power tools before coming to fetch me home again in the afternoon.

However, this rehearsal schedule isn't nearly as bad as most I've had - Wednesday nights and one or two weekend rehearsals a month (unlike Birdie, when everyone was called every Saturday, Sunday or both), and no rehearsals at all over Thanksgiving week.

Of course, once I start my bellydance class next Monday and change my voice lesson to Tuesday, only one weeknight rehearsal won't seem quite such a light schedule to TW - I'll still be running out on him for one thing or another.

Today's rehearsal would have been a lot better had I felt better, but I still enjoyed it. Looks like we'll have a cast of 80+ once you add up the adults, teens, children, musicians, Morris dancers, and any other folks I'm forgetting at the moment. I sure am glad I don't have to ride herd on this horde! We never got around to doing any dancing today, but we did do a lot of singing (I can't believe how well most of these folks sight-read!) and were divvied up into "families". I'm a henwife (i.e., I keep chickens) married to a farmer and we have a lovely daughter who takes our eggs and wheat to market. (My husband sells the barley & hops directly to the tapster.) Many families, probably including ours, will get at least one young child once the director finishes her casting decisions.

Sounds like we're going to get our costumes comparatively early in the rehearsal process - we get our first "dress" rehearsal a week or two before Tech Week so we can see just how much they affect our movement. Even though I'll have a fairly plain costume - brocade's just not right for feeding or plucking the chickens - I'm still looking forward to seeing what I'll get to wear, as it sounds like our costumer is striving for as much authenticity as budget and modern skeletons will allow.

Ahhh!

After much thought, and with the help of some of the Chief's deployment money, we just replaced the french doors in the kitchen with spiffy new Pella version - better weather seal, more solid, the Chief decided we'd splash out on the in-glass blinds, but best of all - screen doors! (Ignore the power tools populating the fringes of the first picture.)

I came home from rehearsal this afternoon to find the front & back doors wide open (we didn't want to the leave the old kitchen doors open - no screens). SO nice to have both back doors open, and the screen is such a fine mesh that you don't notice it. At least not yet; I'm sure that'll change once we've had it a while and it starts filling with insects, tree trash, and such.

Today was a lovely day, the first that's felt cool enough to be fall rather than late summer. We ended up eating dinner in the kitchen, with the breezes circulating around us; worth every penny we spent on those doors! (Now if we could just loosen the spring on the screen doors so they don't whack us every time we go in or out.)

Oh, and those boxes out on the deck? The Chief made those today to help us climb into our very tall bed in our new bedroom out at the cabin. He used bits of 2x4s and 2x8s left over from redoing the deck, so those things are solid as rocks, and almost as heavy!

My kinda quiz

Finally, a quiz I can believe in. :D I don't disagree with my results, but do wonder if my answer to the last question might have skewed them. Looking at the other possible results, I'd say I also have a lot of cabaret and folkloric dancer in me.

What Kind of Belly Dancer are You?

You are a Classic Belly Dancer. Your idol is Samia Gamal, and you long for the days of the Cairo greats. You're saving up for your first Madame Abla, and after that it will only be a matter of time before you star in your first Cecil B. DeMille style epic choreography. Your one regret is that the photographer they hired for your student recital wouldn't shoot you in black and white.

Take this quiz!

Cabin progress - slow but getting there

Well, so much for installing that window a/c - turns out the little slider things on either side are the wrong shape for our windows, the unit is too wide for the other sash windows we have, and apparently you need a completely different style for sliders (windows that open from one side to the other instead of bottom to top). The unit is now back at its original store, where they took it back w/ very little fuss. "What was wrong with it; didn't it work?" "Don't know; it was the wrong shape for our windows so we never even plugged it in."

We pulled into the driveway Friday evening to find a deer downhill of the driveway, probably nibbling on some of my poor ferns. At any rate, it took off at speed as we pulled in; I'm always amazed at how quickly they can disappear!

I was right that the flower on my impatiens wouldn't last, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it's got another bud. Maybe the deer will let it bloom before they eat it. Of the plants I put in, only the pachysandra seems to be doing well. Some of the euonymus couldn't take the drought, the deer devoured the lilies of the valley and keep munching the new fern fronds, but the pachy just hangs in there. Come October, I'll probably go back for more of the stuff, now that I know how well it does despite the clay, rocks, deer and other adverse growing conditions.

The weather was lovely (though we still desperately need rain!), The Chief managed to find someone to come clean out the gutters (our ladder's not tall enough) and I finally got the last of the towel bars installed. Well, except for the handtowel-size one we bought when we took the a/c unit back. That one needs a very tiny - perhaps 1/8" - hex wrench for the set screw. We'll have to buy one, just for this job, and I think it's gonna take some finding. After all, who uses hex wrenches that tiny (except perhaps railroad modelers or dollhouse makers)? Why on earth couldn't that manufacturer have gone w/ a normal set screw; we have a flathead screwdriver that served quite nicely for the other towel bars' set screws.

We saw that the contractor hadn't made much progress upstairs since the previous weekend; replaced the dry wall where they had to open up the wall to remove the old shower and bring in the new one, plastered a coupla places (and got plaster all over the shower stall), filled the hole where the old, broken heater had been removed, and that's it. However, even the patched, not-yet-primed walls look better than the old, yellowed, crooked wallpaper that used to be there.

That's going to be the moose bathroom. The Chief recently developed this interest in moose things. One of his Christmas presents was a pair of moose-print flannel pajama pants. When we were in Cabela's over Christmas, he bought a stuffed moose, a moose toothbrush holder (holes in the antlers), and a switchplate w/ a moose in one corner. I was subsequently able to find him another switchplate and outlet covers in the same design for his birthday. He also bought a smaller stuffed moose while we were in Montreal. So this bathroom will have the moose outlet & switchplate covers, a wallpaper border at about chair-rail height with moose & bears on it and the moose toothbrush holder, and we're trying to find a moose shower curtain that doesn't cost an arm & a leg.

Not a recommended way to bond w/ the neighbors

The Chief got home from work yesterday, all psyched to finish painting the deck, to find that the neighbors' old, enormous Bradford pear had dropped a huge branch on said deck. So off he went to buy a scissor-shaped chainsaw sorta thing, then spent most of the daylight cutting up branches. The Chief managed to reach H from next door, who came over to help and to fill his pick-up w/ branches. They got everything cut up last night, but the branches didn't all fit into the pick-up bed, so H came back today to finish up.

Miraculously, the only damage was to the flower boxes (the wire brackets were badly bent but the Chief managed to get them almost back to their original shape) and the 6 pots of portulaca sitting on the railing. All of the portulaca were knocked clean out of their pots - I found one dangling, pot-less and upside down, from one of the branches of the downed limb. Poor things - I took the 5 I could find and planted them in the patch out front; with luck, they'll recover. The Chief found the last portulaca this afternoon, tangled in the cut-up branches, and stuck it in one of the flower boxes with the geraniums.

Good thing we get along w/ the neighbors!

Nice (and cheap) while it lasted

It's the height of August - we knew it couldn't last. Tonight after dinner we closed up all the windows which have been open since Saturday and turned the a/c back on to kill the worst of the humidity. The forecast for tomorrow takes us back into August weather - hot & humid. We'll be spending this weekend at the cabin; installing the window a/c unit we bought last time will definitely happen before bedtime tomorrow night!

Easing back into things

Having nothing to rehearse or perform from May until mid-September has been tough, so I'm finally doing something I've been meaning to do for quite some time: A few weeks ago I started a bellydance workout class to help build up my stamina a little preparatory to rejoining my last teacher's advanced class after a hiatus of over 10 (!) years.

We were barely halfway thru my first class when I remembered how very much fun middle eastern dancing is and realized how much I'd missed it. The Chief's been encouraging me to keep at it, seeing how much fun I'm having, but he doesn't realize how dangerous that could be. This hobby can eat even more time than theater - first it's class one night a week, then the occasional weekend workshop, then saving up for a weeklong dance camp, plus any time spent rehearsing and performing with a troupe, going to see other dancers perform... It's not cheap, either - in addition to the classes, the workshops can run into some money, especially those out of town (meals & lodging), not to mention the cost of costuming, props, dinner at those restaurants which have dancers, and of course music.

That could be a big expense - right now nearly all my stuff's on vinyl. I'm not eager to buy all those albums all over again! On the other hand, if I duplicate my vinyl & cassette collection on CD, I can load it all into my iPod, and I can also use iTunes to make my performance compilations - MUCH easier than taping my albums onto cassette, then recording select bits of each onto a performance tape, and it's bound to be less time-consuming. And of course CDs have the timings of each cut - no more guessing whether all those "about 3 minutes"es will add up to something too long for a 'gram, or longer than the time alloted for my slot in the workshop show. Fortunately, I've still got a stock of performance tapes to keep me going while I duplicate (and add to) my collection.

I also realize that when I was doing this fairly seriously (classes, out-of-town workshops, bellygrams, the occasional restaurant gig), I was single and unattached. This time I've got a husband to come home to, who might want me to choose my dance workshops based on other things to do in the area (such as antique shops or historic homes to visit). Or maybe he'll find a weeklong woodworking class that runs concurrent with a dance camp I'm interested in. I can just see it; each of us loading up our respective togs and toys, exchanging goodbye kisses and telling each other "Have fun at camp, sweetie - see you next week!" :D

Yes, definitely August

... because the local one-act festivals are in full swing. The Chief and I went to one last night; we know the director of one of this weekend's pieces and both performers in another. The weather was already starting to moderate, the traffic wasn't too bad, and we ran into one of my friends in the parking lot & persuaded her to join us for dinner. The evening was a success overall; the Chinese restaurant was up to its usual standards, we liked 2 of the 4 pieces offered last night, and both of them involved the people we knew.

Is this August?!?

After 2 or 3 weeks straight of temps in the 90s, we got a gift - the temperature only got up to the low 80s, the humidity was negligible, and the insects were dining elsewhere, so we turned off the a/c and threw open the windows. This never happens in mid-August!

After feeling too drained by the heat & humidity all week to do much more after work than eat dinner & go to bed, we were very domestic today. While the Chief ripped out rotten deck boards, scrubbed some of the support structure w/ sealant, then installed & painted new boards, I ran a few loads of laundry, dumped the pics from my memory card into the computer, used the lawn sprinkler to water a few of the larger plants (the lilacs & azaleas looked so pathetic, poor things!), even started the sheers for the cabin foyer.

"Two contrasting deaths"

I subscribe to a couple of theatrical listservs in addition to getting theater-related notices from people I've done shows with. They're usually relatively run-of-the-mill, the bulk of them being announcements of performances or auditions, or the need for tech people or additional male cast members. Today I got an audition notice, though, that's the most unusual I've seen to date: a local company will be auditioning for 3 Grand Guignol one-acts and are asking prospective cast members to "prepare two contrasting deaths (props are allowed but please, nothing that will make a mess or stain)"!

Hmm; I could see a baritone bringing a tenor, soprano and "kindly chorus" as his props (probably should include an accompanist, too) and doing Jack Point's final scene from Yeomen of the Guard as one of his 2 deaths. Odds are good there wouldn't be too many others doing that one. Perhaps said baritone could also do the "Die, thou!" scene from Sorcerer...

With leap year coming up...

A very important word, especially for those born on "Leap Day" (Feb. 29th):

bissextile (by-SEKS-til) adjective Of or pertaining to the leap year or the extra day in the leap year.noun Leap year.[From Latin bisextilis annus (leap year), from Latin bissextus (February29: leap day), from bi- (two) + sextus (sixth), from the fact that thesixth day before the Calends of March (February 24) appeared twice everyleap year.]

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=bissextile+year

Catching up

Didn't last long at the cabin last week - too hot! The Chief went to visit his mother, who'd had another fall, but we were getting furniture delivered Friday evening, so off to the cabin I went. Temps in the 90s, high humidity, and no a/c - whew! I woke up Saturday w/ a migraine, my imitrex was back home, and at 7 a.m. the indoor temperature was already up to 80, so I did the bare minimum to close up (i.e., packed up the trash & locked the doors) and fled home to the air conditioning.

This weekend we both went out to the cabin, to weather that was much nicer than last weekend's - highs only in the 80s and much more reasonable humidity. We did go out & buy a window unit for the bedroom and a small fan for the guest room, though. I was delighted to find a bright-pink surprise, in the form of a "volunteer" impatiens that was certainly not blooming last weekend. The flower is fuchsia and the plant is only a few feet from the driveway - no missing it! I can only assume that the seed was in the pot of lilies-of-the-valley near which it's now blooming. I don't know how long the impatiens will last, as everyone tells me that deer find them very tasty, but I still enjoyed seeing it there.

We also had our contractor back out for a chat. He's going to redo the upstairs bathroom (replace the vanity, shower, drywall, paint & put up a border) and remove the dead a/c cum heating unit in the upstairs bedroom, remove the (ugly, crooked) wallpaper, and paint the bedroom. With any luck at all, that job will be finished by the time my parents come visit in about a month.

Decided not to buy a car right now after all. Between the latest cabin improvement project and the fact that the Chief wants to redo the front bathroom at home, I've got lots of incentive to hang on to my paid-for car another year or so.

At a restaurant near you...

Much too hot to cook, so I tried a new Middle Eastern cafe nearby. Got there to find a drummer & oud player setting up, and a dancer arrived as I was partway through my meal, so I started eating more slowly. There was a family seated nearby with 3 small children; the oldest looked to be no more than 4. The 2 older ones, the 4-year-old and her perhaps 3-yr-old sister, were fascinated - the dancer, her sparkly costume w/ its dangly bits, the music, all had them bouncing in their seats. Even the baby in his high chair was entranced when the dancer stopped briefly near his side of the table.

It's a very small cafe - only 10 or 12 tables at most - and the dancer really only had perhaps 5 or 6 square feet near the front door in which to perform. The family w/ the little ones was seated at the tables right next to the musicians. So close, in fact, that at one point, when the dancer made a sweeping, bowing hip circle, the older girl reached out and tried to grab or at least flick the dangling fringe on the dancer's costume, which swung tantalizingly at the child's eye level. I'm sure the dancer had to be wondering what we were all laughing at!

As the dancer wound into the final section of her routine, her drum solo, the 2 little girls couldn't contain themselves any longer; they jumped to their feet and started to approach, dancing all the while! The older one was doing about as well as you'd expect from a 4-year-old, but her sister really seemed to have the hip thing down! As soon as the dancer turned and spotted them, she reached out and pulled them into the dance, tried to get the older one to do a few moves, while the younger one stuck with what she knew. It was adorable, and the audience loved it. (And I'll bet the parents were wishing for a camera!)

The dancer wasn't bad, given the circumstances. Forget traveling steps, floor patterns, working the room - she was pretty much stuck in a small space. I was therefore pretty impressed when she actually managed to swing a cane in those close quarters without hitting anyone or inadvertently clearing a table. She mixed both cabaret and folkloric styles, but seemed to have more fun w/ the latter. I'd love to see what she can do when she has some room to work.

Her costume was mostly what I'm used to, except that it included a belt that tied loosely at her waist, beaded, jeweled & tasseled to match the rest of her costume. At first I thought her hip work wasn't all that sharp, until I realized that the belt was playing up what her torso was doing and distracting from her hips. A shame - once I realized the distractor, I could see she had some nice hipwork. I hope she has a friend to tell her that belt commits what in theater is the cardinal offense of "pulling focus".

And to think I'd almost opted for carry-out!