No more auditions for a while

The Sound of Music producer called me yesterday to offer me "a nun" and Baroness von something-or-other (it was a very bad connection). Two ensemble roles, in other words. Which is OK, if the Morning Hymn we sang at callbacks is typical of what the nuns get to sing. And if, as the Baroness, I'm a party guest, maybe I'll get to dance, perhaps a waltz or even a laendler.

Can't wait to find out who else is in the cast. Given that this is my first show with this company, I wonder how many people I'll know. We open on Halloween, which is gonna be tough for the kids playing the von Trapp children - imagine giving up trick-or-treating!

Sr. Mary me?

Got called back for a nun in Sound of Music. I thought that, at least for the would-be nuns, there was less pressure than at initial auditions. They gathered us all in the "media room" (which in my day would have been called simply the library), had us take turns reading a scene, then herded us into the same music room where all the auditioners sang in the first round of auditions. The MD drilled us on the 4 parts of the Morning Hymn from the show (only the first 6 or 8 bars), then had us sing it in groups of 4. I got to sing twice; once on each of the 2 middle parts. (While I sang along as she drilled us on each part, the Soprano I was too high for me to sing piano and the Alto part was too low for me to have any volume to speak of.) Loved the chord structure, and it sounded wonderful when we all sang it in one big group!

They weren't sure how many of us they'll want - maybe 12, maybe only 8. Now it's more waiting - they promised again that they'll call each of us, one way or the other, by the end of the weekend. I should know by Sunday whether I've been accepted into the order, as it were, and whether I'll play one of the named nuns.

The friend I think would make a great Maria got called back for Baroness von Schraeder. I hope she gets it - I love seeing her on stage and hearing her sing.

That went well

Auditioned for Sound of Music last night. I haven't seen that many children, mostly little girls, at an audition since I did Music Man - would-be Von Trapp daughters seemed to outnumber the rest of us by at least 4 or 5 to 1! My group of nine consisted of 3 teenage girls, 4 younger girls, the father of one of those teens, and myself. I'd eaten dinner on the way to the audition (Grand Duke rehearsal ran just late enough that there was no time to go home in between) and arrived with my throat still gunky w/ digestive juices, so it was just as well that it was a good hour and a half before they got to me. By then my throat had cleared so that I was able to sing my piece easily. The acoustics in the room were good, too, despite the carpeting - I'm becoming a fan of auditioning in rooms with cinderblock walls. The MD/accompanist played a bunch of random notes for each of us to test our pitch matching; I enjoyed watching the impressed surprise on her face when I was able to sing everything she gave me easily and with good support. Doesn't every performer love that kind of feedback?

The "dance" combination was a piece of cake - really just a short movement combination, very simple. (After all, they were giving it to everyone, including the children.) That one was fun - maybe this was my chance to "redeem myself" after blowing that last dance audition. ;-D

They'll be notifying people Wednesday morning about callbacks, and letting everyone know, one way or the other, by the end of the weekend. I feel that I'm a cinch for ensemble; depending on the other adult mezzos who audition, I might even have a good chance at a role.

A friend and fellow mezzo was also there last night. I think she'd be a charming Maria (R, I hope you get it!), but she'd be good at any role they give her. Unless they get a lot of dynamite mezzos, I think she'll be a shoo-in for some role, and has a good shot at Maria.

Theater weekend

This was one of my heavier theater weekends - the Chief and I went to 1776 Friday and I saw some of "my" pirates and Stanley daughters in a youth production of Cats on Saturday (the boys already have surprisingly rich bass voices and the girls were similarly impressive vocally). Saturday afternoon I went to a "work party" for the Labor Day G&S marathon - I was on "button duty", helping assemble the buttons we'll be selling. Yesterday afternoon was Grand Duke rehearsal, and last night I auditioned for a production of Sound of Music (along with a lot of little girls!).

Attended 2 shows, auditioned for one, had a rehearsal for yet another, and worked for a theater company - all that was missing was a performance and maybe a bit of costuming or work on sets. ;-)

How to make a tough week even worse

SO VERY glad last week is over! Migraines every morning Tuesday through Friday, though meds & caffeine generally chased them away after a couple of hours. Friday night, though, was a different story. The Chief & I were watching a few theater friends in 1776 when, about half an hour before intermission, I started getting the usual warning signs. By intermission it was already getting heavy, so I was upset to realize that I had NO migraine meds with me! No imitrex, no "mega-motrin", just some wussy OTC "pain relievers", which I was desperate enough to take anyway. All through Act II that migraine came on like a freight train. I managed to gut it out, but the instant the lights went down at the end, I practically threw the Chief out of his aisle seat, urging him to "go!" We managed to get a large sheet of heavy-duty (thank heaven!) foil from one of the theater volunteers before getting to the car as fast as I could bear to move. Not a fun ride home - I felt every bump, every pothole, every pavement seam, every time the Chief touched the brake or accelerator. Let's just say I was grateful that, no trashcan liners being available, I had that big sheet of heavy-duty foil to line an empty box. I threw meds at it when we finally got home, then went straight to bed. And just to add insult to injury, despite the meds, I still had enough of the blasted migraine left when I got up Saturday that I took more meds & went right back to bed for another couple of hours.

Migraines for five days straight - I think it's time to have another little chat w/ my doc about these wretched migraines.

KKs coming!

My sister hits a milestone birthday later this year, so the Chief suggested sending her a plane ticket so she could vacation at the cabin for a weekend or longer. She made her reservations last week! She gets in on a Wednesday to spend Thursday & part of Friday playing tourist, then Friday afternoon it's off to the cabin for the weekend. Hurray!

Gonna be fun - we get along famously now that we're grown. (We fought like cats & dogs growing up, didn't start to change that until I left for college.) However, in the multi-ring circus that's our family, she & I rarely get more than 5 uninterrupted minutes together when the Chief & I go out at Christmas. Now we'll have hours and hours to talk about anything and everything. I think this'll be a birthday present for both of us, not just her.

Wonderful news from Mom's oncologist and Dad's surgeon

At Mom's check-up last week, her oncologist "promoted" her to only 2 check-ups in the next year. Even better, they removed the portacath installed 2 years ago for her chemo - we LOVE the implications of that!

Imagine - Mom has now beat (fingers crossed!) three types of cancer - breast, skin, and now lymphoma. If she must collect all these cancers, at least she's not letting them win.

Dad's doing really well too - Wednesday will mark only 3 weeks since his shoulder replacement, yet his range of motion is already up to 150 degrees, from 110 degrees immediately post-op, with a goal of 161 degrees! The doc warned that the muscles will still need a full 8 weeks for full recovery, but he was very impressed with Dad's progress.

Now if we could just keep them both healthy... !

Checks the calendar...

Yep, it's August, but you wouldn't know it. Gorgeous day today - negligible humidity, clear sky, temps barely into the 80s - wonderful! As soon as I got home from work, I opened some windows and the back door to let the breezes in and turned off the a/c. It's supposed to get down into the 50s tonight - this will be lovely sleeping weather tonight. Given that it took me forever (at least midnight) to fall asleep last night, tonight should be much better.

That wasn't so bad.

Recital is now behind me. The 5 of us all seemed to do better today than we did at Friday's run-through, for which I can think of several possible reasons: it wasn't right after work, at the end of the work week; we had an audience; the audience was composed of family & friends who were rooting for us.

The whole thing only ran about half an hour, including the church chimes sounding a modified Westminster, followed by the 3 chimes for the hour. I had the shortest piece, but even the tenor who did 3 pieces (2 of them little things by Richard Strauss) probably didn't sing for more than 5 minutes. Our accompanist (a concert pianist!) followed beautifully, which always helps a lot. I could feel my voice cutting out on me, instead of singing the smooth, unbroken line I wanted it to give me, but the Chief commented afterward that I sounded "pretty damn good, actually." :D

Afterward, we all partook of the juice & munchies our teacher provided while we congratulated our fellow recitalists. The Chief was "my" only audience member, so I was flattered when some of the other attendees complimented me on my performance. The mother-in-law of one of the other recitalists even tried to recruit me for a motet group she sings with, and for a chorus at the local university! It seems they're short on altos and are getting by with sopranos working in their lower register.

Two women came up to me and told me they marveled at how I could sing "when she doesn't seem to be opening her mouth!" :D When I mentioned that my teacher had been trying to get me to realize that I don't have to open the front of my mouth all that much to get more sound, that I should open the back, they realized that their (voice teacher? choir director?) had been trying to tell them the same thing. They apparently hadn't expected to see that in practice; guess they have something to think about for their next voice lesson or choir rehearsal.

I also did a bit of recruiting among the other students for a production of The Merry Widow I hope to do next year. I especially worked on the 2 men. The one is just starting and doesn't have a big voice yet, but he's a tenor and can hold his pitch. The other has quite a nice tenor and really nailed his high notes this afternoon. He would have a good chance at the comprimario tenor bits, and if he can control his nervous fidgets when he sings, he might even get something bigger.

My first recital, coming up fast!

This afternoon we had a run-through w/ the accompanist for Sunday's recital. One of my teacher's students had to pull out when her work schedule changed, but she came to the run-through anyway, just for the experience. She's quite young and seemed a bit nervous, but that didn't seem to hurt her.

There will be 5 of us singing come Sunday afternoon. The others are all doing a bit more than I am, but that's OK by me - the little I'm doing is about as much as I could reasonably manage, given Pirates, work and life in general. I didn't do my best this afternoon, but I did pretty darn well, considering how little warm-up I'd done on the way over (15-minute drive). Nice acoustics, lovely accompanist, and we all served as audience for each other and were suitably sympathetic. ;-)

I had been getting pretty nervous about this thing, which is silly - it's not as though I've never sung solo in front of strangers before. For heaven's sake, that's what auditions are! Now, though, having sung with the others, I realize this will be OK unless it's a Code Red day and I don't manage to get enough warm-up to clear the worst of the crud.

Volunteer flowers!

Looked out the back door last week and realized that, in with all the weeds that moved into my flowerboxes because I never got around to planting flowers there, I have 2 portulaca plants! One's got yellow flowers, the other has pinkish-red ones. Free flowers - how cool is that!

I don't know how they got there, but I'm guessing it might have been the birds that like to forage in among the weeds for whatever it is they're hoping to snack on. Seeds in, seeds out, dontcha know. They can't be left over from last year, because it's been 2 years since I had portulaca in the flower boxes.

Sorry, ladies, he's taken!

Background: The Chief has put in his paperwork to retire at the end of the year and has spent many a happy hour contemplating what to do with all that spare time he's gonna have come January.

This morning, when I asked him the usual "anything else we need at the store?" he told me out of the blue that once he's retired, he can do some of the laundry & grocery shopping. (He already does plenty around the house; he's no slug.) He did stipulate that he'd continue to leave the baking to me, but if he's willing to fold all the laundry, I'm looking forward to his retirement! :-D

"Don't call us, we'll call you"?

Still waiting to hear back about last week's audition. I just checked the company's website, which says that "you will be contacted if you have been selected for call-backs from the July auditions". It also says that call-backs will be in September, along with additional auditions. (I'm interpreting that to mean they'll audition more men; theater companies always need more men.) First time I've ever heard of callbacks being 6 weeks or more after the original auditions; wonder what that's all about? There are some other shows I'm interested in that audition in August; I'm not going to skip those auditions while I hang fire waiting to hear about Music Man and Iolanthe, and I doubt many other people will, either.

Since I haven't heard, I guess I'll assume that I didn't make callbacks. Not a huge shock, as the competition for mezzo roles is always fierce, and they tend to cast young (20s) for their choruses, at least for G&S. They'll probably want at least a few "women of a certain age" for Music Man, but since I haven't heard back, I'm guessing I won't be one of them. Which doesn't break my heart, as it means I'm available to do Merry Widow with another company instead.

So I'll go see both their productions, perhaps review Iolanthe for Savoynet, enjoy the music, and try not to annoy my neighbors by singing along. ;-)

Another audition

Threw together an audition this afternoon for shows that don't actually run until February and March of next year! Not sure why the company's auditioning so very early, but I dusted off "I Hate Men" and trotted off to sing it for the audition panel. The panel consisted of the directors & MDs for both shows (Music Man and Iolanthe) and the Music Man choreographer.

I had only planned to audition for Iolanthe, as Music Man runs opposite another company's Merry Widow, which I'd love to do again! (I love the music in that show - Lehar's a genius!) However, the Music Man MD teased me about that - "what, you don't care about Music Man?", as did the director, so I told 'em that, well, I would love to play Eulalie McKechnie Shinn (the mayor's wife).

The accompanist was good - followed very nicely, didn't have a lick of trouble with the music, both of which I've learned not to take for granted. I thought I sang pretty well, considering I'd settled on my audition piece maybe 2 hours before I got there and that the air quality the past several days has had my lungs full of crud. The room had cinderblock walls, which seemed to make it pretty "live" acoustically - great fun to sing in. On the whole, I'm actually satisfied with how I sang.

The dance audition was another matter. This was a comeuppance for me, as I generally fret about the singing but take it for granted that I'll be able to hold my own in any dance audition not designed for trained dancers. I can usually get most of a combination, but not this time. Maybe because it started on the left foot, but when it came right down to it, I forgot the first step or two, which put me behind, and I completely messed up the final bar of the combination. Worse, the choreographer only ran it once after she had us do it on our own, so I didn't get a chance to redeem myself. I walked outta there rather taken aback that I'd actually screwed up a dance audition. That's never happened to me before, and I've had some pretty fancy footwork thrown at me in dance auditions.

I requested the Fairy Queen in Iolanthe but don't expect to get it, simply because of the caliber of the mezzos who tend to audition for this company. I also don't expect to be offered chorus, since they've tended to cast 20-something women and it's gotta be a pretty big house for me to read that young. I don't expect to be offered Eulalie, either, for the same reason. If they offer me chorus, I won't take it because if it comes down to chorus in Music Man or Merry Widow, it's no contest - Lehar wins, hands down. And because Iolanthe opens only a couple of weeks after Music Man closes, people can't do both shows, so the directors may find themselves doing a bit of horsetrading in their casting meeting.

The Chief and I were discussing this over dinner tonight (when we weren't lamenting the food and the service). The Chief repeated what he's said before, that I should audition for plays as well as musicals. I reminded him that I've already done one play and a non-singing, non-dancing role in a musical, and showed him my spreadsheet of shows I'm considering auditioning for - plays outnumber musicals 2 to 1.

No stars for you!

Chief & I went to a new restaurant in the area in a space previously occupied by a very nice, family-run Mexican place. (We miss you, Los Cabos!) Lordy mama, but these folks have no earthly clue! The Chief ordered a bottle of Budweiser; the waiter came out, empty-handed, a few minutes later to report that it wasn't available on draft. Uh, yeah, that's why he ordered a bottle. When the waiter finally brought out our drinks, including the water that we shoulda gotten right away, he bobbled the tray and spilled almost half a glass of wine all over the table and a little on us, so we got up & moved to another booth. The waiter did offer to buy us dessert in compensation, but we never saw the manager.

Eventually the food came out. The Chief had ordered a burger, well done; it came out medium rare, and the fries were a bit rubbery from sitting under the heat lamp too long. The filling in my spinach calzone was very good, but the dough was overdone, and half the calzone's "footprint" on the plate was the crust, which was too tough to cut. Our waiter never did come by to see how the food was; the Chief would have liked to send his burger back to be cooked further.

And yes, the waiter had offered to buy us dessert, but when I ordered, he trotted off to the kitchen without asking the Chief what he wanted. We had been under the impression that he was offering two desserts; maybe not?

Bottom line: food not that great, waiter in need of remedial training, and the manager shoulda checked to see that we hadn't gotten soaked. No stars for this place!

Tired!

This is one of those weeks. Two of our editors are on vacation this week and a 3rd is up to his eyeballs in a huge, hairy project, leaving 2 of us to handle what the 2 writers and 2 newbies are doing. Which isn't as good as it sounds, because the other editor is also our supervisor, who just got promoted up the chain. While her new job doesn't become official for another few weeks, she's already started getting cc'ed on all the e-mail and pulled into meetings. As a result, I've been staying late trying to keep the backlog from getting too big; I've already put in 30 hours and it's only Wednesday! I even had to cancel my voice lesson yesterday because I wasn't going to be able to get out of work in time to get there. I'm gonna be so glad to see Friday evening!

And I'm still waiting to hear about that 2nd job. I was really hoping to hear by today, but no such luck. Maybe tomorrow...

Maybe it's just because I'm tired and preoccupied with work, but I've been getting nervous about this student recital. It's only 3 weeks away and I can't seem to make any headway memorizing the Italian piece. Yeah, yeah, I know, practicing would help matters, but I just can't seem to get that text to stick in my brain. This is weird; I had a little bit of Latin ('way back in high school, but still) and a lot of French so Italian shouldn't be that hard. Heck, I managed to memorize Hungarian songs and there are almost no cognates in Hungarian with any of the languages I've ever studied. Is it all the Code Orange days? preoccupation with work? my brain trying to take the summer off?

Still waiting

Still waiting to hear about interview #2; given one thing and another, it's gonna be "mid-week" before they tell me anything one way or the other. Sigh; I wouldn't mind so much, but I got the official offer on the 1st job this afternoon and I don't want to leave them hanging too long.

Today seemed to last forever; I was sleepy when I got to work (low pressure systems do that to me) and ended up working an extra couple of hours. I'm not sure why my head hasn't dinged the computer keyboard yet tonight...

Having second thoughts about doing that recital, but maybe that's just because I'm so tired that learning new music sounds too much like work right now. I'll talk to my teacher at tomorrow's lesson and see what she thinks.

Things for which the wait has ended:
- Grand Duke: I didn't get the Baroness but I did get one of the named chorus girls, so I'll have a few token solo lines, a spoken line or few, and a quartet at the end of one of the finales.
- Board: I was running unopposed for general secretary of company V, so no surprise that I got it. In fact, nearly all the candidates were running unopposed, though I wonder who our members-at-large are.
- Christmas travel is a go! Southwest requires 48K AmEx points for two round-trip tix, not one, and my folks just gifted us a boatload of points, so we now have enough to book both tickets on points, freeing up all kinds of cash for the rental car (my folks only have 1 vehicle) and a hotel room (sparing us last year's shuffle from parents' to sister's and back again). Hurray!

Pinch 'n' smidgen cooking

We had 2 1/2 huge zucchini a neighbor had given us last week (they'd been to a produce auction over the July 4th weekend), as well as several large yellow squash and maybe half a dozen cucumbers. Today I picked up a coupla onions and a few tomatoes, cut 'em up with some zucchini & yellow squash, added some garlic & basil and sauteed the lot in olive oil. Yum!

Good thing it turned out well, as I still have 1 2/3 zucchini, 3 or 4 yellow squash, 2 tomatoes and an onion. Maybe those will be Monday night's side dish. (I'm taking the cucumbers in to work to see if anyone wants them.)

Maybe not such a grim outlook after all?

We've been trying to figure out how to spend Christmas with my family without breaking the bank. The Chief had called Southwest a few weeks ago and found that a round-trip ticket would cost $550! However, when I checked the other night, I found a fare for "only" $445, and yesterday he found one for $32_ (per ticket). So maybe fares are coming down, as more and more people look at them, pick themselves up off the floor, and decide that no, they don't really need to fly after all. Better, when he called, he was told we'd need 48,000 points per ticket, up from the previous 24,000 points. However, when I called Southwest tonight, I was told that no, it's still 24K per ticket. So maybe we can do both tickets on points, which makes the trip affordable after all!

Busy week

Had interviews Monday & yesterday for the 2 similar jobs I'd applied for. Monday's interview concluded with their telling me straight out that the job is mine if I want it. Yesterday's interviewers were cagier - said there'd been "some interest" in the job. I found out later that I was the only one who'd applied for either one, yet the 2nd folks told me they wouldn't be making a decision until today or Monday. I haven't heard from them yet, so I guess it'll be Monday.

Auditioned Wednesday for The Grand Duke. It'll be a semi-staged, concert version with orchestra, and only 2 performances, but if I get something other than chorus, that'll be a first for me with this company. It would be the first time I get to sing solo with an orchestra & conductor out where I can see 'em - with both Pitti-Sing and Ruth, our musicians were stashed behind the set. Part of me hopes no one else auditions for the Baroness, but part of me wants the satisfaction of knowing that there was competition for the role and I beat 'em out. Call-backs were tonight (the Chief & I already had plans); the company's annual meeting/picnic is tomorrow, so I'm hoping I'll find out then how I did.

Duke will be one of the offerings to be sung at the "Great Gilbert & Sullivan Sing-Out" over Labor Day weekend. At the casting meeting, I managed to snag Ruth and Lady Angela for myself; now I need to schedule a session with my last voice teacher so I can get Angie's music on tape to learn. The only problem I anticipate is learning her line for "I hear the soft note" in the Act I finale, since I already know the chorus alto line. Good thing you aren't expected to be off book for sing-outs - I can highlight Angie's line in the score so I sing her line there, not the altos'.

Work wasn't as productive as I could have wished this week. I spent a fair bit of time researching the 2 job prospects, got only preliminary research and a very rough draft of a summary report I want to do, spent more time than usual on administrivia (or "la triviata", to steal my voice teacher's husband's term), and tried to stay awake, since our temporary offices are quite warm.

Chief is off to the cabin again this weekend to continue work on the deck out there. I'd've gone too, but I've got that annual meet/nic tomorrow. I want to turn in my ballot and stick around for the announcement of the new board members. I'm running unopposed for secretary; in fact, the only office for which there's any competition are the member-at-large positions - 6 people are running for 4 at-large slots. I figure my first act as secretary will be to announce the new board to the company's listserve and ask the web master to post the names on the home page.

A weekend in the country

We spent a lovely long weekend at the cabin. The Chief got a primer coat and a first paint coat on the front deck before the rains came Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, because the paint hadn't all dried by then, some of it didn't last. The rains took care of some of it, and a local critter (the Chief suspects a raccoon) left its mark on the bottom step.

Thursday I went to the neighborhood nursery and came home with four 5-gal. buckets of compost, a huge bag of pachysandra, four 1-gallon pots of dicentra (he had been having so much trouble selling them, he had given up and was giving them away!), a ladyfern and a royal fern. And the price tag for this carload of stuff? All of $18! Friday I fired up the tiller and got to work. That machine is a real workhorse and also put me thru my paces. The thing bounces like crazy when it hits rocks, and I hit plenty that morning, so I got quite a workout controlling the tiller. The routine was pretty straightforward; till the living daylights out of a patch to be planted, throwing aside the largest of the rocks (i.e., fist-size or larger); scatter compost, setting the earthworms into a "refuge" (empty coffee can); till the compost into the remaining clay; plant some pachysandra; introduce the worms to their new home; scatter grass seed over the patch. Move to new bare spot and repeat the whole process. Because it's electric, I needed to get all that pachy planted before the rain started, which I managed. In fact, the rain very obligingly waited until I had everything put away, not just the tiller and its 100' extension cord.

I'm so glad I bought that tiller last year. Given that at least our section of the Mountain State is essentially shale with a very thin, sparse dusting of clay, it would be impossible for me to plant a thing without my lovely little tiller. And boy, does it hold up. It automatically stops when it gets weeds wrapped around the tine disks or picks up a rock. Usually I just had to stop & restart it, but once I found it had two fist-sized rocks wedged between the tine disks in different places. It didn't break, it didn't bend, it didn't burn out the motor, it just stopped until I cleared the rocks and reset it. To plagiarize the old Timex slogan, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking!

Thursday we also ran out to get a few things we'd forgotten to take with us, and came home by way of one of the local farmer's markets. The first of the peaches were in; still a bit green, but I bought some anyway. By Friday I couldn't stand it any longer; those peaches smelled so good I had to bake 'em up! I didn't have a copy of my favorite peach pie recipe with me, but no matter; I guessed at the flour/sugar/spice mix that went in with the peaches, eyeballed the amount of peaches to cut up, and hoped for the best. Not as good as if I'd had the recipe, but the Chief seemed to think it tasted just fine.

We saw quite a few deer this weekend, including a doe/fawn pair, and I spotted a hummingbird and a big black butterfly checking out the rhododendrons.

The homeowners association arranged for gypsy moth spraying this spring (we had a disgusting plague of the little monsters last year), so between that and the rain, the foliage is nice and thick and lush this year. That means more flowers on the rhodies, too, and the pachysandra and euonymus I planted last year, which barely survived the drought, are looking quite healthy & happy this year and the grass the Chief planted last fall is flourishing. Whether it's the greenery or how cool the rain kept things this weekend, the birds seemed more active and vocal. It's so much nicer waking up to birds than to an alarm clock!

Things to be happy about

Good voice lesson today. Wore me out, and I almost wore out my voice before the end of the lesson, but I was working hard in a way that was producing results. Still internalizing the new techniques, of course - it'll be quite a while before I get a handle on everything, physiologically, vocally, mentally. But my voice feels bigger, and when I'm closing in on the new techniques, I can feel the tone "spin" - very cool! This recital Aug. 3rd might be a tiny triumph (tiny because I'm only prepping 2 pieces).

Auditions a week from tomorrow for Grand Duke. It's only a concert version, but an audience is an audience, and while I've been called back for things the last few times I've auditioned for this group, I have yet to be offered a role. With the way my lessons are going, that just may change! Poor Chief - gonna hafta put up w/ a lotta screeching & caterwauling as I put my voice thru its paces and try to incorporate the new work into my audition piece.

GD will be part of the Labor Day weekend G&S marathon I'll be gorging on. After a 6-plus-hour casting meeting Sunday, I ended up with Lady Angela (Patience) and RUTH! That role & Mad Margaret (Ruddigore) were the 2 most requested - 8 mezzos wanted 'em! That's an advantage to being on the committee - I was there to plead my own cause. "I just did Ruth, so I'd've let someone else have it, but since he's doing Frederic, Ruth's my first choice." Yes, it's only a concert read-through, and an informal one at that, but the beauty of these things is that you get a chance to sing roles you'd never get because of age or what-have-you. There's a chance I'll get to play Ruth again, but probably not with this particular tenor, who's a real sweetie and very funny.

I applied for two cool new positions at work a few weeks ago. Today I finally heard about the first one - as I was hoping, I was the only applicant. Better, the woman who called said that, having read my resume, she thought they were getting "a great deal". :D It's still very early in the process - haven't even scheduled the obligatory interview yet - but I'm optimistic that this'll work out. Not only would I get to do a spiffy new thing, but I'd be able to take public transit, and since I wouldn't even have to change subway lines, I should be able to do some quality napping as part of my daily commute. Woo-hoo!

And tomorrow after work we're off to the cabin for a long weekend - first time I've been out there since the beginning of May. Along with the usual groceries & things that'll go into the care, we'll also take my tiller and lots and lots of extension cord. I plan to head to the local nursery, possibly as early as Thursday, to get more pachysandra to put in over the septic field now that we know that it'll "take" and that the deer positively dislike eating the stuff.

Strawberry pie

The Chief and my cousin ate the strawberry pie with no complaints, but I was a little disappointed. Not because it didn't turn out well (though I'm learning that when using tapioca as a thickener, I need to refrigerate the pie before cutting into it) but because cooked strawberries remind me too much of strawberry preserves. Yummy, but I've decided I'd rather have my strawberries uncooked. Other berries, however, might be quite wonderful - I may end up experimenting as things come into season, though right now we're eagerly awaiting the first peaches of the summer. (I have a wonderful spiced peach pie recipe from a good friend's mother.)

Another pie

My cousin (oh, alright, Mom's cousin) is due to pull up out front at any minute. In honor of the occasion, I bought WAY too many strawberries (4 pounds!) and made a strawberry pie, which smells wonderful.

Beasts of burden

Saturday I pulled out our biggest wheeled suitcase, the one big enough to fold a full-size adult into, and crammed it full of all the Pirates costumes that can't go into the wash. It was a pain hauling that thing to the car, then across the cleaner's gravel parking lot, but it was almost worth it just to watch the woman's eyes widen when I stepped up to her register with that enormous suitcase.

This evening the Chief went with me to pick everything up from the cleaner's. No way I could've done it myself in one trip, with 6 police coats, 4 skirts, the MG's uniform jacket and robe, my Act I costume and one of the fanciest pirate sashes. As it was, each of us walked out of there with a very full armload of dry cleaning, which went a long way toward filling my trunk.

But all these costumes are almost outta here. The laundered things are in bags or on hangers, the bobby helmets, nightsticks and miscellaneous other small items are boxed up & ready to go, so now that I've collected the dry cleaning, it's off to the costume closets tomorrow to return everything. (Lordy, I hope we don't find some stray costume piece a week from now!)

Can she bake a cherry pie...?

Signs of summer: crape myrtles start flowering, fireflies appear at dusk, and I start making fruit pies. Saturday I made the first pie of the summer. I got ambitious and decided to make a cherry pie, not because I've ever been a particular fan of cherry pies (I hate the glop in the canned filling!) but because the Chief likes them, so it was a convenient excuse. That, and the Pirates cast party that night. So I bought 3 or 4 lbs of cherries, spent about 45 mins. pitting 5 or 6 cups of them, and baked my first cherry pie.

I first searched thru a few of my cookbooks for recipes. I was surprised to learn that the Chief's big cookbook only had a recipe using canned cherries; not a word about using fresh. Ditto Betty Crocker. Only my 75th-anniversary-edition Joy of Cooking had a cherry pie recipe for fresh cherries. (Admittedly, if I'd looked through my "collection" cookbooks, I might have had better luck.)

The recipe recommended sour cherries, though it conceded that sweet (the kind I bought) would do. It suggested either cornstarch or tapioca as thickener; I went with the latter, and used the higher amount the recipe recommended. The results were rather runny, though the filling did set up after being in the fridge overnight. The taste was also a bit disappointing; not bad, but not as much cherry taste as I'd hoped. Still, not bad for a maiden effort.

Next time, though, if I decide to try this again, I'll wait for the sour cherry season, and search thru my fundraiser cookbooks for a recipe.

Grapes

We had some grapes that had gotten a bit past their prime which I was going to throw away. The Chief, however, decided he'd rather throw them into the back yard for the local fauna. I'd've bet the squirrels would have been all over them but in fact it was the birds that first started in on them. We had fun watching a robin peck away at a grape and try to pick the whole thing up in its beak. It finally settled for flying off with a small chunk of it. Another bird did manage to make off with a whole grape but it was moving much too fast for us to get more than the briefest glimpse of it before it disappeared into the trees. All we know is that it was roughly robin-sized and had some red on its head.

Where's the rainbow?

We had a short, intense rainstorm an hour or so ago, while the sun continued shining brightly. But could we see a rainbow? No! I want my rainbow!

Working hard

Had another lesson with my new teacher today. She's really woodshedding my technique, which sorely needs it. She works me even harder than my last teacher, and those lessons would often leave me physically and mentally tired. So far, the great chunk of my lessons has involved a lot of exhortations to put more energy into my sound; now, more; more! And I'd forgotten how mentally wearing it can be to try to understand how a new technique is supposed to work, what I need to do to make it happen, and then remember to do it, and make it a habit.

Then she threw a small wrench into the works today - would I be willing and available to participate in a student recital she wants to put together in about 6 weeks? I'm gonna do it, if only to have a goal to push me to work on the 2 pieces she's given me. I've never done any recital-ing before; this should be a good experience for me (I hope).

Not sewing a costume, for a change!

Tonight I've been trying to cut out a dress. Just a dress, not a costume. Nothing fancy, just something to wear to work, church, or out to dinner. Found some wonderful fabric a few weeks ago and am finally getting some time to start working on it. I love the print, which isn't as twee as it looks in the photo, and the fabric is just about perfect. Despite being 100% cotton, when I ran it through the wash to prep it for cutting, it came out of the dryer barely wrinkled - this dress is gonna be one that won't need ironing as long as I hang it up as soon as the dryer stops. Even better, it's ever so soft and is light enough for summer but with just enough substance that it has a lovely drape; the pattern has a rather full skirt, and that skirt is going to move very nicely once I get this made up.

I say I've been trying to cut this out because the pattern envelope tells me to cut one size, based on my measurements, but the finished garment sizes on the pattern piece tell me to cut 2 or 3 sizes smaller. It's been years and years since I've used a pattern to sew for myself; I don't remember running into this before. I've e-mailed my dilemma to the company but will probably have to wait until tomorrow for a response. I do hope I get one then, as I've been itching to sew up this fabric since I bought it. I'd love to have the dress finished by the weekend.

No more Ruth

Pirates closed last night. After spending the past few months having so much fun with these people, and Pirates being such a fun show, this is another one I'm gonna miss. Good thing we've got the cast party coming up next Saturday, to ease the pain of "withdrawal". ;-)

One of the audience members last night came up to me after the show and told me she was "eating [her] heart out", as she'd played Ruth herself five times! We had a fun, if short, chat about how much fun Ruth is to do, G&S roles she'd played, which ones were the "best" to do, and so on.

We had our biggest audience last night - they even added a row of 6 or 7 seats to accommodate the demand. Last night's crowd included 2 Birdie alumnae, who were vocal in their appreciation, and my recent voice teacher and one of her daughters. It was flattering to have so many people to talk to afterwards, but also a little frustrating, as it meant I didn't get to talk to any of them for more than a few minutes, when what I wanted to do was sit down and talk with them for a few hours. My Birdie friends did get pictures of the 3 of us together; I'm hoping they turned out.

Our Edith was being quite the shutterbug backstage last night. This was a good thing, because I had forgotten to put my camera in my theater bag, so I got only a few pics of people in the costumes I busted my butt to put together. "Edith" also got a few pictures of Mabel wearing the hat I made for her, so I have that for future reference. I hope someone got a picture of the MG's "uniform" with the medals - they looked very good indeed under the lights. "Edith" also took lots and lots of group shots; so many, she was talking about putting all her photos on CDs to give people at the cast party next week.

Strike was amazingly quick - less than an hour! This was due in no small part to the fact of our relatively minimalist set. Our director & her husband did a very nice job designing a set that suggested the scene without requiring a lot of construction, and the production used very few props. I was surprised to see that the next show in the space was already painting over our set while we were still taking things down and putting them away. They couldn't have waited until the next day?

Costume strike also went very quickly. Being able to put most of the Act I costumes (all but a few pirate costumes) into the collection bags & boxes at intermission helped a lot. To my relief, all the bags & boxes fit into my car, too. Now to haul it all inside, inventory it, clean the washables, haul the dry-clean-only stuff to the discount cleaners...

What does "musical" mean?

First of all, thanks, Mom! While I didn't inherit your perfect pitch, I do seem to have relative pitch (which for my purposes is probably better) and your musicality.

But what does it mean to be "musical"? I've had various voice teachers over the years tell me that I'm musical - good feel for the music, sense of phrasing, that sorta thing. Which doesn't automatically mean I can sing well. I once saw a quote to the effect that having a Stradivarian instrument doesn't mean you can play the thing - you still have to learn the mechanics of it. I guess musicality means that, when you do learn the mechanics, they don't sound mechanical.

At this point in my vocal education, I still have a lot of mechanics to learn but have just about completed all the remedial work I had to do. Now I'm finally able to start working on how to combine technique and musicality to produce a performance, not merely a mechanical exercise. Not "See, I'm singing these notes", but "Ruth is happy to be a pirate" or what-have-you.

And why are humans, at least some of us, musical at all? What evolutionary or survival purpose does it serve, if any, or is it merely a byproduct of something else? There are all kinds of studies demonstrating that abilities in music, math and language tend to track together - if you're good at one, odds are that you're good at one or both of the other two. Since that has to do with brain function, maybe music is a byproduct of language? A predecessor or enabler of language? Discuss.

Too much!

Oy, what a week, and it's only Tuesday! Yesterday was a Code Red day; air quality so bad that asthmatics such as myself really shouldn't venture outdoors without a gas mask. Perhaps because it was a Code day, I woke up w/ another incipient migraine. Managed to keep it at bay with caffeine, resorting to imitrex only mid-afternoon.

Got to work yesterday to find that my computer wouldn't boot up, so I had to use someone else's (which of course didn't have all my apps loaded on it) until IT finally got around to sending someone to fix my computer.

They're moving our office to temporary spaces on Thursday so they can rehab our current space, in a building that probably hasn't been touched since it was built in, oh, maybe the Nixon administration. We're also supposed to get new furniture, to replace the WWII-vintage desks. OK, most of them are newer than that, but I doubt any of them are much newer than the building, which means they're all designed for typewriters, not computers and keyboards. At any rate, we're all going through our desks and throwing out old stuff, filling boxes with the stuff worth keeping, all while trying to continue to do at least some of what the taxpayers are paying us for. Yesterday was thus not a terribly productive day for me, what with the non-working computer, the computer that didn't have my software load, having to fill boxes, then trip over boxes because we don't really have anywhere to put them while we wait for the movers.

I was also stressing over this pain-in-the-butt annual accounting thing we have to do. The online form is very poorly laid out, the system is not particularly intuitive, the instructions aren't much help, and the system kept flaking out yesterday. Grrrrrrrrrr!

Today was both better than yesterday - my computer worked, if slowly, and I had done all but my last-minute packing yesterday - and worse - I kept getting interrupted ("do we need to keep this?" "help us go through this file drawer and see what needs to be archived"), so that I actually finished nothing at all.

On the plus side, today was "only" a Code Orange day, and I had my first voice lesson in over a month. Despite the "Code crud", my teacher was encouraging and told me I was "singing well", I assume referring to technique rather than sound.

Oh, and friends are coming into town Friday night for the show and spending the night with us, so TW and I are trying to clean and declutter. Didn't get much done tonight, but we continue to chip away at it. I'm off work Thursday & Friday, so that'll be when the bathrooms get scoured, the guest bed sheets get washed, and so on.

Mom's cousin called us out of the blue the other night to say he'd be coming thru town at the end of the month and was our offer of a place to stay still good? Yes, of course! Fortunately, the place will already have been company-cleaned once, so it won't take much to spruce it up for him. We'll mostly just continue to declutter and hope for the best.

And just in case I didn't have enough on my plate already, someone pointed out some new jobs that have recently opened up. The person who's sort of shepherding these new jobs thru the HR process gave me the impression that they're having trouble getting folks to apply, which kinda surprised me. After all, how often do you get a chance to try something completely new (i.e., you get to be the one to set the bar), with only a 2-year commitment, with a guarantee of a slight raise and a $100/month commuter benefit if you opt for public transportation? I mean really, what's not to love? Problem is, the closing date for most of them is next Friday, and the report dates are as little as 3 weeks away! Given our office move and everything else, there is absolutely no way I could get a proper application done in time. I may have to make a few calls and see just how firm that deadline is. This is definitely something I need to look into. They sound like really good opportunities working interesting projects, I'm not inclined to dismiss even a small raise, and I'd much rather take the subway (sleep or read en route!) than drive. The biggest - OK, only - problem I have is that I like my current job and and the folks I'm working with. However, this wouldn't be the first time I've left a job and coworkers I liked to try some new, different cool job. Decisions, decisions...

We did it!

Last night we finally performed with a full cast that was also fully healthy - at long last! B was still a little pale, recovering from his ailment, but of course a little make-up took care of that. The humidity and poor air quality also had some us coughing on crud, but I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps a little of that may lubricate my voice - while I was coughing intermittently all night long, I had no vocal trouble whatsoever.

"Yes, yes, let's talk about the weather"

We've had some pretty dramatic weather this week. Monday we had highs in the 70s; by yesterday the high was flirting with the 100-degree mark! Wednesday we had some wild storm fronts move through the area - a few tornados, very high winds, way too much rain in an oversaturated area, and power outages all over the place.

Last night we had another spectacular sound-and-light show (i.e., a thunderstorm) move through during Act I. After the show, a friend noted with amusement that as the Stanley daughters were singing "How beautifully blue the sky, the glass [barometer] is rising very high. Continue fine I hope it may...", the audience could hear the thunder of the storm outside.

Here we go again

Once again tonight, we performed without a full cast. One of our cast members called to say he was "violently ill" and wouldn't make it tonight, so we had to redo a few things to fill the holes. I wonder when we'll manage a performance with a full cast that's also fully healthy? At least nearly all of us who were there were healthy; our Sgt is still dealing w/ the cough hanging on from last week's cold.

When B called to tell us he was sick, he first tried to call the cast member who'd urged him to audition. When he couldn't raise her, he called me. This is really bringing out the mother hen in me. I'm really going to miss all my chicks when this show closes. ;-)

Old costume photos

I enjoy studying the people in old photos, especially their clothing. It's interesting to see the fads in photography poses, what people choose to wear, how & whether they accessorize - a little social & cultural anthropology. Old photos of actors in costume are even more interesting. I'm jealous of the detail and apparent weight of the costumes, though perhaps the only ones whose photos have survived are the professionals, who could afford something more substantial and more elaborate.

As we've been in rehearsal for Pirates, I've come across a few old photos of actresses playing Ruth. I'm fascinated to see the vaguely oriental look to the earliest of these, and find myself wondering what kind of dancing or blocking those Ruths were able to do in costumes that look fairly heavy. The lefthand picture is from 1880, the center one dates from 1901 and the one on the right is undated. That last one is rather funny; doesn't she look like she should be holding a tambourine or offering to tell your fortune?

Now check out these costume shots, which are clearly from the 20th century:

This one's dated 1919. Suddenly we see the stereotypical pirate hats on Ruth and the Pirate King. I don't know why Ruth's got one corner of her apron tucked up, unless it's to show off more of her fancy skirt. (I wonder what it looked like up close.)The braid and trim on Frederic's jacket make him look like a military school cadet. Notice the skirt on the PK. I'm assuming this is a picture of the old D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and the PK's costume is probably based on that from the original production, or at least an early one. Maybe it's just the way the skirt drapes, but I think it looks vaguely Greek.

In this 1926 pic, look at Fred's Greek-looking pirate costume. (This is a scene from Act I, when Fred's still in pirate costume. In Act II, as above, he changes from "this alarming costume" to "decent clothing".) Looks like the 1926 Ruth is wearing the same costume used in 1919, though that pirate hat sure does look strange seen from the side, doesn't it?

And here's a 1950s Ruth: still with that pirate hat. I do wonder what she's wearing under that skirt to make it that shape - a funny sort of hoop? a petticoat with ruffles that start just below the hips? The vaguely military style of her jacket (note the cuffs & front "placket") is kinda sharp. You definitely get both the nursemaid and the pirate in this costume.

Breathing easily at last!

Finally got in to see the doctor today, after having a lot of breathing problems the past few days. That's not unusual when my cold moves from my head into my chest, but in this case I think it was exacerbated by the high pollen count and increasing humidity since Monday. Anyway, the doc recommended I continue to use my inhalers at the higher dosage for at least a few more days, if not another week. She then had me do a nebulizer treatment. Wow! I hadn't realized just how tight my lungs had become until after that treatment - my lungs felt much more elastic.

Now I can breathe without thinking about it; a welcome change. Even better, I'm no longer worried that I'll be able to take a proper breath to sing or to say my lines come Friday.

messy mango

Tonight we finally got around to cutting up the mango I bought last week. After a good week on the counter, it had gotten rather too soft for TW's mango cutter, which in this case was more of a mango mangler. The mango was also very juicy; so much so that we ended up eating it over the sink. So picture it - two grown adults, leaning over the sink (good thing we'd already done the dishes), trying not to bang elbows as we made sure to get every last bite out of that mango's skin.

Minty fresh

Just added some mint "shoots" (the shortest ones are at least a foot tall!) to the grocery store roses I bought on Saturday. The roses didn't have a perceptible smell when I first brought them home, but after a few days in a warm kitchen, they smell lovely! Now I've added mint to the melange. Wonder if the mint smell, currently very faint, will also grow stronger, especially now that the shoots are in dirt, not damp paper towels.

Devoiced

This cold has moved into my chest and is seriously hindering my voice. When I went to church this evening (so nice to have a church w/ a 5 p.m. mass not 5 minutes from the theater), I found that I could barely sing - so little breath I had to breathe in the middle of phrases, not much volume, and some notes and any intervals across or near my passaggio were difficult to sing, if I managed it at all. This did not bode well for my performance tonight!

I warned our music director that my volume would be limited and that he'd have to listen hard for me. This is an issue because the small space dictates that our musicians be placed behind the set, where we can't see them and they can't see us. There are several places in Pirates where a singer has an a capella pick-up to a measure before the orchestra joins in. Ruth has quite a few of those, so the MD needed to realize that he'd have trouble hearing them tonight.

As it turned out, I was able to get out my lines and my songs, but only just. I think I may have had perhaps half my usual volume. Even speaking required a lot of effort just to produce an audible sound; trying to sing at an audible level seemed to require as much energy as pushing a truck out of the mud. However, it must have sounded OK, because none of my fellow cast members commented on my reduced volume, and as I was working my way through the crowd, a woman came up to me, told me I was great, that she loved the show, thought we were all wonderful. Maybe I should have asked her to come home with me, so she could continue in that vein. No, best not, since TW has come down with my cold and we wouldn't want to infect the nice lady.

"Stage mommy"

A friend of mine somehow acquired the affectionate nickname of "stage mommy" when she was wearing her Stage Manager hat. Quiet and efficient, she could nevertheless be quite loud and ruthless when necessary. She ran a very tight ship, made sure cues happened when they were supposed to, and never let us sing in the dark unless that was supposed to happen.

I may be borrowing her title for the rest of our run. One of our cast members has now called me twice when he's been running late, presumably after calling the director. The second time was last night, as I was sewing on the Sgt's insignia. When I got off the phone, I joked to the room in general, "When did I become the mom of the cast?" But of course, since all the rest of the women and at least half the men in the cast are in their teens and twenties, I am old enough to be their mom. And as our Mabel commented, "you take care of us."

Last night was not our best show but neither was it as bad as we'd feared, given that most of our leads were sick with one thing or another. And one of our poor pirates spent most of Act II in the bathroom emptying his stomach. Which prompted me to load up a first aid kit of sorts with Pepto-Bismol tablets and antacids in addition to the more usual bandaids, antiseptic ointment, throat lozenges and such to take to the theater tonight. Here's hoping we don't need any of it!

Finished!

Mabel now has a hat, just as her sisters do. I'm very pleased with how it turned out and hope to get some pictures tonight of Mabel wearing it, which I'll duly post.

Which means the only costuming left to do for this show is to get the Sgt's stripes sewn onto his coat and to take in said coat so that our Sgt doesn't rattle around in it. To that end, I'm schlepping my sewing machine to the theater tonight. I just hope our Sergeant answers my plea and makes the 6:30 call time so I have plenty of time to pin the stripes and the seams I need to take in.

I had to go thru my receipts so I can tell our Major General Stanley how much I spent for his nightshirt, which he wants to buy from me. I made the mistake of totalling everything - I've spent about $125 on costuming for this show, despite the fact that only 2 of the costumes had to be made from scratch! Granted, that includes the patterns, fabric, trim & notions for those 2 costumes, and at least $20 worth of materials for Mabel's hat. Oh, but it doesn't include the 4 hatpins I ordered for the girls' hats. Guess I won't think about that until the bill comes in.

Oh, crud

This cold has been moving along very quickly. I'm past the head cold stage; it's now moving down into my lungs. Wonderful; now I've got all this crud starting to swim around in there, just in time for this weekend's performances. And wouldn't ya know, Ruth's very first song is the 2nd number in the show, solo, three verses long. I have a feeling those verses may feel very long indeed tonight. I've decided to stay home from work today, lounge around the house, force fluids until I'm about to grow gills, and trim Mabel's hat. With any luck, I might even manage a nap so that I won't feel quite so run-down tonight.

And our Mabel seems to have come down with strep throat, poor thing. Same raw throat I've been having, but with nausea. This weekend's shows could be "interesting"...

Finishing touches

Catching up on e-mail and such after finishing the insignia for the Sgt of Police's sleeves (pictures to come, I hope). They turned out rather well, if I do say so myself. Tomorrow night I plan to take my sewing machine with me, fit the Sgt's coat before downbeat, then stitch it and sew on the rank during my Act I down time. We'll see if things actually work out that way...

However, it's getting close to 9 o'clock and I still have to trim Mabel's hat. I could finish it tomorrow between our office picnic and our 6:30 call, but the more I can get done tonight, the less I'll have to worry about tomorrow. And I would like Mabel to have a hat; her sisters do, and heaven forfend our lead soprano should be left out. :)

Another chuckle from The Onion

Any woman who's dated more than 2 or 3 guys and every woman who's divorced should appreciate today's offering: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/report_women_increasingly_choosing

Uh oh!

By dinnertime yesterday I had quite a scratchy throat that persists even now, more than 24 hours later. Last night I assumed it was the Code Orange air - I confess, I did break down and open the back door while I ate dinner - but now I'm afraid it's a cold. I've already taken a zinc tablet and downed some orange juice. Maybe I should've had chicken soup for dinner. One way or another, I've gotta get rid of this cold or at least keep it at bay until after this Saturday's performance.

I know all "the usual suspects" - chicken soup, water, hot tea w/ honey & lemon, water, orange juice, water, zinc, water... Echinacea doesn't help because of the allergy factor. Any other homeopathics I can try?

And so begins another summer

May has been unseasonably, mercifully cool and incredibly rainy this year, but yesterday the odds caught up with us. The high got to the mid-80s and brought with it the first Code Orange ("unhealthy for sensitive groups") day of the year. So instead of opening the doors & windows and letting the lovely breezes in, I had to leave the house shut up and try to content myself with ceiling fans. This evening, though, the fans just weren't cutting it; we had to break down and turn on the a/c. I consoled myself with the thought that this is probably the latest in the year I've ever gone before having to use the a/c for summer weather, not just tree season.

Waxing piratical

As I had suspected, playing Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance is FUN!!! I don't get to sing "Pour, oh pour the pirate sherry", but as I pour said sherry, I tweak "my" pirates' collars and such, pull one's shirt closed, pat Frederic on the cheek and generally treat them all as my boys. Yes, I have to 'fess up to having messed up big time when I apprenticed Frederic to a pirate instead of a pilot, but then I get to be indignant when Fred tells me I'm plain & old, and clueless that while I'm a "fine woman", at 47 I'm just a wee bit older than he's looking for. And while I'm the only cast member not on stage for "Hail, Poetry" (so I sing it in the wings, along w/ the musicians), and yes, I spend more of Act I offstage than on, my 30 seconds at the end of the Act I finale let me get all upset when Fred & the other pirates reject me, so that I exit practically in tears.

Then comes the good part! In Act II I get to swagger and play w/ a sword and (very nice replica!) ivory-handled pistol, laugh my head off w/ the Pirate King at the paradox of Fred's being only 5 1/4 yrs old, and march with the rest of the pirates in Cat-like Tread. I even get to fight a policeman in the Act II finale, then drop a curtsey when the Sergeant charges us yield in Queen Victoria's name.

My Act I costume is a rather prim nursemaid sorta rig - a mobcap, a blouse w/ a collar, very full-shouldered sleeves, full apron, and a nearly ankle-length skirt that even has a pocket! Imagine - a costume with a pocket! Very handy for stashing my watch w/ the light-up dial so I can check our running time. Every bit of my Act II pirate costume is out of my closet - the full, flowy shirt (a RenFest purchase), the stirrup pants, the boots bought on sale in case I might need them for costume purposes, the headscarf trimmed with tiny silver disks (this is its 2nd Pirates), the blue sash, even the hoop earrings w/ sequin-sized "coins". Both costumes are hot as blazes under the lights, but at least they can go in the washer, instead of needing dry cleaning.

Sold-out house tonight - yee-ha!!! Friends from church were in the audience tonight, along with a couple of folks from work and someone I did a show with a few years back. They all seemed to enjoy it, and one friend of a friend commented that after seeing the show, she now wants to play Ruth too! I don't blame her - I'm having a blast!

Curtain up!

Pirates opened tonight! Best of all, we actually had an audience (I was afraid that, this being the start of Memorial Day weekend, we'd have maybe 5 or 6 people out there), who were vocal in their appreciation. The numbers I'm in generally went quite well, my voice was cooperating nicely, no major costume problems

The performance wasn't without glitches (e.g., I messed up my very first line; "My mind has long been gnawed by the cankering tooth of wisdom"?!?) but on the whole I think it went pretty well.

While I did attempt to costume a show last May, I think this is probably the one I'll leave on my resume. Our Mabel told me her mother loved the costumes, which was nice to hear. Our Kate finished MG Stanley's nightshirt for me (buttonholes & buttons, since the buttonhole foot to my sewing machine is AWOL) yesterday and did a nice job of it. I still want to make sashes for 2 of the daughters, put a hook on my Act I skirt and take in that blouse, and the Sergeant's coat still needs to be taken in, but things are essentially done. Hurray!

Ack!

Learned yesterday that they were going to take publicity pics of the show at this evening's rehearsal, not tomorrow's! There ensued a mad scramble to sew the nightdress & mobcap for the woman who, at 6' tall, is a trifle hard to fit. The fact that the instructions were less than helpful ("do ___ as shown" but no illustration; the Notions list didn't mention fusible interfacing and had a too-low yardage for the trim) both made the assembly take longer and kicked my blood pressure up a few notches. I did get preliminary alterations done to my Act I blouse but it's still too big, even after taking it in 2-3 inches at the shoulder.

So while the costumes weren't complete for the pics, we did have everyone dressed, and the director and the person taking pictures (who also is a major bigwig in the company) both made a point of telling me how much they liked how everyone looked.

While I was still working on the nightdress, with the mobcap still to create and my own costume still untouched, I started thinking about the fact that 3 of my numbers still needed their choreography finished. Despite knowing better, I still got all spun up about it. I had settled somewhat by the time I got to rehearsal and into my Act I costume (that blouse is just huge - still needs much work) but was still spinning enough that one woman made a point of looking me in the eye and saying "Stop spiraling!" :D

Cat-Like Tread still needs to be worked (we've been shown the choreography once), but Frederic, the Pirate King & I ran the Paradox trio and Away, Away a few times, and I got to see that the costuming is actually a lot further along at this point than many shows I've done. (In once case, I didn't get a major costume piece until the night before we opened.) I still have my Act I blouse to take in and the skirt needs to have the hem marked & sewn, I have sashes to make for 2 of the Stanley wards and the nightshirt for the Major General, and the Police Sergeant's jacket was cut for someone more "well rounded", but Samuel finally found a vest that both fits and looks good, the Pirate King & Frederic both have pirate pants that fit, Mabel's sash is perfect, and the other tweaks are similarly looking good.

And once I can relax a bit about the costuming, I desperately need to go back to my lines & music! When we ran the dialogue going into "O False One", I missed a cue entirely, messed up a line, and probably got some of my blocking wrong too. I suppose this is what comes of spending two weeks focusing on costuming the entire show. It's a wonder I haven't dreamt about it yet.

"Maid of all work" indeed!

Oy! Costuming a show I'm also in, and doing it in little more than two weeks, while holding down a full-time job, is a big time-eater! I've already made half a dozen trips to assorted fabric stores, spent an afternoon digging through costume closets while breathing sawdust (the closets are steps away from the scene bay of the company whose costumes I was digging through), made & updated spread sheets of all the bits & pieces each actor needs... Good thing the last few rehearsals have worked numbers that Ruth either isn't in or in which she only has a coupla lines.

Tonight our Major General called me to let me know he'd hit a snag w/ his Act II costume. The folks from whom he was planning to borrow it had a family emergency and hadn't had time to dig out the costume. In fact, they might not manage it until after we open, meaning we now have to scramble to find our MG a nightshirt, nightcap and robe. I did run out to get a pattern and fabric, but if no one volunteers to make it up, it could be Friday (the day we open!) before I have time to sew it.

Catching up

Pirates is getting closer to opening so of course I'm getting busier.

TW ended up not teching that show after all. He felt he hadn't gotten enough time with the equipment to be comfortable with it, and didn't get to go through a full run doing the cues, so rather than mess things up for the cast, he decided it would be better if he just withdrew.

I volunteered my connections to find out what another company (with which I've done lots of shows and for which I've helped with costuming) would charge to rent us Pirates costumes, and even measured the entire cast Monday night in anticipation of a costumer. Guess what - I'm it! It was decided that the rental rates are cheap enough that we're going to costume the whole show that way, and I'm now responsible to for getting everybody rigged out. Tomorrow I'm off to the renting company's scene/costume bay to rummage through their closets and try to find enough things in reasonable sizes for everyone. Good thing it's a small cast! My biggest concern is dressing MG Stanley's wards - the company needs all their bustle dresses for their own production, so I'll have to see what that leaves.

We got a choreographer Wednesday night (we open two weeks from tonight - yike!), who'll be working things up for us this weekend. Next week's gonna be a busy one, as we try to learn what she has for us and I have people try things on when they aren't dancing.

Back to TW's dentist this afternoon. Finally got my teeth cleaned, but probably should have waited. The pollen count has been at toxic levels the past week or so and sneezing fits have had my jaw in spasm. Trying to open my mouth so the hygienist could pick, scrape and spritz my teeth has my jaw aching. Oh, and the next doc to be added to the list will be an oral surgeon once I can find one who deals w/ TMD.

I'm liking Prilosec!

As noted earlier, one of the things the doc has been testing was whether reflux might have caused or at least contributed to my little scare. To that end, she's had me on Prilosec, which I've been taking for a week or two now. So far, so good - tomato sauce is no longer evil! My reaction to the acid in tomato sauce had gotten so bad I'd just about given up on it, which really limits my choices when we go out for Italian! However, I got brave today and had a generous bit of spaghetti sauce on my pasta for lunch with nary a twinge of heartburn - yee-ha! Now I'm ready to try pizza again. Assuming, of course, the crust isn't so chewy my jaw starts shifting & popping like the San Andreas fault.

This should help when I'm trying to decide what to have for dinner on Pirates performance nights. Dairy is still off the pre-show menu, but maybe I can start trying food cooked w/ bell peppers, onions, vinegar (BBQ!), garlic and other good things, instead of plain poultry with some sort of plain side dish. Maybe the kebab place's sampler, with its hummus, tabouleh and grape leaves and that wonderful, made-to-order nan..

Trying not to think about it

Pirates opens 3 weeks from tomorrow and we still have chunks of choreography we haven't seen yet! And places where the blocking is only roughed in or needs tweaking. And no costumer yet. Or rehearsal props (though the foils have been ordered). Last night several of us asked for more rehearsal, especially a 3-4-hour chunk of time in which to learn and drill choreographies. Can you tell I'm not the only one with "We open how soon?!?" nerves? Eeek!

Yes, I'm nervous that this is going to be a disaster, but that's normal at this point in the process. Come see me anyway, because of course I'm going to be wonderful. ("I'm going to be wonderful. I'm going to be wonderful. I'm going to be...")

Wino gravy

Well, not really, but that got your attention, didn't it? Anyway, I always make my gravy with a splash of whatever red wine we have on hand. The other night we also had a bit of white left; not enough for a proper glass of wine, so I decided to add it to the gravy, which needed a bit of thinning out. The premise was: I always put wine in the gravy; this gravy is too thick; since I have to thin it anyway, this lovely white wine will taste much better in said gravy than boring old water.

Perhaps because I was mixing red & white, or perhaps not, but we decided that, yes, it is possible to add too much wine to the gravy.

My husband the tech

We got an e-mail this afternoon from a woman I've performed with a couple of times. She and I also costumed each other's shows last year, and we keep running into her & her husband in the audiences of the shows we attend. She has a show opening this weekend and just had one of her techs wash out for the 2nd weekend of the run and one other performance; could TW help? He decided to cover the 2nd weekend, so tomorrow night he'll go to their rehearsal to see what he needs to learn.

I was planning to see the show anyway; guess I know which weekend that'll be. ;)

Still a mystery...

We know it wasn't my heart giving me that nasty scare last week (TW wasn't so worried; said he didn't "get a feeling" that it was anything serious). Now my doc is trying to figure out what it was. The first candidates are stress and acid reflux. She prescribed a couple of days off at the end of this week - really! I've even got the note! a different muscle relaxant in case the 800mg mega-motrin was getting to my stomach, and some prilosec for the reflux. I'm getting pretty darn tired of all the pills - I can't help but wonder when I'm gonna start rattling - but if it solves the mystery, I'll deal with it.

But what I'm really looking forward to is a doctor-prescribed 4-day weekend! That means I can sleep in as late as I like Thursday, for starters, when I've had inexplicable insomnia the past 3 nights. TW and I are off to the cabin that night, leaving from my rehearsal, and since I told him I've got specific instructions to "take it easy!", I've got carte blanche to sit on my duff and read all weekend (and go over my Pirates lines and music) - gotta love it!

So what the heck was it?

The cardiology lab called this afternoon to say that all those tests on Friday showed no problems with my heart, thank God! I've got my follow-up w/ my doc tomorrow; maybe then I'll figure out what the heck it was that did such a good job of impersonating cardiac problems.

Planting in the rain

Managed to get about 1/3 of the flat of impatiens in the ground before the rain resumed. (The rain's been on a rheostat all day - swells to bucketing, backs off to nothing, swells to bucketing, backs off...) Since I was on a roll, I just got an umbrella and kept planting. 19 assorted impatiens are now freshly planted and already looking lovely. TW picked some beauts - a wonderful assortment of colors, and all with very healthy-looking foliage. I also planted one stub of white impatiens, a bit that had broken off when TW was doing some yardwork last fall. He stuck it into some water in a bud vase and it's been hanging in there all winter long (even bloomed, twice, after he put it in the vase). That's it in the close-up; it's the one with no flowers, at least right now. We'll see how it does now that it's outside.

My only concern is that the neighborhood cats have been using that bed as a litter box and in the rain, it smells like a used litter box, when it ought to smell of dirt and flowers. Anyone got any ideas for keeping the cats away? TW likes mothballs (which haven't worked), I've tried liberal sprinklings of cayenne pepper.

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.