Vintage costume!

The costumers were at Birdie rehearsal last night with lots of stuff for us to try on for size. I was delighted to learn that my "Ed Sullivan dress" (when the Macafees appear on the Sullivan show w/ teen idol Conrad Birdie) is an actual vintage dress! Not colors I'd've chosen, but an elegant print. Even better, it was made for someone essentially my size and shape; all I need to do is restitch a couple of seams. The fun part is that it's got a semi-dirndl skirt (with pleats rather than gathers), so I've got a crinoline, which may well be of the same vintage, to wear under it.

My housedress is nothing special, but I'll have fun making the apron to wear over it. The costumers want me to make it plain white, so I'm hoping they'll let me put a retro applique on one or both pockets to make it more 50s-looking.

Mom moments

The cough with this cold was particularly rough - one of those that scratches all the way down. Triggered the asthma too, enough that the doc ended up giving me a nebulizer treatment and putting me on a short course of (shudder) prednisone. Which made me remember how Mom could always hear in my voice when I was on the stuff. Once I'd been off it for at least a week, but sure enough, when I called, Mom asked if I'd had to take it.

This afternoon I was putting some things away in the kitchen and spotted Mom's big old turkey roaster up on top of the kitchen cabinets. (It's too tall to fit into any of them.) All those years she pulled that thing out for one of the Christmas turkeys, the other being sent off to my uncle for smoking on his grill. When she eventually went to a different pan, I got the old veteran. I haven't used it much, but every time I see it, I think of her. When the Chief & I were there for Christmas the last two years, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with her, prepping dinner, serving it, cleaning up after. When the Chief and I went to leave, Mom said she'd miss her "kitchen buddy". Me too, Mom.

NB: Don't nuke the bear.

Got another cold, which moved from head to chest the other day, so I've been drinking copious quantities of hot tea with honey. (Temporary relief, but that hot honey feels so good going down a raw throat.) When I first pulled the honey down from the cabinet, it had crystalized a bit so I popped the bear-shaped bottle into the microwave for what I thought would be a safe 15 seconds. Poor bear emerged ever so slightly lopsided, and subsequent reheatings only worsened his posture.

When I pointed this out to the Chief, he said "Wouldn't it work just as well to set the bottle in some hot water?" Of course it would, but this was faster. Maybe next time I'll nuke the water, then put the bear into it.

"Mom moments"

The first of what I'm sure will be many little moments when I find myself wishing I could call Mom and say "guess what?"

Making gravy at the cabin yesterday, I was putting away the baggie of corn starch and realized it was not corn starch at all, but powdered sugar! Didn't ruin the gravy, though of course it didn't thicken as one might have wished. Mom once reached for vanilla while baking and got the liquid smoke instead! She said Dad ate the banana bread (or whatever it was) anyway and said it tasted just fine.

We've got some mystery bulbs coming up in force in the hellebore bed on the north side of the house, the crocuses are coming into their own, and today I noticed one little snowdrop in the front yard, next to a yellow crocus. The daffodils are shooting up and could be blooming in as little as a week if the weather is warm. In a few more weeks I should be able to find impatiens for my annual bed. I wish I could share this with Mom, who loved gardening and gardens, even if she had little time or opportunity for them.

At least it's March, not February

We got a new water heater installed Thursday as part of the bathroom remodel (the old one was at least a coupla years passed its expected lifespan). Unfortunately, the new tank had a defective gas valve, which the plumber said was quite common. We won't have a replacement until tomorrow, so no hot water at the house since Thursday. The Chief & I had been debating whether to go to the cabin this weekend; that settled the question, as we knew we'd have hot water out there.

When we got home this afternoon and went to set the thermostat back up, nothing happened. The blower runs, but heat? None. The Chief tried several things but no luck, so we're having someone come look at it tomorrow. Unfortunately, the anticipated lifespan of a furnace is 15-20 years and ours is nearing 16 years old. I'm crossing my fingers that this will be a repair, not a replace.

If we have to be without heat or hot water, at least it's now, when the low temps are in the 30s and 40s, not a month ago, when the highs were only in the 20s. And we're both grateful that our bedroom has a baseboard heater, so at least one room in the house is warm.

A first I hope will also be a last!

I had a cold all last week. A bit annoying, especially the few days the head congestion was giving me some ear pain, but nothing too worrying. Until Friday, when the cold started to move from my head into my chest. I could still sing Friday night, so I wasn't too worried. Then I woke up Saturday with bad laryngitis; so bad that, despite all the orange juice & hot tea w/ honey, I had to farm out my sung & spoken lines to other people. I still went on, but mouthed all the "singing". This was particularly annoying because my good friend KL had decided, after learning of Mom's death, to come into town on a flying visit and that was the only performance she could get to. So she got to see me on stage, just didn't get to hear me.

Ah well, at least it wasn't yesterday's matinee that she attended. By then I'd developed a fever; only a low-grade one, but enough to give me chills & body aches and, worse, make my knees rubbery enough that I didn't even "suit up" to go on. Fortunately, castmate AG had stood in for me while I was out of town for Mom's funeral, so she changed her costume and took my sung & spoken lines and my place in the quartet choreographies. It was weird to see someone else doing "my" bits, but I thought she did an admirable job, especially with almost no rehearsal. As our Baroness noted, I was the only person in the whole show with an understudy. And how often does that happen, for a comprimario role!

Unfortunately, it was that last performance that the Chief attended, as he'd planned to stay for strike. Instead of watching me on stage, we watched together from the back of the house, and he ended up taking me to the after-hours clinic as soon as I'd collected the various costume bits & pieces I'd loaned out.

This is the first time I've ever missed going on - I earnestly hope it never happens again!

Is it the cancer? Alzheimer's? something else?

The Chief called his mother this afternoon. She's been spending more & more time "living in the past" - last week, she had just learned her mother had died (nearly 30 years after the fact), and told me she couldn't talk long as she had to get ready for school (she retired from teaching 7 or 8 years ago). Today was worse - she asked her own son how his mother was and how the kids were.

We know the cancer is spreading quickly; maybe it's reached something in the brain? Maybe it's Alzheimer's? In any event, it was pretty disconcerting. She'll turn 90 in another couple of weeks and all of us will be in town for the occasion, even her 2 great-grands and the grandchild who lives in California. The Chief and I are hoping she makes it that long. Though she could fool us and the docs and live for quite a while yet.

Doing "Birdie" after all

The director of the Bye Bye Birdie I auditioned for a couple of weeks ago called me earlier this week to ask if I'd like to play Doris Macafee. Since that was one of the 2 roles I'd specifically requested, I said yes. Went to my first rehearsal last night. We have plenty of teen girls, no boys (at least none there last night), and very few adults. Needless to say, the company is advertising for additional chorus members, especially teen boys. I sure hope they get 'em; gotta have at least 3 or 4 boys for "Telephone Hour" and the dance numbers.

Tech week? What tech week?

The Chief and I got home from Mom's funeral Thursday afternoon, giving me all of about 2 1/2 hours to pull together all my theater stuff (make-up, hair curling supplies, shoes, tights, jewelry...) and get to the theater for the preview performance. It was very nerve-wracking: a quick drill for the 4 "garland girls" of the processional bit at the top of Act II, so I missed vocal warm-ups, and of course one of my 2 tiny solo lines is the first solo line in the show. I hadn't laid eyes on the set until about 1/2 hour before downbeat, hadn't tried on my costumes or done my hair & make-up or worked with the props. It didn't help that I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I don't usually get nervous before that first downbeat, but having missed essentially all of tech week, I was a nervous wreck as we waited to go on.

I felt like a flake all weekend, had to really work to concentrate on what I was doing, but at least 2 or 3 people who knew my situation said they never would've guessed there was anything wrong. In fact, at Saturday's cast party the MD thanked me, said "we could use more like you." He noted that I was "up there singing your heart out, smiling, really getting into it." I guess I'm getting good at this acting thing if I can fool people into thinking I knew what I was doing. ;)

RIP, Mom

Wow, that was fast. Mom went in for a biopsy Wednesday morning, was admitted that night because she was having breathing problems. By Friday night they were talking metastasized cancer and hospice care. My brother called at noon on Saturday to say "Get on a plane!" and not 3 hours later, as the Chief was driving me to the airport, my sister called to say Mom had "let go of her body".

I was at the Grand Duke Sitz when my brother called, so as soon as I called the Chief and asked him to find me a flight, I told a few key people I was leaving immediately to pack and would let them know when I'd be back. The trip was surreal - mostly consisted of repeating "I can't believe she's gone."

We're all still in shock, trying to digest the fact that she isn't there any more. We just settled that the wake will be Tuesday night and the funeral Wednesday morning. The Chief is flying in tomorrow (he had stayed home, in case he got the same kind of call about his mom that I'd gotten about mine) and he & I will go home Thursday.

Did someone get the license numbers of that fleet of semis that just hit our family?

Fun audition but not what I'd hoped for

Auditioned for Bye Bye Birdie last night. I thought the singing and reading went well, and the dance combo was fun. The director called a little bit ago and offered me the mayor's wife, essentially a named chorus role. Not a big enough role to make me want to do the show again, so I declined. There's only one more spring show out there that I want to audition for; at this rate, I may not be doing a spring show. Ah well, the Chief won't mind not being a Theater Widower.

Keep the prayers coming

It was bad enough knowing that the Chief's mom won't be with us much longer. We learned this afternoon that my mom went in for a liver biopsy yesterday morning, then started hyperventilating and had low oxygen levels. They ended up admitting her and will keep her until at least Monday for tests and to get her "vitals" back up to par. When I talked to Mom ever so briefly this afternoon, she sounded out of breath the whole time "because I'm so weak". Too weak to breathe easily?!? Not good! The docs still don't know why she's been so uncomfortable and fatigued, and has also lost her appetite. Please add my mom to your prayer list.

Time for a new vacuum...

Last night the Chief and I moved the dining room table so the electrician could check the wiring for the fan (the power on one circuit shorted out last week). I wanted to vacuum the rug before we rolled it up out of the way - the deep-red carpet was almost pink in places, there was so much dust! - only to find that our vacuum doesn't suck. Even after we checked the bag and cleaned the beater brush, it still just moved the dirt around instead of picking it up. The Chief has been talking for a while about getting a new vacuum; looks like that's gonna hafta happen sooner than we thought.

Funny birds

Yesterday en route to rehearsal, I passed the huge swath of open space in front of the nearby university. As I approached, it looked like there were the usual flocks of Canada geese, but in "serried ranks assembled". As I went past, I could see a long, wide swath of green, presumably over a steam tunnel. That green swath was packed with geese over most or all of its considerable length. Those birds are no dummies - why freeze their tailfeathers sitting on snow when there was a warmer, green place to sit!

The other day I looked out onto the back deck to see at least 5 or 6 robins out there, sipping at the water dripping off the back gutters. Their feathers were all puffed up against the cold, making them look at least half again as large, and you could almost see the poor things shivering. I wanted to get a picture but something scared them off before I got to my camera. Or maybe they were camera-shy.

We're rehearsing again - hallelujah!

Last night we had our first rehearsal in two weeks, and it was SUCH a good feeling! We were all a bit disoriented, I think, and had forgotten a lot, of course, but it was lovely to get to run the music and blocking, review stage business, talk props & costumes, and generally try to get this show on its feet again.

Today we had a marathon 7-hour rehearsal in an attempt to regain lost ground. We worked through the entire show, fixing and tweaking here, reviewing and woodshedding there. Near the end, the director announced that we were in good shape, considering the unplanned hiatus, and that she felt confident we'll be just fine come opening night.

Tomorrow we work the Act I and II finales and one or two other numbers with more complicated movement. Then we have just 3 more rehearsals before the Sitzprobe next Saturday, load-in and cue-to-cue Sunday, then the marathon rehearsals.

Our costumer just learned she has to be out of town for work for part of Tech Week and asked me to help organize the costume situation in her absence. I said yes because I like that sorta thing, I've worked with her on several shows and know how she works, and - this is the most important factor - she assured me she'd get all the major pieces done beforehand and would send me a detailed costume plot. Wish us luck!

update on the once-and-future bathroom

The ridiculously heavy snowfalls slowed the work on the bathroom but didn't stop it entirely. The Chief and BT, our contractor, have now got all the "mud" on the walls, picked up all the moldings and trim, and have the picture rail and crown molding up on all but one corner, that being the corner that needs a bit more detailed cutting to turn the corners. BT apparently teased the Chief that once this bathroom is finally finished, we'll use it more than the back bathroom (the one right across from our bedroom) because it'll be so much nicer. The Chief was commenting that it's already warmer than the back bathroom because they packed the walls with so much insulation before they put up the new drywall.

The nice thing is that work is resuming in earnest. The electrician comes Monday to install the light over the shower, the heat lamp and the fixture over the medicine cabinet, and the painting can start as soon as the last of the molding goes up. I'm not sure at what stage BT will install the new framing around the window; hope it's soon, as that will go a long way toward making this look more finished and less like a construction zone.

Even though it'll be at least another couple of weeks before it's all done (the tiling alone will need at least 3 days, and the sink & toilet can't go in until after the tile is finished), I can finally see light at the end of that particular tunnel. In a burst of optimism, I even ordered color swatches for the new towels the Chief wants for the "new" bathroom.

And once the front bathroom is done, we start tearing apart the library so BT can replace the current closet with a properly built one and do that wall of built-in bookshelves. I'm hoping that phase won't take as long. Having to box up all my books and music for the duration will mean having to reorganize the books, which have gotten rather jumbled. I'll also want to figure out how best to organize my music, which currently is just grouped together in the same general area, with most of the church music together, possible audition or repertory pieces in the same stack, and so on. Ideally, once all is said and done, I might actually be able to find things without having to dig through a stack or shelf of random, loose sheet music. (I can dream...!)

Snowverkill

Since Friday we've gotten over 3 feet of snow. Feet. In an area where snowfall is measured in inches, usually 4 or less. Work is closed again today, which means I've missed the first 4 days of my 2-week class, and no telling whether they'll be dug out enough to open tomorrow. After all, even if you've got the equipment to get all this stuff out of the way, where on earth are ya gonna put it all? Even if you could get it to a nearby stream or other waterway, those waterways are already full to overflowing. At this rate, it'll take until at least April to get rid of all this mess, even if we don't get another flake, and Monday's forecast is for a 50% chance of additional snow.

I've done enough baking that I'm hitting bottom on both the flour and sugar canisters. We'll run out of milk tomorrow or Saturday, although we have enough of everything else that we're in no danger of starving. Good thing we have all these leftovers, as I'm actually getting tired of cooking and starting to look forward to a meal I don't have to cook or clean up after. (I hadn't realized how much eating out we do until we couldn't do any at all.)

Today will probably be a heavy-duty Grand Duke day - listening to all the choruses repeatedly, reviewing blocking notes, etc. Can't practice the choreo, as there's no room, between the construction equipment and snow removal gear, but I can mark it.

Uh oh...

In baking the apple cake, I realized I'm down to the bottom of our flour supply, and very close to the bottom of the sugar. No more baking from scratch until we can get out to make another grocery run. Yes, we could do mixes if we were truly desperate, at least until the eggs run out, and maybe I will pull out that box of gingerbread mix (lovely warm, with applesauce on top) but suddenly we feel like we're living close to the (baking) edge.

Shifting "domestic goddess" gears

In a slight shift of domestic gears, I only fixed a batch of Moroccan carrot salad (with this morning's infusion of carrots; the ones bought last week were long since gone into soup) and a batch of brownie mix. We're down to a single slice of mince pie, so I'll probably make an apple cake tomorrow with the apples we bought this morning.

In a switch from cooking to sewing, I made a petticoat to go under the dirndl-style dress I may be contributing to the Grand Duke costume mix. (The couple of pettis I already have are too long.)

Which has me wondering just how many pettis I've made over the years? I made at least two sets of tiered petticoats* when I was in the Hungarian folk dance troupe, and this is at least the 2nd petti I've made on my own initiative for a stage costume. If you add in pettis made to go under ballgowns for Merry Widow or Die Fledermaus, the number goes up considerably, as I've made at least 3 or 4 "bustle pettis".

Lest you think I'm still strictly housebound, my asthma is back under control at last, so I grabbed a shovel and excavated a path to the recycling and trash bins. Took a bit of doing, as I had to work past my car, which is still only partially cleared, and I discovered several bags of construction debris which were in the way, but now we can take the trash (and its smell) outside. While I was at it, I also liberated the lower branches of the dogwood tree on that side of the house. Poor tree was quite badly weighed down. Fortunately, it only lost a few small branches.

* These were some pretty substantial pettis. These had an upper & lower tier; the bottom one, worn closest to the body, had 4 yards of fabric in the upper tier and 8 yards in the lower tier. The next petti had 5 and 10 yards, and the top petti had 6 and 12 yards. And they only came to just above the knee. Check out that silhouette! (These are from Voivodina, now part of Serbia.)

Small victories

The Chief and I drove to the commissary this morning to restock a few things They opened almost an hour late because they had to wait for employees to get there to stock shelves and such, but they were open and they had milk, some fresh produce, and all but one other item on our list.

We also topped up the gas tank, bought gas for the snowblower, mailed off a coupla catalog returns, and found out just how poorly some of the roads had been cleared. Some major, 3-lane roads had only 2 or even a single clear lane, and one main artery was so patchily "cleared" that it was worse than some muddy dirt roads I've traveled.