I finally got around to taking some Dobro (resonator guitar) lessons starting in February. It has been interesting – some things come fairly easily (chords, some right-hand picking patterns), while some things come very hard (scales, note reading). Still, I’m cautiously pleased. I do need to practice more (I’m lucky if I put in two hours over a week, excluding lessons), but once I start doing that, I think things will come better. I’ll be taking most of the summer off from lessons, since I have to pay by the month and Mer and I will be gone for much of the summer, but I hope to stick with it even as we travel. Here’s the one song I have memorized right now, although I’m working on a couple more.

Yesterday was another fine weekend day. We slept in, and then did a few puttery things (I mowed while Mer went to the grocery store). We then had a nice light lunch together while listening to Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, a favorite Saturday pastime. I then took a leisurely nap while Mer graded. We were planning on going to a graduation party in the early evening, but that was postponed due to an illness. We were also planning on going out to a play at Actors’ Summit with a friend (and former student) in the evening, so we made quick dinner plans and went to Aladdin’s restaurant, where we had a wonderful time laughing (Kevin, our friend, is funny as well as studying acting, so he is quite a character).

We got to the theater about 7:30 or so to see Born Yesterday, a play from the late 40s. We knew little about it, except it had been billed as a Pygmalion (think My Fair Lady) set in 1940s Washington. We also thought it was a comedy that would border on farce. It turned out to be a dark comedy, with the main character (a greedy businessman) being abusive to everyone around him, including the woman he lives with (which must have been eyebrow raising in th 40s). The ties to Pygmalion were very tenuous – the main character asks a reporter to make his girlfriend smarter so she will not be an embarrassment in Washington. That is about where the similarities with Pygmalion end.

The acting was fine as usual. We are getting to recognize many of the actors that play at Actors’ Summit, and it is great fun to see them playing different roles. The lead actress who played the ditzy girlfriend was the same actress we saw a few weeks ago play a major role in The Crucible. Needless to say, the roles were very, very different.

The set was very good – it was set in a luxury hotel room, and the set did a nice job suggesting a big room with two levels and several doors.

I liked the play well enough. It took a few minutes to recognize that the play was not going to be a farce. It was easy to strongly dislike the rude and violent main character. The girlfriend was funny as a ditz, and the reporter was well acted as well.

After the play, we all went to Cold Stone for ice cream. We continued to have a good time, and saw several CVCA students. On the way home, I was wondering how students see us when they run into us, so I asked Kevin (who has only been away from CVCA for two years) how he felt when he saw teachers in their civvies. Kevin asked an incredulous “What?!?” so I explained myself again. Kevin said that he had heard, “What do you think when you see teachers in their skivvies?” I think even the suggestion of that has scarred him for life. That was a good laugh for several minutes.

So, a very good Saturday with good company. Mer and I watched the 1994 movie version of Born Yesterday this afternoon, and it was about as good as the play (they did not mess with the plot too much). The movie spends a lot more time with the girlfriend than with the businessman, and that was probably a good move. As Mer put it, she is a dynamic character whereas the businessman is a static character, so it adds some more interest. I preferred the play because I like live theater and it was my first viewing.

We have one more play in the Actors’ Summit season, plus a chance to use a gift certificate to get to see The Nerd at another local theater. That may wrap up the theater season for us until next fall, or we may try to sneak some plays in for our anniversary in August. We’ll see!

Last weekend Mer and I finally decided to get away for a fast weekend. It was the first time we have traveled for pleasure since moving into the new house last July. We decided to go see Mom and Marc in Michigan. So, we zoomed off in the car on Friday, and took our time getting to Mom’s – we stopped for supper and later for ice cream (at Dairy Queen), so the five-and-a-half hour drive became six-and-a-half and we got to Bridgman about 11:00 at night. Mom and Marc were still up, and we chatted for awhile, and then went to bed about midnight.

I love the basement rooms at Mom’s – they are quiet and really dark. Mer and I both slept until 9:00, and I would have slept like a rock had I not still been slightly congested from a cold that I had earlier in the week. I then got to take a shower in the best shower on Earth – it is about two feet over my head and has a huge spray area and lots of hot water. I love that shower.

Mom was out and about and when she came back she brought doughnuts to “tide us over” before we went to breakfast. After Mer got out of her shower, we all piled into the car and went to a nearby town to a little breakfast place that was small but crowded. I had a very average hot chocolate, good toast and good breakfast-style fries, and a pretty good ham-and-cheese omelette.

We then went back to the house via a quick trip to the beach where we were fascinated by the graded and combed beach – wherever there was a small ridge of sand, it would collapse as you walked near it. It was a strange effect to have these little (less than .25 inch) ridges of sand rippling for several feet around where you walked.

Mom and I then went for a walk back down to the beach for exercise, and then went back to the house. We joined Marc and left Meredith to grade papers. We went to a cute nearby town that has a nice walking area, and we window-shopped (and I bought a very good brownie). Mom and I then walked down to the beach to the pier while Marc got the car. I’m afraid we inadvertently left Marc behind – I pressed on thinking he needed to catch his breath in the car, while I think Marc wanted to join us on the beach after he moved the car down to the beach area. I felt bad about the misunderstanding.

While we were getting near the pier, we saw a wedding party having photos taken in a gazebo. That was nice. Mom and I wandered out to the edge of the pier and watched a few boats coming in. It was a pretty day to be outside. We then meandered back to find Marc and went home via a grocery store to pick up burger supplies.

I squeezed in an hour nap while Mer graded, and then Mom, Marc, and I played “Adventures in Maine,” a tongue-in-cheek trivia game about Maine. I’m ashamed to say that Marc won, although the best moment of the game was when Mom misheard a question about where a balloon crossing the Atlantic landed, and she picked Bermuda over France. That was fun.

We had a grand supper of Marc’s excellent burgers, and then we chatted (while Meredith graded). We went off to bed around 11:00. The next morning was fairly brief as we woke up around 9:30 and were on the road about 11:30, but it was a good time to see Mom and Marc.

Last night we had the last Fools’ show of the year. It was a solid show with some great moments, but ran long (about an hour and forty minutes). That was mostly my fault – I included the game Dream Sequence which involves interviewing an audience member, so it takes a fair chunk of time to play. Also, some of our games that usually run fairly short ran long; welcome to improv.

We had a great crowd. We had at least 90 people and may have had 100, which is easily our biggest audience ever. They were a game group – they hung in there even when the show went 30 minutes longer than our normal shows. They were enthusiastic and had some great suggestions to get us going.

Some of the more interesting things to come out of the show:
– A Fool being engaged to be married to a grilled cheese sandwich
– Buckingham Palace being taken over by ravens disguised as cheeseburgers and being killed by alka seltzer
– Bambi the deer going to kindergarten and being taught to roast marshmallows over a fire
– A fantastic Genre Rewind where a scene about a cheap engagement diamond had to be done as hip-hop
– A Party Quirks guest who was interested in eating sundaes off of people’s heads

It was a fun evening, if exhausting. I am always surprised how much energy is required to run a show; it took me over an hour to get out of bed this morning. I’m sad to be losing six seniors (they always leave!), but I hope all four underclassmen come back next year – that would be a great core to build with, which includes two freshmen that I hope to have for three more years. So, the Fools take a break until next September and the next show will be in December.

Last weekend (April 25-27th) was the start of a marathon of theater. Due to season tickets bought months ago combined with tickets that we bought at the CVCA Auction, we managed to have four outings in three days – three evening performances and one afternoon performance.

Friday evening was CVCA’s spring musical, Oliver!. CVCA has impressed me deeply with its musicals, and this (my eighth) was no exception. The set was elaborate and fantastic. There was a thrust stage built just for the musical. The stage was painted to look like cobblestones. Several of the buildings on the set could be moved so you could see the inside or the outside depending on the scene. There was an elevated bridge at the back of the stage to be London Bridge. It was a great set.

The acting was superb. The stereotype of high school acting is that it is at best “okay for high school,” but I think our students were at a high collegiate level or a good amateur group. The leads were especially good, and of the leads, I was most impressed with the actor playing Fagin, the old man in charge of the young pickpockets. The actor playing Fagin not only did a great job when he was center-stage, but he never left character even when a minor part of a major dance scene. He would still be “old” even then – putting his hand on his back, being slightly stooped, relying on his walking stick, and so on. What a great job.

The orchestra was scaled way back this year to about a 10-piece group, but it was still capable of providing excellent music. There were four adults and about six student musicians, and I am impressed that students would be able to play at that level for two hours. Nicely done.

There is also a joy in seeing “your” kids on stage. It is a great pleasure being part of the “in” crowd – of being able to wave and say hi to fellow audience members, and to congratulate the actors and musicians after the show. Several of the actors came looking specifically for Meredith – it was quite touching. So, that was an excellent Friday night.

Saturday afternoon was more serious, but jaw-droppingly good. We went up to Cleveland to Playhouse Square to the Great Lakes Theater Festival to see a production of the The Crucible. What a deep, thought-provoking play, and Great Lakes did a magnificent job of putting it on.

The set was very interesting. The stage was filled with a three-sided box made of plywood. This box was added to with other plywood settings to make different spaces. All of that wood should have been warm to see, but they were lighting everything with really harsh florescent light (much to Meredith’s satisfaction, since it was showing that florescent light was evil). The light became more and more harsh as the play went on, especially in the courtroom and prison. The only time the wood was lit warmly was in the home of the main character, John Proctor. It got to such an extreme that near the end of the play, the officials came into the prison carrying florescent lights instead of torches. It was unusual, but it worked very well to have the set reflect the action on the stage.

The actors were great. This show ran in repertory with All’s Well That Ends Well, and it is much credit to the skill of the actors that we either forgot who they were in the play we had just seen a week ago, or we forgot within just a few minutes. Two of the comic characters from All’s Well were playing very serious roles in this one, and I could not place one of them, and Mer could not place the other. Amazing. The actor playing John Proctor was especially good in his role. We were also excited to see an Actor’s Summit regualr (Alicia Kahn) on the stage in Cleveland.

The Crucible is such a great play. It was painful to see the community of the play being torn apart by the literal witch hunt, and seeing good and sensible people being driven into the ground just on suspicion. It makes you think about what happens when a large group or even society itself conflicts with your beliefs. It is probably not a coincidence that the play was staged with the current background of terrorism and the U.S. government’s response to it. Very moving play, which I’d love to see again someday.

Saturday evening we upped the culture level even further. We went to see and hear the Summit Choral Society’s concert of Gabriel Fauré’s and Maurice Duruflé’s requiems. There was a large orchestra and choir, and a large children’s choir as well. The music was peaceful – both composers went for quieter versions of the requiem. We got to see this with our friends, Ray and Sara George. We met them for supper at another CVCA Auction gift certificate, an Italian restaurant near Akron, where we all got really excellent pizza. But I digress. I enjoyed the concert well enough, but it did reinforce that I really like folk music much better than classical. The music was done really well, but my mind wandered quite a bit. Of the two requiems, I liked Durufle’s better – it had more dynamics going on, and the melodies were more interesting to me.

We actually had to leave the concert a little early, because we had to be a CVCA at 10:00. We were meeting our Dominican Republic small group team at school to help tear down the Oliver! set as a fund raiser (each small group needs to raise $400 to contribute toward the trip). So, Mer and I got to see more people, and we had a good and productive time tearing the set down, which took about two-and-a-half hours to finish.

Sunday, we finished off the theater going with a Weathervane Community Theater’s production of Enchanted April. Meredith had shown me the film a number of years ago, and while a “chick flick,” it was quite enjoyable. It tells the story of four women (and two husbands) right after World War One who go to Italy in April. It has a very happy ending, and is not terribly deep, but I’m a sucker for Pollyanna-esque plays and movies.

The set for the second act, which is in Italy, was very impressive. They had a master gardener design the set, which had an elaborate garden for the women to romp in. They did a nice job. Mer and I had a good time at this play.

The hardest part of the weekend was losing nap time. I was beat all week long, which found me going to bed at 7:30 on Thursday evening.

Saturday was a very nice day. I slept in until about 8:00, and then I went down in the Valley to the Towpath Trail. It was early yet, and the trail had only a few wildlife photographers on it. I had a very solid-feeling 33-minute run. Since I had been struggling with running the previous week, this run made me quite happy.

I went home and cleaned myself up. Mer and I had a light breakfast about 9:00 while we watched an episode of the second-Doctor Doctor Who. We then got dressed up and headed up to Cleveland (the Big City) to go to Playhouse Square to see the Great Lakes Theater Festival’s production of All’s Well That End’s Well.

I knew nothing about this play. It is one of the “problem comedies” of Shakespeare’s. The main problem is that it has the form of a comedy (marriages at the end), but the leading man is a total jerk. The main lady wins the right to marry the man (by curing the king of a disease), but he despises her (in a mean and cruel fashion) and flees to the wars. There, he falls in lust with an Italian woman. The main lady finds out about this, and arranges to trick the man into thinking he is sleeping with the Italian, but he is really sleeping with his wife. Eventually, she confronts her husband with the proofs that he required, and he decides he loves her, and all’s well.

This play is rarely performed, which is a shame. There are some great lines, and the main plot is arresting, and the comic relief is very good. The main lady, Helena, is one of the great leading lady parts for Shakespeare. The problem is that modern audiences really hate that a smart and capable woman could keep throwing herself at a total loser of a man. Meredith’s father, a retired English professor, used this play to model the love Jesus has for the lost – that he pursues those who hate him and want nothing to do with him. That interpretation usually caught the students off guard, even at the Christian college Dale taught at. I think it works very well. I am very glad to have had the chance to see this play.

On the way home, I took my lovely wife to an upscale Italian restaurant, Vaccaro’s Trattoria. We are both fond of this restaurant, but only go on special occasions since it is easy to run up a $50 bill (even without alcohol). We both got daring and decided to get a spicy pizza. It turned out to be a bad choice for me – it was too hot for my refined Mainer tastes. Mer ended up with a lot of pizza! We both got desserts – mine was a really good triple chocolate torte.

After the leisurely one-and-a-half-hour meal, we headed home, where we watched another 25-minute Doctor Who episode, and then we finished the evening up by listening to Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me on the computer. What a very nice day!

The BBC announced today that David Tennant will be leaving Doctor Who at the end of the Fourth Series. The new Doctor is an unknown American, but the BBC expressed that “he was obviously the best choice.” Mu-sings has recovered a bootleg of the regeneration scene from the cliff-hanger of Series Four:

Oh, what a difference a month (five weeks) can make! Emma is now on the other side of the window!

Northeast Ohio does have the occational cool perk….

As everyone knows, there can only be one possible choice for a Riordan Doctor.

By the way, Photoshop is a HUGE pain in the butt. It is not the friendliest program that I have ever run across.