Sunday, Feb. 20

Up at 7:30, and did a treadmill session and resistance exercises after breakfast. Mother came over while I was getting ready for the day and put a Cajun flavored turkey breast in the slow cooker. She also put potatoes, onions, and carrots into the steamer.

I spent the morning as usual, programming the DVR for upcoming movies and shows, washing a couple of loads of clothes, reading the Sunday newspaper, etc.

Lunch was very tasty, with cranberry sauce added to the meat and veggies. After lunch, Mother went home to change clothes to go to a college play. We left home around 1:30. The Greek tragedy "The Trojan Women," by Euripides, began at 2 p.m. There was a nice crowd for the production, with only a few empty seats remaining at curtain time.

The set was very simple, with a large painting of the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon, on the black floor. Around the edges of the three-quarter round theater was piled the burned and broken debris of the dining hall, where a fire occurred a few months ago. Large metal objects, bricks, and even dinnerware represented the burned city of Troy. Razor wire was added for effect.

Ten students played the roles of the six women, and four men in the mythological drama. Plot: following the fall of their city to the Greeks, the Trojan women wait to learn their fates. The women include Hecuba, aging Queen of Troy; Cassandra, her daughter, a mad prophetess; Andromache, whose infant son was thrown from the walls of the city; and the beautiful temptress, Helen, wife of Melenaus, king of Sparta.

The play was 70 minutes long, so we were home by 3:30. Mother went to her house, and Hubbie and I watched the 1961 classic four-star film, "Judgement at Nuremberg," In 1948, an American court occupying Germany tries four judges for war crimes.

I guess it was a day for history and mythology.

Nice surprise: as we were leaving for the play, we noticed yellow crocus blooming in the yard. Surely spring can't be far behind!

Not so pleasant: are blackbirds taking over the world? Hundreds of them flock to our yard each day. Mostly they chatter away in the tree tops, but often, they also raid the bird feeders. They are like some sort of plague, or something out of a horror film.