Up around 8 a.m. on this sunny promise-of-spring day that eventually reached about 70 degrees. Did a treadmill session and resistance exercises after breakfast.
While I was doing this, Hubbie took the snow village down off the mantel, and once I was ready for the day, I put the regular decorations up there...silk plants and several birdhouses, handmade decorator plates, and a picture of birds. Christmas is officially over at our house now.
Other than decorating the mantel and doing a few loads of laundry, I didn't do much else this morning. Mother came over mid-morning and seemed disinterested in starting a project, like making Valentine cards. So after lunch, while Hubbie went to a grocery store to pick up more discounted canned veggies, Mother and I went out into the backyard and sat in lawn chairs to enjoy the wonderful sunshine.
Later, we watched the first episode of a four-part series on PBS..."Downton Abbey," set in a 1912 Edwardian country house, where the family and their servants are in crises over who will inherit when the current head dies. There are no sons in the family, and the three daughters are not eligible to inherit. The recent sinking of the Titanic has taken the life of a cousin who was next in line. Now a third cousin once removed seems likely to inherit, and the first episode ends with his visit to the Abbey.
Following the movie, Hubbie and I went to the WDCS to get a rotisserie chicken and coleslaw for supper, along with a few other groceries. We had the chicken and coleslaw with leftover Parmesan potatoes from last night.
Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I settled in to watch TV, including our favorite college basketball team as they played to a great win.
Then we watched the movie, "The Horseman," a 2008, R-rated film, starring Peter Marshall. A father in Australia loses his daughter to murder, and then travels the outback taking violent revenge on the murderers. Along the way, he learns some disturbing things about his daughter, and about the method of her death. Graphically violent movie.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Friday, Jan. 28
Slept late again, until around 8:15, but did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast.
Mother came over around 10 a.m. and put together a salmon loaf for supper. She refrigerated it until time to put it in the oven around 4 p.m.
We didn't accomplish anything before lunch. After lunch, we all went to the greeting card shop to buy Valentine cards. I needed to use a couple of coupons before they expired at the end of this month, and it was a glorious sunny day for an outing.
At the greeting card checkout counter, the young clerk told me I could only use one of the coupons I'd brought along...a $3 one from earned points, or one for getting a free card when I bought two. However, the other clerk suggested that I buy the most expensive card with the $3 coupon, pay for it, and then purchase the other three cards with the buy-two-get-one free coupon. I was able to save $5.50 this way. I'm glad she suggested that, and I'll remember that trick hereafter. With the card purchases, I was also able to use a coupon for getting 200 extra points.
Back home, we didn't feel like doing anything constructive for the afternoon, so Mother and I watched a DVD of the Christmas opera, "Amahl and the Night Visitors." I'd ordered this DVD a few days before Christmas, when an online store was offering $5 off a single purchase. But a few weeks later, I was advised the DVD was on back order. Time dragged on, and finally I was alerted that I needed to request within 24 hours that I still wanted the order, which then would be kept open for 30 days. I did so, and within a week, I finally received the DVD, along with another back order DVD of "The Music Man."
Mother and I agreed that no matter when the DVD arrived, we would watch it, so we did today. The quality of the forty-six minute, black and white 1951 NBC TV Opera Theater production is poor, but it is still fun to watch. It took us back to my youth and teenage years, when we watched this opera every Christmas.
Information with the DVD says that the boy who played Amahl died in 2003 of pancreatic cancer. He was about my age. Other than one of the actors who played a king, the rest of the main cast still survive...a couple of whom are in their 90s.
The story is of a disabled boy, who has a problem with telling tall tales. He lives with his widowed mother near Bethlehem. She does not believe him when he tells her he has seen a large star "as big as a window," with a tail, and until she sees them herself, certainly doesn't believe him when he answers a knock on the door and reports that there is first one king, then two, then three standing there. The kings need a place to stop and rest, and the mother offers their humble cottage. Soon, neighbors bearing gifts of food arrive. They are prevailed upon by the mother to sing and dance for the kings.
Later, while the kings sleep, the mother cannot resist trying to steal gold from one of them. She is caught red handed, and the page who accompanies the kings tries to grab the gold from her, calling her a thief. Amahl comes to his mother's defense, attacking the page and telling him his mother is a good woman, and that he is the bad one with his lying. The mother is ashamed of herself and tries to give the gold back, but the king lets her keep it, saying that the Christ Child will not need earthly power or wealth to build His kingdom. In exchange, Amahl offers his crutch to the kings to take to the Babe. The kindly king touches Amahl's head, curing the boy's leg. The opera ends with the mother agreeing to let Amahl go with the kings to personally present his crutch to the Christ Child.
Didn't do much else for the rest of the afternoon before enjoying our supper of salmon loaf, served with Parmesan potatoes and English. Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I settled in front of TV for the rest of the evening.
We watched a couple of movies, the first of which was the R-rated, year 2000 film about America's first famous serial killer, "Ed Gein." Gein, of Plainfield, Wisconsin, murdered and mutilated countless victims at his farm in the 1950s. Tormented by his parents in childhood, he grew up to believe he was being ordered by his now dead Bible thumping and cruel mother to kill people. He committed unspeakable acts on his victims, even fashioning bowls, lamps, and the like from their body parts and skin. He was also a necrophiliac, a cannibal, and a grave robber. It's said that many modern movies, like "Psycho," "Hannibal Lecter," and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," are based on Gein's killings. After being caught, Gein spent the rest of his life in a mental institution.
The second movie we saw was a 2010, R-rated film "The Truth," starring John Heard, Brendan Sexton III, Erin Cardillo, and Daniel Baldwin. A couple is taken hostage in their own home, and things begin to get complicated...does the wife know the intruder? Has the husband crossed paths with him? Is the intruder really there just to rob them?
Mother came over around 10 a.m. and put together a salmon loaf for supper. She refrigerated it until time to put it in the oven around 4 p.m.
We didn't accomplish anything before lunch. After lunch, we all went to the greeting card shop to buy Valentine cards. I needed to use a couple of coupons before they expired at the end of this month, and it was a glorious sunny day for an outing.
At the greeting card checkout counter, the young clerk told me I could only use one of the coupons I'd brought along...a $3 one from earned points, or one for getting a free card when I bought two. However, the other clerk suggested that I buy the most expensive card with the $3 coupon, pay for it, and then purchase the other three cards with the buy-two-get-one free coupon. I was able to save $5.50 this way. I'm glad she suggested that, and I'll remember that trick hereafter. With the card purchases, I was also able to use a coupon for getting 200 extra points.
Back home, we didn't feel like doing anything constructive for the afternoon, so Mother and I watched a DVD of the Christmas opera, "Amahl and the Night Visitors." I'd ordered this DVD a few days before Christmas, when an online store was offering $5 off a single purchase. But a few weeks later, I was advised the DVD was on back order. Time dragged on, and finally I was alerted that I needed to request within 24 hours that I still wanted the order, which then would be kept open for 30 days. I did so, and within a week, I finally received the DVD, along with another back order DVD of "The Music Man."
Mother and I agreed that no matter when the DVD arrived, we would watch it, so we did today. The quality of the forty-six minute, black and white 1951 NBC TV Opera Theater production is poor, but it is still fun to watch. It took us back to my youth and teenage years, when we watched this opera every Christmas.
Information with the DVD says that the boy who played Amahl died in 2003 of pancreatic cancer. He was about my age. Other than one of the actors who played a king, the rest of the main cast still survive...a couple of whom are in their 90s.
The story is of a disabled boy, who has a problem with telling tall tales. He lives with his widowed mother near Bethlehem. She does not believe him when he tells her he has seen a large star "as big as a window," with a tail, and until she sees them herself, certainly doesn't believe him when he answers a knock on the door and reports that there is first one king, then two, then three standing there. The kings need a place to stop and rest, and the mother offers their humble cottage. Soon, neighbors bearing gifts of food arrive. They are prevailed upon by the mother to sing and dance for the kings.
Later, while the kings sleep, the mother cannot resist trying to steal gold from one of them. She is caught red handed, and the page who accompanies the kings tries to grab the gold from her, calling her a thief. Amahl comes to his mother's defense, attacking the page and telling him his mother is a good woman, and that he is the bad one with his lying. The mother is ashamed of herself and tries to give the gold back, but the king lets her keep it, saying that the Christ Child will not need earthly power or wealth to build His kingdom. In exchange, Amahl offers his crutch to the kings to take to the Babe. The kindly king touches Amahl's head, curing the boy's leg. The opera ends with the mother agreeing to let Amahl go with the kings to personally present his crutch to the Christ Child.
Didn't do much else for the rest of the afternoon before enjoying our supper of salmon loaf, served with Parmesan potatoes and English. Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I settled in front of TV for the rest of the evening.
We watched a couple of movies, the first of which was the R-rated, year 2000 film about America's first famous serial killer, "Ed Gein." Gein, of Plainfield, Wisconsin, murdered and mutilated countless victims at his farm in the 1950s. Tormented by his parents in childhood, he grew up to believe he was being ordered by his now dead Bible thumping and cruel mother to kill people. He committed unspeakable acts on his victims, even fashioning bowls, lamps, and the like from their body parts and skin. He was also a necrophiliac, a cannibal, and a grave robber. It's said that many modern movies, like "Psycho," "Hannibal Lecter," and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," are based on Gein's killings. After being caught, Gein spent the rest of his life in a mental institution.
The second movie we saw was a 2010, R-rated film "The Truth," starring John Heard, Brendan Sexton III, Erin Cardillo, and Daniel Baldwin. A couple is taken hostage in their own home, and things begin to get complicated...does the wife know the intruder? Has the husband crossed paths with him? Is the intruder really there just to rob them?
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Thursday, Jan. 27
What a perfectly lovely day, weather wise...sunny with temps rising into the 50s.
I was up around 7:30, and after breakfast, I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises. While I was doing this, Hubbie went to the cable company to report our difficulties with the cable box. They suggested what I should have thought of on my own...to unplug the box, wait five minutes, and then plug it back in. That's all it took to reset it.
Around 9 a.m., Hubbie traveled to another town about forty-five minutes away to have the automatic doors on the van repaired, in accordance with a recall notice. While he was there, he asked the repairmen to check the van air conditioner, since it didn't work the last time we tried to use it. It'll requiire a part that has to be ordered, so it could be a week or so before Hubbie can take the van back for this repair.
While he was gone, I worked on my income tax report related to artist-in-education residencies at a school and museum last year, as well as freelance photography income. I certainly couldn't support myself on what I make, but the government still wants to know about it.
After that, I decided to watch my DVD movie musical, "Chicago," while I cut up veggies for a chef's salad for lunch. I thought Hubbie would be gone until around noon, but he got back around 11 a.m. I probably wouldn't have started the movie if I'd known he'd be back so soon, since he's not a fan of movie musicals. But, I was already into it, so he had to suffer it.
After lunch, we shopped for on-sale groceries at a grocery store....got two cases of no-sodium-added diced tomatoes, plus buy-one-get-one packages of mozzerella cheese, and six boxes of facial tissue (winter isn't over yet, and the sniffles may still be on the horizon). For every ten items we picked up, we got a $5 discount, on top of the already discounted prices (the name-brand canned goods are about half the usual price).
We also shopped for Mother...she didn't come over today. She usually stays home on Thursdays to do whatever appeals to her, though we check on her several times during the day.
From the grocery store, we went to a pharmacy store that offered cans of decaf coffee reduced $2 per can, so we bought the two cans they had left.
Back home, I sat down to read the daily newspaper and was surprised to see a photo of Mother and me making neck warmers at the independent living center yesterday. I knew the activity director of the center was snapping pictures, but I didn't know she planned to submit them to the paper. In the photo, Mother is sewing one of the warmers, and I'm standing up threading a needle for one of the residents.
Supper tonight for Hubbie and me was leftover beef stroganoff and veggies from last night. Later, I made a six-minute chocolate cake (Sis inspired me to this).
Then we watched the 2009, PG movie, "Amelia," about the Aviatrix, Amelia Earhart. It stars Hilary Swank, and Richard Gere. The movie has met with mixed reviews, but I'm a fan of biopics. I wanted to see this film when it was released to movie theaters, but our theater didn't show it. I think the sweeping scenery and the historic planes would have been more powerfully visual on the big screen.
I was up around 7:30, and after breakfast, I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises. While I was doing this, Hubbie went to the cable company to report our difficulties with the cable box. They suggested what I should have thought of on my own...to unplug the box, wait five minutes, and then plug it back in. That's all it took to reset it.
Around 9 a.m., Hubbie traveled to another town about forty-five minutes away to have the automatic doors on the van repaired, in accordance with a recall notice. While he was there, he asked the repairmen to check the van air conditioner, since it didn't work the last time we tried to use it. It'll requiire a part that has to be ordered, so it could be a week or so before Hubbie can take the van back for this repair.
While he was gone, I worked on my income tax report related to artist-in-education residencies at a school and museum last year, as well as freelance photography income. I certainly couldn't support myself on what I make, but the government still wants to know about it.
After that, I decided to watch my DVD movie musical, "Chicago," while I cut up veggies for a chef's salad for lunch. I thought Hubbie would be gone until around noon, but he got back around 11 a.m. I probably wouldn't have started the movie if I'd known he'd be back so soon, since he's not a fan of movie musicals. But, I was already into it, so he had to suffer it.
After lunch, we shopped for on-sale groceries at a grocery store....got two cases of no-sodium-added diced tomatoes, plus buy-one-get-one packages of mozzerella cheese, and six boxes of facial tissue (winter isn't over yet, and the sniffles may still be on the horizon). For every ten items we picked up, we got a $5 discount, on top of the already discounted prices (the name-brand canned goods are about half the usual price).
We also shopped for Mother...she didn't come over today. She usually stays home on Thursdays to do whatever appeals to her, though we check on her several times during the day.
From the grocery store, we went to a pharmacy store that offered cans of decaf coffee reduced $2 per can, so we bought the two cans they had left.
Back home, I sat down to read the daily newspaper and was surprised to see a photo of Mother and me making neck warmers at the independent living center yesterday. I knew the activity director of the center was snapping pictures, but I didn't know she planned to submit them to the paper. In the photo, Mother is sewing one of the warmers, and I'm standing up threading a needle for one of the residents.
Supper tonight for Hubbie and me was leftover beef stroganoff and veggies from last night. Later, I made a six-minute chocolate cake (Sis inspired me to this).
Then we watched the 2009, PG movie, "Amelia," about the Aviatrix, Amelia Earhart. It stars Hilary Swank, and Richard Gere. The movie has met with mixed reviews, but I'm a fan of biopics. I wanted to see this film when it was released to movie theaters, but our theater didn't show it. I think the sweeping scenery and the historic planes would have been more powerfully visual on the big screen.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Wednesday, Jan. 26
I was up at 7:15, on this spirit-lifting soon-to-be 50-degree sunny morning and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. When I was ready for the day, Mother came over, and we went to an independent living center to join other Caring Hands Hospice volunteers and residents of the center in filling neck warmer bags with rice and then stitching the opening closed.
The director of the Caring Hands volunteers found colorfully patterned fabric on sale at the WDCS for a dollar a package, which she sewed into sacks. The warmers are a bit large, and the rice makes them heavy...probably about three to five pounds each, which is hefty for elderly people to lift. I don't think they are very suitable for neck warmers, though they might be nice tucked behind one's back or laying over sore legs or arms.
We worked from 10:30 a.m. until noon, and completed thirteen warmers. There was one sack left, but no rice to fill it, so the director will have to finish that one. She had brought several large sacks of rice, and I had brought one, but it still wasn't enough. I also brought needles, thread and scissors, and when I wasn't filling sacks with rice, I was threading needles for elderly hands. Mother was one of the ladies who stitched the sacks closed. I only sewed one of the sacks, but I filled several.
The director had sewn the sacks all the way around, leaving only a small hole for inserting the rice. She and I had brought funnels, but it was difficult to get the rice to go through them. I finally gave that up and used a solo cup squeezed to make a spout. I think it would have been much easier if one end of the sacks had been left open, to be whip stitched after they were filled.
While we were at the center, the director noted that we will meet there again next Wednesday at 10 a.m. to make Valentine cards. They need a lot of them, so Mother and I will work ahead of time to do several more to add to the ones we have already made.
Back home, Hubbie had heated soup for our lunch. Afterward, he and I went to the WDCS to grocery shop, while Mother began preparations for beef stroganoff for supper.
The stroganoff was good served over noodles, with a choice of canned spinach or French style green beans. Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I watched TV, as usual.
A movie we saw was the 2001, R-rated "Bride of the Wind," about the beautiful wife of 19th century German composer, Gustav Mahler, who was herself a gifted composer, but who gave up her own aspirations to promote his career, and the careers of other men who came after him (a painter, an architect, and a novelist). The scenery, sets, and costumes of turn-of-the-century Europe are gorgeous.
Aggravation: following the movie, I discovered the remote control had quit working, despite changing the batteries in it. Then, I discovered the cable box is not working. I know this because the time on it is stuck on 6:58 p.m. Fortunately, the remote that powers the TV on and off still works. Hubbie will go to the cable company office in the morning to get a repairman out here.
Since the cable box is on the blink, we watched a DVD romantic comedy movie..."Bridget Jones, the Edge of Reason," a 2005, R-rated film starring Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, and Colin Firth. Dumpy, frumpily dressed Bridget thinks she has found love with lawyer Mark Darcy (Firth), but the relationship ends, and then charming and handsome Daniel Cleaver (Grant) enters the scene.
The director of the Caring Hands volunteers found colorfully patterned fabric on sale at the WDCS for a dollar a package, which she sewed into sacks. The warmers are a bit large, and the rice makes them heavy...probably about three to five pounds each, which is hefty for elderly people to lift. I don't think they are very suitable for neck warmers, though they might be nice tucked behind one's back or laying over sore legs or arms.
We worked from 10:30 a.m. until noon, and completed thirteen warmers. There was one sack left, but no rice to fill it, so the director will have to finish that one. She had brought several large sacks of rice, and I had brought one, but it still wasn't enough. I also brought needles, thread and scissors, and when I wasn't filling sacks with rice, I was threading needles for elderly hands. Mother was one of the ladies who stitched the sacks closed. I only sewed one of the sacks, but I filled several.
The director had sewn the sacks all the way around, leaving only a small hole for inserting the rice. She and I had brought funnels, but it was difficult to get the rice to go through them. I finally gave that up and used a solo cup squeezed to make a spout. I think it would have been much easier if one end of the sacks had been left open, to be whip stitched after they were filled.
While we were at the center, the director noted that we will meet there again next Wednesday at 10 a.m. to make Valentine cards. They need a lot of them, so Mother and I will work ahead of time to do several more to add to the ones we have already made.
Back home, Hubbie had heated soup for our lunch. Afterward, he and I went to the WDCS to grocery shop, while Mother began preparations for beef stroganoff for supper.
The stroganoff was good served over noodles, with a choice of canned spinach or French style green beans. Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I watched TV, as usual.
A movie we saw was the 2001, R-rated "Bride of the Wind," about the beautiful wife of 19th century German composer, Gustav Mahler, who was herself a gifted composer, but who gave up her own aspirations to promote his career, and the careers of other men who came after him (a painter, an architect, and a novelist). The scenery, sets, and costumes of turn-of-the-century Europe are gorgeous.
Aggravation: following the movie, I discovered the remote control had quit working, despite changing the batteries in it. Then, I discovered the cable box is not working. I know this because the time on it is stuck on 6:58 p.m. Fortunately, the remote that powers the TV on and off still works. Hubbie will go to the cable company office in the morning to get a repairman out here.
Since the cable box is on the blink, we watched a DVD romantic comedy movie..."Bridget Jones, the Edge of Reason," a 2005, R-rated film starring Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, and Colin Firth. Dumpy, frumpily dressed Bridget thinks she has found love with lawyer Mark Darcy (Firth), but the relationship ends, and then charming and handsome Daniel Cleaver (Grant) enters the scene.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Tuesday, Jan. 25
Didn't post a blog yesterday, because it was Hubbie's and my 30th wedding anniversary, so we did nothing that wasn't absolutely necessary except enjoy each other's company. It was a good day, with an exchange of lovely greeting cards, a beautiful bouquet of lilies, carnations, and mums from Hubbie, chocolate candy and wine, a delicious (if not particularly healthy) meal of grilled steak with grilled shrimp, baked potatoes, salad, and asparagus, an afternoon movie ("Mama Mia"...Hubbie is not a fan of movie musicals, but he likes this one), and an evening out at the local movie theater to see "The Little Fockers." They must have known we were coming to the theater, because we got a private showing of the movie...no one but us showed up. Fine with us...we relaxed in the only two high-backed seats in the house and laughed our heads off. Happy Anniversary to us!
I was up around 8:15 this morning, but skipped my exercises simply because I wasn't in the mood. I'll get back at it tomorrow morning, though.
Mother came over mid-morning and started a pot of split pea soup simmering. While she did that, I worked on Valentine greeting cards. After lunch, Mother joined me in that activity. We finished several this afternoon, before I needed to stop and review the materials for tutoring my Hispanic student tonight.
The soup was good with crackers and peanut butter. Mother went home afterward, and I headed to the college library to meet my student. We worked two hours tonight, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., during which she learned the names of several new nations (Australia/Australian were difficult for her), how to pronounce the months of the year (she trips on January and July), and how to say simple sentences, like "The girl has a cup in her hand."
My main thrust tonight was teaching her to pronounce "h" in words, and deal with "and" and "an" ("I have a pencil and an eraser.") I could tell she was puzzled about having "and" and "an" right together in the same sentence.
It's also difficult for her to say sentences with lots of "h" words..."He has his pen." These kinds of sentences are tongue twisters for her.
At home, I found the front door locked, but no matter how hard I pounded on it or rang the door bell, Hubbie didn't hear me. So I went around to the back door. In the den, the TV was off, and there was no sign of Hubbie. I found him upstairs watching a basketball game on the bedroom TV, because it seemed I had programmed two shows on the DVR, which meant he couldn't change to another channel.
So I ditched one of the recordings, so we could first watch the President's State of the Union address, and then our favorite college basketball team as they played to a much-needed win.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Sunday, Jan. 23
Up around 7:30, but skipped my exercises today. Mother came over mid-morning, but we didn't do much for the morning. I washed a couple of loads of clothes, and programmed the DVR for the week's shows and movies, planned the menu for the week, and read the Sunday newspaper. Mother sliced cold boiled chicken to add to dressing from the freezer (leftover from Thanksgiving), and washed sweet potatoes for the oven.
Around noon, we had the chicken and dressing, and baked sweet potatoes with asparagus and canned cranberry sauce. It was a satisfying meal.
Afterward, we changed into Sunday clothes to go to the college about a mile down the road, where Hubbie and I served as ushers for the Civil War reader's theater. While there, the lady manning the box office (at whose home the community theater board meets each month) asked us to return to the college next Friday morning to accept money from the teachers accompanying school groups to a special performance of the play, since she is unable to do it. We agreed to do this.
Unfortunately, this play is not being well attended. Only around twenty people showed up Friday night, and not many more Saturday night. Today, around fifty attended. One of them was a reporter from another county, who remarked to me how surprised she was to see how small the audience was.
I asked this reporter to send me a copy of the article she writes, which I will pass on to our community theater board historian (same lady who manned the box office, and who is also the board's treasurer), and she agreed.
The play began at 2 p.m. and lasted about two hours, including a fifteen minute intermission. It was an interesting production, and the author of the play did a great job of plowing though documents and diaries from our museum, national battlefield archives in two states, historical society archives in two states, and the Lincoln library, to cobble together a coherent story with a beginning, middle, and semi-end. I say semi-end, because this is the first of three reader's theaters dealing with the Civil war in our area, so this one ends with the hint that the Union soldiers will once again occupy our town.
The story is told from the viewpoints of two young women diarists, two Union soldiers, and two Confederate soldiers, with two narrators...a man and a woman. Before the production began, musicians from another state performed six local songs of the period on CD. The songs were written mainly by soldiers during periods of boredom. According to the playbill, it has been said that "the soldier's life is mostly boredom punctuated with a few moments of terror."
A slide show of maps and photos illustrated the information imparted by the readers, who were dressed in period costumes. Except for risers, there were no stage props beyond a period desk and chair, at which one of the young ladies sat and pretended to record in her diary as she spoke.
The author is a retired history professor who was my instructor when I attended the college where he taught. He has also served on the community theater board with me, and we have both appeared in theater productions. He is a friend, and he worked very hard and for a long time to mount this production. He fully expected to fill the 400-seat theater for each of the five performances, though those of us on the board knew this would not happen. The only time the theater will be filled is on Friday, when the schools bring students (who I'm sure will be bored to tears). I hope he won't be devestated by the low turnout. Maybe he can blame it on the several other events going on around town.
I enjoyed the performance, and I think Hubbie and Mother enjoyed what they didn't sleep through.
Later, Hubbie did the honors of making French toast for our supper, and then we watched the 2009, R-rated movie, "The Hurt Locker," starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Ralph Fiennes, and Guy Pearce. This four-star movie, about an elite squad of soldiers who disarm bombs in the midst of combat, was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who became the first female director to receive an Oscar. The film itself won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2010.
Around noon, we had the chicken and dressing, and baked sweet potatoes with asparagus and canned cranberry sauce. It was a satisfying meal.
Afterward, we changed into Sunday clothes to go to the college about a mile down the road, where Hubbie and I served as ushers for the Civil War reader's theater. While there, the lady manning the box office (at whose home the community theater board meets each month) asked us to return to the college next Friday morning to accept money from the teachers accompanying school groups to a special performance of the play, since she is unable to do it. We agreed to do this.
Unfortunately, this play is not being well attended. Only around twenty people showed up Friday night, and not many more Saturday night. Today, around fifty attended. One of them was a reporter from another county, who remarked to me how surprised she was to see how small the audience was.
I asked this reporter to send me a copy of the article she writes, which I will pass on to our community theater board historian (same lady who manned the box office, and who is also the board's treasurer), and she agreed.
The play began at 2 p.m. and lasted about two hours, including a fifteen minute intermission. It was an interesting production, and the author of the play did a great job of plowing though documents and diaries from our museum, national battlefield archives in two states, historical society archives in two states, and the Lincoln library, to cobble together a coherent story with a beginning, middle, and semi-end. I say semi-end, because this is the first of three reader's theaters dealing with the Civil war in our area, so this one ends with the hint that the Union soldiers will once again occupy our town.
The story is told from the viewpoints of two young women diarists, two Union soldiers, and two Confederate soldiers, with two narrators...a man and a woman. Before the production began, musicians from another state performed six local songs of the period on CD. The songs were written mainly by soldiers during periods of boredom. According to the playbill, it has been said that "the soldier's life is mostly boredom punctuated with a few moments of terror."
A slide show of maps and photos illustrated the information imparted by the readers, who were dressed in period costumes. Except for risers, there were no stage props beyond a period desk and chair, at which one of the young ladies sat and pretended to record in her diary as she spoke.
The author is a retired history professor who was my instructor when I attended the college where he taught. He has also served on the community theater board with me, and we have both appeared in theater productions. He is a friend, and he worked very hard and for a long time to mount this production. He fully expected to fill the 400-seat theater for each of the five performances, though those of us on the board knew this would not happen. The only time the theater will be filled is on Friday, when the schools bring students (who I'm sure will be bored to tears). I hope he won't be devestated by the low turnout. Maybe he can blame it on the several other events going on around town.
I enjoyed the performance, and I think Hubbie and Mother enjoyed what they didn't sleep through.
Later, Hubbie did the honors of making French toast for our supper, and then we watched the 2009, R-rated movie, "The Hurt Locker," starring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Ralph Fiennes, and Guy Pearce. This four-star movie, about an elite squad of soldiers who disarm bombs in the midst of combat, was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who became the first female director to receive an Oscar. The film itself won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2010.
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