Escape to Margaritaville

Laughter

February 16, 2018 at 9:15 am by Claudia

It’s a foggy and unseasonably warm Friday morning.

Victory for me – after spending two days chopping up ice, it has disappeared. Thank you warmer temperatures and thank you to our ice chopper, which we bought several years ago. I don’t recall having to use it at all last winter, but this winter with its abrupt freezes and thaws has required its services. Often.

Today is Don’s first preview. And today is the day the Original Broadway Cast Album is released. I have an actual CD on the way, but I’m going to download it today so I can hear it now. I’m too impatient to wait.

My now several-years-old geranium, which I overwinter. Almost all of the leaves are new.

Too little sleep over a period of a week and the horrific news from Florida made for a very depressed and edgy me yesterday. Thankfully, I had dinner with Rick, Doug and Doug’s daughter, Alecia, last night and laughed my head off. At one point, I was clutching my stomach with tears rolling down my face, quite a sight for my fellow diners. Laughter is the best medicine.

My mood was much improved when I got home.

I’m thinking of heading into NYC on Sunday for a few days. I’d leave on Saturday, but it’s supposed to snow on Saturday night and I want to be here in case I need to shovel. Even if it snows, it’s going to be in the forties the next day, so it will melt fairly quickly.

Such a strange winter with bitter, bitter cold in December, lots of snow, and unseasonably warm temperatures more often than not.

Happy Friday.

Goodbyes, Babies, and Rescues

February 13, 2018 at 10:42 am by Claudia

I just got back from dropping Don off at the bus station. The two days went by too quickly, but we had a lovely time together and, weather permitting, I’ll try to get into the city at the end of the week. This life isn’t easy, but I hope we handle it with grace. I think we do.

I have a spider plant upstairs in the office that was a teeny-tiny grocery store rescue when I bought it a couple of years ago. It’s quite large now and very healthy. But it has never produced a baby. Every once in a while I tell the spider plant that it would be nice to see a little baby appear.

Well, look what I saw yesterday! A baby!

Just goes to show you that they hear us. Remember all those books in the seventies about talking to your plants? It may have been a fad, but I talk to mine all the time.

Speaking of grocery store rescues, I couldn’t get this little guy out of my mind – I’d seen it at our local store several times, so I swooped in today and brought it home. This photo makes it look larger than it is. I think it’s a peperomia. The leaves are succulent-like. I’ll look it up later today.

Don’s show starts previews on Friday. For those of you who are new to this, previews are performances (with a paying audience) while the play is not yet officially open. That means that while the cast is performing at night, the tech people, designers, director, choreographer, music director, and writers are watching and taking notes. Rehearsals are still going on each afternoon and those rehearsals are used to fix things, rehearse moments that need some tweaking, and make changes. Sometimes (this happened with Anastasia) the playwright(s) will rewrite scenes, add new scenes, and then ‘pages’ will be passed out to the actors which include those changes. Escape to Margaritaville will be previewing for a month and then it will officially open in March. So, though the cast is performing, the show is still not completely set. At some point, everyone involved will decide there are no more changes to be made and it will be ‘frozen.’

There you go.

Happy Tuesday.

Kvetching (Just a Bit)

January 25, 2018 at 9:39 am by Claudia

Slab update: Whatever had melted or was in the process of melting froze again last night because the temperatures went down to the teens. Oh joy. So I’m going to get this post up quickly because I have to go outside and salt that damned thing.

And the extended forecast, which I realize could well change, is not very comforting on the snow front, starting with this coming Monday. I have to figure out what would be optimal in terms of a trip into the city. But not now because my brain is a bit too foggy.

Winter just seems to involve more: shoveling, salting, hacking away at ice, making sure the faucets drip if it gets too cold out there, hauling the humidifier from room to room, refilling it, putting on layers just to get the mail, boots on, boots off. It’s an energy sapper.

Okay. Enough kvetching.

The studios where Don is rehearsing are the same studios where I have worked many, many times. It’s fascinating to travel up and down in the elevator and have the doors open on another floor to find Hamilton in rehearsal, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or Anastasia, or Hello, Dolly. You often share the elevator with famous people in the theater world; directors, actors, designers, composers. Elevators are the great equalizer. Everyone smiles and nods or says hello and then it’s silence until the lobby doors open. Last time I was there, Kevin Kline and I shared an elevator. Yesterday, Don shared an elevator with Glenda Jackson! I love that. Everyone is there for the same reason; to work, to rehearse and to create. And they all have to take the elevator, famous or not famous.

Rehearsals are going well; there are some changes to the script, which is to be expected, and the cast and creatives are all happy to be back together.

Now in a Guy Wolff pot.

Okay. I have to get out there and salt the darned ice slab.

Happy Thursday.

Laughter

Goodbyes, Babies, and Rescues

Kvetching (Just a Bit)

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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