On The Road — Page 82

On the Road: More of Chautauqua

June 20, 2014 at 8:09 am by Claudia

Chautauqua isn’t only charming cottages and a beautiful lake. It is also music, art, theater, dance buildings, studios and practice rooms. It is performance spaces and halls. And it is far more even than that, but this is what I have discovered so far. Soon, when the season opens on Sunday, there will be scores of music, art, theater and dance students. There will be the sounds of music wafting up from practice rooms. There will be lectures and events in the amphitheater and other venues. There will be even more that I have yet to discover.

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Music studios. There are also art studios that look much like this, as well as dance studios.

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One of the performance venues.

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More music buildings.

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The famous amphitheater, complete with organ.

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That sign reads: The oldest continuous book club in America. Hey fellow readers, these guys have us all beat in terms of longevity.

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I had to include this, the sweetest little church I’ve ever seen. Episcopal, by the way.

The rain that has been a part of almost every day I’ve been here, along with big old crackling thunderstorms, has disappeared. Truly lovely weather has taken its place. We have two more long days of rehearsal in the rehearsal room. Sunday will consist of Opening Day festivities. And on Tuesday, we will start teching the show. (I just had a fight with auto correct, which wanted to make ‘teching’ into ‘etching.’)

My roommates arrive today. One is the costume designer and the other is the lighting designer. It will be strange having to suddenly adapt to two others in this apartment. I’m a solitary person, remember? I sort of dread it and look forward to it at the same time. We’ll all be busy, so I expect we won’t be spending a whole lot of time hanging around the apartment. Wish me luck!

Happy Friday.

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The Lake

June 18, 2014 at 8:32 am by Claudia

I grew up spending time at my aunt’s cottage on a lake in Michigan, my home state.

That particular lake was named Silver Lake and it was about an hour or so from our house. The cottage itself was built by my grandfather in the early part of the twentieth century. In fact, it was the very first cottage on that lake. My parents spent their honeymoon there.

The family cottage was owned by all six Hill siblings after the death of my grandparents and eventually, my aunt became sole owner. The lake was another world for me, a place to sit on the dock, or sleep on the sleeping porch with the gentle sounds of waves lapping against the shore as my lullaby. It was a place where screen doors slammed, where we played with inner tubes or swam out to the raft. It’s where I learned to water ski. There was a little store just down the dirt road where we would walk to get a cold 7-up and some candy. The adults would play cards at night – usually a spirited game of ’31.’

Very different from my life in suburbia.

It’s no wonder that I’ve always loved lakes and have always wanted to live on a lake. The lake here, Chautauqua Lake, is 17 miles long and 2 miles wide. There are several communities on the lake, one of which is the Chautauqua Institution. On Sunday, I grabbed the opportunity to spend some time there – before the influx of summer visitors that will start on June 22nd.

It’s gorgeous.

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You’d better believe I sat on this dock for a while.

I would love nothing more than to wake up each morning and walk down to my very own dock with a cup of coffee. Universe? Are you listening?

And speaking of Michigan, look what I spied in someone’s yard:

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Michigan shaped adirondack chairs. Dawn, my fellow Michigander, you need these! My cousin Eileen reads this blog; have you seen these before, Eileen?

Yesterday was a long day. Today will be equally as long. But I’m having a wonderful time working in these surroundings.

Happy Wednesday.

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Wandering Around Chautauqua & Tony Gwynn

June 17, 2014 at 7:48 am by Claudia

Sunday was a picture perfect day around here. It was sunny with temperatures hovering near 80 degrees. Ideal weather for my one day off. As expected, I did some wandering around Chautauqua. I have lots of photos which I’ll share with you over the next couple of days. On the docket today: more of the cottages of Chautauqua.

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This yellow house is charming with two large porches. But what I really loved is the green and white gingerbread detail near the roof.

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Small, for sale, and…note tree growing through the awning.

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This house faces the lake. Oh my goodness. Look at all the detail. Victorian at its best.

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The houses that face the lake are rather palatial. Apparently most of them are still inhabited by single families and haven’t been divided into separate apartments. Wouldn’t you like to sit on that porch?

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Love this house and the simplicity of its design. The hanging ferns are perfect.

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As far as I can tell, this might be the funkiest house here. It looks neglected and in need of repair. I had a brief fantasy that someone would admire my work on A Raisin in the Sun so much that he/she would feel compelled to seek me out and reward me with this house. A little rehab would be involved, but if the house was free….

A girl can dream.

As I was walking, I noticed this cat walking toward me.

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I pulled out the camera, thinking that surely this fellow would run off when he saw me.

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Nope. He calmly walked right up to me and proceeded to lay on his back. Apparently, he was in need of some belly scratching.

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When he had his fill of affection, he got up and walked off.

Of course, I forgot about my encounter and my allergies flared up. Whoops!

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Adorable.

Today will be a twelve hour day. Lots to do before we go into tech and dress rehearsals next week.

Tony Gwynn died yesterday. Don broke it to me over the phone. Tony Gwynn was the reason I grew to love baseball. When we were living in San Diego, we started to watch the Padres games on television. Before that time, I had never had any interest in our national pastime. Tony Gwynn changed all that. Here was an amazing athlete and, even more important, an amazing man. He was a role model for everyone in and out of the game. He worked hard, had time for everyone, helped others and stayed humble. He turned down offers for more lucrative contracts in order to stay with the Padres his entire career. He lived life with integrity and joy. He simply loved the game of baseball.

I became a big, big fan – such a big fan that when I couldn’t see his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, my father-in-law recorded it for me and sent it to me all the way from San Diego.

We lost him way too soon. He was only 54.

Thank you, Tony Gwynn, for making baseball exciting for me. For showing me how to play the game with class and humility. For being an incredible role model in these days of inflated salaries and egos and multi-million dollar deals. For being the reason I love baseball.

Happy Tuesday.

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On the Road: More of Chautauqua

The Lake

Wandering Around Chautauqua & Tony Gwynn

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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