With last night’s performance, the fact that the show has closed will – has – hit the cast. Even though it closed on Sunday, they were on a train for DC the next morning and, for the next three days everything was about the performance. And the horrendous heat. Don said: “It’s all about the heat.” They are exhausted. Today, they’ll ride back to NYC and there will be no performance tonight. Or tomorrow night.
They are extraordinarily close.
I will drive into the city in our old CR-V on Saturday morning. I’ll help Don pack and clean the apartment, we’ll spend some time wandering around and on Sunday? We move Don back home.
With the humidity and high temperatures here, I’ve had to have the A/C on 24 hours a day. I haven’t been able to do anything outside, except water, water, water. It’s been brutal.
I’m over everything.
But this happened the other day. I spotted a monarch butterfly which landed on a black raspberry leaf. She stayed there a long time. It’s the first monarch I’ve seen and I’m convinced she had just emerged and was drying her wings. I was able to get very close to her, which is usually impossible.
The monarch stayed there for about ten minutes. Later, I spotted her flying around the big garden bed, even doing a little circling, playful dance with this Great Spangled Fritillary:
The advantage of having a lot of milkweed: you get to see the monarchs when they first emerge. Maybe I’ll actually see one as it emerges someday.
I took the day Tuesday to clean out our bedroom closet. It’s a small closet, shared by both of us. It’s tucked into the eaves, so it’s deep but not wide. It had become a depressing black hole. Except for cleaning the bathroom (which I also did yesterday) it’s my least favorite thing to do around here. I now have three bags of clothing to donate to the Salvation Army, two bags of crap to go to the dump, and countless cardboard boxes to recycle. Now Mr. Hawaiian Shirt with the Snazzy Shoes will have some room for his new clothing.
We won’t talk about the fact that very little of the clothing I had in the closet fits me anymore. That’s too depressing.
Also, I wrote about this last week on IG, but if you missed it, I was standing by my car with my iPhone in hand (I’d been taking pictures) when, for some reason, I glanced back over my shoulder and saw a full grown black bear walking across the grass on the back forty. I gasped. Couldn’t believe my eyes. For the three seconds or so it took the bear to walk across the grass and then into our woods, I was frozen. Completely forgot I had a phone which could take a picture in my hand.
Whoa Nellie. He or she was beautiful, by the way.
As Don said, “I won’t be taking out the trash at night anymore.”
Happy Thursday.
watched don and everyone in “etm” on “a capitol fourth” last night, twice. they all did a great job in spite of the heat and the show closing … of course, they are professionals.
hope you could tape the show for don and you to watch over and over, if you like.
that show closed much too soon. i am sure the tour will prove the critics wrong and i hope don goes on that tour if that’s what you both want.
best wishes on the move-out, too.
congrats on the closet clean-out. i’ve done lots of that for moving to a much smaller place last summer, but still have some paper stuff to go through. it’s not “stuff” … it’s photos and letters from my family that i will keep, but need to better organize. that will feel good to have done, but right now i’d rather paint or knit …
glad you saw the bear and butterfly … one was much too close, though!
hope you can take it easy today, claudia.
kathy in iowa
I didn’t tape it. I’m sure it will be available in some form, perhaps on PBS On Demand. I don’t think Don would want to see anyway. Too hard to watch with the show closed.
Thanks, Kathy.
What an experience to see a bear that way! Whoa! I saw the concert last night and it was so bittersweet. Loved seeing the cast and Jimmy is always a favorite. I was so looking forward to seeing the show when we’re in NYC in September. I’m so sad.
The butterfly pictures are beautiful. I’m glad that he appeared for you. They are always a sign of hope for me, so I know good things will come your way, Claudia.
I am sad, too. Those three ladies I talked to at the show said a lot of their friends had tickets for September – it’s too bad they couldn’t have kept the showing going for a couple more months. I”m sorry you won’t be able to see it, Karen.
Cried as I watched the show on PBS last night. Please take care walking your back forty with the Bear! They can be a garbage nuisance as we learned in VA. Walked out to get in my car early one morning and found a set of grown bear footprints all around the car! EEK was not what I said! Take care.
Our garbage lid was off about a month ago and the garbage had been investigated, but the can wasn’t tipped over. Now it makes sense. It was our friendly black bear. We’ve also seen bear scat on the property in the past. Thanks, Dottie.
Butterflies might be my favorite thing to see in nature! To me, they symbolize new beginnings and life itself. They are so beautiful! I could watch them for hours.
Well, I am sure you must have heard me yelling ‘yes’ last night when the cast made their appearance! Scared my cats more than the fireworks did! I was singing along with them and was totally fine until Jimmy came out with his guitar, then I broke down and started sobbing! It is so wrong, so unfair, so…find a word to add. They are so talented. This will always be the part of the theater business I will never understand. I wish I could meet each of them and let them know that they are amazing and critics are incredibly stupid people!
Even though you don’t leave until Saturday, I will be thinking of you both as you pack and come home. My heart aches for you both. You are such dedicated professionals, have given your lives to this field and it really annoys me to see you treated this way. Enough said.
By the way, those really are some snazzy shoes, Don!
Hugs for you both!
Me too. I’ve been known to stand outside for an hour waiting to get a photo of a butterfly. I love them.
The theater business can be cruel, that’s for sure. I’ve seen a bit too much of that lately.
Thanks for your support, Debbie.
I too cried at the end of last night’s performance! I will be forever sad that the show closed too soon. It was to be my first Broadway show! The cast was so joyous on stage. My heart hurts for their loss.
It was so hot yesterday I felt sick after taking Mom shopping and bringing in all those groceries. Rested and drank water and was ok. I don’t handle heat well. Love the butterfly photos.
I wish you could have seen it on Broadway. Maybe you’ll be able to see the tour, whether Don is part of it or not.
It has been so miserable this week. I don’t do at all well with heat and high humidity. I’ve had a tickle in my chest the past couple of days and I know it’s due to this weather.
I am happy you got your chores done. For me, cleaning out closets is great therapy. Luckily I had a whole house to clean out recently. I have let my issues with weight go for the most part. As we get older a little extra weight is good.
Hang in there. It will get better.
It’s more than a bit. I have to lose some weight. Frankly, I was spoiled in that I was thin for so long. So this current body is like a stranger’s body. xo
In his 60s, for the time ever in his life, when heretofore he’d had to sometimes fight to even maintain (and not further lose) his ‘thin’-as-a-beanpole weight (he’s tall), my husband began to get a bit of a tummy roll. Has been surprising. He doesn’t drink alcohol but he does eat too much junk food; seems more likely it has to do with sleep issues and cortisol, though. Doctor is aware of it. The ‘ol body in older age seems to slump and bulge in all kinds of places we’d rather it didn’t. I’ve shrunk three inches from my normal-adult-years height and, well, we won’t even talk about my weight gain, how’s that…
When I was at the lab a few days ago, the young gal who drew my blood was SO tall and slim; I felt comfortable enough with her to ask how tall she was and she said she was 6ft2in and her husband is 6ft7in. She said height runs in her family and his, going back to like great-grandparents. They don’t have kids yet, she and her husband. I said, “I think it’s a no-brainer you’ll one day give birth to a basketball player!” She agreed.
That butterfly is gorgeous. You do not see too many of the Monarchs. That is scary about the bear, be careful when outside. The weather is going to break a little tomorrow. It should not be too hot Saturday.
Marilyn
I had to go in the woods the other day and I started talking VERY loudly first. They will run away if you’re noisy. Yes, Saturday and Sunday should be much better – thank goodness, because we’re going to have to go up and down 4 flights of stairs repeatedly.
I watched them last night with tears streaming! and the thought that “the show must go on” resonated. there is something about ‘show people’ that is special.
they are the true “givers” of this world.
be careful in the heat. I am supposedly used to it and I wound up in the hospital last year.
dehydration is dangerous. and the thing is… it’s happened before you even realize it! xoxo
Yes, there they were with a heat index of 115, dancing and singing their hearts out.
I’m careful in the heat and I drink a lot of water. I also don’t stay out in it too long. It should break sometime tomorrow.
This weather truly is brutal. It is hard to breathe out there, and hauling hose 2x a day is getting old. Ours is supposed to break for the weekend and only be in the upper 70’s and low 80’s. I sure wish we would get some rain. The ground is baked dry. And back to the upper 80’s and low 90’s by Thurs of next week. ugh.
We watched the show last night and loved it! Such fun. That, along with not watching any news at all for the past 6 days (just a few mins of weather around 10:15 each night), has helped improve my mood and my sleeping. Sad that we have to keep our heads in the sand to achieve that. Again, ugh.
Safe travels, Claudia, and good luck with the move. I know it is numbing for both of you. There really are no words.
Same here. My chest in congested – my allergies/sinuses don’t do well in weather like this. We need rain, too. We might have some tomorrow, but you know, the old scattered thunderstorms prediction.
I haven’t totally stayed away from the news, but I have stayed away from television/cable news. I was too stressed and with everything to do with Margaritaville closing, I just had/have to take care of myself.
Thanks, Chris.
I DID receive a headline update earlier that Pruitt resigned. He should have been fired months ago, but at least he is gone. 1 down and about 187 to go.
I just saw that. Wonder who talked him into it?
We watched the Capitol 4th. That was one of their better shows. They had a good variety of talent.
We really enjoyed Don & Co.’s segment. They must all be completely exhausted. You could tell they all gave their all. Bittersweet for sure.
I’m not in DC right now, but that heat & humidity is nasty.
We saw a huge black bear off our deck 2 evenings ago. It was the biggest we have ever seen. 400lbs? BIG. It had a tag on it already. All the lights go on when we take the dog out at night.
I love the pic of you and Don in your previous post. Such innocence:)
They are exhausted. All of them. And heartsick. It’s not a good combination. Thanks, Monica.
I got to see the ETM segment last night….they were wonderful. It was sad to think they wouldn’t be performing as a family together again. And it seems like just a few weeks ago that you were moving your Hawaiian shirted man with the fancy shoes, (I do love those shoes, but I digress.), into the pied à terre. It wasn’t all that long ago, was it?
A bear? That would scare the living daylights out of me. No wonder you didn’t think to take his pic! Butterflies are more my speed. And that one is beautiful. My BFF is giving me seeds from her famous milkweed plants….she practically raises monarchs…has for years. So…I can’t wait to start next year.
The weather is supposed to cool down a tad….we desperately need rain. Even after all we received…the earth is indeed parched. Hope it cools down for you, too! ;)
It’s going to break sometime tomorrow. It can’t come soon enough!
Claudia,
I enjoyed your love story and photo you shared. So cool, so sweet, and just very nice to hear how you two met.
Sometimes love happens when we are not even looking for it. You look so pretty on that sofa!
You saw a bear? OMG I have a fear thing about them ever sense I watched “BackCountry” b/c it was loosely based on a true story.
I live near woods and there are bears here in NC. I go hiking a lot but a lone black bear can scare me. Yes, no trash can trips at night.
Love,
Katheryn
I’m not petrified of them but I sure wouldn’t want to upset one!
A BEAR? O.M.G.
Monarch photos; exceptional photos. I’ll forgive you the bear photo (haha).
To add to my utter psycho-frustration last night because of the IMMENSE amount of illegal fireworks in my town, for HOURS and HOURS, on the 7-month anniversary of our start to the Thomas Fire which was the biggest in Calif history (I live in a town of idiots, apparently; who seem to have amnesia about wildfire danger and how another can be sparked by firecrackers and the like), something was haywire on PBS with The Capitol Fourth broadcast. Staccato/light-flashing images; extremely distracting to try to watch even after I got the dog to stop barking at the fireworks.
I called to my husband, “What is WRONG with this TV show?” He said, “They’re having bad camera problems; I’ll go see if I can find out anything online about it.” It seems PBS was blaming DirecTV of which we’re a subscriber; we have a dish. My husband who knows quite a bit about this stuff said, “It ain’t DirecTV. I think they’ve got a bad ‘live’ feed from their remote truck; it happens in a digital world.” What a mess. But I watched through my two recordings of the show and got out enough of it to see Don there in the background onstage (my husband spotted him before I did; I said, ‘he’ll be the tallest guy there…with an eyepatch!”), wishing he’d been able to wear shorts/bermudas to keep cooler in that heat, poor Don! Loved seeing him strum on the ukulele. The dancers were AWESOME. I already loved the music. What a fun show. And I bet the beach balls into the crowd was equally fun; put a smile on my face. I’ve decided it’s just stupid that this show closed; people need it; was perfect for summer. I’m sure it’ll do very well on tour; just wish Don could be part of that, if he was up to it. Seems rigorous to be in what’s I guess a traveling road show. Although he did a little of that last year with the tri-city thing, right? I just remember you saying his legs were getting to him although that could also have been due to all the stairs at the theater as well as the apartment?
Well, Claudia; you’re in for a big weekend. I hope you can go to the community garden one last time before Don no longer has a key to it.
Us today? Prep for the massive heatwave to hit us tomorrow and a few succeeding days; record-breaking and dangerous heat as you’ve had/have. I’ve been watering since I rose; glad they haven’t imposed water restriction on us (yet). I know I’ll lose some plants. I think it’ll even be too hard on the remaining veggies growing; not sure. Although they can find shade since they’re not confined animals, we put up a large canopy/shade cover for the feral cats, just in case (and it also keeps a lot of the heat/sun off their food & water dishes). Planning some indoor projects for the weekend and just praying the power grid doesn’t get overloaded because if the A/C went down (nobody has generators here), I’d have to leave. I can’t take the heat AT ALL. For me, it’s the state of my health and my age now. Makes me have a rueful grin to recall how much I’d seek the heat when a young adult – – any chance to eat outside with a group of friends at lunch; fry (our skin) at the beach on the sand with the sleep-inducing/hypnotic effect of that surf sound and gulls; weekend jaunts to Palm Springs (I’ve been there when it was 118 degrees and we’d be out in it, around the pool, at least for a little while).
One of my aforementioned indoor projects this hot weekend is as yours; the closet cleanout. Don’t feel badly about what no longer fits, Claudia; a lot of us are in the same boat. I’ve held onto clothes ‘forever’, initially thinking I’d need them when returning to the workplace, which didn’t happen. Then, of course, that I’d be ‘that size’ again which didn’t happen either. It’s always the “I might need this” which almost NEVER happens. So, time to purge.
The feed was fine here, but we were watching on cable. No problems with it.
Don has the keys for a year. So we can use them until next spring.
We have had an 8 day stretch of very high temperatures – well into the nineties and for more than one day up here 100+ degrees – and high humidity. Dangerous heat warnings every day. I’m feeling it. Everyone is feeling it. And Don and the cast had to dance and sing with a heat index of well over 115 degrees. We are over it. It’s supposed to break sometime tomorrow. Not soon enough. I don’t do well in this kind of weather and this year it’s really playing havoc with my sinuses/allergies. I’m coughing a lot. Enough already.
Claudia, I just feel you are so overloaded with too much stress although I know it’ll ease once Don is home on Sunday, when you two can just settle in, settle down, have the random/at-ease conversations you need to process everything that’s happened. I’m so sorry you’re bothered by the sinus/allergy thing, but the time of year and with the heat can really do a number on a person; we have a lot of foliage all around us and, strangely (because I’m asthmatic and do have my own particular allergies), it gets to my husband more than me. He coughs and snuffs constantly; it’s exhausting, makes him feel annoyed and it’s also sleep-disruptive.
I feel a little light ..!!!.. to know that you and Don can always have a small respite on journeys into the city with a key to the community/neighborhood garden, in all 4 seasons no less. It’s like a little gift when everything else has been taken away…
We’re in excessive heat warning, per Nat’l Weather Service, from about 5am Friday (tomorrow) til late Saturday night although Sun/Mon will still be in the 90s (we were 90 today at 4pm). I trust in this Nat’l Weather Service and for them to have upped us tomorrow to 113 degrees is just nearly-unbelievable; I don’t know that it’s ever been this hot in my life here, and I’ve lived here, in this particular locale of SoCalif, most of my life. We should be cooler; I can be to the beach in 20 minutes; how can it be this hot here so close to the ocean? They’re saying it’ll still be 107 on Saturday. I immediately go to pets; will people remember to make sure their dogs and cats have water and shade or, better, bring them inside? I have to say, even when I lived on the Gulf Coast in southeast Texas for a few years, it was never 113 degrees when I was there. They’re saying we’ll be 100 degrees tomorrow as early as 10am. Diff for us is that we’ll have very low humidity. It’s desert heat.
The black bears are usually pretty easy to scare off….but I wouldn’t take any chances!
I’m not really afraid of them, but seeing one so close to where I was standing was unnerving!