"As Galadriel said, what's done cannot be... wait a minute!" Jonathan
"Do you mean Lady Macbeth?" Me
"Well, look closely so that next time you see apatosaurus tracks, you'll recognize them." Me
I think we need one of those "It has been [] days since the last dinosaur incident" signs around here. Last night Meg was putting dinos into their basket with force, and nearly skewered my hand with somebody's sharp tail. Ouch. It's a dangerous world in here!
Showing posts with label Macbeth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Macbeth. Show all posts
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Macbeth rises (in discussion)
Lars over at Brandywine is talking about Macbeth. Somebody tried to reconcile the Scots and Viking chronologies, but he doesn't buy it. I'm inclined to agree with Lars because the odds of Macbeth dying in bed are so very, very low, but I know nothing whatever of the Orkneyinga Saga or Jarl Thorfinn, so there you have it.
I am, however, always happy to talk about Macbeth.
I am, however, always happy to talk about Macbeth.
Monday, August 18, 2008
In my scrapbook, I have...
asparagus
baseball
Cawdor
Dunsinane
elephant
farthing
Gruoch
heffalump
icicle
Jonathans
a Kanary
Lulach
mouse
Nebelwerfer
oil
patrimony
Queen Margaret
royalty
Scott
turpentine
Unferth
Vercingetorix
woad
Xanadu
yetis
zoo
That is what happens when you let Jonathan and me loose with the "in my scrapbook" game.
baseball
Cawdor
Dunsinane
elephant
farthing
Gruoch
heffalump
icicle
Jonathans
a Kanary
Lulach
mouse
Nebelwerfer
oil
patrimony
Queen Margaret
royalty
Scott
turpentine
Unferth
Vercingetorix
woad
Xanadu
yetis
zoo
That is what happens when you let Jonathan and me loose with the "in my scrapbook" game.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Monday, November 05, 2007
Happy Guy Fawkes' Day!
Lord Peter planned to celebrate it by proposing to Harriet Vane.
Rumor has it that Shakespeare referenced it in Macbeth. (Maggie came across this theory when we were putting it on.)
That same rumor connects it with Milton having Satan try and blow up Heaven with gunpowder: a moment of Paradise Lost I'd never been able to sympathize with. I, like Lewis, always felt that Milton's angels have too much armor. Demons have no business with anything so mundane as gunpowder, honestly. But if it had the implications of conspiracy-treachery-and-terrorism, that might be an excuse for him (Milton).
Further rumor has it that it's a major plot point in V for Vendetta, but I can't promise anything, not having seen it. (Yet.)
It's actually a rather peculiar holiday, one memorializing a foiled attempt on the part of one Guy Fawkes and his 12 closest buddies to blow up Parliament with King James in it. The motive cited was to do something about the King's oppressive anti-Catholic policies; at any rate, it had rather the opposite effect, and made England more enthusiastically anti-Catholic.
This holiday is properly celebrated by burning things, preferably images of Guy Fawkes. (What do you do with gunpowder conspirators? BURN THEM!) There was some connection, apparently, in the British mind between Jesuits and witchcraft, so burning was...doubly appropriate.
Speaking of burning, the OED word-of-the-day claims that the etymology for "bonfire" really is "bone-fire," and they used to burn piles of animal bones, or heretics, or whatever. Much as I like bonfires, I greatly prefer them when they aren't burning people.
Rumor has it that Shakespeare referenced it in Macbeth. (Maggie came across this theory when we were putting it on.)
That same rumor connects it with Milton having Satan try and blow up Heaven with gunpowder: a moment of Paradise Lost I'd never been able to sympathize with. I, like Lewis, always felt that Milton's angels have too much armor. Demons have no business with anything so mundane as gunpowder, honestly. But if it had the implications of conspiracy-treachery-and-terrorism, that might be an excuse for him (Milton).
Further rumor has it that it's a major plot point in V for Vendetta, but I can't promise anything, not having seen it. (Yet.)
It's actually a rather peculiar holiday, one memorializing a foiled attempt on the part of one Guy Fawkes and his 12 closest buddies to blow up Parliament with King James in it. The motive cited was to do something about the King's oppressive anti-Catholic policies; at any rate, it had rather the opposite effect, and made England more enthusiastically anti-Catholic.
This holiday is properly celebrated by burning things, preferably images of Guy Fawkes. (What do you do with gunpowder conspirators? BURN THEM!) There was some connection, apparently, in the British mind between Jesuits and witchcraft, so burning was...doubly appropriate.
Speaking of burning, the OED word-of-the-day claims that the etymology for "bonfire" really is "bone-fire," and they used to burn piles of animal bones, or heretics, or whatever. Much as I like bonfires, I greatly prefer them when they aren't burning people.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Virginia
My blog, as some of you may have noticed, has been rather quiet this last week. I flew out to Virginia, and had no internet access to speak of; but now I'm back in the desert and the doctor's office and cyberspace. :-) Pretty much everything this week involved hanging out with Jonathan. I shall attempt not to use his name more than, oh, every other word, but you can be sure he was very present.
Kay picked me up at the airport Wednesday night and took me out to dinner. Jonathan was waiting for me the moment I arrived on campus. :-)
Thursday I helped Juli watch one of the professor's little girls, went on a brief photo rampage, and socialized all day. I socialized with the wing girls, and Dr. Libby, and Guthrie and Turner, and Dr. Hake. Then Jonathan's mother came, and Jonathan and I had dinner with her. I think we all enjoyed ourselves heartily, and then I went to Blackberry's that evening. It's a charming coffee shop in what used to be Cami's Paperie, another establishment I adored, and Blackberry's is almost good enough I didn't miss Cami's.
Friday was my birthday. We went for a nice long walk, bought a great many books, made it back in time to watch the soccer team quash Christendom in an awesome overtime shootout, and then the Peasalls did a concert! I can get excited about that! And then I got to socialize with Ben and Lisa and Kanary, and it was good.
Saturday... oh yes! The alumni meeting. That afternoon, Lisa and I went to a colonial fair, and in the evening we had a lovely swing dance.
We got up, with some difficulty, and went to church Sunday morning; I went to Jonathan's church and met one of Kay's students from last year. We met up with Ben and Lisa for the afternoon and touristed in Alexandria. I can recommend it. :-) I even got to go to evening worship, and oh, it was good.
Monday was my last day on-campus, and I spent most of it off campus with my friend Sarah. We hung out at her house (cute) with her husband and son (also cute) and then had lunch at a Mexican place in Leesburg that claimed to have New Mexican food. It was all right, but not very New Mexican. Then I hung out with Jonathan a bit more, and then we went over to Ben and Kanary's for dinner and Macbeth commentary. We'd been waiting for that night a long, long time. I was actually there for half an hour longer than at Lisa's house, which is where I slept afterwards. :-)
And Tuesday I came home. That was my trip. Everyone who kept me, visited with me, gave me birthday wishes or presents, or was otherwise wonderful: thank you so much. It was good to see you. :-)
Saturday, January 20, 2007
The alphabet is no respecter of persons
Today I went to a welcome-to-the-women's-ministry tea, got most of a cast (the Lord be praised), and helped (i.e. mostly watched) my sister clean out the library.
In honor of this most bibliographic experience, I give some excerpts from my bookshelves—which are not the ones that got cleaned today. I'm talking about the ones in my room, including the big one I painted black last summer while listening to Macbeth: the Opera. I've got my books loosely categorized into Fiction/Literature (on the black shelf) and Nonfiction (on the rest of the shelves, including the one that held my dishes at school). It's kind of an odd distinction, and certainly doesn't correspond to False and True! But anyway, within these sections, I've got my books alphabetized by author. This leads to some interesting juxtapositions.
Through the Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot
Elements of Geometry by Euclid
Joshua Generation by Dr. Farris
Don't Waste Your Life by Piper
Communism by Pipes
Life, the Universe, and Everything by Adams
The Oresteian Trilogy by Aeschylus
The Book of Three by Alexander
The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius
What Color is Your Parachute? by Bolles
The Rhetoric of Fiction by Booth
Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Truss
Under the Mercy by Vanauken
Worlds in Collision by Velikovsky
A Christian Manifesto by Schaeffer
The Hundred Years War by Siward
On Law, Morality, and Politics by Aquinas
Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
God, Are You There? by Kay Arthur
Confessions by Augustine
Miss Bianca in the Salt Mines by Sharp
Arms and the Man by Shaw
The Faerie Queene by Spenser
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Okay, it's official.
I have the coolest office in the world. We got bored this evening about 4:50, waiting for our last two patients. So we pulled up Much Ado online (non-dial-up connections are beautiful things) and read the good bits aloud. I got to be Beatrice...and Verges...and Beatrice some more. And a little Leonato.
I also got to talk about Eden Troupe costumes. :-D Do you remember Dogberry and Verges' capes? The long one that belonged to Creon and the little short one from what's-his-name in Antigone? A glorious thing. And then there were those splendidly reused vests from Don John and Don Pedro/Macbeth/the poets and musicians. And the boots...
I also got to talk about Eden Troupe costumes. :-D Do you remember Dogberry and Verges' capes? The long one that belonged to Creon and the little short one from what's-his-name in Antigone? A glorious thing. And then there were those splendidly reused vests from Don John and Don Pedro/Macbeth/the poets and musicians. And the boots...
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Cyrano de Bergerac
Rather to my surprise, I haven't yet been able to find any blog-reviews of PHC's "Cyrano de Bergerac." It was well worth reviewing, so here goes.
I had the pleasure of seeing Cyrano three times. The first night, I inquired of the ushers which might be the best seat, and they directed me to the front row--but mentioned there might be audience participation. Excellent. The stage was already half-filled with fruit-sellers, classy Frenchwomen, pickpockets, and soldiers, all pointing out to one another who all was in attendance that evening. I sat in the front row and was immediately greeted as the Chief Magistrate's wife. This was well and good, but then another lady came along and greeted Mr. Kanary beside me as the Chief Magistrate!
The milling onstage continued. Three musicians sat on the steps, playing happily. One wore Don John's vest from Much Ado and another the gold vest that had belonged to Don Pedro and Macbeth. David Carver and Nic Isley minced in, complete with the noblest of high heels and lace. Soldiers burst in past the usher Caleb Krautter, announcing they didn't have to pay. The pickpocket nearly got Dr. Veith's Blackberry. (On Friday night, Dr. Mitchell got the pickpocket in a ninja-grip, from which he was only extricated by the intervention of Krautter.) Peasant women flitted around, one of them in Beatrice's "terra-cotta" overdress. Maggie Dougher, in a private interview, confided that she patched it herself.
The leading lady Roxane (Cate Pilgrim) attracted much attention as she walked to her seat, closely followed by her duenna (Kelly-Christelle Orsini), the slimy de Guiche (played by Ben Adams in a wig and burgundy velvet), and the hopeless younger lord (played by Jordan Estrada, also in a wig and turquoise velvet). Then the baker Ragueneau (Justin Jenkins) entered, to much cheering, and we learned he paid for his ticket with cakes and cream puffs.
The rumor drifted out that Cyrano himself had forbidden the star of "La Clorice"--which we were there to watch--to appear for a month. There, before our very eyes, he appeared. So did Cyrano. With a shout and a rush John Anderson established himself onstage, utterly impervious to the crowd's booing. "I shall clap three times, and on the third clap, eclipse yourself," he told the star. And it was as he said. Cyrano finished his brilliant gesture repaying the theater owner (Jonathan Bales) with his entire month's pay, held in a bag that I think was made from leftover red Much Ado boot leather.
The soldiers and ushers reappeared in the next scene as starving poets in ragged and dirty shirts made (I later learned) from Antigone curtains and dragged by the poets themselves through Lake Bob mud. The famous Eden Troupe bench made its regular appearance, as did the Much Ado lantern, the Ideal Husband fans, and--my personal favorite--the witches' dresses. The sleeves had been sewn up and they became nuns' habits for Maggie, Kelsey Stapler, and Kaylyn Carlson. Upon inspection, the nuns' white over-dresses turned out to be Siward and Young Siward's flappy things with the red crosses removed. In Eden Troupe, all things that can be redeemed, shall be.
What else is there to say? The acting drew one into the story. In the scene with the duenna, Roxane, and de Guiche (when they were running late for a lecture on The Tender Passion), I stopped to simply admire. It was humorous, but also believable. Cyrano swashbuckled, taking on a hundred men and then denying everything the next day. He told of his trip to the moon with such wit and style as drew in de Guiche, going (as he thought) to marry, as well as the audience. The bold Cadets of Gascony, despite near-starvation, put on a brave front before despised commander and beautiful lady alike. One of the best lines was from Cyrano: "You, play cards. You, dust your caps. I shall read Descartes." The Cadets made their final desperate charge out the back door with a flourish and roar as would have made any thane proud; and as it happened, most of them had been thanes. Mr. Adams actually turned de Guiche into a sympathetic character in the end.
Each night I saw the play, I believe, it improved. The single inconvenience was the rapidity with which Mr. Anderson delivered his golden words. But every time I caught more lines, and it was a beautiful thing.
Congratulations, Christy and Sarah! Good job, cast and crew! Cyrano was a wonderful addition to the Eden Troupe annals, and I'm thrilled I was able to be there.
I had the pleasure of seeing Cyrano three times. The first night, I inquired of the ushers which might be the best seat, and they directed me to the front row--but mentioned there might be audience participation. Excellent. The stage was already half-filled with fruit-sellers, classy Frenchwomen, pickpockets, and soldiers, all pointing out to one another who all was in attendance that evening. I sat in the front row and was immediately greeted as the Chief Magistrate's wife. This was well and good, but then another lady came along and greeted Mr. Kanary beside me as the Chief Magistrate!
The milling onstage continued. Three musicians sat on the steps, playing happily. One wore Don John's vest from Much Ado and another the gold vest that had belonged to Don Pedro and Macbeth. David Carver and Nic Isley minced in, complete with the noblest of high heels and lace. Soldiers burst in past the usher Caleb Krautter, announcing they didn't have to pay. The pickpocket nearly got Dr. Veith's Blackberry. (On Friday night, Dr. Mitchell got the pickpocket in a ninja-grip, from which he was only extricated by the intervention of Krautter.) Peasant women flitted around, one of them in Beatrice's "terra-cotta" overdress. Maggie Dougher, in a private interview, confided that she patched it herself.
The leading lady Roxane (Cate Pilgrim) attracted much attention as she walked to her seat, closely followed by her duenna (Kelly-Christelle Orsini), the slimy de Guiche (played by Ben Adams in a wig and burgundy velvet), and the hopeless younger lord (played by Jordan Estrada, also in a wig and turquoise velvet). Then the baker Ragueneau (Justin Jenkins) entered, to much cheering, and we learned he paid for his ticket with cakes and cream puffs.
The rumor drifted out that Cyrano himself had forbidden the star of "La Clorice"--which we were there to watch--to appear for a month. There, before our very eyes, he appeared. So did Cyrano. With a shout and a rush John Anderson established himself onstage, utterly impervious to the crowd's booing. "I shall clap three times, and on the third clap, eclipse yourself," he told the star. And it was as he said. Cyrano finished his brilliant gesture repaying the theater owner (Jonathan Bales) with his entire month's pay, held in a bag that I think was made from leftover red Much Ado boot leather.
The soldiers and ushers reappeared in the next scene as starving poets in ragged and dirty shirts made (I later learned) from Antigone curtains and dragged by the poets themselves through Lake Bob mud. The famous Eden Troupe bench made its regular appearance, as did the Much Ado lantern, the Ideal Husband fans, and--my personal favorite--the witches' dresses. The sleeves had been sewn up and they became nuns' habits for Maggie, Kelsey Stapler, and Kaylyn Carlson. Upon inspection, the nuns' white over-dresses turned out to be Siward and Young Siward's flappy things with the red crosses removed. In Eden Troupe, all things that can be redeemed, shall be.
What else is there to say? The acting drew one into the story. In the scene with the duenna, Roxane, and de Guiche (when they were running late for a lecture on The Tender Passion), I stopped to simply admire. It was humorous, but also believable. Cyrano swashbuckled, taking on a hundred men and then denying everything the next day. He told of his trip to the moon with such wit and style as drew in de Guiche, going (as he thought) to marry, as well as the audience. The bold Cadets of Gascony, despite near-starvation, put on a brave front before despised commander and beautiful lady alike. One of the best lines was from Cyrano: "You, play cards. You, dust your caps. I shall read Descartes." The Cadets made their final desperate charge out the back door with a flourish and roar as would have made any thane proud; and as it happened, most of them had been thanes. Mr. Adams actually turned de Guiche into a sympathetic character in the end.
Each night I saw the play, I believe, it improved. The single inconvenience was the rapidity with which Mr. Anderson delivered his golden words. But every time I caught more lines, and it was a beautiful thing.
Congratulations, Christy and Sarah! Good job, cast and crew! Cyrano was a wonderful addition to the Eden Troupe annals, and I'm thrilled I was able to be there.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
What, will these hands ne'er be clean?
According to a recent study, guilt really does make you want physical cleansing, and, barring that, some sort of good deed to make up for it. Budziszewski and Shakespeare nailed it again.
Scientific American: Washing Hands Reduces Moral Taint
Grateful again for forgiveness.
Scientific American: Washing Hands Reduces Moral Taint
Grateful again for forgiveness.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Rowling and Macbeth
I daresay a number of you have found this already, and as I recall we talked about it, but I thought it was still interesting. :-)
"If neither boy [Harry or Neville] was pre-ordained before Voldemort’s attack to become his possible vanquisher, then the prophecy (like the one the witches make to Macbeth, if anyone has read the play of the same name) becomes the catalyst for a situation that would never have occurred if it had not been made. Harry is propelled into a terrifying position he might never have sought, while Neville remains the tantalizing ‘might-have-been.’"
--J.K. Rowling, FAQs, jkrowling.com
"If neither boy [Harry or Neville] was pre-ordained before Voldemort’s attack to become his possible vanquisher, then the prophecy (like the one the witches make to Macbeth, if anyone has read the play of the same name) becomes the catalyst for a situation that would never have occurred if it had not been made. Harry is propelled into a terrifying position he might never have sought, while Neville remains the tantalizing ‘might-have-been.’"
--J.K. Rowling, FAQs, jkrowling.com
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Bookshelves and opera
Today I successfully got my mom and sister off. They're on the way to VA.
Then I cleaned all the books off my big bookshelf and stacked them around the room. They always say books expand in volume when they're all over rather than on shelves, and they seem to be right.
I really did have a reason for that, actually: it was all in the cause of decoration. I dismantled the bricks and boards and painted them black on the back patio.
To liven things up, I put on Macbeth: the Opera while I painted. :-D Great stuff, especially once I discovered the libretto and a translation. It's very operatic, in Italian (being by Verdi) and sort of reminded me of a cross between Dante, Shakespeare, and Gilbert and Sullivan. Strange combination. Their Lady Macbeth was a soprano of sopranoes, and the production (for reasons entirely mysterious to me) not only eliminated Young Siward entirely but managed to get Macduff on, Macbeth mortally wounded, and Macduff off again in thirty seconds flat. Then, of course, Macbeth got to sing his dying aria. Then the grateful commoners swarmed around Malcolm singing their undying gratitude for saving them from the tyrant. I like singing along with opera, especially Italian opera theoretically set in Scotland!
Then I cleaned all the books off my big bookshelf and stacked them around the room. They always say books expand in volume when they're all over rather than on shelves, and they seem to be right.
I really did have a reason for that, actually: it was all in the cause of decoration. I dismantled the bricks and boards and painted them black on the back patio.
To liven things up, I put on Macbeth: the Opera while I painted. :-D Great stuff, especially once I discovered the libretto and a translation. It's very operatic, in Italian (being by Verdi) and sort of reminded me of a cross between Dante, Shakespeare, and Gilbert and Sullivan. Strange combination. Their Lady Macbeth was a soprano of sopranoes, and the production (for reasons entirely mysterious to me) not only eliminated Young Siward entirely but managed to get Macduff on, Macbeth mortally wounded, and Macduff off again in thirty seconds flat. Then, of course, Macbeth got to sing his dying aria. Then the grateful commoners swarmed around Malcolm singing their undying gratitude for saving them from the tyrant. I like singing along with opera, especially Italian opera theoretically set in Scotland!
Friday, July 21, 2006
Adventures
I had adventures last night. I started by getting home from work late, because the finances were all tangled up. Somebody entered something as negative instead of positive and it messed it up good and proper.
So I dashed home, made dinner for Daddy and me because Mom and Em were in Albuquerque, and then went up to Bible study. This is the girls' Bible study, led by Sophie, not to be confused with the mixed Bible study at the Gac's. After it was over, Sophie goes, "I have to make the cakes for Abby's wedding on Saturday. Wanna help? You can spend the night." So I did.
I didn't actually touch the cakes. I cut out parchment paper. I find it ironic that, having this very week decided cake-baking and cutting with scissors were not my gifts, I then proceed to stay up till three-thirty helping bake cakes and cut with scissors!
And for a girls' Bible study, there sure were a lot of guys around. Last time I went, several brothers, her dad, and a random other boy all walked into the room where we were--the cellar--you have to work to get to their cellar--and all got kicked out. Last night most of her brothers were gone, but the remaining one had just gotten his wisdom teeth out, so when I arrived he was lying on the couch in the other end of the room, completely out of it. Pretty soon he got up, all perky, wandered around without his shirt on, demanded steak, tried to get Jack Daniels for painkiller and Sophie made him take his prescribed medication, drove himself to the store, got food, and invited hordes of guys over. It was something else.
Sophie's aunt, a drama coach and aspiring playwright, also turned up. She wandered in and out of the kitchen dramatically and loudly, discussing the play she's currently directing and trying to figure out how to make it funny. The lines, apparently, are kind of hopeless, so I tried to rummage through my Macbeth thoughts and asked if there were any funny actions they could do. It didn't sound like it. She decided she'd have to rely on props and considered and rejected alien antennae and medieval dress.
Also in the middle of cake-baking, I sat and read aloud an article from Home & Garden magazine about barbecuing symbolizing our desire to break through the thin crust of civilization to our primitive roots. (I mixed my metaphor, but he didn't.) It was, actually, astoundingly good New Historicism criticism. Thoroughly wrong, of course, but he was well-acquainted with Claude Levi-Strauss and also referenced Freud. It was even well-written. But of all the remarkable things to find in a normal magazine--!
So then the guys watched a crude German cartoon and the girls watched Guys and Dolls. I'd never seen it before, but it was splendid fun watching the original of that song Edie did for the talent show--the one about getting sick from not enough romance. :-) I like Edie better. But that's natural. Around three-thirty I crashed on the couch Sophie's brother had vacated.
This morning we had coffee problems worthy of Chincoteague. First, the grinder messed up--it was probably my fault--and Sophie spent about 40 minutes knocking the stray beans out of its innards so it would grind again. Then the coffee pot had issues. I think it was clogged or something, and at one point it was set to self-clean. We finally got enough really strong coffee out of it for Sophie to make frappuccinos!
Then I went to church, to Sonic for a round of cokes for my family doing something at church, to church again, to the gas station, home to feed the cats and grab my very overdue library books, to the post office and library, home to check messages and make sandwiches and arrange to go see Lady in the Water tomorrow night after the wedding, back up to church to deliver the sandwiches, to the theater to buy tickets--Sophie's sister gave them to me free, which was so nice of her--and then I got back and discovered a postcard from KCP and a package from Kay!
So I've now been home for about three hours out of the last 32. And I have wonderful friends. I miss you guys, but home is not looking entirely bleak these days, either. :-)
So I dashed home, made dinner for Daddy and me because Mom and Em were in Albuquerque, and then went up to Bible study. This is the girls' Bible study, led by Sophie, not to be confused with the mixed Bible study at the Gac's. After it was over, Sophie goes, "I have to make the cakes for Abby's wedding on Saturday. Wanna help? You can spend the night." So I did.
I didn't actually touch the cakes. I cut out parchment paper. I find it ironic that, having this very week decided cake-baking and cutting with scissors were not my gifts, I then proceed to stay up till three-thirty helping bake cakes and cut with scissors!
And for a girls' Bible study, there sure were a lot of guys around. Last time I went, several brothers, her dad, and a random other boy all walked into the room where we were--the cellar--you have to work to get to their cellar--and all got kicked out. Last night most of her brothers were gone, but the remaining one had just gotten his wisdom teeth out, so when I arrived he was lying on the couch in the other end of the room, completely out of it. Pretty soon he got up, all perky, wandered around without his shirt on, demanded steak, tried to get Jack Daniels for painkiller and Sophie made him take his prescribed medication, drove himself to the store, got food, and invited hordes of guys over. It was something else.
Sophie's aunt, a drama coach and aspiring playwright, also turned up. She wandered in and out of the kitchen dramatically and loudly, discussing the play she's currently directing and trying to figure out how to make it funny. The lines, apparently, are kind of hopeless, so I tried to rummage through my Macbeth thoughts and asked if there were any funny actions they could do. It didn't sound like it. She decided she'd have to rely on props and considered and rejected alien antennae and medieval dress.
Also in the middle of cake-baking, I sat and read aloud an article from Home & Garden magazine about barbecuing symbolizing our desire to break through the thin crust of civilization to our primitive roots. (I mixed my metaphor, but he didn't.) It was, actually, astoundingly good New Historicism criticism. Thoroughly wrong, of course, but he was well-acquainted with Claude Levi-Strauss and also referenced Freud. It was even well-written. But of all the remarkable things to find in a normal magazine--!
So then the guys watched a crude German cartoon and the girls watched Guys and Dolls. I'd never seen it before, but it was splendid fun watching the original of that song Edie did for the talent show--the one about getting sick from not enough romance. :-) I like Edie better. But that's natural. Around three-thirty I crashed on the couch Sophie's brother had vacated.
This morning we had coffee problems worthy of Chincoteague. First, the grinder messed up--it was probably my fault--and Sophie spent about 40 minutes knocking the stray beans out of its innards so it would grind again. Then the coffee pot had issues. I think it was clogged or something, and at one point it was set to self-clean. We finally got enough really strong coffee out of it for Sophie to make frappuccinos!
Then I went to church, to Sonic for a round of cokes for my family doing something at church, to church again, to the gas station, home to feed the cats and grab my very overdue library books, to the post office and library, home to check messages and make sandwiches and arrange to go see Lady in the Water tomorrow night after the wedding, back up to church to deliver the sandwiches, to the theater to buy tickets--Sophie's sister gave them to me free, which was so nice of her--and then I got back and discovered a postcard from KCP and a package from Kay!
So I've now been home for about three hours out of the last 32. And I have wonderful friends. I miss you guys, but home is not looking entirely bleak these days, either. :-)
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Life and whatnot
Doings
--wedding shower
--church ladies' coffeehouse and poetry night
--ten pages of Macbeth scrapbook, including a rather clever two-page spread involving red banners like the Macbeth's
--work
--Mom's birthday, and cake-baking therefor
Thoughts
--I need to become better at foreign languages.
--I love warm, sunny mornings on which I can roll down the windows as I drive to work.
--I love rainy afternoons too.
--Baking cakes is not my spiritual gift. Nor is cutting straight lines with scissors.
--wedding shower
--church ladies' coffeehouse and poetry night
--ten pages of Macbeth scrapbook, including a rather clever two-page spread involving red banners like the Macbeth's
--work
--Mom's birthday, and cake-baking therefor
Thoughts
--I need to become better at foreign languages.
--I love warm, sunny mornings on which I can roll down the windows as I drive to work.
--I love rainy afternoons too.
--Baking cakes is not my spiritual gift. Nor is cutting straight lines with scissors.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Cars (the movie)
So. I just got back from watching Cars. The blogosphere--or at least the portions I just checked--has been discussing pork and music, but not Cars, and I think this ought to be changed. It's definitely worth talking about. I can't quite remember the complicated Haunt of Macbeth rating system I dreamed up last March and I don't feel like rummaging through my archives just now to find it, but I'll do something like it.
3 bloody daggers: there was no actual blood or violence, except an occasional car turning over, but there was tension. I got emotionally involved about three minutes into it.
7 warm fuzzies: oh, where to begin?? It was Pixar being its usual brilliant and self-aware self. (The credits were hilarious.) There was plot--not terribly original, but well-handled. There was characterization. The Main Point was actually one worth making. Cars was genuinely funny, as opposed to being filled with stupidity and immaturity being passed as humor. It was made by people who knew whereof they were moviemaking.
But perhaps best of all, I liked it because it made me love America, especially the west. You may remember a certain conversation this spring when I was asking if there were any movies that did that; this qualifies. I now love the west, cars, Route 66, small towns named Radiator Springs, big bright stars, racing, and neon lights better than I have ever loved them before. I think this is an accomplishment, especially about the neon lights.
3 bloody daggers: there was no actual blood or violence, except an occasional car turning over, but there was tension. I got emotionally involved about three minutes into it.
7 warm fuzzies: oh, where to begin?? It was Pixar being its usual brilliant and self-aware self. (The credits were hilarious.) There was plot--not terribly original, but well-handled. There was characterization. The Main Point was actually one worth making. Cars was genuinely funny, as opposed to being filled with stupidity and immaturity being passed as humor. It was made by people who knew whereof they were moviemaking.
But perhaps best of all, I liked it because it made me love America, especially the west. You may remember a certain conversation this spring when I was asking if there were any movies that did that; this qualifies. I now love the west, cars, Route 66, small towns named Radiator Springs, big bright stars, racing, and neon lights better than I have ever loved them before. I think this is an accomplishment, especially about the neon lights.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Macbeth scrapbook
Today I dragged out the Macbeth scrapbook to work on it. :-) Guess what this next page is about? The stabbing. Yup, that's where I left off at Christmas.So if anyone has a comment to make on the subject, post it or email it to me, and I might include it. :-)
Monday, May 15, 2006
The boating day in pictures
Here you may see the boat belonging to the Haunt of Macbeth. I'm the lady of Shalott; the boat, likewise, is called "the Lady of Shalott," because the poem says she wrote that round about the prow. The alien, however, is named Walter. He was our snake prow because it was supposed to be sort of Viking-themed and we couldn't find any snakes for the prow. :-)
The lady of shalott was permitted to rise from the
lake and felt most literary.There was a good turnout.
This is the Great Conglom-eration, manned by the most fearsome landscaping pirates. There was an awesome sea battle, won by them, about which I started to write a ballad but haven't finished yet because it's finals week. :-)
And in the evening we docked the boats and Lake Bob resumed its usual quiet demeanor. Till next year...
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Keepin' it real
The Purcellville Gazette's latest issue contained a review of our Pride and Prejudice. David Sackrider spoke kindly of us, indeed, he spoke kindly of us when he reported on Macbeth, too, but he still rather took me aback. I detected what you might call a worldview collision. I'm not trying to refute him exactly, and I may misquote him slightly, because alas I don't have a copy of the article with me and it isn't online yet, but I'll try to exercise charity. :-) He got me thinking.
He started out the article talking about how we were "keepin' it real" without baggy jeans, cell phones, or i-pods. Rather, we got it across by the characterization. Well--yes, precisely. The story works because it's a good story, and the characters are real people. Eden Troupe assumes that all people, in all times, are the same kind of thing--namely, human--and therefore old stories can be quite as relevant as new ones; possibly more relevant, because less blinded by our own culture's idiosyncrasies. Regency humans were living people too, and that's one reason Jane Austen is still so popular: she was a good artist who could create people recognizable as such. It frankly never occurred to us that Pride and Prejudice could be less real because it wasn't set in the twenty-first century.
The i-pod comment threw me for a loop. What in the world would make someone think that reality was determined by the presence or absence of i-pods?? I guess if you define "world" to include only our present material reality, then technology looks more important. Probably if you assume that you can determine your reality, either in a New Agey, ubermenchish, or just plain secular way, then technology is really important, because technology helps you do it. Or maybe technology is just the most interesting thing presented to us, and so we start defining our universe around it. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
I suppose I was coming at the question differently. Life is more than i-pods, and the body more than fashion. We, like the medievals, are accustomed to seeing people in every story, in Paradise Lost, in Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah, at Troy, in Jerusalem, in Rome, on the Grail quest when being tempted by fiends disguised as maidens in black silk, in the court of Queen Elizabeth, in Jane Austen's book about the Bennets and Darcys and Bingleys, and even maybe in modern stories about Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The fact that hardly any of these people wore jeans struck me as a complete irrelevancy; I myself don't wear jeans all the time. The medievals had a habit of ignoring cultural differences entirely and illustrating even Biblical characters in contemporary medieval garb; historical costuming accuracy is rather cool, but their way emphasized the immediacy of old stories. They say when Shakespeare put on Julius Caesar, the senators wore Elizabethan doublets.
Yet I don't want to ignore the difference that clothes make to a person. There's something about living up to how you dress. I think outfits have customs attached to them, like words have connotations as well as their denotative meaning; one behaves more formally when wearing a Liberty Ball gown, and the militia stands up straighter when in uniform. When you put on the robe of righteousness which is Christ's, you become more inwardly righteous. Yet--you are a person, no matter what your clothes, and therefore a story about you has the potential to be interesting and applicable to other persons.
Shyamalan's "The Village" is an interesting case in point. Perhaps the movie is more "relevant" because of its ending, but I'm not convinced.
Which brings me to an observation I made this morning at church. We sang the Doxology, and our worship leader--an excellent fellow--said we were going to sing it in a way that was "more relevant." This involved adding drums and guitars. That's it. The only difference I could find. I inquire, with some concern, if songs without guitars and drums are therefore less relevant. Modus tollens would indicate so. Don't get me wrong, I like drums and guitars. I actually prefer them to organs, though organs have their good points too (like the fact Helen loves them:-)). But--what??? The relevance of truth is determined by which instruments you use?? Yipes!
I hereby assert that God determines reality, and as long as that is quite straight, details like fashions in worship, clothes, philosophy, and technology suddenly become a lot less important. Pride and Prejudice, anyone?
He started out the article talking about how we were "keepin' it real" without baggy jeans, cell phones, or i-pods. Rather, we got it across by the characterization. Well--yes, precisely. The story works because it's a good story, and the characters are real people. Eden Troupe assumes that all people, in all times, are the same kind of thing--namely, human--and therefore old stories can be quite as relevant as new ones; possibly more relevant, because less blinded by our own culture's idiosyncrasies. Regency humans were living people too, and that's one reason Jane Austen is still so popular: she was a good artist who could create people recognizable as such. It frankly never occurred to us that Pride and Prejudice could be less real because it wasn't set in the twenty-first century.
The i-pod comment threw me for a loop. What in the world would make someone think that reality was determined by the presence or absence of i-pods?? I guess if you define "world" to include only our present material reality, then technology looks more important. Probably if you assume that you can determine your reality, either in a New Agey, ubermenchish, or just plain secular way, then technology is really important, because technology helps you do it. Or maybe technology is just the most interesting thing presented to us, and so we start defining our universe around it. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
I suppose I was coming at the question differently. Life is more than i-pods, and the body more than fashion. We, like the medievals, are accustomed to seeing people in every story, in Paradise Lost, in Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah, at Troy, in Jerusalem, in Rome, on the Grail quest when being tempted by fiends disguised as maidens in black silk, in the court of Queen Elizabeth, in Jane Austen's book about the Bennets and Darcys and Bingleys, and even maybe in modern stories about Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The fact that hardly any of these people wore jeans struck me as a complete irrelevancy; I myself don't wear jeans all the time. The medievals had a habit of ignoring cultural differences entirely and illustrating even Biblical characters in contemporary medieval garb; historical costuming accuracy is rather cool, but their way emphasized the immediacy of old stories. They say when Shakespeare put on Julius Caesar, the senators wore Elizabethan doublets.
Yet I don't want to ignore the difference that clothes make to a person. There's something about living up to how you dress. I think outfits have customs attached to them, like words have connotations as well as their denotative meaning; one behaves more formally when wearing a Liberty Ball gown, and the militia stands up straighter when in uniform. When you put on the robe of righteousness which is Christ's, you become more inwardly righteous. Yet--you are a person, no matter what your clothes, and therefore a story about you has the potential to be interesting and applicable to other persons.
Shyamalan's "The Village" is an interesting case in point. Perhaps the movie is more "relevant" because of its ending, but I'm not convinced.
Which brings me to an observation I made this morning at church. We sang the Doxology, and our worship leader--an excellent fellow--said we were going to sing it in a way that was "more relevant." This involved adding drums and guitars. That's it. The only difference I could find. I inquire, with some concern, if songs without guitars and drums are therefore less relevant. Modus tollens would indicate so. Don't get me wrong, I like drums and guitars. I actually prefer them to organs, though organs have their good points too (like the fact Helen loves them:-)). But--what??? The relevance of truth is determined by which instruments you use?? Yipes!
I hereby assert that God determines reality, and as long as that is quite straight, details like fashions in worship, clothes, philosophy, and technology suddenly become a lot less important. Pride and Prejudice, anyone?
Friday, April 21, 2006
The second night of Pride and Prejudice
Well, all and sundry, Pride and Prejudice has now had two performances; half of them. Is it not strange that such work, so much time, can be done so quickly?
Minimalist; yet, I believe, by the grace of God, effective. Drama is an art, art of people and bits of fabric and paint and time and speech. To usurp a Much Ado quote, is it not strange that dining hall chairs can hale men's souls out of their bodies? How can it be that we can show the story of two people becoming humble on four nights, the same story yet different?
Minimalist; yet, I believe, by the grace of God, effective. Drama is an art, art of people and bits of fabric and paint and time and speech. To usurp a Much Ado quote, is it not strange that dining hall chairs can hale men's souls out of their bodies? How can it be that we can show the story of two people becoming humble on four nights, the same story yet different?
Ben and Lisa are such gracious, humble directors. They always thank their assistants and crew and minions; even those who do very little, actually; they always have time to listen to the most random people, if necessary; they tolerate endless Macbeth comparisons and even love us who make them. Give them honor, and they will be blessed by it and yet reflect it back to those to whom it is due. Honor them.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Chincoteague diary
This week was a highly feminine combination of dragons, movies, books, and food, especially butter and rosemary. We ate well and enjoyed pretty well everything!
Saturday, March 18th
We drove out and had problems with trucks (getting caught behind a dump truck twice before getting off campus, making three wrong turns, getting assistance from a pickup at one turn-around and getting caught behind a stopped semi at another).
In Kirsten’s car: Carolyn and Maggie.
In Tiffany’s car: Lisa and Shelley.
In Helen’s car: Hannah, Sarah, and Angela.
Lunch and retrieving sheets at Kirsten’s house—blessings on Mrs. Etherton!
I finished Zahn’s Survivor’s Quest.
We found the rental office and retrieved house keys.
We arrived at the Red House, unloaded vehicles, explored, and settled in. There were five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a big kitchen, a gazebo nobody went into, and a graveyard just past the backyard.
Lisa made dinner: spaghetti and salad.
I took a cold bath and Shelley turned up the hot-water heater.
We watched Someplace in Time and Cheaper by the Dozen.
“The moral of the story, if you can’t live happily on earth in your own time—” Lisa
“You should die!” Helen 3-18-06
“I feel a bath coming on.” Carolyn 3-18-06
Sunday, March 19th
Tiffany made chocolate chip pancakes.
We visited Union Baptist church; good teaching, though not terribly friendly.
The pastor (among other, more spiritual things :-)) talked about how our idea of love is to get married, discover you got the ugly stepsister or the toad instead of Cinderella or the Prince and then go marry somebody else’s cast-off toad.
We made a pilgrimage to Food Lion.
Lisa, Angela, and I went to Assateague, the beach and forest, and saw ponies.
Hannah made us biscuits and gravy.
Maggie made us a birthday cake for her birthday which was last week and opened presents.
We all read one of her books, Viva La Repartee. It was full of brilliant quotes.
Tiff and Shelley tried to break into the attic without actually breaking in.
I had a hot bath.
I finished Edwin Abbott’s Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions.
We watched Life is Beautiful.
“I am convinced the zombies will not get you on your way to take out the trash.” Carolyn
“You never know.” Kay
“If the zombies come, just scream and we’ll all come out wielding spoons.” Helen 3-19-06
“Poor zombies!” Kay 3-25-06
“I think it would make an interesting story if you married Prince Charming and he turned into a toad.” Helen 3-19-06
Monday, March 20th
I made French toast, bacon, and two pots of coffee, the second of which exploded.
Schoolwork started in earnest.
I explored the graveyard next to the house.
Some of the girls walked down Main Street to see the shops (nearly all of which were closed) and the used book stores (where I bought poems by I. A. Richards). The rest of them stayed home and watched Empire Strikes Back.
Angela made us a salmon loaf and Lisa made brownies.
We watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
“You don’t punch someone in the face when they are about to save the world!” Lisa 3-20-06
Tuesday, March 21st
It snowed all morning.
Tiff tried to make us waffles but the waffle iron was weird, so they turned into pancakes.
When Angela attempted to help her salvage the waffles, they started the stove on fire because the oil soaking the waffle iron dripped off the iron as they were flipping it and drizzled onto the gas burner—this is a bad thing.
I did laundry and made potato soup for lunch.
It rained all afternoon.
I went stir-crazy and ran around outside the house twice and felt better.
Maggie made us lamb with rosemary for dinner.
We watched the Matrix and then swing danced in the dining room till past midnight.
“Did the waffles work?” Carolyn
“Kind of. Tiffany’s making pancakes now and told me to destroy the evidence.” Angela
“It doesn’t look too bad. If you have any more evidence I’ll help you destroy it!” Lisa 3-21-06
Coming into the kitchen after waffle, coffee, and ant problems: “Are we having any more explosions or invasions or anything?” Helen 3-21-06
The Matrix gives Helen warm fuzzies. “I like my warm fuzzies in black leather.” Helen 3-21-06
Wednesday, March 22nd
We all slept late.
Lisa and I went to McDonald’s all afternoon and wrote papers most productively. Mr. Pibb is very conducive to writing papers.
Then we went on to Assateague and explored the marshes, saw the lighthouse and ponies, and went back to the beach.
Hannah and Sarah rode their bikes to Assateague and Lisa and I kept leap-frogging them, passing them in the car. J
A policeman flashed his lights at us while we were at the beach, so we hurried back to the car. Happily, we hadn’t parked in the wrong place or anything; he just wanted to tell us the park closed at six and we were crazy for going in because it was cold. I pleaded that I was from New Mexico and I hadn’t gone much in.
I had another hot bath.
Shelley made us Carolina chicken and dumplings, Hannah chocolate chip cookies, and Angela orange juliuses.
I made a pot of coffee, only forgot to put the grounds in, much to everyone’s hilarity.
Then we watched Return of the Jedi and an episode of Lost.
“I feel like a big bowl of chocolate ice cream.” Lisa
“I feel like a girl.” Angela
“I imagine a bowl of chocolate ice cream is very happy. And it feels wanted. But then it gets eaten.” Lisa 3-22-06
“Helen is never hungry.” Helen
“And the sun rises in the west.” Hannah 3-22-06
Thursday, March 23rd
Hannah made us cinnamon toast. J
Lisa discovered a fairy upstairs whose preferred prank is unrolling toilet paper.
All of us except Tiff and Lisa went to the beach; Hannah and Maggie bought saltwater taffy on the way back.
Lisa, Maggie, Shelley, Hannah, and I went and had ice cream at the Island Creamery. Yummy!
Kay made us southwestern burrito things with avocado and Spanish rice.
We played Cranium.
We had sort-of fried ice cream, courtesy of Angela.
We watched Kronk’s New Groove.
“I’m not weird, I’m supernormal!” Angela 3-23-06
“Thank you for putting on coffee. I firmly believe in coffee after meals.” Hannah
“And before meals, and during meals, and all around meals. Like that St. Patrick’s prayer.” Helen 3-23-06
“Um, our lime water is turning green.” Kay
“Cool!” Carolyn 3-23-06
Friday, March 24th
I made scrambled eggs with veggies and rosemary in them for breakfast. Kay decided she does not like rosemary.
They watched two disks of Firefly.
Leftovers were eaten.
Lisa, Angela, and I went and studied at the Island Creamery. I read Milton and Macbeth, Angela took an expedition to Pony Tails, and Lisa directorially coordinated with her wireless internet and cell phone.
Helen made fettucine alfredo and we ate upstairs by candlelight and listened to Josh Groban.
We had chocolate ice cream and listened to everybody read aloud what they’d been working on.
We watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and decided it was a strange movie.
Then we packed and cleaned. Hannah swept. Thoroughly.
A bunch of people stayed up late watching Bend It Like Beckham and Tiff stayed up even later watching something else.
“Kirsten is competent. She rented this house. That makes her all kinds of competent.” Helen 3-24-06
“That’s the depressing thing about not having Laura in the dorm any more. She was excellent to have about when you wanted to steal small stuffed dogs.” Helen 3-24-06
Saturday, March 25th
I was the first one up and was actually dressed before 7:45 am. Mirabile visu!
I made scrambled eggs again with green onions, celery, and mushrooms (and rosemary, not knowing Kay didn’t like rosemary). Hannah made coffee. We ate anything left in the fridge.
Packing and cleaning commenced.
I turned down the hot-water heater.
Tiff did dishes.
We were all out of the house by 9:50 and had checked out at the rental office by 9:55.
I think we all rode back in the cars we came in.
Kay’s car stopped at Food Lion and Sonic for batteries and cokes.
I typed up quotes.
Kirsten's wonderful mother fed us lunch.
Then we stopped by IKEA and bought two vases, four mugs, a package of napkins, and a cool ice-cube tray, all for $8, while adroitly missing the traffic tangle on the Beltway and reading Lord Peter aloud.
Maggie napped.
Kay: 55 bugs, 42 X-Terras
Carolyn: 24 bugs, 0 X-Terras And now we are back; for which we are grateful.
Saturday, March 18th
We drove out and had problems with trucks (getting caught behind a dump truck twice before getting off campus, making three wrong turns, getting assistance from a pickup at one turn-around and getting caught behind a stopped semi at another).
In Kirsten’s car: Carolyn and Maggie.
In Tiffany’s car: Lisa and Shelley.
In Helen’s car: Hannah, Sarah, and Angela.
Lunch and retrieving sheets at Kirsten’s house—blessings on Mrs. Etherton!
I finished Zahn’s Survivor’s Quest.
We found the rental office and retrieved house keys.
We arrived at the Red House, unloaded vehicles, explored, and settled in. There were five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a big kitchen, a gazebo nobody went into, and a graveyard just past the backyard.Lisa made dinner: spaghetti and salad.
I took a cold bath and Shelley turned up the hot-water heater.
We watched Someplace in Time and Cheaper by the Dozen.
“The moral of the story, if you can’t live happily on earth in your own time—” Lisa
“You should die!” Helen 3-18-06
“I feel a bath coming on.” Carolyn 3-18-06
Sunday, March 19th
Tiffany made chocolate chip pancakes.
We visited Union Baptist church; good teaching, though not terribly friendly.
The pastor (among other, more spiritual things :-)) talked about how our idea of love is to get married, discover you got the ugly stepsister or the toad instead of Cinderella or the Prince and then go marry somebody else’s cast-off toad.
We made a pilgrimage to Food Lion.
Lisa, Angela, and I went to Assateague, the beach and forest, and saw ponies.
Hannah made us biscuits and gravy.
Maggie made us a birthday cake for her birthday which was last week and opened presents.
We all read one of her books, Viva La Repartee. It was full of brilliant quotes.Tiff and Shelley tried to break into the attic without actually breaking in.
I had a hot bath.
I finished Edwin Abbott’s Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions.
We watched Life is Beautiful.
“I am convinced the zombies will not get you on your way to take out the trash.” Carolyn
“You never know.” Kay
“If the zombies come, just scream and we’ll all come out wielding spoons.” Helen 3-19-06
“Poor zombies!” Kay 3-25-06
“I think it would make an interesting story if you married Prince Charming and he turned into a toad.” Helen 3-19-06
Monday, March 20th
I made French toast, bacon, and two pots of coffee, the second of which exploded.
Schoolwork started in earnest.
I explored the graveyard next to the house.
Some of the girls walked down Main Street to see the shops (nearly all of which were closed) and the used book stores (where I bought poems by I. A. Richards). The rest of them stayed home and watched Empire Strikes Back.
Angela made us a salmon loaf and Lisa made brownies.
We watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
“You don’t punch someone in the face when they are about to save the world!” Lisa 3-20-06
Tuesday, March 21st
It snowed all morning.
Tiff tried to make us waffles but the waffle iron was weird, so they turned into pancakes.
When Angela attempted to help her salvage the waffles, they started the stove on fire because the oil soaking the waffle iron dripped off the iron as they were flipping it and drizzled onto the gas burner—this is a bad thing.
I did laundry and made potato soup for lunch.
It rained all afternoon.
I went stir-crazy and ran around outside the house twice and felt better.
Maggie made us lamb with rosemary for dinner.
We watched the Matrix and then swing danced in the dining room till past midnight.
“Did the waffles work?” Carolyn
“Kind of. Tiffany’s making pancakes now and told me to destroy the evidence.” Angela
“It doesn’t look too bad. If you have any more evidence I’ll help you destroy it!” Lisa 3-21-06
Coming into the kitchen after waffle, coffee, and ant problems: “Are we having any more explosions or invasions or anything?” Helen 3-21-06
The Matrix gives Helen warm fuzzies. “I like my warm fuzzies in black leather.” Helen 3-21-06
Wednesday, March 22nd
We all slept late.
Lisa and I went to McDonald’s all afternoon and wrote papers most productively. Mr. Pibb is very conducive to writing papers.
Then we went on to Assateague and explored the marshes, saw the lighthouse and ponies, and went back to the beach.
Hannah and Sarah rode their bikes to Assateague and Lisa and I kept leap-frogging them, passing them in the car. J
A policeman flashed his lights at us while we were at the beach, so we hurried back to the car. Happily, we hadn’t parked in the wrong place or anything; he just wanted to tell us the park closed at six and we were crazy for going in because it was cold. I pleaded that I was from New Mexico and I hadn’t gone much in.
I had another hot bath.
Shelley made us Carolina chicken and dumplings, Hannah chocolate chip cookies, and Angela orange juliuses.
I made a pot of coffee, only forgot to put the grounds in, much to everyone’s hilarity.
Then we watched Return of the Jedi and an episode of Lost.
“I feel like a big bowl of chocolate ice cream.” Lisa
“I feel like a girl.” Angela
“I imagine a bowl of chocolate ice cream is very happy. And it feels wanted. But then it gets eaten.” Lisa 3-22-06
“Helen is never hungry.” Helen
“And the sun rises in the west.” Hannah 3-22-06
Thursday, March 23rd
Hannah made us cinnamon toast. J
Lisa discovered a fairy upstairs whose preferred prank is unrolling toilet paper.
All of us except Tiff and Lisa went to the beach; Hannah and Maggie bought saltwater taffy on the way back.
Lisa, Maggie, Shelley, Hannah, and I went and had ice cream at the Island Creamery. Yummy!
Kay made us southwestern burrito things with avocado and Spanish rice.
We played Cranium.
We had sort-of fried ice cream, courtesy of Angela.
We watched Kronk’s New Groove.
“I’m not weird, I’m supernormal!” Angela 3-23-06
“Thank you for putting on coffee. I firmly believe in coffee after meals.” Hannah
“And before meals, and during meals, and all around meals. Like that St. Patrick’s prayer.” Helen 3-23-06
“Um, our lime water is turning green.” Kay
“Cool!” Carolyn 3-23-06
Friday, March 24th
I made scrambled eggs with veggies and rosemary in them for breakfast. Kay decided she does not like rosemary.
They watched two disks of Firefly.
Leftovers were eaten.
Lisa, Angela, and I went and studied at the Island Creamery. I read Milton and Macbeth, Angela took an expedition to Pony Tails, and Lisa directorially coordinated with her wireless internet and cell phone.
Helen made fettucine alfredo and we ate upstairs by candlelight and listened to Josh Groban.
We had chocolate ice cream and listened to everybody read aloud what they’d been working on.
We watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and decided it was a strange movie.
Then we packed and cleaned. Hannah swept. Thoroughly.
A bunch of people stayed up late watching Bend It Like Beckham and Tiff stayed up even later watching something else.
“Kirsten is competent. She rented this house. That makes her all kinds of competent.” Helen 3-24-06
“That’s the depressing thing about not having Laura in the dorm any more. She was excellent to have about when you wanted to steal small stuffed dogs.” Helen 3-24-06
Saturday, March 25th
I was the first one up and was actually dressed before 7:45 am. Mirabile visu!
I made scrambled eggs again with green onions, celery, and mushrooms (and rosemary, not knowing Kay didn’t like rosemary). Hannah made coffee. We ate anything left in the fridge.
Packing and cleaning commenced.
I turned down the hot-water heater.
Tiff did dishes.
We were all out of the house by 9:50 and had checked out at the rental office by 9:55.
I think we all rode back in the cars we came in.
Kay’s car stopped at Food Lion and Sonic for batteries and cokes.
I typed up quotes.
Kirsten's wonderful mother fed us lunch.
Then we stopped by IKEA and bought two vases, four mugs, a package of napkins, and a cool ice-cube tray, all for $8, while adroitly missing the traffic tangle on the Beltway and reading Lord Peter aloud.
Maggie napped.
Kay: 55 bugs, 42 X-Terras
Carolyn: 24 bugs, 0 X-Terras And now we are back; for which we are grateful.
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