IVORYTON PLAYHOUSE DOES DREAMGIRLS

In Ivoryton, Connecticut, the Ivoryton Playhouse was the first summer theatre in Connecticut and is a distinguished and significant contribution to the arts in the area, attracting theatre buffs from New York and Massachusetts, and elsewhere.

They’ve also attracted top name talent, like Katharine Hepburn, Mae West, Mercedes McCambridge, Marlon Brando, Betty Grable, Art Carney, Groucho Marx,  to mention a few of the notables.

The playhouse itself is charming and intimate with only about 120 seats and then there are elephants. This is a sculpture in the front yard of the playhouse. An elephant with toes resembling piano keys. You have to know a bit about Ivoryton to understand the significance.

Ivoryton was the home of two piano companies. Those were the days when the keys were made of ivory. Thus, you see elephant motifs at the playhouse and all about town. Once radio, television and mass entertainment took over the standard parlor piano for entertainment, the piano business began to wane and the old buildings that once housed piano making are now closed. It is said 90% of the ivory imported to the United States passed through Ivoryton. Smaller companies also made ivory combs, dice, jewelry, sculptures and other sundries.

No theatre allows pictures of a play in progress, but we were free to photograph the inside of the building. On the side walls are many pictures of the stars that played here, and they were many.

The pictures behind glass are hard to photograph with any success. The glare is impossible.

I enjoyed viewing them, even if they don’t photograph well. So many old familiar faces.

The Dream Girls, the play we saw was a preview where the playhouse invites criticism. Technically, we could detect no glitch. It was done perfectly. The voices of the men and women who eventually made it big at Motown were big, wonderful voices. The whole play was done musically and music was the theme. But, for us, the playwright chose to tell the entire story in song instead of having the plot spoken in interludes, the struggles, the girls and guys taken advantage of by unscrupulous agents, etc. they sang their lines and it was difficult to follow the plot.  Sometimes the music was so loud you couldn’t hear the lines well enough. But, the theme is certainly worthy and Motown music would have made it sooo much better.

Others loved it, so who are we to criticize?

After the theatre, we poked around a little antique store across from the theatre and I always find stuff I like, but luckily I can’t buy much when we live in a motor home.

 

 

 

SPIFFY MOTOR HOME

Yesterday was supposed to be a cruise out to South Padre Island. We had an appointment to have the motor home and Bronco washed and waxed today.  The two guys knocked on the door after washing a motor home a couple lots over and offered to get it done yesterday before we headed out for the day. They finished and we decided the windows needed washing on the inside. Then we lubricated the window tracks, washed all the screens, and just kept digging. We put off South Padre Island for later today. The motor home looks spiffy inside and out.

But, the Seattle Post Intelligencer reported that Seattle had the highest viewership in America last night for the premiere of the third season of ‘Downton Abbey, as reported by public television station KCTS 9.

Boston loves ‘Downton Abbey’ second best.

Austin was third most enamored, and darn, they don’t even broadcast  PBS in Harlingen.

New York came in fourth (*sniff*), PBS reported in a press release.

I guess Downton Abbey has become a national obsession. I’m feeling so culturally deprived.

I finally finished a huge book I’d been reading, it seems forever, Life by Rolling Stone,  Keith Richards. Quite a life indeed.

And, I read this  marvelous sketch about RVing from Jim’s friend Bud Kuball  He addresses Jim as Marco and signs Edwuardo, the CB names they chose while traveling to Panama and back in 2004.

Marco:Skiing @ around the 10,000 foot level in the Rocky Mountain West
when the temperature gets down to a MINUS 30 at night & you’re in a
PROPERLY equipped motorhome with sufficient solar panels,6-volt
batteries,back-up generator,heated water system,frost-free
windows,satellite tv & enough propane to last 10 days WITHOUT
hookups–plus 4 wheel drive & 8 commercial snow tires on the ground
with a 9000 pound winch up front–now that’s RVing!! With the sun
turning the snowflakes into sparkling jewels during the day &
cross-country sking on the high plateaus of Grand Canyon, Zion & Grand
Teton National Parks under a FULL moon making the snowflakes glisten
like diamonds & listening to the mournful howl of a grey wolf —now
that’s one of the joys of a PART-TIME RV’R. Adios.Eduardo.

I love his description of snowflakes like diamonds under a full moon because I’ve experienced that including the mournful howl of a wolf. Bud is a world class adventurer and writes prolifically and well about his experiences all over the world. Most  are published in TWA Magazine. Bud is a former TWA pilot.

 

 

SOLAR PLANES AND FRISBEE GOLF

  Solar-powered plane ready for first international flight

Solar Impulse is on standby for its first international flight this week. Brussels has been chosen as the destination for the first venture outside Swiss borders, which follows the solar powered aircraft’s maiden flight and first overnight flight last year and will mark another important step towards the goal of flying around the world in 2012.

Yesterday was cold and windy in the morning and rained hard most of the afternoon. We decided to tuck in, watch a movie and for me, catch up on e-mails, some small housekeeping chores and play on the computer. Some trivia I saved for a rainy day:
There have been so many earthquakes and storms of late. But, the deadliest earthquake occurred on Jan. 23, 1556 in central China. In that area, most people lived in caves carved from soft rock. In fact, when I visited China in 2007, we viewed a cave residence. Cave dwelling is still popular in some parts of China. But, that earthquake killed an estimated 830,000 people as the mountain crumbled.

Did you know the term sarcophagus means flesh eater? I didn’t either. It is the name Greeks gave a special marble found in Asia Minor near ancient Troy and was used in caskets. The marble, so goes the lore, had the power to destroy the entire body except the teeth within a few weeks. Makes you wonder who “determined” that bit of nonsense. I have a ceramic sarcophagus in my living room that I dearly love. Of course, it’s a work of art.

Before porcelain teeth were perfected in the 19th century, dentures were commonly made with teeth pulled from the mouths of dead soldiers. After the U.S. Civil War, teeth were shipped to dentists in England by the barrel full. I didn’t know that. Yuk!I thought false teeth were made of wood.

On a more fun note, the Brooklyn Dodgers were named the Dodgers after the local folks ability to dodge trolley cars. They were called trolley dodgers.

Late, about five, we finally got out for a walk to stretch our legs and breathe the fresh, clean air.

This park has Frisbee golf, something I’d never seen nor heard of.

This is what a “hole” looks like. It also looks like fun. Jim said he used to have a frisbee but he doesn’t know what happened to it.

Horse tail was poking up between the rocks on the bank of a creek.

Liatris is a water lover and grows lush here. I have it at home and it struggles on woody stems and crawls tight to the soil in our hot sun. Even so, its beautiful.
We had a nice hot pea soup for dinner last night and expect to get out and about today, weather be damned.

INTELLIGENCE FOR YOUR LIFE

 

I listen to the John Tesh radio show in my car. He is known for his short, concise advice, sort of an Ann Landers of the airwaves. He calls it Intelligence For Your Life. (IFYL). I wait for his practical nuggets to come on between the music on my favorite local station. Everyone should have a John Tesh in their life. I learn something from him every time I hear his voice and I love it. 

Much of his advice is for the young and inexperienced. He gleans it from sources like, Psychology Magazine, and Real Simple Magazine, Science Magazine…those are three I remember off hand. But, his reach and subject matter is enormous. Everything from parenting, to what questions you ask at the hospital. He talks about relationships and dating, marriage and job hunting, finances and spending habits. You could say John Tesh is a teacher of common sense, among other things. If you don’t hear John Tesh, ask your station to put him on.

He also has a voluminous archive on-line where you can get his practical advice a second time, or look for things you missed. One time I remember hearing him say, I’m paraphrasing here and don’t know if I have it exactly right, but he said women and men both lie on-line. Women lie about their weight and age, men lie about everything. The number one lie from men is whether they are married or not. I went to his archive to check it out and its so voluminous, I couldn’t find it. So, keep me honest if you are interested.

And if you are interested in intelligence for your life, check it out at:
http://tesh.com/

This is trivia about relationships from Sam Wein-not John Tesh. People who have never been married are seven-and-a-half times more likely than married people to be admitted to a psychiatric facility. And, during a kiss as many as 278 bacterial colonies are exchanged. Trivia is fun, but, I want the science first, before I give up kissing.

We are looking at snow at lower elevations, here, and the “Weather Wimp” (That’s my partner, Jim) is already chomping at the bit to get on the road to warmer climes.  In January of 2009, he and had to put up with six inches of snow on the Motor Home. Perish the thought!!
I’m actually hoping for a bit of the white stuff because its pretty and it doesn’t last long enough to get the shovel out. It brings the skiiers and helps out our local economy.

SOME MEN CAN COOK.

Since we all like to eat, you would think that a bachelor would learn how to cook, out of self defense, aye? When I first moved into the motor home with Jim, I made my own breakfast and he made his.
Jim made the same breakfast EVERY DAY. He poured liquid egg product into a measuring cup, added six precisely cut slices of cheddar and slathered the top of this mess with salsa and cooked it slowly until  the cheese melted. I tasted it once. Its edible.
For dinner, he cooked three things, cardboard turkey burgers, fried chicken breast, and microwaved salmon out of a plastic package over lettuce. Salad. Everything gets covered with salsa or grated parmesan cheese out of a shaker box and plenty of pepper. Oh, yummy!
I quickly took over all cooking and we made a deal, I do the cooking, he does the dishes. We were both happy with that arrangement.
Now, comes the problem. He is ALONE in the motorhome for the next month plus. He called and said the over easy eggs were not easy. Today, he told me he was sticking with sunny side up until they cooked through. (A little like leather on the bottom and raw on top.) I gave him some hints but its difficult to believe that anyone can be so inept in the kitchen.
I was warned about engineers. He actually counts the number of wheat thins he puts on his snack plate and measures the cheese he cuts. Arrgh!
Some men can cook, but at least Jim  knows how to open a bottle of champagne without it spilling. I gotta hand him that. Plus, he’ll really appreciate me when we get together again.