Avenue Q

On Tuesday evening Doug and I went to see Avenue Q. We saw an off-Broadway show here on campus at the University. Avenue Q The Musical
Broadway cast

I include this photo of the Broadway cast because it is probably the one and only time I've ever "known" someone who has been on Broadway. Front and center, in the brown top, is Carey Anderson, originally from my hometown of New Castle, Indiana. With the Broadway cast of Avenue Q, Carey played the roles of Kate Monster and Lucy T. Slut. About twenty years ago, Carey, my daughter and myself did a show together at the Guyer Opera House- Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Carey played the narrator. She has a fabulous voice. You can go to her website and give her a listen. My daughter played Benjamin, the youngest brother. All of the brothers wore overalls. My daughter was only about ten years old and wore a baseball cap, backwards. I remember people saying after the show..."I didn't realize that was her!" I played Potifer's wife, the seductress. My Dad told me I was the best whore he had ever seen. Honestly, I didn't do too well with that part. I wasn't confident enough or comfortable enough to do that role justice. I had a slinky sixties version outfit with a keyhole cutout at a strategic point, dead-center of my bosoms, so I suppose for some, that was good enough. I digress.

Prior to the show, Doug took me to dinner at Malibu, one of my favorite restaurants. (Disclaimer: No endorsement, coupon, discount from said restaurant for prior statement.) Prior to pontificating. This may be the thinking stage. the wind up"um, well..." "according to ME...""and there you have it."

I had my glasses at the restaurant. It was still sunny when we left to head to the theatre, so I put on my sunglasses. Then, we dashed, and I mean dashed to the theatre and when we get there, I rummaged through my purse to find my glasses. Nada. No glasses. Fortunately, I had a pair of "light" sunglasses, because I can't see further than three or four feet beyond. So, there I sat, watching the show, looking as I just flew in to Indiana from Hollywood, wearing my sunglasses while I watched the show. stairway to the super-secret ladies room


At intermission, as usual, there was a mega-uber huge line for the ladies room. An extremely helpful young usher directed a handful of us, upstairs...to the super-secret ladies room.

I loved Avenue Q.

The puppets were hilarious. As Doug put it after the show "I've never seen puppets having sex before." Yes, if you go see Avenue Q, prepare thyself, because you do see puppets, naked puppets, having sex. This show is for mature audiences only. I enjoyed the music and the words to the songs...here are the words of one of my favorite songs from the show.

A Fine Line

There's a fine, fine line between a lover and a friend;

There's a fine, fine line between reality and pretend;

And you never know 'til you reach the top if it was worth the uphill climb.

There's a fine, fine line between love

And a waste of time.

There's a fine, fine line between a fairy tale and a lie;

And there's a fine, fine line between "You're wonderful" and "Goodbye."

I guess if someone doesn't love you back it isn't such a crime,

But there's a fine, fine line between love

And a waste of your time.

And I don't have the time to waste on you anymore.

I don't think that you even know what you're looking for.

For my own sanity, I've got to close the door

And walk away...Oh...

There's a fine, fine line

between together and not

And there's a fine, fine line between what you wanted and what you got.

You gotta go after the things you want while you're still in your prime...

There's a fine, fine line between love

And a waste of time.

intermission

set - on stage

puppet wandering out into the audiences. (note the orb)

Doug snagged us some great tickets in the eleventh row. There were times I was about to fall out of my seat laughing. It was quite unfortunate that I lost my glasses. I have never before lost a pair of prescription glasses. I'm hoping they will turn up. In the mean time, I'm wearing old glasses. Not my most up-to-date prescription, but prescription nonetheless.

A friend of mine thought she was oh, so clever when she said "I heard Avenue Q was a comedy, but you may have found it to be rather dark. Oh, ha, ha.

So, if you get the chance, see Avenue Q.

not quite juvenile DELINQUENT

Last Saturday, my friend Rene and I went to the movies to see Date Night. I figured with Steve Carell and Tina Fey, you couldn't go wrong.
When I met Rene, she said she might see "two movies." I said "oh yeah, two for one?"

Mark Wahlberg sans shirt

As expected, Date Night is funny. At times, hilariously so. (J.B. Smoove as the cab driver,) other times there was just a teensy bit too much "sticht," as when Tina Fey repeatedly walks into the drawers that Carell leaves open. This isn't too funny to me anyway, as I have a habit of walking into desks, drawers, doorways. I have the bruises to prove it, just can't tell you where or when I walked into what. Mark Ruffalo makes an appearance. He is a favorite heart throb of mine. My favorite scene was near the end when Fey's character does the "1,2,3" count-down to the mobsters like you would with a child.

When Date Night concluded and we realized we might be able to make the 3:30 showing of "Clash of the Titans," and especially after I saw rain pouring down, we went for it. I have NEVER snuck into a movie, ever, in my life. It was fun. I have to admit, we went in and sat down and I kept waiting for someone to come in and fetch us. Rene said "what is the worst that can happen? They catch us and either ask us to leave or make us pay for the movie." Well, we didn't get caught.

Growing up, my mother convinced me somehow that if or when I ever did do anything wrong, I would get caught in the act, right then or there. Although I graduated in the late 70's, I never smoked pot and would leave any party where others smoked pot. (Which mean, consequently, that I left every party that I ever went to.)...so I expected someone to come into the movie and shine the spotlight on us, saying "YOU, come here!" It truly took a little while for me to sit back, relax and enjoy.

Clash of the Titans is your basic good versus evil, man versus the universe and man thinks he can do it all, all on his own. I have to admit, even with all of the gore and monsters and goo and fighting, I was a little bored at times. Clash is truly a "guy movie." Looking like someone straight out of West Point, Sam Worthington plays Perseus. His "god mother" of sorts, Io, is played by Gemma Atherton. She is cursed with agelessness and isn't she ageless in real life, as well?

What is in that big ol' bag of his? hmmmm?

"here, son, don't spend it all in one place."

Which witch? Ralph Fiennes as Hades

Now, we all know that no matter what part Ralph Fiennes plays, he is one bad-ass dude. He is fairly terrifying as Hades. When Clash was over, Rene turned to me and said "well, at least we didn't pay for that one." If you are into mythology, or curious, you might rent this one, or sneak in and not pay at all. It was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. Here is to my new life of crime as a delinquent.

Tout seul

my bed/just me/all alone

This is how my bed looks when I get out of it. I don't move around much when I sleep. I took this photo while Doug was biking to Goshen and it was just me, in my old bed, all alone.

It was quite an adjustment to learn to sleep with someone else after years of sleeping alone. One of the most annoying things to adjust to after I moved in with Doug was how the bed is a wreck every single morning. When it was just me, I would get out of bed, pull up the sheets, smooth the covers and I was done. It is a major under-taking to make a bed that Doug gets out of. After nearly three years, I've adjusted.

I've been reading Eat, Pray, Love. When Liz writes of the joy she experiences while learning to speak in Italian, it reminds me of my love of learning to speak French. I don't speak French too often these days. I first started to study french in the ninth grade and was fortunate to have a teacher who insisted "en Francais, sil vous plait!" Which basically meant, in her classroom, that you didn't speak in English, but always, always in French. My verbal skills were always stronger than my written skills. If I had the masculine or feminine agreement correct, it was more happenstance or luck rather than knowledge. I always thought I should go back and start over, from the very beginning and get it right But I probably won't ever do that.

Due to my strong verbal skills, when entering college, I went to a language lab where they sat me down in a booth with headphones and I had to test as to what I listened to. I did quite well. That didn't necessarily mean that I should have tested into the upper level college French class that I did. My professor was Dr. Gilman. An eccentric man who summered in Europe, I think he owned only one suit which he wore day after day. He may have owned two suits, but no more. If memory serves me correctly, he was left-handed. Left or right, he flew across the chalkboard with lightening speed. I clung to my desk in fear.

Language is fascinating. For me, learning a second language was making connections. I still believe it is like solving a puzzle, making connections. Learning is using the synapses in your brain and firing, similar to using a spark plug to run the engine of your car. Learning French, for me, was fun. I took to it like Lucy gobbling chocolates off of the conveyor belt. I knew how to say this word or phrase in English, so how do I express the same in French?

Then, it seemed, that everyone in my life studied Spanish. So what did I do? I started making the same connections between Spanish and French that I had made between English and French. Because French, Spanish and Italian are Romance Languages, there are similar words. In Spanish, the word only is "solamente." In French, "seulement." In my mind...both relate to being alone and in french, alone in soul. I adore being alone. Not constantly, but I do enjoy the company of self.

One of my favorite French words is"corbeille." Lovely, isn't it? What do you think it means? It means wastebasket. In French, even the word for a trashcan sounds romantic.

For years, one of my amusements and delights stemmed from other people's misunderstanding of a phrase I often said in French. To say "that's all," is "c'est tout." People wouldn't even respond with "what?" They would simply answer, "toot," thinking for some reason that I had said "say toot."

Learning to speak French was a joy. Something you have to do "tout seul." What have you learned to do that gives you joy? Au revoir mes amis.

First Market

The first Saturday of April is when Farmers Market resumes in Bloomington.

Today is the first Saturday that Doug and I have been able to attend. today's musicians drummer

isn't she beautiful? she was giving the little one a ride and they were smelling flowers, together. when I took this, the egg man said "thank you."

isn't this beautiful? I love this lady's flowers

I've bought a lot from her in the past.Oh, fernsdelicate ferns

succulent succulents

kettle corn mankettle corn lady sisters, there were never such devoted sisters

Doug sampled, of course.

isn't she adorable?

waiting for his Mrs.

We enjoyed seeing some friends and walking about. After the market, Doug took me to Panera for a salad and soup. Then I met a friend at the movies. Then it rained the rest of the day. It was cool and I came home and built a fire. I love being able to do that- just to take the chill off. How did you spend your Saturday?

I met a Starr!

Last Friday I drove down to Nashville (IN) to take art classes with the famous Jen Starr. When I learned about the classes through Papertrix, I checked out Jen's style and liked what I saw.Me and Jen. I'm holding my shabby chic book that I made in class.Everyone gathered around Jen to learn her technique.Jen mixed paint with gesso and then blended different colors together.

my friend Mary Jo joined me for class

Mary Jo is good at everything she does

Cindy from Papertrix joined us in class And I met my new friend Lisa

First we created on canvas (photo above -Lisa and me with our artwork) using medium and dictionary pages. Then we used stencils and gesso. Then we mixed paint and gesso and then stamps with letters to spell out words. Some class members used stickles to add sparkle.

Secondly, we used stencils and card stock and sprays and created card fronts. We combined those with embellishments and stamps. Finally, we made shabby chic books. We used corrugated cardboard. Jen taught us how to make cabbage roses from a flat piece of sticky-backed material. We used the sprays to color our roses and material and for a couple of pages in the book. We also used flourish stamps and white flat crackle paint. I like to take classes because I learn new techniques. I learn about myself. I see what other participants create and I learn from them. We all teach one another.

When I take classes, I also learn what I like and don't like. It is a good way to experience technique without buying supplies that you may not use. It is also a way to learn how to use materials that you've already purchased, but wasn't certain what to do with them once you got them home.

Jen Starr is very down-to-earth making everyone comfortable. She is from Jersey and has the greatest laugh. Her classes were reasonably priced- especially for someone as talented as she is. If she is in your area, be sure to jump in and take a class with her! I'm glad I did!