Drama - July 2008

We have returned from Cedar City and St. George where we saw six plays in three days. I only got pictures at Tuacahn in St George. With a little thought and concentration I probably could have gotten pictures in Cedar City as well in spite of the threatening warnings to take no cameras or recording devices into the theaters. I was just not keen about remembering to take pictures most of the time. That doesn't mean we didn't enjoy ourselves immensely. I hadn't remembered how much time it takes to attend a matinee in the afternoon and another production in the evening. Counting intermission there wasn't one of the plays that took under three hours. The longest was "Les Miserables" which we saw at the Tuacahn Theater in St. George. It was 12:30AM when the play finished and then we had to drive back to our hotel in Cedar City. Incidentally the music in "Les Miserables" was done very well. The voices reminded me a great deal of the ones on the Broadway sound track. They were good. The pictures are of scenes in an around the Tuacahn Theater before the performance began. I got scared out of taking pictures during the performance. There were times that I thought of getting some pictures of the atmosphere surrounding The Shakespearean Festival, but it was always when I did not have my camera with me. I liked all of the plays a lot, but I am going to go out on a limb and number them one through six as to how I liked them in this particular series. I will place A School For Wives as number one because it was light, funny and a good diversion from some of the heavier ones we saw. But the reason it impacted me most was the parallel that it created for me personally because of how the man who raised his intended bride from childhood and then she cuckolded him for a younger fellow who was much more to her liking. My case is not an exact parallel, but my previous marriage was one where she used my resources heavily and then left for someone much younger. When I saw this play, I renewed my acquaintance with the term cuckold and then I said to myself, "I was cuckolded." Number two is a long time favorite of mine - Les Miserables. The music is gorgeous and there is lots of it (four hours), and it was performed by Broadway capable people. In third place is another long time favorite, Fiddler on the Roof. Again it was very professionally done. The actor playing Tevye was especially good. The Taming of the Shrew was in fourth place - very funny and well acted. No wonder the Festival is so successful. They get very good talent. The poignancy of Cyrano de Bergerac has always made this one of my favorites, and I shed a few tears. Again, it was another great production. Two Gentlemen From Verona lands in sixth place. It was good and it was funny - not really all that believable, but they are all close to the top, but that is the way they fell out for me. Evelyn saw Othello while the rest of us went to St. George to see Les Miserables. I would be interested in knowing how the plays stacked up with the others.

Ashley, Justin and the boys have finished their tenure with us. They are preparing to leave. They prepared a wonderful pork roll dinner for all of us tonight. I hope the little boys can still remember us after some time passes. gwh

1812 Overture

Last night Clarine and I drove to Deer Valley after serving in the Salt Lake Temple for our shift. Our intent was to see the outdoor concert for the Utah Symphony program which included The 1812 Overture. One of the big drawing features is the cannon fire that is included in the piece. I suppose that Tsaikovsky intended that drums could make the sound effects for the cannons, but at Deer Valley the Utah Symphony used real cannons. I took a picture of them. I tried to get a picture when they were firing, but I and the camera and the associated timing just were not there, but the effect of the booming cannons electrified the crowd. There were several other old musical favorites on the program. It made for a very nice evening. We took folding chairs with us to sit on. Lo and behold they have established a rule that no chairs can be any higher than nine inches, which precipitated from me a survey response that told them that was elitist and designed to eliminate older people from their demographics because some have a difficult time rising from a higher chair let alone one that is only nine inches from the ground. On the way in to Deer Valley we stopped at Subway to get us a couple of sandwiches to eat while we waited for the program to start. The scenery in the valley is wonderful. The sky was gorgeous, and all around it was just a pleasant evening. I wanted to take some pictures of the orchestra, but that process was frowned on. It was eleven when we got home, so I have been a little drowsy today.

Tomorrow Clarine, Diane, Evelyn and I leave for Cedar City where Monday Tuesday and Wednesday we will see a matinee and evening play each day. I guess this all is just part of our summer celebration. As we drive down we will need to stay on schedule as the matinee starts at 2:00 PM. In an earlier communication I told you what the shows we will be seeing are. gwh

Independence Day - 2008

I dusted off my camera this morning in anticipation of taking a few pics. The early morning sky displayed some wonderful colors. Diane was sitting on the front porch giving her cat some quality time. At 8:00 AM we went to Benson Mill for the Stake Fourth of July breakfast and flag raising program. When we got there we found out it started at 7:00, but we got served anyway. I snapped some pictures of the flag raising crowd and some of some folks you will recognize. The Old Benson Grist Mill Complex is getting restored nicely and some period buildings are being added. A couple of the pictures are with our backs to the old mill. The other pictures just show the crowd and some of the mill area atmosphere.

We returned home after the flag raising and a patriotic speech by a recently released veteran. Then Diane mowed our lawn, and I started the process of edging my lawn with my heavy duty Weed Eater (electric). It failed mechanically when I was about half done. It has done this yard for over five summers, and that is a lot of edging. I bought the biggest and heaviest they had in anticipation of it taking on an industrial size job. The modest little Weed Eater I had before burned out electrically after I used it on this big job several times, so I bought the large industrial baby. Maybe I fully depreciated it in five years, but it didn't fail electrically this time. The mechanical part that turns the trimmer just broke some where in the shaft. The motor runs as if nothing could stop it. It just isn't hooked to anything. Now I have a management decision to make. I am thinking of not replacing it and controlling unwanted grass and weeds with chemicals. I can always get another Weed Eater if I am not satisfied with the weed and grass killer.

I also ordered a Garmin street locator to use in my car. It arrived two days ago. I am a little slow in turning it on, but Dan had one in Arizona and the woman's voice over gave directions in sweet dulcet tones. We called her "Lady Garmin." I will have more incentive to get it operational when I go someplace needing directions. I also have ordered a new SD card for my camera. So now I can take more than nine pictures without having to down load or erase. The card has "2 gig" capacity, so now hundreds of pictures can be kept in memory without exceeding capacity. The card just hasn't arrived yet. Diane found the instructions for formatting the SD card, so all I have to do now is just follow directions. I have discovered that I am capable of botching that process by trying to apply too much of my own logic.

Hot "dog days" of summer are here. Daylight gets shorter each day. Our guests are away this holiday except for Diane and Evelyn. In another month it will be just Clarine and me once more. gwh.