I didn’t do it. It was on accident. I laughed and Anne gave me a look. Excuse me, but parts of the play were funny, like when a throw is used to cover the body, but the knife sticking out of the back is still evident. We went to the theater and saw Dial “M” for Murder. This murder mystery shows that it is not the crime that trips you, but the cover up that gets you in the end.
In other news, our bags are packed, and we are ready to go. It looks like hurricane Helene will pass through Atlanta early enough, so as to not affect us. Knock on wood. We are really looking forward to going on this trip.
Today, we bade a fond farewell to Bob and Noreen and their lovely lakeside home. Alice and Chris had skyed the day before. Now, our hosts have a moment of peace, before the next crowd arrives. We headed south to Columbia, SC and tomorrow we head on to Charleston. Today is Father’s Day, for those of you who celebrate this holiday. Anne likes to celebrate Mother’s Day, since she labored to become one. A month later, I am always of the mind, “Hey, what about me?”
On this day, all across the country, sons call their fathers. Dan was first in our family, when he rang me up. Interestingly, he was standing by his Prius, waiting for the cops to arrive. Someone had hacked off his catalytic converter and he wanted to first make a police report, before he made his insurance claim. That was his bad news. His good news is that he is going to get laid off at the end of the month. No, really. For the last year he has been laboring on a secret project that soon he will be able to tell everyone about. Besides, he is looking forward to collecting some unemployment. The show is Life and Trust (official website).
Earlier this year, we met him on location for lunch at Conwell Coffee House. Located a block south of Wall Street, he struck quite the counterpoint to the neighborhood’s normal attire of Brooks Brothers suits, by wearing overalls, a wool sweater and cap. He had to dress warmly, because work got as cold as hell.
This week, the show opened in limited release. Dan and Britt saw the play twice. Dan has been so happy while working there. Today, even after discovering the car, he was still in an upbeat mood. It is almost a shame that his work there is ending, but his sense of accomplishment more than makes up for that.
Last night, we and Joanie went to Shakespeare Glen in Forest Park, to see As You Like It. We have seen this play performed there before, twenty years ago. I still have the t-shirt. Then it was only the fourth season of Shakespeare in the park. Twenty years later the festival is still going, albeit maybe not as strongly as in the past. To claim a good spot, we got there at six, even if the show did not start until eight. In the past there were many preshow divertissements. Minstrels would wander through the audience, juggling, performing slapstick and making music. Not this year. In the past a mini version of the night’s main performance would present a tongue-in-cheek synopsis. They called this the Green Room Show, but not this year. Fortunately, the cartoon storyboard was still available this year. I view these degradations as another case of how Covid ruined everything. It almost killed the Rep. It is good to see that the Shakespeare Festival is still alive.
We have not hit the road just yet, but we definitely have all of our wheels spinning. We are in the runup to high travel season. In a matter of days, we will leave the confines of home and become seasonal nomads once again. Before we go though, there is just one more thing, or two, three more.
Over the years, I have noticed this thing about my spovely louse. She views every departure as a deadline. A deadline that must be crammed with more tasks than can possibly be completed. I do not mean to criticize, except this frenetic activity leads to fatigue or worse illness. She tends to work herself to death. Out of the blue, she accepted two new commissions. They are not large ones. She punched one out yesterday and should finish the other today. This is in addition to all of her regularly scheduled artwork.
That is what daygirl is up to. Not to be outdone, on the other burning end of the candle, night-girl has her own itinerary. Last night, we had dinner with some of our Team Kaldi’s bike buddies. Next week, we will rendezvous out-of-town with old friends. Last night, was all about older friends. Tonight is Shakespeare night. Joanie will accompany us to Forest Park for As You Like It.
Shakespeare only wrote about twenty plays that are deemed worth performing. The Saint Louis Shakespeare Festival has been recycling his oldie but goodie ones for a few years now. In all of the hubbub of packing for travel, I came across the pictured t-shirt from twenty years ago. I think that I’ll wear it tonight.
Thursday night, we attended the theater and saw August: Osage County at the Rep. This play portrays the Weston family of Pawhuska, OK, who collectively totally take the fun out of dysfunctional. Presented in three acts, after the first one, I seriously considered asking Anne if we could leave, but I knew that she would say no. On my way out to the lobby, I noticed another couple who were already acting on my wishes. After the second act, again during intermission, I was in the men’s room where I let out a heavy sigh. Another guy there offered his hope that maybe there would be some redemption in the third act. I told him that I was just hoping for a Hamlet ending, where everyone dies at the end.
In the play, this family seemingly committed every sin imaginable. Enumerating them, you have infidelity, drug addiction, alcoholism, child molestation, incest, suicide, bigotry and just plain meanness. I realize that some of these sins are forms of mental illness, but when you smuggle pills into rehab using your cooch, you have a problem. There was no redemptive moment at the end and only one person died. Everything just collapsed in upon itself with a whimper.
We left NYC this morning and drove north out of the city, then east into Connecticut. To start, the driving was on parkways, which are an older iteration of an interstate. The roads had low overpasses that were too low for semis. Their absence and the greenery that surrounds the road made for a relaxing way to travel. Eventually, we transitioned to interstates, swung around Boston and made it to Malden, Maren and David. Declan was at daycare, but we will see him.
He has arrived and he is a person now. He can sit up, hold his head up and move. He is almost crawling; he just cannot make his legs work right or that. We held him and played with him. Then we watched him play by himself. We fed him and then it was time or his bath and then off to bed he went. He went to sleep without a fuss. I hope that he sleeps through night.
