Theatre Arts And Dine Around

A mildly fun day.  Attended Mary Ann Van O.'s "Theatre Arts Sunday" at the clubhouse.  This time, we saw what I guess is termed an operetta (opera-type singing, but dialogue, too), The Most Happy Fella.  Good grief, it was first produced close to sixty years ago-1956--and frankly, I found it a bit tedious. Young woman promises to marry older man, becomes preggers by younger, older is crushed, drama ensues, but all is resolved in the end.  I could hear all right, but (and I fear this illustrates the same kind of hearing loss my mother had), I couldn't distinguish a lot of the words.
However, it was okay. A fair number of people were there, including an African-American woman, Willa Somebody, who lives in SeaOaks.  I rarely see any AAs and we chatted.  I liked her a lot and invited her to come to Dine Around, but she had another commitment.
Went directly from there to Romanelli's Garden Cafe in Galloway, taking Mary Ann, who's in the group, with me.  We got there by quarter of five and I was bemused to have Anna P. and Charles C. pull up right next to us.  Good grief, I called it for 5:00, early enough, yet there are always those who come even earlier.  In fact, we had to wait, as the tables weren't even set up yet.
Soon they were and we went in. I had calculated nineteen people, but we had only eighteen and here's why: Two acquaintances of Judy's, the Daniels, had e-mailed her a few days ago that they couldn't make it after all, and she neglected to tell me.  But then another acquaintance of hers, Joe Somebody, showed up at the last minute, of which I had also been unaware.
It turned out to be a pretty nice evening. We had the side room to ourselves, even though there were two other tables for four there. After I asked that the television be turned off, it was very pleasant.  The food was pretty good (I had meatloaf), and happily, it was Happy Hour and the beer was only two and three bucks.
I always ask for an establishment's "cheap beer," of which there's usually none--most places want five and six dollars for a glass, fer cryin' out loud--so this was good to know. I got a Corona with lime, one of my favorites and took it into the side room, although you're supposed to drink it only at the bar.
Judy conducted her usual silly games and awarded the usual prizes (chocolate bars and bracelets from the dollar store), but we also had good talk--I was at one end of a table and interacted mostly with Anne and Len T., and Carol and Wayne B.
Collected the dinner charge ($23 a person, which included tax and tip) with no prob, paid, said goodbye, and after dropping Mary Ann off, was home before 8:00.