Saturday

 Walked to The Market and Wal-Mart after breakfast and dealing with email and text messages. Got foil, tissues, oatmeal, and Mothers' Day cards, bused home, and had lunch. I then glanced at the calendar and realized Mothers' Day is only a week away--AAGH! Would the cards to Asia get there in time?  I quickly addressed them, then rushed the half-mile to the post office--luckily, it's only a half mile-away--and mailed them. Home, I jumped in the shower and washed my hair.

In the meantime, I got an email from Carolyn B. finally responding to mine of last week (she says she doesn't look at her email very often--why she even gives out her address is beyond me. Anyway, I called her, she was on the other line, but called me back. We chatted, talked about getting together with Nancy after the 27th, which is when Nancy's daughter leaves. I'll call Nance today and tell her.

I haven't heard back from five of the signups for the Acting For Amateurs class re the meeting day ; will call them today or tomorrow. This is so annoying I may cancel and maybe have it i the fall, instead. Asked Ellen to send me Mike's and Violet's itinerary, which she did.

Julie picked me up at 5:30 and off we went to The Cave for dinner and, shortly after, Lora came in. J. and I had a glass of wine, L. iced tea.  The prices there are very steep and I wasn't hungry, so thought I'd just order and appetizer, but Julie suggested a pizza to share and that's what we got. Now, this wasn't the kind of thing they have stacked in cardboard boxes in the pantry, it was superb. The crust--made on the spot--was of a perfect texture, the cheese properly oozy, the mushrooms just perfect. Although it wasn't a huge one, there was plenty for the three of us. Regina came in as we finished eating; she had told Julie she wasn't going to have dinner, as she had had stomach pains which diagnosed as gall bladder.  She sat down for a half hour, then it was to go to the show. 

Luckily, it was only a few blocks away. We got there about 7:30 and I was surprised to see there were a lot of people there already. We got seats, I was brought backstage for a bit, hugged and chatted with my thespian buddies, then the show went on.

I wish I had taken other pictures, but this is the only one I got:

Stripped down set, six short comedic vignettes, with an intermission in the middle. I greatly enjoyed seeing Ben, Erica, Anthony, Karen and Mike, Jeff and Sharon, as well as several others and there were some newbies I didn't know. 

I wished I could say it was a smash, but it was a very mixed bag. Some of the pieces were really bad: the one with Amber and two other women was truly tedious, since she was only one with the slightest spark. Also, in some cases, obviously the players hadn't been able to memorize in the short time allotted: several were holding scripts and cribbing from them. Some were okay: I was amused to see Anthony in the "22" shirt he wore when we were in Area 22 together in August.

And a "kidnapping" skit was wonderfully funny and well done. It "starred" Ben, back from his walk across the country, another guy, and a woman, the premise being she's kidnapped, then turns the table on the kidnappers. It was very clear that all three of the actors were a cut above.

Julie and Regina cut out at the intermission and Lora took me home. I didn't mind--I like Lora a lot. I like Julie, too, but Regina can be a pain--ultra-opinionated and bossy. Anyway, the show wasn't over until almost ten, Lora dropped me off and, foolishly, I started watching A Man Called Otto (I'll see the rest tonight) and didn't get to bed until 11:00. Got up at 5:15, not enough sleep for me, but maybe I'll take a nap before leave for the garden tour at noon.