Long Hollow

We're coming off of a quiet, lie-low weekend. Tom and I both felt the need to stick close to home. I don't know about you, but as much as I enjoy getting out with my friends, dancing, eating, shopping… there are times when I just want to burrow into my cave, hide the entrance, and have some down time.

This was one of those weekends. Tom and I burrowed, going for walks, playing ping-pong, and tackling projects during the day (I cleaned bathrooms and my "library" – fun stuff like that)  and then relaxing and watching movies at night … "Gattica" (great science fiction) and "The Madness of King George" (historical fiction.) Both from the '90's. Both really good! Jude Law, Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Helen Mirren, Nigel Hawthorne… it was a star-studded weekend! 

I never realized we missed so many good movies in the '90's. Grown-up movies, anyway. I think we were busy watching what the kids wanted to watch… "The Mummy", "Mystery Men"… I enjoyed those, too, but wow, how did I miss so many others?

But the big news of the weekend is… Tom fixed my lens!

Need proof?  I took this of him cleaning up his tools at my junky little work area (he found the instructions on the internet)… the very first photo with my refurbished lens…

I swear, this man can do anything he puts his mind to, especially if it's going to save him some money! Even after almost 30 years, he still amazes me. 

…now, I admit I had to nudge him a little to fix it. I planned to see my friend Amory Castro's play on Sunday, and I wanted to be ready to take photos if the chance arose… not impossible with my zoom, but a tad awkward. I didn't have to nudge too often or too hard, though. I didn't have to go into an all-out nag over it, thank goodness.

(But I was prepared to.)

The play, "What You Touch is Gold", was wonderful. I knew it would be – heck, the reading was wonderful!

I've always been too shy to be an actor, so it always amazes me how someone can step out on a stage and transform into a different person altogether.

It takes a great script, of course, one with believable characters, action and dialogue, and this play had all of those. The actors were amazing; even though this was all they had to work with – two tables, a ladder, and a branch –

– once the play began, instead of these simple props, I saw a kitchen, a meadow, a craft store, a dining room… pretty much a small town, right there in front of me!

How do they do that?

I forgot to take photos during the play – too swept away by the story! But I managed to corral Amory (on the right) and Erica Heidepriem, who played the part of Charlotte. for a couple of shots when it was over.

No way to get the rest of the cast – as you can see in the background of this one, they were already busy striking the set. Ah, show business…

(Open your eyes, Amory! You're a successful playwright!! Congratulations!)

Don't worry – it's not too late to see the play yourself! There are still two more performances of "What You Touch is Gold" at the Salvage Vanguard Theater - Jan 26th at 7:00pm and Jan 30th at 7:30pm.