A Picture a Day -- Week 10

[nekosensei]

Monday, March 2nd:



I got home from grocery shopping, and this is what I saw in my backyard. I always thought that hawks were shy birds, but this guy didn’t seem to be afraid of me at all. He let me take a ton of pictures of him. I think he was as interested in me as I was in him.


Tuesday, March 3rd:



I’ve been making a lot of progress on the scarf for my sister. I think I’m might finish it within the next week or two. *keeps fingers crossed*


Wednesday, March 4th:



I was feeling uninspired so I took a picture of a washcloth I knitted a year or so ago. Speaking of washcloths, today I bought a small booklet of knit and crochet patterns for washcloths. On New Year's Day, I got crochet lessons, so one of these days, I'm going to put what I learned to good use. Oh...I also got a pattern book for some beautiful afghans.


Thursday, March 5th:



You can thank cosettemonster for this one. On Thursday morning, I noticed that she was staring out the window very intently. I went over to see what it was, and discovered that squirrels were building a nest in our tree. Awwww...how cute.

Of course, I won't think they're so cute if I find out they've snuck into my attic again and built themselves another nest. Last year, it cost us $900 to get someone to trap them and squirrel proof the attic.


Friday, March 6th:



Evidence that it is indeed spring. The birds are coming back! This one appears to be a red-winged blackbird. Did I mention that doomsey's camera does an excellent job at taking pictures of wildlife?


Saturday, March 7th:



Saturday was Rainy Day Number One, so you get an indoor shot. Have a picture of my refrigerator. Oh..."Milk -- Bread" means that I have to buy milk with lactose to feed my sourdough starter. "Milk -- Me" means that I have to buy lactose free milk for myself. Notice that we also have pictures of our cats as well as pictures of a sunset in Maine and taiko drums in Miyajima, Japan.


Sunday, March 8th:



Sunday was Rainy Day Number Two, so you get another indoor shot. Because it amused me, I decided to take a picture of the director's note from the play that we attended. Said play was Eugene O'Neil's Strange Interlude. It was four and a half hours long not including an hour and fifteen dinner break and two fifteen minute intermissions. The play was put on by the Neo-Futurists, who are well-known for a show called "Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind." (Said show takes place on the weekends in Chicago). The play was hysterical. Who knew that Eugene O'Neil wrote a comedy? I don't think O'Neil realized that either. Some of the most memorable moments of the play were:

1) having the narrator read O'Neil's descriptions of the characters in Act One while the actors playing them made funny faces reminiscent of the description;
2) reading only the stage directions in Act Five and a handful of the lines when needed for context;
3) reading only the character's monologues in Act Six;
4) singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in the middle of the seventh inning Act Seven;
5) having a Cabbage Patch Kid doll play the part of Madeline in Acts Eight and Nine;
6) having two of the actors make out with the doll in the background during another character's monologue;

Number six occurred during Act Nine-- the final act-- and I wonder if the actors played it up a bit more than usual because Sunday night was the last performance and they were getting punchy from being on the go for over seven hours. It was hilarious, and my sides hurt from laughing so much.

Now, one might say that the Neo-Futurists might have been disrespectful of the play, but I really don't think that this was the case. I think they still managed to convey the playwright's message. I also liked how the lightened the play up a bit by turning it into a dark comedy. O'Neil plays tend to be very dark. A few weeks ago, we saw "Desire Under the Elms" in the main stage, and it was depressing. Watching a play like that for five hours would be enough to make anyone go stabbity stabbity by the end of it.

So...as you can tell, I really enjoyed Strange Interlude even thought it was almost five hours long.

Comments

[happyfunpaul.livejournal.com]

It's good to see that Greg Allen and the gang still rock. I went to see "Too Much Light" regularly for 1 1/2 years in 1990-1 and several times after I moved out of town, but it's been many years since I last saw the Neo-Futurists.

[kyadoshi.livejournal.com]

I heard about the Neo-Futurists on This American Life with Ira Glass a few months ago. I loved what I heard.