I've also engineered three invitations to sing: two sitting in with big bands. Last weekend, I ran tunes with a guy who runs the Proctor and Gamble big band and is thinking of starting a 5-piece. He's a nice guy and a classically trained oboist. He's just cutting his chops as a jazz pianist and not remotely a Dan Barker (my good friend and musical colleague for roughly the last 15years). I've seen footage of the big band I sit in with this week--OK, but not ATJ or the Gardenia. I've seen a couple of their singers and I'm pretty confidant that I will be well-received. Earlier I was hoping the bands would have lots of old guys with bad eyes. That way they'd concentrate on my singing and not the fact that I'm what my Dad called an "old girl." The voice is still there but the "sweet young thing" factor is definitely gone.
Lawrenceburg and Lee's Castle
On the 16th, I directed my first video shoot for NIOSH. The location was a tech school south and east of Lexington. It really was not a big deal--just capturing the process of "trenching." Given my "sexy" career documenting the inner workings of sausage making equipment for ALKAR--I was prepared for the wow-factor of this "expose" slinking behind the scenes of the plumbing and contracting business (Mike and Shirley Connor will get a good laugh here.) Actually, the guy doing the rigging was quite a good presenter given the rough and tumble nature of his audience. In short, there wasn't much for me to do but make sure my videographer had done due diligence in addressing the shot list I prepared beforehand.
The day was reminiscent of so many industrial jobs I've been on in the past. Love the blue collar guys who call it as they see it. Lunch was a local barbecue joint. A colleague from NIOSH who was going ahead of me asked if I wanted her to place an order. I asked for a salad or something healthy. She rolled her eyes and said with an air of futility, "You're in Kentucky. This is a barbecue joint." Enough said. Over lunch, I asked one of our program partners, Ronnie, about what to see on my way back to Cinci. I got a second look at the horse farms I passed on my way down and Keeneland the beautiful race park.
What I missed the first time was the castle, which is astonishing because the thing is huge. According to Ronnie, Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett once owned it. Now someone lives there but rents our sections for weddings, etc.
Larry and Mary and Me--Oh, My
Two weekends ago, Mary and Larry came in from Viroqua, WI and Springfield, IL respectively. Larry was a freshman at Northwestern University when I took my first job there after college as an assistant program director for the Norris Student Center. Larry was hoping that I had outgrown my visitor's fare of those early working days. I was pleased to feed him better than the tube steaks and rice he remembered. Reminiscent of family gatherings past--Larry kept me up until 2am putting the VB spin on the world today.
Mary flew into Dayton the next afternoon. Dayton was supposedly a quick and more economical alternative to the Cinci airport but turned out to be 3 hours roundtrip with road construction thrown in for good measure. Larry slept on our way back and Mary yacked about how she would clean our clocks in SCRABBLE. She did -- after wearing us out with table talk. Mary, just wanted you to know that we do whatever we can to keep our guests happy.
Lot's of stories from childhood and the typical "I remember when..." moments. I took them on a brief tour of some Cinci notable spots. There were predictable antics (The shot below is a dramatic reenactment of a disagreement over who would sit in front with me.)
Alas, I took the wrong exit for Eden Park and got us lost for a while. Larry, in the inimitable Van Bogaert manner, tried to tell me the error of my ways even after we found a street I traveled everyday to work. No blood was shed. No nashing of teeth. And, everyone was still talking to each other after. This doesn't always happen on family outings. (Ask my sister, Laura, about a trip we once took to Michigan with my Mom and sister, Dianne.)
Larry's friend, Sue, came to get him Sunday. And Larry got her out of the house and on the road before we could completely embarrass him. Mary stayed until Tuesday. She got to spend Monday at the Muchmore retreat getting a little meditative time to ponder recent big changes in her life. Along the way, she tried to break my TV remote on a sugar high (over two days she consumed the better part of a pecan pie). Don't worry, Mary, I found someone competent at Time Warner. The remote did not need to be replaced as the online "assistant" had directed me.
In the end, we did not get to the Irish Pub in Hyde Park to celebrate Larry's birthday but my cousins ate and drank well. Mary won at SCRABBLE most of the time and Larry got out of Dodge before we'd spilled his every childhood secret. So, it was a successful visit. Of course when I talked about Larry's next trip, he pouted, "You're assuming I'm making a next trip..." Ah, come on, Larry.
Theatre Purgatory
I returned to the Mariemont Players last weekend to usher for "Laura," their new production. Oh, my. It was community theatre at its most stereotypic. Made me itch to direct. It really was funny--which needs to be taken in context with the fact that it was a drama. Actually had fun ushering. There are lots of senior patrons who have had season tickets forever. I got cheap laughs as I begged them to let me show them to their seats so I would not lose my non-paying job. Met a very interesting couple also working the show. She's from Poland and he's a playwright. They came here while he was working for Chiquita Banana. Looking forward to a production of his latest play that has to do with Cincinnati and Catholic schools. By the end of our conversation, he had me connected to a playwrighting group and had introduced me to the director of a musical revue for which she tried to recruit me.
Two Spring Steps Forward
One of the best parts of last weekend was the weather--70 and mostly sunny. Very close to the house (maybe a quarter mile) is a bike/walking path along the Little Miami River. The wide shot above looks grey but along the path you could see signs of spring emerging like the little yellow flowered ground cover above. Many people were out roller blading, riding bikes, walking--some were just sitting on benches poised to contemplate the river. It felt good to walk 2 miles outside. In a few weeks, all will be green and lush looking and I will be scouting views to paint.
Muchmore Momentum
This weekend, Bonnie Neal is here to celebrate my birthday with me kicking off what is already a week and a half of celebration thanks to Sister Moon Krusiec. That adventure is still in the works which will give me much more for the next blog--stay tuned for tales of Final Friday, the Celestial, and my first Passover invitation.
I'm so glad you are having so many wonderful friends and family come visit you. It certainly means you get to clean your house often enough!
ReplyDeleteWhat fun. I can see by their smiles they had a good time too. :)B