You can’t really see the smiles in this picture, but you can feel them. Yesterday, in Redwood City, corner of Jefferson and Middlefield, during the Fourth of July Parade.
It was the first parade since 2019. There was heavy police presence, but the atmosphere was very relaxed.
Posting this for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge (CFFC): Brings a Smile to Your Face.
Stay tuned.
Today, self went for a walk around Mendocino Village. The weather has been gorgeous. The fuschias seem to be in season; many were blooming along fences and pathways.
Posting this for XingfuMama’s Whatsoever Is Lovely Challenge and Cee Neuner’s Flower of the Day:
The poppy on self’s front porch has started blooming again!
Took a picture for Cee Neuner’s FOTD Challenge.
“Go rot! Dost thou think I am so muddy?” — Leontes, The Winter’s Tale
Self grew to love Shakespeare only in middle age, and that was entirely because of Cal Shakes, which is in self’s humble opinion the Bay Area’s best theater company. Of course, it didn’t hurt that her first Cal Shakes play was Romeo and Juliet, where Romeo was played by ADAM SCOTT.
Since then, Cal Shakes has become firmly fixed as a rite of summer. Last year they were forced to cancel their entire season and lay off two-thirds of their full-time staff. This year, they came back with one play, The Winter’s Tale.
As soon as it was announced, self e-mailed son. She couldn’t believe it when he said right off that he would pass. Pass? How could he? He practically grew up with Cal Shakes! She used to bring carloads of his friends here! Of course, they’re all married now, but still!
She ended up seeing it with a friend, while it was still in previews. Before seeing it Sept. 12, self had never read the play, didn’t know anything about the play, would probably have gone through the rest of her life not giving a hoot about the play. Then, she saw it. Ummm. She sat stupefieadd and amazed for three hours. How stupefied and amazed? Exactly one week later she was back, by herself. By then, she’d already begun reading a hefty novel called The Slaughterman’s Daughter. She lugged it along, and remained in her seat through intermission, reading.
What’s really good about seeing a play alone is: you can eavesdrop. The person to her left (separated by two seats) was a woman perhaps a decade older than self, who’d come alone, and was wearing the cutest gold sandals. To her right was a family with teen-age girls, who were at Bruns for the first time, probably just to see what all the fuss was all about.
The parents were sitting immediately to self’s right, the daughters several rows behind. At intermission, the mother went to check on the girls. When she came back, the girls were trailing her. The mother told her husband:
“You know what, I just realized everyone thinks the King is an idiot.”
Daughter: “That’s cause he IS.”
Onward!
Self could remember so many more lines, after watching The Winter’s Tale a second time:
“Good Queen, my Lord. GOOD Queen.”
“Gross hag!”
“Oh! She is warm!”
But her favorite line is the last: Hermione tells a repentant Leontes, “Let’s from this place.” And with that, the play ends. If anyone had told self a week ago that she would end up shipping Hermione/Leontes, she would have said, Get out!
This adaptation of The Winter’s Tale was by Cal Shakes Director Eric Ting and Resident Dramaturg Philippa Kelly. Kudos.
Her love for Cal Shakes is undiminished.
Stay tuned.
LOOOOVE this prompt. Simply love.
Thank you, P.A. Moed.
Yesterday, self was at Cal Shakes’ only production for 2021: The Winter’s Tale. Last year they were forced to cancel their entire season. Wanted to weep.
But whoa, what a way to make a comeback: The Winter’s Tale is ace.
Picnic Grove Next to Bruns Amphitheatre in Orinda
Cal Shakes’s Resident Dramaturg Philippa Kelly leading the post-play discussion.
The Thrill of Anticipation! Audience files into Bruns Amphitheatre to see Cal Shakes’s first production in two years!
This is the first time self has joined this writing challenge.
Here’s the logo, from Marsha Ingrao’s Always Write blog:
She’s pretty excited to join because the theme this week is VACATION. And self is currently on the last leg of a short (several days long) break she took on the central coast, site of some of the fondest memories of her life.
This morning, she was on Avila Beach, where the sound of the surf was loud in her ears, and the sun and the beach and the strollers were unbelievably normal. One could almost forget about the last 16 months. Corona? What’s that?
But before waxing too joyful, let self focus on some pretty fabulous signage. Because this challenge is about words, right? Well, Avila Beach was just hopping with memorable words. For instance, on Front Street, this:
Was there ever a sign more emblematic of our times?
Inside the coffee shop, further surprises:
Honestly, what was she thinking? How could she have walked out of that coffeeshop without buying some of that House Blend?
Avila Beach is THE place.
Stay cool, dear blog readers. Stay cool.
Found out today that my story made the longlist of LitMag’s Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction.
It was speculative fiction. I took a chance!
That is all.
From Nancy Merrill, host of the Photo a Week Challenge:
Last year, when Covid-19 first struck the United States, my friend’s daughter got married. It wasn’t the wedding she had started planning when she got engaged in November, but it was a beautiful celebration of love and joy. I was one of twenty-five people who were able to attend the sweet backyard ceremony. It was fun to not only take photos but to help with the decorations and food and just overall doing what we could to make the bride and groom happy.
IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) OF HOW YOU HAVE CELEBRATED DURING THE PANDEMIC.
Along with the rest of America, self watched the inauguration of #46, Joseph R. Biden, on live TV.
The marchers (except for one) are wearing masks! Funny, she never stopped to think about that until she started looking at pictures for this week’s Photo a Week Challenge.
Also a first: that she watched the events unfold on Fox News!
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
This is today’s BRIGHT SQUARE. Thanks to Becky at The Life of B for the challenge!
A few days ago, self met her friend Caroline at the de Young in Golden Gate Park. What a BRIGHT BRIGHT DAY. Museums are open again!
Lots of squares in the lines of the building, and on the pavement. The ferris wheel is a new thing. Wasn’t here last year! She likes it.
So HAPPYYYYYY!
Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.
Self has a story in the latest issue of Western Humanities Review. She based it on a true story about a ferry disaster in the Philippine Sea. And it all began with the first sentence:
I didn’t like the blind woman.
Kanlaon 