leisure

life has returned to something resembling normality. the last of the #!*?#! shows was yesterday. we left at 8:30 a.m. to arrive at a theatre some of us had never seen before at 11:00, set up the props and do a techincal run through with the lighing and sound people. once again, what should have taken a couple of hours took much more... closer to 6. i can't imagine what these people's private lives are like. they seem to trhive on chaos, and generate it everywhere they go.

we broke for dinner then, and all went to a LICENSED restaurant and drank a goodly amount of of mood enhancer. i discovered a very lovely zinfandel that i'd like to get to know better.

the show went relatively smoothly, and it's over. the theatre was almost exactly 1/6 full... the bare minimum required to pay for the rental of the thing. it was, incidentally, a magnificent theatre. acoustics to die for... not a dead spot or a bad seat in the room, which seats a little over 600. spacious wings and lots of dressing room space and storage. sprung wood floor on stage, professional lighting and sound techs, excellent equipment, all well maintained.

the cast and production crew all deserve medals for pulling this off. the perpetrators should be jailed and an attempt at rehabilitation made. though i'm not hopefull that they can be redeemed. it was something close to 1:30 a.m. by the time the sets, costumes, etc. were packed and we could begin the 1 1/2 hour drive home.

so, after arriving home at 3 a.m. this morning, i slept till about 10, and took chainsaw in hand, to burn off any residual adrenaline. there were some unruly Manitoba maples that needed topping, as they're shading the vegetable garden. they've been converted to tall stumps, which in a few years, will hopefully have transformed into a thick hedge, breaking the prevailing, and very persistent west wind. they'll also provide a private place to loaf in my hammock and enjoy a cool glass of lemonade on hot summer days. AND i'm counting on them to encourage the neighbors' dogs to find somewhere else to leave their noisome and incessant deposits.

from the maples, i have about a half cord of firewood, all nicely cut to stove lengths for the dreamed-of wood burning fireplace. perhaps by next winter i'll have sorted out the 'who, what, when, where, and how' of getting that up and running. and there's a very big pile of brush that i'll have to tote off to the dump.

all the little tomato seedlings started 'way back on St. Patrick's Day are now close to a foot tall, and thriving. the next project is to repair the greenhouse roof, which is in need of new skin, so they can go to their summer residence. they're gazing fondly out the big south window at it, even now, sighing wistfully, and looking reproachfully over their shoulders at me.

the whiz kids were home for a visit over their spring break, and had some friends over. one fellow asked, "your Mum has a grow op?" younger whiz answered, "they're tomaotes" the buddy replied, "sure. that's what they all say!" i also got them to dig me a trench about 25 feet long and a 1/2 meter wide, for a line of raspberry bushes along the east edge of the property (another dog deterrent) which they cleverly dubbed 'the mass grave'. when word gets out about what's going on in my quiet little plot of land, the police will be watching me very carefully.

lovely to be home a bit. been off work for the last week as well, but that was taken up with much needed outside work, and the !~#%&* play, so not on line much. back at work tomorrow, so will be back in the blog neighborhood more regularly then.