Day Ten -- The Music Man

Today was just like yesterday as far as scene-painting went. Below are some pictures of our work.

The books were almost all drawn in, I had to add a few before I got started.

Patricia and I, almost done. Notice yesterday's handiwork behind us.
Patricia wanted to be sure her name was somewhere on the set. She added Augie's name, too and encouraged me to add mine. I did--on a three volume set!
I love this stuff. I think when Tom retires and we find our new home, I will do lots of this kind of thing all over, just for the fun of it!

Day Nine--The Music Man

On Monday, I went in to the Little Theater to see how things have progressed since I went on Vacation. I was surprised to see that only two of six bookcase flats had been painted with books! All six were ready to be painted when I left, and there were a number of people lined up to do the painting...but I was not sad that I got to paint some books! I tried three different methods to do the job, and found that my own worked best for me. It took a little bit of experimenting, but I think thing look pretty good. There was a point in the day where a new woman showed up to work. She is a professional stage hand, but does not have much painting experience. I assumed the guy who asked her to come in to work would show her what to do, but he was at lunch when she arrived. Mary and I did our best to get her started, and Ken took over when he got back from lunch. It took her a while, too, but she got her books looking like books, albeit slowly. We did manaage to get an entire flat of books done -- with a total of four painters working. I started, then Mary joined me--she had been painting almost all by herself last week--then Patricia--the new painter-- arrived and finally Augie pitched in at the end of the day to finish the flat. He didn't do many books, but did help us complete the flat. Without further rambling, the photos:

This flat had no books when I arrived; I was just finishing the green 'base coat' when I took this photo.

That's Patricia, showing off some of her work. She was quite pleased with what she learned yesterday!

These are the two shelves that were done last week, and my example of what to do.

Here we have a close-up of yesterday's painting. The blue strip at the bottom of the books is painter's tape--it will be removed before the show. We'll also add titles to the books. Remember, the audience will see this from about thirty feet away.

Back from vacation....

Some pictures to show highlights of the week...details tomorrow.

Italy!

A new country has been added to the 'Hits List.'

Hee!

Day Eight-the Music Man

Whew. Eight and a half hours painting lines onto flats that are lying on the floor in more exhausting than one would think! The bookshelves are finally ready to have books painted on them. I have a conflict tomorrow, so I will be unable to help, though. :(

I hear they have calls in to the artists that helped paint "I Hate Hamlet." If they can come in, they can certainly do a good job with it.

When I got home tonight, I should have cleaned house and prepared for a visit from my MIL and SIL...instead I spent about an hour in the pool...it felt so good. My back and my legs were screaming for some relaxation , and the pool helped a lot. Now I have work to do, though....but first:

Happy Birthday, Darling!

Fifty years ago today, my dear husband joined us on this earthly plane, and nothing has been quite the same since! Yes, you read that correctly--my Tom is 50 years old today. Happy birthday, Sweetheart! I love you more than I can say, and I'm so glad you chose me to share your life with.

Here's Tom sharing a moment with Ryan. Ryan wanted Grandpa to read him that book--it had a car on the cover!

This is the first time Tom met Lily. You can see she took to him right away--all babies do!

Silliness at the Okeefenokee Swamp in Georgia.

Tom & T.J. -- My two favorite guys. I think they like each other, too!

Tom still likes to 'get his hands dirty' any chance he gets.

Day Seven--The Music Man

I was asked today if I would assist the Stage Manager for the show--she has never Stage Managed and is nervous. The woman who was going to Manage has a family problem that precludes her involvement. I said I would have to check my schedule before committing. I want to be sure I am available.

Today when I arrived I expected to be alone, just me and my paintbrushes. This was not to be. Summer and her Mother-In-Law arrived and asked to be put to work. So I got the flats laid out for them and started them 'munging' the backs of them. Ken arrived just as they got started. He went about mixing colors for the next steps on the bookshelves. Once the backs of the flats were done, we flipped them over and chalked in our lines for the paint guides. Then Ken asked me to coach the ladies in the 'graining' technique we used on the other flats. While I was gathering the necessary supplies, he coached them...which was actually fine with me. Both ladies did quite well and the flats had their first coat of about eight pretty quickly. While they did that, I got started on 'cut lines' for the bookshelves. Cut Lines are lines of paint that delineate edges; for example, I painted lines along the edges of the shelves and the supports.

Then Ken went to the store, and Summer had to leave, then Mary (Summer's MIL) had to go...and I was on my own again. I finished one flat, realized I would not be able to lift it off the table and put another one in its place, so I lowered another flat to the floor and painted there. Painting on the floor gets my clothes so dirty, though. I prefer to use the table...by the time Ken came back, it was really time for him to leave for the day. He moved the two heaviest flats off the stage so the actors could rehearse tonight and was off. I was starving, so I went for some lunch. When I got back I finished all the flats and cleaned up. Getting out of there took some time, which I will have to get better at handling.

I stopped at the phone store on the way home. My phone has a broken hinge and a cracked hinge, so I decided I needed either a repair or a new one. Repair would cost me $55.00 and I would get an upgraded phone (because mine is no longer made) with a video capability. OR I could use our 'New for You' option and get $150.00 off a new phone of my choice with a two year renewal--which starts today (not two months ago when I agreed to it by phone) and I will be charged an $18.00 'activation fee.' Even the girl who sold it to me looked embarrassed to have to tell me that! Even with the activation fee, a new phone was cheaper. I think... Anyway, I got a new pink phone that is comparable to what I had. Pink was the only color choice available today--I may not have chosen it if something else were available.

Tonight I have been preparing for a visit with my grandchildren. I am always happy to see them, and I think they feel the same way about me--at least, usually.

Tomorrow--more preparation of flats for the show. We expect several painters on Thursday--the day we begin putting books on the shelves. Somehow I have a feeling I won't be painting too many books myself...I'll be coaching and fetching and cleaning. But hey, its all part of the process, I guess.

Day Six--The Music Man

Rats! I was wrong, again! I thought we were going to paint books on the shelves today...we did not. It was just Ken and me again today, and we did more prep work. We did a 'wash' on the shelves that is intended to bring out the fronts of the shelves. While I finished with that, Ken built two more flats--the ones to hold the windows. As I was storing the shelf flats, I noticed two that had not been 'munged' on the back. This is a step Ken doesn't want to skip because the mung acts as a fire retardant and these flats will 'fly'--meaning they will hang from cables in the ceiling and be lowered when needed. While up in the ceiling, they will be stored near hot lights; hence the concern. So I got to do that little chore, followed with applying mung to the window flats as well. Ken had to leave at about this point, leaving me behind to paint the shelves brown--the first step in making them look like fine wooden shelves. While I was painting, Marge came in to say'hi.' I haven't seen her since the last show we did together in February, so it was really good to see her. We chatted a bit, but we both had other places to be so will see each other later at the rehearsal. I want to see what the play is like.

Why do I get the sinking feeling that all the 'creative' painting is going to be done while I am unavailable to work?

Happy Birthday, Will!

Eleven years old today, if my calculations are correct, Will is the oldest son to Tom's sister Dina and her husband Bill. Will has always been a fun kid to be around. He likes football and is a really good player, too. He also makes a pretty good role model for his baby brother.

Happy Birthday, Will! I hope you have a great year and that eleven is your best one yet!

Day Five--The Music Man

Started the day by going by Ken's house (remember, he is the set designer for the play) to pick up some power tools and transport them to the theater in Tom's truck. Tom lets me use the truck when it will help the theater...anyway, we met David at the theater, who was there to help paint. He is primarily an actor and hasn't done scene-painting before but he wanted to help out. Turns out he is pretty good--quick, and he follows instructions well. We did a 'graining' technique on all the library flats with two different colors. Then we did the same thing to the parts of the flat that represent the sides of the shelves. At this point, we lost David--he had to go do some other things. Ken and I finshed the day applying a dark 'wash' to the flats. So now all the flats look like they have 'depth.'

This is a good thing.

Ken is working tomorrow, buiding some flats for other scenes. I am not going in as he is working in the morning while his mother is at church. I will be at church, too. We start again Monday.

It was a productive day. I know because my shoulder muscles ache.

Day Four--The Music Man

I didn't post about Day 3--it was a short day due to some weather issues and downed trees.

Today I felt a little more productive. We mixed colors of paint for the 'graining' of the wood and got lines on all six flats that will be painted to look like bookshelves. Doesn't sound like much, but when you think about the details (measuring for each shelf and board that makes up the 'structure' then chalking in the lines) and the fact that Ken was an hour late...we did OK.

While I waited for Ken, I first talked to my Dad on the phone, then got another call as I said goodbye to him. I thought that call was my MIL as it came up as "Unidentified Caller." I used to ignore those, but then learned that is how MIL's calls appear, too, so now I answer and often it IS her--but not this time! This time it was Jacque, our friend we met Belgium who now lives in Germany. For some reason, Jacque thought my birthday was sometime around now. She knew Tom's was next week, but was confused about mine. That's OK, I really enjoyed talking to her and it made the time I was waiting for Ken fly by.

I am thinking about going to see the Harry bPotter movie this afternoon--I planned to go right from the theater and even took clean clothes. But I forgot shoes, and I couldn't bring myself to go alone to a theater wearing shoes that look like they belong in a trash heap. So I came home, got some lunch, and will go see Harry and the rest of the Hogwart's company this afternoon.

Geraldine's Gift

My friend Geraldine arranged (all the way from England) to have this plant delivered to me. Isn't it gorgeous? That large blossom on the top is very cool--it looks like two flowers whose stems are tangled until you get right up close and look. It is one flower! Or maybe two grown together as one? Anyway, I like it. The other buds on the plant look normal. I am waiting to see when they open if they are 'double blossoms' also.

Gerbera Daisy from Geraldine. Notice the double blossom.Double blossom viewed from below. How cool is that?

Thank you, Geraldine, for the lovely gift.

Day Two--The Music Man

Today when I arrived at the theater, I was assigned to 'mung' the sides of some previously prepared flats. As I was preparing to do this, the father and daughter of the family that was to work today arrived, so my job was scrapped and it was decided to thin the 2 gallons of brown paint we had and paint the prepared flats. While I worked at getting the paint ready, the men chatted. The little girl kept asking for something to do, but nothing was ready for her, yet. She decided to help me--and chat while she helped. She is going to see Harry Potter with her dad as an early birthday present, she is almost 10, her birthday is the same day as Harry Potter's, that's how she got interested in the books, when she was two her mother told her that she and Harry shared a birthday and that is when she started reading, she couldn't really read all the words in Harry Potter so her mom and dad took turns reading to her and when it was done she asked for the next book, but it wasn't written, yet, and she was like Awww. .. then she wrote a book, and got it published, hard cover, and she sold it--not in stores or anything, just to her friends.... you get the idea. I think I know this little girl's entire life story, and they were only there for one hour! She and her father painted the faces of four flats, then it was time for them to go. I sort of got the feeling the whole thing was an outing for the little girl! At least he brought her at the beginning of the project and not at the very end.

As for the rest of my day, I finished up painting the brown on the side pieces of the flats, and some other assignments Ken had for me--all prep work, which is where we are right now. Some of the 'chatting' I heard between the two men was Ken explaining that tomorrow we are going to start painting the library bookshelves --- Joan will be showing you what to do.

Huh?

Apparently, he is of the opinion that I can handle that assignment. I didn't tell him differently, but this is going to be an interesting experience! He has a wonderful theater book about scene-painting, and there are actually step-by-step instructions with colors and everything for doing a bookcase. So there you have it. Tomorrow we paint bookcases.

Happy Birthday, Rob!

Just twenty months younger than I, Rob turns 49 this year! Woohoo!

I've always had a good relationship with Rob--we wore matching clown pajamas (clown print on top, red bottoms) in the hospital when we got our tonsils out. Remember that, Rob? They made us sleep in cribs! We were much too grown up for cribs--I was six and you were four! Can you imagine? They also took our temperatures the wrong way--like we didn't know how to hold a thermometer under our tongues...

Anyway! Happy Birthday, Brother--and best wishes for many happy returns of the day!

SLT

I started work today on the Little Theater's production of "The Music Man." This is just my contribution--work has been going on for some time. I showed up at the theater at about 10:30, after visiting the Tax Office to handle the exemption for Tom's truck. That effort saved us a few dollars...

Anyway, Ken-the set designer- was the only other person working today. He set me up 'mung-ing' some window flats. I learned today that 'mung' is what you get when you take all the leftover paint and mix it together. Using this to prime your flats gives you a uniform base for all your painting. Once I started the painting I made the mistake of asking about all the paints cans in and around the sink. Yes, they are waiting to be cleaned and if I could do that next it would be very helpful. Ken pointed out that the mess was his fault, results of creating the 'mung,' and he hated to ask anyone to do that kind of work... He didn't really finish his thought, but I got the idea that somebody had to do it and if I was willing he would appreciate it. I did it. I hope I am not setting myself up to be the 'go-to' person for all the grunt work. I understand that it has to be done, but I like the creative aspects of theater, too!

Ken worked the timeframe he indicated in the schedule he sent out, but since I had time, I stayed and munged four flats that he rebuilt today. That should give us a good start for tomorrow, when a family is going to come work. I haven't met them, yet, so it should make for an interesting day. Ken said he was going to go over 'care of painting supplies' with us. Thank goodness! One of my biggest peeves is people leaving all their supplies for someone else to clean up. Kids are the biggest offenders, and it is because they don't know any better; but I have dealt with more than one adult who consistently couldn't stay to help clean up 'as much as they wanted to' or simply walked away and left the mess. So hurray for 'responsibility' instructions!

Happy Birthday, Evan!

Only son of my sister Janet and her husband Jim, Evan is 17 years old today. Evan has always been a fun nephew, full of interesting stories of his inventions and experiments. On Mother's Day this year, Evan shared some video work he has been doing in school this year. The videos highlighted the different techniques being learned, and we all got a kick out of them. I think Evan could make a career in movies or TV if he works at it.

Happy Birthday, Nephew! And Many More!

Dull Saturday

OK, first things first: anybody else using blogger having trouble creating a title? Mine won't allow it. I can click all day and the cursor just won't appear in the title block. It is also refusing to change this font back to the original. Anybody else having these problems?

Now, Saturday. Didn't go anywhere, just hung around the house. Cleaned the fridge, checked the pool, did some work in the gardens. The pool is havng some issues. When I got back from my three weeks away, the water seemed OK--not great, but not bad. The water tested low on chlorine and fine on pH. I added a chlorine pill to the floater. There was some debris on the bottom, so I hooked up the Polaris. It did a great job and had all the stuff collected by next morning...but the water was cloudy. I could still see bottom, it was just cloudy. We were out of water clarifier, so I bought some and followed the directions, and by next day the water was better. Not clear, but better. Now I am wondering if I just keep filtering or add more clarifier...the instructions say not to add too much as the product will have the opposite of the desired effect. So I will check again today. I am hoping to have a pool party wih ACES next weekend, so I want the water right.

After I took a dip in the warm, 89 degree water, I did some clearing and trimming in the backyard gardens. It needs it! I found a small poison ivy plant trying to establish itself in one of the flower gardens. I pulled it and realized it is from the forest of poison ivy on the other side of our fence. The neighbor's tree is covered in it and it comes through the slats in the fence and is currently coming OVER. Since Tom is SO allergic after years of exposure when he volunteered at the Poor Clare's Monastery in Newport News--every Spring his arms were covered in the rash, I try to keep that area clear myself. I was unwilling to risk the rash earlier this year for medical reasons, but now have no excuses...I'll be out there Monday trying to clear the 'leaves of three' and spraying some poison ivy killer I bought. Woohoo!

Did you miss me?

I haven't blogged regularly in quite some time...lots going on in my life, the most recent of which was a three week visit with my daughter Jen and her family up North. I went up there for Father's Day, which we celebrated this year at Rob and Lisa's house. I think the entire family turned out, too--or, at least all of my generation was there. Cathy's daughter, Mary Caitlin had to work and son Paul was at a Music Festival in Tennessee. But we got to see the new babies, Laura Elizabeth, born six weeks early on 17 April, and Adam James, born 23 May. They are both very cute and adorable. Their parents--John and Michelle, and Becca and Travis respectively, are understandably proud. The event at Rob and Lisa's was very nice, with good food and drink and good company, too. They did a great job.

During the week I hung out around the house with Jen and the kids. Zach had Cub Scout Day Camp, so it was just the little ones during the day. I got to go with the to their final gymnastics class of the season (which was a make up class because my arrival threw Jen off and we missed it on the Thursday before). It was so much fun to participate in 'circle time' with Lily. We did "Row Your Boat" together and she really seemed to get it, and some of the other fun stuff, too. Lily is probably the youngest in her class and I think getting a child that age to follow directions and work with a group AT ALL is pretty darn good! Towards the end of the week, the whole family, me included, joined in the fun for Cub Scout Family Night at the Day Camp. We had food and drinks, watched the boys run around like crazy after the meal, chatted with lots of other parents, then we went to 'the hill' where the campfire and a ceremony of sorts was held. All the Cubs and Webelos were up close, so they could here and be aware of what was going on--even hear the words to the silly songs they were singing--but us family members further up the hill were at a loss. They tried with a sound system, but we could only make out a few things. There was a flag retirement toward the end of the evening, which was interesting because the flag was synthetic--instead of burning, it melted. But the weather was nice, it didn't rain on us and we could certainly enjoy the fresh air.

The following weekend was my Aunt Catherine's 50th Jubilee. For you non-Catholic readers, that means we celebrated Aunt Catherine's fiftieth anniversary of being a nun. ANd she was smong the youngest velebrants of the group! There were women there celebrating 60 and 70 year anniversaries! Janet and I drove up together since we would each be alone otherwise. It was a lovely celebration--Mass at the chapel of Rosemont College followed by a formal luncheon in Cardinal Hall on the campus. Lunch was delicious and nicely served. Aunt Catherine probably had the largest number of guests there, with two tables of ten--and not everybody in the family was invited...space was limited, so only a certain number could receive invitations. My cousin JImmy, who lives about half an hour from the college, solved that problem by having a family cookout at his house afterward. Jimmy was one of the ones who didn't get an invitation, so he was available to greet people who arrived early. Again, my parents and all my siblings were there. So were Uncle Ed, Aunt Gerry and their daughter Gerilyn from Houston, and my niece Lynn brought her son Colin. The weather was lovely, if a bit warm, and Jimmy's home and garden were perfect for this type of event. We got to catch up with cousins we hardly see anymore, and I got to meet two husbands I have never had the opportunity to meet before. And Mary, our artistic cousin, held what she called an 'art auction.' She had brought several of her older pieces to give away, but didn;t have enough for each cousin, so she put our names in a hat and if your name was drawn, you got to pick your favorite piece as your own. Mine was the second to last name drawn and the landscape that was my favorite from the beginning was still there! I felt a little greedy, since it was also the largest piece there, but I did choose it. It goes very well with my living room!

Sometime during my stay, I had decided to extend my visit long enough to attend the double baptism of the aforementioned newborn babies. So Sunday, 1 July found Jenny and me driving to St. Bartholomew's in Manchester for the scarament. A total of five infants were baptized that day. Afterward, there was a reception at the home of Michelle's parents. We were all surprised when Dad didn't come back to the house, but he went straight home to be woth Mom who was sick that day. Dad said she had been coughing, had a sore throat and that day had a fever. Jen and I had to stop at WalMart anyway, so I picked up a Get Well card for her and had the family sign it at the reception...I took it to Mom afterward. She seemed pleased. I should call her to see how she's doing...so should any of my siblings who happen to read this....

Back to the reception--Michelle's parents have a gorgeous home in Hampstead with a pool in the backyard, which they opened for their guests. It was a warm day, but not as hot as it had been so Janet and I noticed that all the kids were in the pool, and the young men--fathers or not--were in there playing with them. Eventually Jenny got in the water and a few other women joined them, but mostly it was males and kids. Ryan had a great time; so did Zach. When I ran into Zach at the dessert table later in the afternoon, he was shivering so hard his cake was wiggling off his plate! Didn't bother him any, he asked for two pieces, and a cookie and a brownie, too. I suggested we start with the cake and ask Mommy and Daddy about the rest. He agreed and went to sit in the sun to eat his treat. Evenutally he was sitting on his towel at poolside when his dad called across to him to get his towel out of the water. He didn't understand that the corner of his towel was hanging over the side of the pool and getting soaked, so Jay told him again-louder. Then LOUDER. Zach moved his towel. Then Rob, who was sitting next to Jay, said in a theatrical aside "Jay, get your phone out of the water!" Turns out Jay forgot to take his phone out of his pocket when he got into the water and it was sitting on the table drying out....oops. Later, when Jay stepped away from the table then returned, Rob said "No messages, except King Neptune called." I laughed. So did Jay.

So, that was some of what I've been up to. I had to return home on 2 July because I had an appointment of 3 July. That appointment went well. On the 4th, I went to the "Jammin July Fourth" celebration here in town for food and fireworks. Ran into a friend there and chatted her ears off for a bit...today I saw my PCM (Primary Care Manager) at the base for a follow up on my bloodwork checking my thyroid medication. Tests weren't back, so she'll call me if we need to make a change. I did some shopping at the BX, got in the pool for a while at 89 degrees, then added clarifier after testing showed all the other levels were fine and its still cloudy. Did some gardening--just clearing out some dead stuff and prettying things up that were neglected while I was away. Tomorrow I get to do the recycling!

Jubilarian Catherine with brothers Ed and Bob.

Just hangin' around with Ryan

As you can see, Ryan doesn't 'just hang' for long!

Having fun at Cub Scout Family Night--good thing Mommy knows how to keep little girls happy!More fun at Cub Scout Family Night. Daddy can be lots of fun, too! Look closely--that's Kermit the Frog on his shirt!