Lost in Issaquah

Posted by dorothywilhelm in Theater. Tagged: Lost in Yonkers, Odd Couple, Simon, Theater. Leave a Comment |Edit

Today my daughter and I drove up to the quaint, small town of Issaquah, Washington to see a production of Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers. It’s about a sixty five mile drive from my little town of DuPont. And the traffic was dreadful the whole way. We had just minutes to spare by the time we arrived at the theater, so I hurried to get our tickets at Will Call, and Gina went on to park the car. When the last call to be seated came, she was still looking for a parking place. I’m pretty sure that a good mother would have waited out in front of the theater with tickets in hand. But I’m semi-ashamed to say that I left her ticket with an usher and went in to see the start of the show. After all, I needed to tell her how the play began.

I suppose Neil Simon is my favorite comedy playwright and certainly Lost in Yonkers is my favorite of his plays (though the Odd Couple, Barefoot in the Park, and the Brighton Beach Trilogy run a close second, third, and fourth.) What I like about Yonkers is that Simon manages to deal with terrible human loss and many complex issues in a way that’s often hysterically funny.

The daughter who accompanied me to the play is an actor. She appears in many productions in the Seattle area. Last year she was in a production of The Wizard of Oz in which she played The Wicked Witch of the West, a plum part (a green plum). But I found out a surprising thing. Nothing in life prepares you to see your child melt. Even when you knew it was coming.

Spring is here

Spring is here dorothywilhelm | February 20, 2010 at 8:17 PM | Tags: Pacific Northwest, rain, Spring | Categories: My Journal | URL:http://wp.me/pCg7H-2a

We know that it may be depressing news in other parts of the country, but here in the Pacific Northwest, Spring is definitely under way. Today I've seen crocuses and daffodils and a very

bemused looking bunny rabbit. But it's what we expect in the Northwest. After all, it's February 19 - but oh well, Spring is a little late this year.

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Ash Wednesday

Don't Give Up for Lent - Add up!! dorothywilhelm | February 18, 2010 at 7:49 PM | Tags: Ash Wednesday, Lent, Parents | Categories: Faith and religion | URL:http://wp.me/pCg7H-28

I don't know whether I'm embarrassed or proud to say that I'm an old fashioned Catholic, still observing Lent in the good old fashioned way, which is to say that I'm sitting here in front of my computer with a smudge of ash on my head. I like it. See here's the thing, I've come to the age where I really don't have to do things I don't like anymore. That's pretty good. I don't give up things for Lent any more. I try instead to add things to my life, to find activities, or books, or meditations that make me more the person I'm supposed to be. As the years go on, I figure I'd better get it together if I'm ever going to. Florence Littauer, author, professional speaker, and humorist summed it up for me when she said, "I feel as if I'm cramming for a final examination I have no hope of passing. " My number two son just reported on his facebook page that when the priest asked at Mass tonight "What keeps you from being free?" a second grader answered "Our Parent s." Well, there's always something isn't there? I'd love to hear what, if anything, you do to observe Lent.

It Wasn't Presidents Day

It wasn't President's Day dorothywilhelm | February 16, 2010 at 7:23 PM | Tags: George Washington, Nellie Bly, Presidents Day | Categories:American History | URL: http://wp.me/pCg7H-22

I was stunned to learn that whatever we celebrated today, it wasn't Presidents Day because there is no such federal holiday. Well, my first thought was, so how come I didn't get any mail? That's because today is officially the combined Lincoln-Washington Birthday. THAT's the Federal Holiday according to Greg Joyce in the St. Petersburg Times. I kind of like the idea that this is holiday the people created - if by people you mean car salesmen and mattress dealers, but still. I've always loved stories about the presidents and I love to think about how ace reporter Nellie Bly got an interview from Grover Cleveland by sitting on his clothes while he was having his morning swim and refusing to give them back til she got her story. I love the story of President Theodore Roosevelt becoming convinced that no one listened to what was said in reception lines so he began saying outrageous things in reception lines: "Good Evening, Mr. President." "I have just murdere d my Mother in Law." "Wonderful news, Mr. President!" "She is upstairs in the bathtub." "Bully, Mr. President." And if you've ever stood in one of those lines, you know the chances are he was right.

My favorite president story right now though, comes from when my daughter and I visited Mount Vernon, and we toured the home and heard the stories of all of the years that President Washington and his wife lived there. We also heard how even after he left office for many, many years their dinner table was crowded with visitors seeking his advice. And then, after, I think, about ten years an unprecedented event happened and the occasion was entered in General Washington's diary. It is also painted on the dining room wall. This is what it says: The date is listed and then, "Tonight, for the first time in the history of the Republic, General and Mrs. Washington dined alone."

Can't you just see them together at that great table? Did they sit at either end or close together? Did they have anything to talk about. We know now that President Washington's many physical problems would have made it impossible for him to get into the army today, but there was a time when there were giants among us - and we miss them today.

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Ode to My Mac

Ode to my Mac dorothywilhelm | February 15, 2010 at 8:42 PM | Tags: InDesign, Mac users | Categories: Computers | URL:http://wp.me/pCg7H-20

Tonight I attended the meeting of my Northwest Apple Pickers group - an organization for Mac users. I am learning gradually. In tonight's program we had a tutorial for InDesign, which apparently has replaced PageMaker. My situation has been pretty tenuous right along, because I didn't even know PageMaker had been replaced. It has been my method to do a lot of cutting and pasting like in the good old newspaper days. I love that Macs are pretty trouble free and spam free.

I would have a laptop, but alas, Macs are expensive.

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Spaghetti Sauce

Today I painted a watercolor. I used fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic and hot peppers.

You know what that means, don’t you? Now that the painting is finished, I’m going to make spaghetti. I haven’t painted anything in a long time, so this was a lot of fun. I think it’s important to keep doing new things, but not to lose track of the old things either. I had two friends come to paint with me, because they wanted to try something new. One is 84 and one is 87. It was a very fun day.

Avatar

Avatar dorothywilhelm | February 7, 2010 at 9:05 PM | Tags: Avatar | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pCg7H-1H

I can't believe I went to see Avatar and I especially can't believe I liked it. I thought that, given the premise, it was really good - though I surely wouldn't take a young child to see it. I always think that the way to judge a fantasy is, not "was it believable?" but "did they make it work" and the spectacular views pretty much made up for the gaps in credibility. Well, that's what I think. I didn't even have too much trouble fitting my tri focals into the three D glasses. Always, try to keep an open mind.

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