Theater

I spent half of last week down in Cedar City going to the Utah Shakespeare Festival. This was my 4th year in a row. I really love going to the theater there. This year I went with my mom and a niece (but a different niece than the previous 2 years). We had a good time. The shows were fantastic. We saw four: 

The Sound of Music

I must admit I only bought tickets to this one because my niece wanted to see it. I might have skipped it and I’m so glad I didn’t. I just figured I’ve been exposed to it so much, even though I knew the theater production is different than the movie. It was fantastic. The actress who played Maria brought so much joy and exuberance to the role. All of them did so well with their parts. My least favorite was Captain Von Trapp and I figured out to myself why. I was expecting a slightly deeper voice. He sang beautifully but the timbre of his voice was just higher than I liked. I saw him in another play also and it’s just his voice, there’s nothing wrong with it at all. It’s just a personal preference. 

Clue

I was so looking forward to this one and it did not disappoint. I love the movie so much and this stage version was very similar. They hit the comedy right on and the characters were also spot on. It was so good. I had so many laughs. A favorite part was when they were searching the manor for other people and two of the characters were using a Clue board game for the “map” of the house. So funny. 

Sweeney Todd

This is one of my favorite musicals. It’s one of the rare instances where I love the dark themes and not happy ending. I love the music and the cleverness in the lyrics and how the harmonies all work together. This was my mom and nieces’ least favorite and I can see why. I think you need more exposure to it to really appreciate it. Making meat pies out of people is not for everyone! But it is for me and they did a great job.

The Tempest

Our last play was finally some Shakespeare. This one was in the smaller theater that I had never been in before. They set it in the 1990’s and Prospero and Antonio were played by women. Oh my gosh, it was good. I had some good laughs and really enjoyed seeing what they did on a small stage with very few props. I would love to see it again. Plus, I had forgotten it is the play that Mary Stewart used in her book This Rough Magic and I’ve been re-reading it since I got home.

I thought four plays might be a bit much but it was not. I loved them all and really could have gone to 1 or 2 more without any problems. 

So it was a great time. Right now I’m actually not planning to go next year because I’ve already seen the only play that actually appeals to me but I may change my mind later on. You never know. 

No Service

Drove up to the Uintah mountains with my sister and her twins this past weekend. It was absolutely wonderful. The temperature was in the high 60s and it was overcast and we got a little rain. I want to go back. It was kind of a little sad when we got back to cell phone service and my phone started dinging with notifications. It's the kind of break everybody needs once in a while. 

Long, Hot Summer

It’s so hot!!!! I know I just had some nice summer days, but this is the part I really don’t enjoy. It’s hot and dry and on fire. Once it’s past 9 am I just don’t want to be outside at all and getting in and out of a car for errands is so awful. Guess I shouldn’t complain since where I live, we are set up to have this kind of weather and I have a great 1 year old air conditioner. Other places with record heat are truly feeling it. 

Still, this summer has been flying by. I can’t believe it’s almost August. I’m heading to Cedar City again this year for the Utah Shakespeare Festival. It’s going to be even hotter there! And then I have to go to Charlotte for work. Not really looking forward to it. From the news, flying sounds like not a lot of fun and dealing with airports and then humidity is not something I would choose to do right now. At least the flights are direct. Flight delays won’t result in other missed flights. I’m trying to appreciate the now and not long for Fall. I think I manage most of the time. 

So lately I’ve been indoors in my air conditioning, doing puzzles and chilling. I’m sure my power bill will be outrageous this month. 

July 4th Weekend

These last few days have really felt like summer. I had a few days off from work and spent the first one on shopping and errands and lunch with a friend. Yesterday, I met my sisters and mom and all the younger kids (i.e. the ones without summer jobs) at the river to play in the water. We probably looked crazy sitting there under the trees in our camp chairs but I don’t even care. It feels good to sit next to the water and we can eat our snacks or get in and play and cool off. 

After we got tired of the river, we went for snow cones. After the snow cones, we decided to stop at the new Asian grocery store not far from my house. The kids had eaten all of the Pocky Sticks and we needed more. Plus that store is just fun and I see tons of things from Korean web comics in there. LOL Then we decided we needed Chinese for dinner so we all went to my mom’s house. We had food from the grocery store to cook up and then ordered a small amount of takeout to supplement what we cooked. I took my giant outdoor connect four game (covid purchase) and we played outside some more and had dinner. We were trying to wait for it to get dark to get out the glow sticks but instead around 7:30 we shut the blinds in a room and got them out anyway. 

This morning we met up at the farmer’s market. I got fresh cherries and peas. Plus, we have been wanting to try the donut truck and it did not disappoint. Fresh (and still warm!) glazed sourdough donuts that were the perfect mix of doughy but completely cooked. So, so good! No wonder I’ve been seeing a line at that truck. 

Now I’m finally home relaxing with a cold drink and my air conditioning. It’s hot and dry and a bit windy outside. It’s been a great couple of days and the holiday weekend is just getting started. It’s crazy how fast the days go by when I’m not at work. Happy 4th of July. 

June

Well, summer is in full swing. I’ve been looking ahead at my calendar to plan some things and it’s really going to be over before I know it. That’s fine because it’s not my favorite season. Hot and dry. However for all that, we’ve had some really beautiful mornings lately and everything is still green. The wind coming from the canyon smells like camping and I’ve been taking pictures of wildflowers on my walks. I’m trying to enjoy this part of summer before everything dries out. 

I’ve been feeling extra tired lately so I’m trying to not drink caffeine, especially later in the day so I can sleep, along with making sure I get some exercise.  I win some days and lose some days. I’ve also cut down on my web comics reading. I’m still following all my stories, but I haven’t been getting on every day and I’m letting some of the series I read go back to regular release instead of fast passing. I was spending too much money there and it’s actually been a nice thing to consume less of. Well, maybe not less because I’m staying caught up, but I’m taking breaks. Life is just cycles and I’ve cycled to fewer days of webtoons at the moment. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump anyway and that is normal too. Anyway looking forward to the July 4th holiday in a couple weeks. I’ve got some time off and I need to plan what to do with it. 

Happy Memorial Day 2022

It has been a cool and wet holiday weekend. I am not complaining. I love it. The mountains are so green and the clouds are down so you can’t see the top. When the clouds move, the parts you can see have snow on them again. It’s just been so pretty. 

It’s been a pretty low key weekend. We waited to do our cemetery stuff today. My sister had covid again and today was her officially over it day. It was a bit cold and slightly rainy off and on while we were at the cemetery. We didn’t stay super long and there did seem to be less people out. I’m guessing a lot of people went on Saturday morning before the rain really set in. We did get to hear/see the gun salute and Taps played for our armed forces veterans. My mom cleaned up dad’s headstone a bit and there is a big bush next to him that she cut back. And the kids ran all over and had fun. We aren’t a very sentimental family. 

On Friday after work I had made a quick trip to the Wellsville cemetery and there were two men sitting there enjoying the nice weather and the peaceful atmosphere. They told me they were from Colorado and they drove here just to enjoy the cemeteries. In their experience there aren’t a lot of places that decorate graves like we do in Utah. I wouldn’t know, of course. It’s just what we do on Memorial Day and what my mom expects us to continue when she’s gone. It does make me think though that these were real people with real lives and while I have memories of many of them, some of the older family I didn’t know at all. 

Not long ago I watched something about family history work on the church website and one girl said she’s been uploading pictures. It occurred to me that maybe that is something I could do. I never know where to start but I could start looking at my pictures and working back. I know I have some pictures of some of my grandparents. At least it’s something. 

Weekend

For sure the weekend went by too fast! Friday night I went to see my 2 nieces in a local community theater production of James and the Giant Peach. They both did a great job and even though that’s not my favorite production by a long way, it didn’t drag and was fun to see. 

Saturday my sister and I took 5 of my nieces and nephews (including the 2-year old twins) to the Treehouse Museum. We had planned on being there for 3 hours and I was exhausted after 1. The twins had so much fun, but they ran everywhere they went. The older kids had a blast too. We made it 2.5 hours before we packed up and went for ice cream. The 5 year old even fell asleep afterwards on the way to his soccer game. I’m glad they had fun. I spent Saturday evening in my pjs with a book. LOL

Yesterday I went to church with my mom since it was Mother’s Day and then we left and went for a drive to Park City. We took the back way and it was a really nice drive. It was cloudy and even tried to snow on us in Park City, but this is the time of year everything is green and it was so pretty.  I woke up in the middle of the night and it was raining and this morning when I opened my blinds, we had snow on the mountains and rooftops. It won’t last, but I did put on a long sleeve shirt this morning. I was late for work and it’s definitely a Monday but I’m telling myself now: It’s going to be a good week.