Monday, November 8 – Sunday, November 14, 2021
The Week in the Night Plays Tricks: In the middle of the night I was awoken by my neighbor screaming “ouch…ouch, ouch…ouch” etc. I’m going to assume it was a charlie horse painful enough for the two of us. Unrelated, I woke up later that morning to what appeared to be a teenage boy in bed next to me. Um, what? Turns out it was just the way the sweatshirt was laying on the pillow. What a beautiful way to start the day!
The Week in Being Earnest: My co-worker is a professional actor in his spare time, which, interestingly, makes him very good at old musical and movie trivia. Mostly, his actual talents are only required when we need someone to re-record the work voicemail message. But this week I got to see him in real acting action. He played the Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s 1895 play, The Importance of Being Earnest with the Beechmont Players. He was great. The play is part of the theatre repertoire and read by high schoolers even today. Full of quips – “The truth is rarely pure and never simple”…”Girls never marry the men they flirt with”…etc. It’s a drawing room comedy of manners that still plays well, if a very predictable and trite. A nice throwback evening.
Also, what a hoot to see a co-worker in drag.
The Week in Backflips and Bar Culture: The next day, I went out for lunch and sat at the bar at Brew Dog where 3 guys were well into an afternoon drinking session. One was was very quiet, on his phone the whole time, one was just plain friendly and the other was VERY talkative, not particular annoying, just someone who who “demanded” attention – he did a (literal) back flip while I was there. In bar culture, I would refer to them the dopey guys at the end of the bar. Turns out, the guy on the phone had just been bailed out of jail by the other two after getting into a fight at the Friday night soccer match.
Ah yes. The soccer match.
I should note that I’m not bitter at all that while I was across town watching an old play, USA and Mexico were playing a qualifying match for next year’s world cup. Yep, biggest soccer party of the year. Lady Bracknell owes me a beer!
The Week in the Symphony: I’ve been in Music Hall throughout the pandemic and have even seen shows that are part of this year’s season, but this week, the Haydn/Mahler program was my first official concert of my subscription. That means the Symphony staff puts a card on my seat welcoming me to the the season. And, for the first time, since I decided to gift money to the Symphony, I got my name in the program.
But the best part of the evening was sitting next to the 87 year old woman next to me, who ubered in to see her first concert at Music Hall in over two years. She was emotional. I was emotional. Wow, that’s good stuff.
The Symphony is a delight, but I’m about done with their Covid protocols. Not only do I have to show my vaccine card, they also cross check it with my id. Fine. But the then why do I have to sit inside with a mask? It’s as much of a performance as what’s happening on stage. And also, they are programming without intermissions, so the atmosphere just isn’t as fun. I hope we can move on soon.
The Week in Puzzling: A friend who knows I like jigsaw puzzles brought me a jigsaw puzzle making kit…because even though no one needs a puzzle making kit, someone may *want* some tool and that’s a chance to make money that someone jumped on. So this “kit” is a big piece of felt, some glue to glue your puzzle on a board (not provided) and a set of stacking trays to help sort the pieces. I’m trying to do a puzzle on the felt – the idea is you can roll the pieces up and move the puzzle out of the way…(it doesn’t work )- and I do not like it. What I do like is the trays. Very helpful. So now I have proper puzzle making tools. What a relief.
The Week in Thawing and Leftovers Before the Leftovers: Thanksgiving is close and I have cooking responsibilities that start this week. Obviously, Thanksgiving isn’t close enough that can leave stuff out for the next two weeks, so I have to make room in my freezer. I’ve been working on this for the last two weeks (I’m super thrifty saving all kinds of bits of food to eat in the future). Anyway, the last things to get rid of are some old chicken broth (probably too old and heading for the trash), some pasta sauce, a bit of pork roast, and a pound of ground beef. Basically, I’m eating all my leftovers so I can make room for Thanksgiving leftovers. I’ve got plans! and the freezer is ready for…
The Week in Broth: The first year I was invited to Thanksgiving at my friend’s house, I said I would make and bring the broth needed to make gravy and other side dishes. They were all like, “That’s not necessary.” The second year, they were all like, “You bringing broth?” So, today I bought some turkey parts from the butcher and I’m making a couple quarts of turkey broth. I’ve also got some back up chicken broth. Now I can move on to desserts and such. It’s all very exciting on the culinary front.
Nothing Ever Happens on My Street 