Mishaps and other haps

I wrote this originally as a note on Facebook, but I thought I would double-post it.  How often do people read notes on Facebook anyway?

Athena and I were watching the Democratic National Convention Thursday night and she was speculating on McCain’s choice for VP, which had not been announced yet, but was all over the news the next morning.

Athena has been following politics. She and Joe had several conversations at our house this past summer, as both of them were very interested and attentive to the developing political campaigns.

I emailed Athena when I heard the news Friday morning to find out if she had anticipated McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as running mate– and she was surprised. She had named a couple of possible VP picks the previous evening and Palin was not on her list.

At first, my knee-jerk reaction was that McCain chose Palin to pull female voters, which I found insulting. Also, by having a woman on the ticket, he was ensuring that the Republican party would be having its own historic election year.

Later that day, I had lunch with Michael and he said that he thought Palin was chosen more for her very solid, conservative politics and executive experience and NOT because she would necessarily pull women’s votes (particularly not the women who would have voted for Hillary, which seemed outlandish to me as well).

It’s interesting. When I was younger, I thought that I might be inclined to vote for a woman running on any ticket for President or VP, regardless of party.

Now I realize there is no way in hell I would vote for anyone with values as conservative as Sarah Palin’s. She sounds like an interesting person and I would like to meet her, but I agree with the young woman from Alaska (in an article I read) who said that she admired Palin, but she would be voting for Obama/Biden.

As far as admiration goes, we’ll see how much campaign dirt flies before the end. I’ll just say that I think she’s interesting and that’s something, I guess.

It’s Labor Day weekend and so far it’s a good weekend.

Michael went to visit Josh in Janesville on Thursday night and Athena came over and watched the Democratic National Convention with me.  We ate Chinese food and drank Dr. Pepper and enjoyed the speeches– particularly Obama, but Al Gore’s speech was also well worth hearing (I keep hearing the South Park spoof of him in his speaking voice).

On Friday night we had friends over for our game.  I made cookies and we ordered Glass Nickel pizza.

This morning, we slept in.  I went to the gym and then we showered and headed to the Farmers’ Market.  The Square was gearing up for the annual Taste of Madison festival, which was supposed to start at 2.  The first home football game of the year was also underway, but we missed the traffic for that by leaving home around the time the game was starting.

We completed our weekly shopping and we have a few hours free this afternoon before heading to a birthday party for Athena this evening.  Josh and Betsy may drop by.  I think I might do some baking.

Michael has been in a little better mood the past few days, I think.  There have been times when he has really been down the past few weeks.  Tonight/early tomorrow morning is the first anniversary of Margot’s death and I know that the whole family has been thinking about that.  Those last few weeks of her life were pretty hard for everyone.

It helps a lot to have friends around, and kitties, and things to smile and laugh about.

That’s Walt Whitman, by the way.

We made it back home from a wonderful weekend in Spring Green, lodging with friends at Aldebaran farm and seeing three plays at American Players Theatre– Henry IV (a hybrid of Part I and some of Part 2), Ah! Wilderness (Eugene O’Neill), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

We have one trip yet to make in late September, when we will see Widowers’ Houses (George Bernard Shaw).  The weather might be cool enough then that we need jackets, hot chocolate, and sleeping bags, but yesterday it was in the 80s and a tarp had been put up to protect the actors from the sun during the matinee performance of Ah! Wilderness.  I think I actually enjoyed the matinee play the most out of the three plays we saw this weekend.

This year’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream created a stir and was the source of some disagreement in our group.  The performance was very stylized, with costuming and props (and even some Greek dancing and interjections) that were not at all traditional and not what you would expect in a standard performance of the play.  Everyone had seen the play performed before (some had seen it performed MANY times), so no one was disappointed from the perspective of having their first performance of the play be this one.  However, there was much talk of whether certain aspects of the performance were overdone or badly done and whether it ruined the art and beauty of the play.

I enjoyed all three plays and really had more criticisms of the hybrid Henry IV than the stylized Midsummer’s Night. A stylized production is what it is and I had fun with it– no big expectations and some pleasant surprises.

I suspect that Henry IV was handled as it was because Part 1 was really the more engaging play and it provides a nice set-up for performing Henry V next year.  However, events happen in Part 2 that must be addressed– mainly, the king dies and young Prince Hal (who becomes Henry V) must divorce himself from the supporters and comrades of his younger years in order to become a forceful and successful king.

I think they did an OK job of splicing Parts 1 and 2, but it certainly feels like Henry IV’s decline is sudden and newly-crowned Henry V’s attitude change toward his former cohorts struck me as being almost out of the blue, though there were a few lines and actions that provided some foreshadowing.

There just wasn’t enough of a “passage of time” feel to make it smooth.  Also, I was tired and the play ran late on Friday night, so that probably made me a bit more impatient with the length, what it attempted to do, and its shortcomings.

Josh and Betsy came along for the entire weekend this year (they stayed in Spring Green longer than us, as they were also seeing plays with family on Sunday).  Betsy had baked pies, breads, scones and other treats to keep our bellies full all weekend.

Heather and Michael Lerner were in town for the weekend and joined our group for the picnic on Saturday evening and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  It was the first time they have both been away from Evelyn for several hours since she was born.  It was good to see and visit with them.

No Maretta and Kyle this trip, no Joe and Becky, no Dotzours.  Tom, Terry, and Jack were present, along with friends of Jack’s who have traditionally been part of this weekend– Colleen, Robin, Will and Dave.  We met up with a few more people at the picnic that I had not met before.

For us, I think it was the last hurrah of summer, or one of the last big hurrahs, anyway.  I had a great time.

I am really looking forward to spending next weekend in Spring Green, relaxing and watching live outdoor theatre.  We had a little preface to it yesterday evening, when we went out to American Players Theatre to opening night of The Belle’s Strategem by Hannah Cowley.  I was surprised to learn that it is the first play by a female playwright that has been performed at APT.

The theatre itself (located near Spring Green) has been around for almost thirty years now.  It’s a forty-five minute drive from Madison on a two-laned highway, through tiny towns like Cross Plains (where I worked one summer) and Mazomanie (where a friend of ours lives).  However, people from much farther away than Madison regularly make the trip out to the theatre during the summer.  APT opens in June, has approximately five plays on the schedule each season, and the shows run through early October (since the stage is outdoors, it really can’t be used year-around).

I saw my first play at APT in the summer of 1999, after moving to Wisconsin the previous summer (thinking it might be something akin to the Southern Shakespeare Festival, which I discovered and loved in Tallahassee).  APT, I quickly learned, was Shakespeare, but not just Shakespeare.  I have taken my family to APT when they came to visit (Pygmalion, 2003).  It’s a place I would recommend to out-of-state friends if they decided to take a vacation to Wisconsin during the summer.

One aspect I really like about Madison (and the idea of raising kids in this area) is access and close proximity to the arts, without some of the drawbacks of living in a major metropolitan area.  There are so many examples of this, but APT is one of my favorites (or the one I am blathering on about at the moment).

A post in honor of spanakopita, which I baked tonight:

I don’t make spanakopita too often, maybe twice or three times per year, so it’s noteworthy when I do.  I usually reserve it for times when Joe is around (he likes it) or times when I am not too busy and there’s going to be a crowd for dinner.  Yes, there’s prep work involved and you have to work with phyllo, but it’s not hard– just time-consuming.

I started making spanakopita, along with a couple of other Greek dishes, a decade ago, when I was dating a guy who was part Greek (on his dad’s side of the family).  The relationship didn’t last, but I gained some exposure to Greek food while we dated.  I still make spanakopita (and the occasional chickpea dish) because it’s awesome.  The recipe I use is a slight modification of Mollie Katzen’s recipe in The Moosewood Cookbook.  My version is a little less spinach-packed than her recipe (and her recipe is a little Americanized compared to other versions of spanakopita I have eaten).  That being said, it’s terrific.

It’s not quite as good leftover (puff pastry never is), but still pretty decent.  We’ll see tomorrow, I guess!

Hmmm … I had a creative idea this afternoon based on a dream I had this morning.

Maybe I need to work with this impulse if it’s coming out in dreams.

It was bound to happen.  I was tired this morning, but as the day went on, I picked up more steam.

There was a sudden, brief meeting at work this morning.  The lead on a project I have been working on announced that implementation would be delayed until December because testing cycles had not yet resulted in acceptable system usability.  Lol.  This means that my piece of the implementation will not coincide with the training of my new co-worker!  Significant stress reduction should result.  Yay!  (I have been a one-person team for the past three weeks or so, remember.)

I had a nap when I got home today.  It was wonderful.  I had no idea I could fall asleep just by lying down.  Michael took me out for a bowl of soup when I woke up.  We had a walk around the lovely Marlborough Park, looked at sunflowers and watched a group of neighborhood kids playing soccer.  Then we made a trip to Cub’s and picked up more Dr. Pepper (the case I bought on Friday night was gone by end of gaming on Sunday– people loves them some Dr. P.).

I called my mom.

I can still use some work.  I could be better (in the brain) this week.  I have very strong emotional reactions to happenings that in no way deserve any inkling of emotional reaction.  I can recognize this logically and talk through it rationally, but I am just not the type of person who initially reacts to things via logic or emotional suppression.  When I am mad, it’s pretty obvious.  I involuntarily LEAK anger through my body and into the immediate vicinity.  Or, as Michael says, I become the Hulk … though admittedly a rather puny Hulk.  It’s probably a response I can be better at modifying so that my temper doesn’t erupt so suddenly and violently (particularly over something petty), but I don’t think it’s something I should particularly be ashamed about.  I just need to learn how to lift and throw a car properly.  No use hurting my back.

Otherwise, good to go– with new shoes!

I just had a really crummy evening and now it’s 1 AM and I can’t sleep.

Drat.

This is really frustrating.

I don’t imagine lack of sleep will make things better, will it?

Hrm.

I finally realized how little patience I had by the end of the week when I stopped at Target after work for new sunglasses (I accidentally killed my old pair Thursday night), sodas, and a few other items.

I was honestly unable to fathom what I would do if anything annoying (e.g. the least little thing) happened at the store and I noted that it would surely be impossible for me to shop if I had kids at this point because I would not be able to tolerate anything like the typical kid making noises and scampering about the store like normal little kids do.  I did realize that I need to work on patience, reducing stress levels, and increasing energy levels by the end of any given week.

Most of our Friday night game assembled shortly after I arrived home, so we went out for dinner and spent at least a little time playing our game.  The end of the game was broken off by a run to the Chocolate Shoppe, where ice cream was acquired, along with fabulous Chocolate Shoppe t-shirts.

I tore Michael away from his computer by 11:30 or so and we slept late into Saturday morning.

We went out to brunch at Pasqual’s (recommended by a friend– a great recommendation by the way) and shopped for groceries at Hilldale.  I ordered way more food than I could eat at brunch, so that is probably going to be dinner.

I think I would stay a little more sane during the week if I pushed bedtime a little earlier (say 9:30) and slept a full 8 hours or thereabouts.  I work early (7:30) so that I am done with work early.  I’m up by 6 and out the door by 7.  I am not a morning person, but I can fake it and I am definitely not a night owl anymore.  I used to go into work a little later and stay until 5 or 5:30, but that is really hard on me during the winter– too much cold and dark for too long.  I could never hack Alaska.  Never in a million years.

I had a nice evening out this Thursday evening with Althea and Maretta.  They had been doing some cleaning out while Maretta was visiting and had a big crate of wedding-related material to give me.  We spent some time looking through some of the wedding stuff while Sylvie nodded off.  Then we took a short drive down to Java Cat and had coffee and ice cream outside under a tent as huge summer spiders checked their webs for bugs and inspired conversation about spiders, snakes, and critters that generally make people a little squeamish.

Speaking of which, as I was driving down Davies to Buckeye on my way home, I caught a glimpse of a small skunk strolling out of the road and into someone’s yard.  It waddled a little more than a cat, but it reminded me a little of our cats.  I am not out at night often enough to see many nocturnal animals.  I wonder how the foxes near us (we live very close to the Arboretum) are doing.