Cherish each day

If I can't get the image problem fixed -- sometimes they appear and sometimes they don't -- I may have to move my blog. What a drag. Prepping for Halloween, and really want to be able to post pictures of the house, but may not be able to do so.

Still it's important to remember how lucky we are. My DH and I are healthy; we enjoy a good life filled with music, theater and wonderful food; we have plans to meet with friends and relatives we love over the holidays; we want for very little.

This is especially important to remember, since I just found out that a dear friend's sister just passed away from uterine cancer, and Rivka (see my blog list "Coffee and Chemo") just had a test that showed her tumors were more prominent.

Please remember your blessings, and send prayers, or good wishes of health to those who are suffering from illness and loss.

Holding my breath

Well, I voted. Walked down to the King County Admin building and put my vote in the box. Now I just have to wait to find out if I have gotten my country back or not.

We're having a big charity blitz at work right now called iCare, but it's for the United Fund, which is national. If I get my country back, I'll contribute, otherwise, my charity dollars stay in Washington. In spite of rossi's hate campaign (lower-case name is purposeful), I still think that enough of Washington realizes how effective and responsible Chris Gregoire has been, so I have more faith in the intellegence of Washingtonians than I do in that of the rest of the country. When it comes to the executive office, I'm still holding my breath.

On a purely bright note, the Seattle Rep is not only offering a pay-what-you-can performance of the wonderful The Three Musketeers on Halloween, but you even get a free drink if you come in costume! If we weren't booked with recreating Snape's classroom, I'd go and see it again! Huzzah!

The picture is of a Tglinkit leader who came on board to talk with us on our cruise. He said that the two white feathers represent coming in peace, but if he came with only one - look out!

As promised, more dinner and theater

Huzzah! Huzzah! The Three Musketeers at the Seattle Rep was a blast. I love the story, anyway, but they did it in such a delightful, campy way that people in the audience even hissed at the Cardinal at the end of the play. It was so much fun! I'd go again if I had any time to do it. As it is, we're booked.

After the show we went to ROTI (http://www.rotirestaurantseattle.com/). It's a new Indian restaurant (well, new to me) on lower Queen Anne in Seattle, and it was fabulous. I tried some new things, and had Idli (I'm sure I spelled that incorrectly), which was devine! I can highly recommend their vindaloo, their fresh-made naan, and their matar paneer. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of my favorite dish - the one I ordered, no less. It was B Gorsht, I think. Anyway, it was just the right kind of spicy, interesting and yummy!

Halloween prep is in full swing. I wasn't too much help last weekend. I have a pinched nerve that makes my arm ache, and seems to zap my strength. It was difficult to put my coat on, so you can imagine how hard it was to try and put up decorations. We are doing the garage a la Snape's potion class, with a twist.

We have smoking caldrons, and bookcases filled with jars of strange things (one lights up and has eyeballs that swoosh around), but we also have a mysterious black box with a feather on top. We have Harry's wand, that we'll give the kids to try "Wingardium Leviosa". If the kids are small, we'll raise the feather; if they're old enough, the lid of the box will open and a very scary skeleton bride will pop out (accompanied by a good scream, of course). We have the pully system up, the false walls up, one bookcase set up, and the special box prepped and painted, but there is still a lot to do. As you can tell, Halloween is a big deal for us.

I'm heading over on Thursday night so that I can help with the last minute set-up, and will work from there during the day on Friday. Then, it'll be time to put on the scare, hopefully with some friends who will come to celebrate the beginning of what promises to be an interesting holiday season...

The picture is the topper from my parents' wedding cake, circa 1936. We used it for one of our cakes when we were married this past summer.

Dinner and Theater

I was sick for a solid 5 days, but I want to get this down before I forget.

We went out to one of the FareStart Thursday Night Guest Chef nights. The chef was from Bengodi, and I thought the food was spectacular, and well-portioned. My DH thought everything needed salt, but was pleased, too, I think. I like going to FareStart(http://www.farestart.org/index.html) because I admire their contribution to the community by training people in the food service industry so that they can get jobs and get out of the cycle of homelessness. So it was good for the palate and soul at the same time.

Then we went to see Spring Awakenings at the Paramount Theater. The music had a Rent-like rock-and-roll sound that I liked, but the story was more like a tragic opera - incest, child abuse, a woman who'd rather see her daughter dead than pregnant, forcing her to have an abortion. Sound like a fun night out? It was a very strange experience, but the tickets were partially a donation to the Seattle Mens' Chorus, so I just bought them without researching the play. Not that it would have mattered. I'd have gone anyway. My poor DH! I think he really disliked it.

Sunday we saw some outstanding theater at the Seattle Rep - The Night Watcher. Charlayne Woodard is a marvelous storyteller. I think she gets better with every performance. This is the 3rd or 4th we've seen, and we've loved everything she's done. It's a cohesive performance of a series of stories about the children in her life, though she does not have any children of her own. In the discussion with Charlayne Woodard following the performance, she said that the question of why, even though she has such profound relationships with other children, why she chose not to have any of her own, was very important in the play's development. You can see that thread through the stories, and I think it does enrich the experience of this theater piece. It is one of the best things I've seen this year.

Next theater experience will be The Three Musketeers, also at the Seattle Rep. I love that story, and am looking forward to the show. Dangerous having high expectations, but I just can't help myself! We'll be heading there with friends, and I'm guessing we'll probably head somewhere for dinner, so there'll be more dinner/theater comments coming soon!

This picture is of our hotel in Ptuj, Slovenia.

Play and Procrastination

Saw Ghost Town this weekend and loved it. It was a reward, of sorts, for having at least gotten through all the paperwork that was cluttering my dining room table. I don't know why it's so hard to get things done. I just get overwhelmed and instead of doing a little bit at a time, I end up doing nothing.

I'm having the same problem at work today. I have a problem that I need to work on. The changes I need to make are small, but finding all the places where the changes need to be inserted is like trying trying to clean out and organize my cabinets...I just can't seem to get any momentum. Well, at least there's a deadline - the only antidote I know for procrastination.

The picture here is my kitty, Shaynala. When I get home tonight, she's going to have to submit to some serious brushing!