"Gummies and Spam!"

So, last night was Prank-Night. And we more than made up for the last two shows being fairly quiet.

No large incidents, just lots of little small ones that had everyone cracking up. Most of them were done off the cuff by Dodger and Oliver and Sykes, but some were... a little more schemed than that.

Favourite Twisted Lines:

Sowerberrys and Oliver

Mrs. S: What on earth do you have in mind for him to do around the shop?

Mr. S: Well... there is a curious look of pink-eye about his face that is very interesting. He could make a lovely coffin-follower.

Mrs. S: What?

Mr. S: I don't mean a pink-eyed coffin-follower for the grown up funerals... we are in need of a follower in proportion for the children's practice.

Mrs. S: Yes... I do belive you've had a ... good idea...

Oliver: But...

Mrs. S: Oliver, do you could look like that man up there? With a crowd looking on?

Oliver: Yes, Ma'am... but he doesn't have pink-eye.

Mr. S: Never mind about that. Do you think you could hold that expression?

Oliver: Yes, the expression. You know... the pink-eye won't last.

Mrs. S: It goes around all the time. When you don't have it, we'll send you back to the green room and have your mother apply more make-up or something.

Oliver and Fagin

Fagin: Were you awake five minutes ago?

Oliver: No!

Fagin: Two minutes ago? One minute ago? Half a minute ago?

Oliver: NO!

Fagin: Thirty seconds ago?

Oliver: Well... um... no.

Fagin: Really? Are you sure?

Oliver: Yes... I'm sure.

Fagin: Okay, there's a basin around the corner, go have a wash.

Oliver: But sir! You were spitting so much when you were asking how long I'd been awake that I've already had my wash.

(Fagin mumbled some response, he was laughing too hard to be clear.)

Sykes and Nancy

Nancy: I don't care if you kill me, as long as I breathe, the child shall not be harmed!

Sykes: (grabbing Nancy and hugging her) I really want to Twist 'em though! So, even though I really do love you, you haven't given me enough gummy worms to stop me! I shall twist him... even if I have to kill ya...

Nancy: Fine. Here are some gummies.

Fagin and Dodger

Fagin: And what have you got for me, Dodge?

Dodger: Oh... some spam and macaroni. (He's supposed to give some wallets)

Fagin: (holding up the macaroni) Well... they're not as heavy as they might be, but they're very good for midnight snacking. (Turns to Oliver) He's an ingenious workman, isn't he, Oliver?

Oliver: Yes, a good workman and cook, sir!

Fagin: You'd like to learn how to make things like Dodger does, eh?
Oliver: Yes sir, if you'll teach me!

Fagin: Of course I will, but Dodger is a better chef than me, so make him your model!

Sykes and Oliver

Oliver: They're Mr. Brownlow's books!

Sykes: Why! You've been stealing again! You're nothing but a little thief in a gummy-bear's outfit!

Oliver: But Linden gave me those gummy-bears fair and square! I didn't steal their clothes!

(Whoops! Did he just let out who's been giving him the candy???)

Dodger and Nancy:

Dodger: (singing) I'd risk anything - for one kiss - everything! (Leans over to "kiss" Nancy)

Nancy: What! (turns head... right into Dodger's face)

Dodger: I didn't mean to! I... I just kissed someone old enough to be my mother!!!!!! Mom's gonna kill me!

Nancy: If she gets you! (chases after Dodger.)

Two Favourite Musical-Additions:

Sue, me and Fagin:

For those who know, our Fagin played in the Fiddler on the Roof show about eight years ago. Well, I'd suggested that he and I break into "If I Were A Rich Man" during the song "I'm Reviewing The Situation". However, some people said that we'd distract the kids, so we said we wouldn't do it. Sue and Tammy, however, thought that it was way to funny to pass up.

So, when it came time for one of Sue fiddle candenzas, she and I both lit into "Fiddler's Theme". And Fagin... well... being himself, he launched into "If I Were A Rich Man" and danced off-stage.

Who Will Buy- Cast and Orchestra

During the fast part... the dancers/singers began doing disco and the macarena. And the orchestra joined in... It's not as funny written down, but just imagine disco-dancing-Dickens Gents.

My Favourite Of All-Time...

Now, when Nancy and Bet first show up at Fagin's, Nancy bursts through the door, calling out "Plummy and Slam!"

Well... as you've heard... we had canned food/boxed food jokes going on all night. So, Tammy decided she had the perfect thing.

Tammy and Nancy burst through the door...

Nancy: "SPAM!" (raises canned spam above her head)

Tammy: GUMMIES! (hanging from her mouth) Gummies and Spam! Who'd like some Gummies and Spam!

And yes, Jhaniel... Dodger added something about salmon mousse, but that was over-shadowed by everyone laughing.

And there was so much more- some that would only be funny to those who saw it, or those who know. Some is impossible to try to write down. I just wish I could have videoed all of the show.

Pranks and I'll Be Back Soon!

Tonight is pick-up rehearsal for Oliver, and I'm hoping that there will be quite a few pranks pulled. 

I'm tired, so I'll let this stand for my post today, and in the morning, I hope I shall have a little list of some jokes to share with you. 

In the meantime... I'd like to say thank you to all my friends who've put up with me practically disappearing from all contact in the last two and a half weeks, and many thanks to my parents for letting me basically be the stranger who sleeps at home and then packs off. 

I'll Be Back Soon!!!! 

(The video's from the 1968 movie of the musical Oliver.) 

Watch Out Birds!

Today, I got the job of cleaning our windows. We have rather large windows in our front parlour, and they look out over our deck.

Mum and I both love birds, and she has put up many little bird feeders and dishes so that we can sit in the parlour and watch them. However, when the window is dirty and smudged, it's rather difficult.

So, I cleaned them. They look much better... only now I'm ridiculously worried that some bird is going to get killed from flying into our window. 

Well, at least I'll have fun watching the cat go crazy at the sight of all the birds cavorting around outside. 

Shrove Tuesday

Or, Fat Tuesday... the day before Ash Wednesday. Don't you just love these names?

Going along with tradition, I made Faschnacht Kuchen today. 

These things are very tasty, and fattening. Of course, it made it so that we were not hungy for dinner. Whoops.

Heading Out To The Sun!

Today... we were above freezing and the sun was out! Add that information to the note that I had no Oliver rehearsal or show to run to (yay for three day-sabbatical!) and you'll know that I had a lovely day at home (mostly). Now I love Oliver and rehearsals immensely, but I am definitely happy for a day at home. 

Since my parents were gone for most of the day, you shall not see pictures of my crazy exploits. It started some time around noon, with me heading out with my knitting to sit on the porch- still partially iced-over. About half an hour later, I decided that it was far too lovely a day to waste just sitting there. 

First instinct: BICYCLE! Yes... I dug my bike out of Daddy's shop and jumped on it. Never mind about giving it a slight air-up. It could have used one, but I didn't care. Plus, I don't like doing it and am more than happy to wait till tomorrow to ask him to help me with that. (I'll probably end up doing now that I've mentioned it here.) 

So, biking in the snow is a lot of fun, although not the easiest thing to manoeuvre. Our church is about two miles away from our house, and I biked there and back twice. It felt so good to have the crisp, fresh air in my lungs. Although, it did rather sting going up the hills- going down them more than made up for it. 

Finally, I decided that all the crazy-stares of my neighbours might not be the best thing to be attracting. (Who would they call though? Alaskans are crazy, and I'm not that bad!) So instead, I put my bike away, sort of. By that, I mean that I didn't put it above the shop like we normally do for bikes in winter, I mean that I put it down next to where the cars go so I can get it out again. Soon.

However, I wasn't quite ready to go inside. I mean, the sun was still shining. In Alaska - you don't waste sunshine. EVER. Of course, I decided to go for a walk... which turned into a run. Let me remind you, I wear sandals year-round. 

I came in after thoroughly covering my socks in snow. It's not too bad until the snow melts. That's when your feet get cold. So, I settled down, wearing new socks, on the couch with the sun streaming in on me. Computer on my lap, cocoa in hand... and off to reading blogs I went. Of course, that would be when Mum and Daddy came home. 

First thing out of Mum's mouth was "It's lovely outside. Why are you in here? Get outside and enjoy the sun!!!"

I opted out. Tomorrow- I'm planning on biking again. Do you think I could get Mum to snap a couple of photos??? 

That or... I could finally learn how to do that timer-setting on my camera.

The Gummy Walrus

Better known as Oliver! Yes, I'm a softie, and gave some of my portion of gummy-worms to the kids. And Oliver's a ham - he decided to imitate our conductor (gummy-candy-queen!) and showed some of the other kids. 

Then we decided he looked like a walrus. Such is the life for a little orphan boy. He said it helped relieve the tension he felt after finishing the show... not sure if that was just another shameless beg for me to give him more of my candy. 

Oliver

First show was tonight- it went amazingly well.

I'm exhausted, happy, and I can't wait to do another one. However, I'm going to be very sad when all the performances are over and I no longer hear "I'd Do Anything" a million times in one night. 

I'll write more about the show in the morning, and hopefully post photos. Tonight, I'm just too tired to write anything more. It wouldn't be intelligable to anyone outside the theatre greenroom, if it would even make sense to them. 

So, for now, I'll just say, I'm living in Dicken's era, a la musical. 

Oliver in Sepia

We have so super adorable kids in the play... and this one I've known forever! Some of these kids should always wear Dicken's era clothing - it makes them even cuter than they are normally. 
Here's our main Oliver. He's a really sweet little boy, full of energy and life. And a very good singer for such a young kid.  
Oliver and Fagin have really good stage chemistry together. I can't wait till performances come and they really get their chances to shine. 
I guess this would be our Olivers releasing any pent up energy or jitters... one is playing the piano and the other is doing creative dancing. Or lunging for cookies. 
And no play is complete without its badman. Our's is a rather creepy Bill Sykes, being played by a consumate goofball. He so tries to show everyone that he's really not that mean that all the kids treat him as a giant climbable teddy-bear.

Rumour has it that he's always got some chocolate on him for the orphans. 

Final Curtain Call for Cindy

Mum wrote on her blog a bit about the accident on Monday. I'm still in shock and grief over the loss of Cindy - a fellow musician and spiritual mentor. My prayers are with her husband, who is in ICU. Her daughter Dani, also in critical condition, is staying strong and there are hopes that she'll be out in a few weeks.

Leah kept a positive outlook, though she is now paralyzed for life. "Even in a wheel-chair, I can still play my trombone and be annoyingly loud!" is what she told her mother on Tuesday morning. Randy, who was thought to have smashed his brains, actually has no permanent damage to his head: it's just bruised and banged up badly. His surgeries on his wrist and hand are today and tomorrow, the results look promising. Kyle came home on Tuesday, and with the exception of a couple of procedures on his arm, is fine.

The community will still mourn Cindy's death as we go into our first weekend of Oliver performances. But as our director said last night, "We play for our friends as they recover, and we play for Cindy." It may be difficult to play, knowing that they were all part of this, but Leah has sent word that the show must go on, not only for their sakes, but because Cindy would have told us to.

A Day in my Life

It was about eight thirty when I actually got up, after initially waking up at six and deciding that Saturday was a good day to sleep in. Mum and Dad were already awake, so after getting my first cup of coffee, I settled down to read a few blogs and ease into the morning.

After a little while, I went and did a little work in my room, which I'm re-organizing, but didn't finish. Around ten, I headed up to the kitchen

and made some chocolate biscuits for the long rehearsal that I knew was going to make me very

hungry.

Once the cookies were finished, I gather up all my stuff and at noon, I headed into town to start my day of rehearsal for Oliver. However, I gave myself plenty of before-hand-time, because I was going to pick up my sandals from the shoe-repair shoppe. As I drove through town, I wished I'd stopped and taken a picture, but instead, I'll just say that one of the signs showed us at fifty degrees fahrenheit. That never happens in February in Alaska.

Of course, when I got to the repair shoppe, it turns out that they closed for a special meeting of sorts for just that afternoon. So, I headed over to the frozen beach and walked around. It was nice and sunny and I loved the way the ice floats were shaped and so rambled about with my camera.

The tide was out, so the ice-sculptures were amazing!

I loved this little reflecting pool. It was like something out of a fairy-tale. :)

Here you can see how the water eroded away a bit of the ice. It was fun climbing around on this... like going through an ice palace.

You can't really tell, but this chunk was easily about two or three times as tall as I am. After taking this picture, I actually scaled the ice-wall, and got my sandals full of crystalized snow.

And of course, when I got to the top, I took this photo of the mountains. It was amazingly clear, but I wished I had Dad's camera with his polarized lens. However, my photo shall have to do.

At about one, I went back to the van and drove to the high-school where our rehearsal was going to be. When I got there, I went in and we set up all the chairs and stands in the pit, and then I got grabbed by a couple of stage people who knew me and got to meet everyone and see some of the sets and such. But one thirty, we were down in pit again, and we were talking over the run of the rehearsal. By two, the first tech rehearsal had started.

Rehearsal was nearly six hours long. I was exhausted, stretched, but very elated and now I cannot wait to see how it's going to go together for the next two weekends of shows. Our Olivers (we have two) are adorable, the other orphans... I'd take them home in a heart-beat. And our adult actors are good as well - of course, they don't have the adorable factor going for them.

When I got home, Theophilus called, and we chatted for a bit. Then I got on my computer and read more blogs. I had a few other phone calls, and managed to eat a little as well, before crashing to bed at about ten thirty.

Friday the Thirteenth...

Friday the thirteenth of February: the day that Frankenstein brought his monster to life...

Oh, yeah, and my parents' 21st wedding anniversary. I was planning a much larger blog about that, but my mother beat me to it over at her blog. 

Tomorrow, I'm planning on taking part of the "A Day in my Life" that Little Jenny Wren hosts, as will my mother. 

My Yoghurt

Here  is  my yoghurt I made yesterday, all set and chilled and put in jars. And of course, a lovely blue coffee pot in the background. 

Stimulus Package

For you Americans out there, please head over here! It's a petition against the stimulus package, and we are looking to get half a million signatures  by two, eastern time, on February 13, 2009. Please, let your voice be heard!!!! 

A Day of Memories

Today, I had the fun of making yoghurt from scratch. I enjoy making yoghurt a lot, and love eating it too, but I haven't done it in forever. 

Last time, Belle was still here, and she helped me. I remember her leaning over the counter, wearing her pink 1950s styled apron, stirring with the silver-metal spoon and sighing over the "loveliness that is mint" when we decided to boil the milk with a mint sachet in it. That day, I made three batches; not knowing that she and Tink would soon be leaving, and shortly after them, Lance and Harrison. I remember her impatience while the yoghurt set, then cooled. And then the next morning, her asking me for breakfast of "mint yoga." 

Somehow, over the last few months, I just didn't feel like making any yoghurt, and went back to eating the stuff from the store - even though it didn't taste nearly as good. But today... today I could make it. Yes, I had memories, but it didn't hurt quite as much. 

~

Today is the day of memories. For I remembered what has happened, and I made new memories.

Yes, I taught Mum the beginning stitches of knitting. And our first lesson went very well indeed. 

Mountains...

One of the best parts of living in Alaska is the ablity to see the mountains. 

That last one is Redoubt, by the way.  I was too far away for the camera to pick up the slight plume of smoke...

Reflections

Today, I read an amazing post at A Holy Experience... Yes, I'm in a rather reflective mood. Her series of posts on the subject of death is very interesting, and fits in with my mental state of wanting to simplify my life. 

Mum's Greenhouse

...is the whole house.

And today she got even more to fill up the house. 

Care-Package from Kat

About two weeks ago, my Facebook status said that I needed hugs, coffee, and soup... because I was feeling a little down. Anyways, Kat told me she'd try to send me what I needed, and I just kinda laughed and thought it was because she was a good friend and wanted to make me smile. After all, she lives in Pennsylvania.

Today, coming home from work, I stopped to get the mail. What do you know, I had a package from Kat! Well, she was amazing.

Here is my newly acquired pink Kurti she sent me... it's absolutely lovely! The white packet is my noodle soup, which looks amazing. The silver packet is vanilla cappachino, and the pack with purple is tea, I believe. (I have a bit of investigating to do!) The letter is rather evident, and the one that made me laugh the most was that fifty dollar bill she sent.

Yes, that fifty is my hug. No, it's not because money makes me happy. Grant is on the fifty. That's right Hiram Ulysses Grant. HUG. My hug.

Thanks Kat! I love you and thank you sooo much for all the goodies! I need to send you something soon!

Redoubt

Today, I went to the fabric store to get the material for my Easter dress I'm planning. While there, Redoubt's activity was naturally brought up. Mostly because we were all complaining about the hype that the news has made about it - after all, the presidental race is over and the reporters must have nothing else to talk about anymore. Otherwise, I bet most people would have never heard of Redoubt. It's called scare tactics.

Anyways, there was young woman, Rebekah, there whom I spent a while talking to. She was about six months pregnant with twins, and has only lived in Alaska since this last April - so she wasn't as sure as the rest of us about Redoubt and the reporters. 

"But they say that it's going to spew ash and contaminate the air for four months! And babies born during the time will have a eight percent chance of asthma!"

I told her calmly that I highly doubted that there would be ash in the air for four months. Maybe trace bits, but not enough to do us any serious damage. And if the ratio for those asthmatic babies was true, there would be a lot more of my friends with asthma right now from the last time that Redoubt blew. 

Somewhat more calm, she sighed "but... they say that it's heating up..."

At this point, an elderly woman in a wheel-chair cut into our conversation: "Honey, even if it blows, your children won't be affected most likely. And Redoubt's always a little active - they are just looking to make news."

"But, a friend of mine that I met who's lived here for four years says that it's been really active recently!"

The old woman smiled "It's not nearly as active as it could be, or has been. I've seen it smoke worse."

"Well, have you been watching it for four years?"

"Not four, dear, I've been living in the same house with a wonderful view of Redoubt when the sun shines since 1948. You have nothing to fear. Go make those quilts for your babies and don't worry. Last time I worried about a volcano, I ended up in labour when it went off. Very upleasant because the doctor didn't want to come. So, as you see, there's no point in worrying."

Yes, I love living in Alaska. Women like that, with their rugged husbands of course, were the ones who built our state. And if the mountain really does blow, I so want it to be daytime on a clear day, can you imagine the pictures?

What I Want to Make...

Okay, so maybe it's a little futher off in my future when I can make this... but isn't it lovely? And it looks so warm and comfy. I want to snuggle up with my needles and some wool and then later be able to snuggle up in this. Oh yeah, I'm going to completely ignore that this is a man's sweater. They can't have all the comfortable clothes. 

Dishcloths

Yay for dishcloths being so easy and fun to make. This one was completed after I took it apart about four times, and then redid it today.

Here is a close up on the "waffle" stitch that I used for this. You can't really tell the texture from the picture, but I like it immensely.

And here is more in the planning... inspired knitting, here I come!