Dreary Drama

 

The play Dancing at Lughnasa, a biographical work by Brian Friel, was described as a “lyrical, effervescent portrait of five fierce sisters holding onto each other through the joys and sorrows of life in rural Ireland.”

          In reality, when we saw it last night, we found it to have more sorrow than joy and, although it was very  well-acted, a bit of a downer.

  

 

       It was staged at the Asolo Theater, a lovely reproduction building which sits outside the grounds of the Ringling Museum complex in Sarasota, and which includes an art museum, a circus museum, and Ca’D’zan – the home of John and Mabel Ringling. Any one of these are worth the trip.

 

 We try to make it to at least one performance at the Asolo when come, if only to enjoy the beauty of the theater itself.

Bittersweet sunset

 

Living as we do in western Massachusetts, an area packed with mountains and tall trees, spotting a sunset is a rare and magical thing. Here on the Gulf Coast, sunsets are easy to come by but everyone still appreciates them. 

Many beaches are noted for their late afternoon gatherings, known as drum circles, in which people dance and celebrate the end of the day. There could just possibly be some beverages, too.

Another way to view the sunset is from a boat, and we were on one recently to say farewell to a couple we’ve become friendly with but who – darn it - are moving away.

We’ve gone out with this captain before and we enjoyed her inside information on some of the fancy houses by the water and we also saw the after effects that still remain from the two hurricanes of this past fall.

She always brings us to a rookery, a grouping of mangroves that houses a colossal variety birds. 

The pink spoonbills are my absolute fav.

A couple of dolphins spun in the water for us, and the sun did its thing again.

Big men, small men, and great food

 

You may recall that My Guy not only has painted more than one living room wall in his time, he also has a couple of other mediums. He took up oils not all that long ago to great success.

Oddments

 No deep thoughts here today. 

Just some photo snippets of things around me. 

I picked up a new travel organizer, seeing as how mine is possibly 30 years old. And no, that's no exaggeration. 

Except when I cut the price tag off, I found this:

It makes you wonder how a cosmetic tote could be potentially responsible for reproductive harm, but at least we've all been warned. 

Here's our resident eagle at his post, ever vigilant over our small lagoons.

 Someone told me that eagles really aren't the best fishermen in the world so their strategy is often to wait around for an osprey to get lucky and then he swoops in to carry off dinner. 

And a trip to my local Publix supermarket gave me a golden opportunity to broaden my culinary world. 

Small Victory

 

It’s officially been a month since I’ve put anything here. Wish I could say that life has been so merrily madcap that I just didn’t have time. Or that I’d been achieving something hugely important: curing athlete’s foot or saving the economy from the impending recession. Nope. I’ve got nothing.

 

Meanwhile, after my perfectly ordinary trip to Goodwill today, I’m happy to be alive.

 

As usual, I took a right onto the road that takes me there. Goodwill is on the left, only about three blocks away so I – as usual – immediately popped into the left lane, the traffic in this stretch being challenging to get across at the last minute.

 

And just as immediately, a woman in a boxy red (matching her mood) car was in my rear view mirror. On my bumper. On my bumper. On my bumper.

 

So of course I slowed down.

 

Long hooooooonnnnnnnk. Followed by a long hoooooooonnnk.

 

Really, I thought? My turn off was coming up.

Since there was also a convenient truck on my right, I did what any small and petty person would do – I stayed side-by-side with him so the idiot behind me couldn’t shift lanes to pass.

 

More hoooooooonnnnnk. Hoooooooooooooooonk.

 

The truck and I were not dawdling, both of us traveling at or slightly above the speed limit. And I don’t know if he was in cahoots with me, but we drove in tandem until it was time for me to make my turn.

You know, all of perhaps two blocks.

 

When I made the turn I rolled down my window and gave her a big wave.

And to my credit, I used all the digits on my hand.