Monday, November 17, 2008

Happenings

Apparently I'm hard-hearted: On Saturday after my sister's soccer game, someone came to the field with a box full of puppies marked "Free." The kids picked up the puppies, annoyed their parents to ask if they could keep them, and apparently the lady considered the dogs as "claimed." As far as I can gather from my mom and sister's versions of the tale, my mother told Courtney to put the dog she had picked up back in the box, but the lady had already put the box away and said she wasn't going to take it. So off Courtney went to my mom again - she again said no. But the lady was gone. GAH. So we were the owners of this puppy for about 20 hours. I didn't want to keep it, although my sisters did call upon me to name it (Elinor, or "Ellie."). And then of course I was accused of being "mean" because I didn't want it... Ah, well. We found a home for it with a family that I like very much. I'll call them the V's.
Mrs. V is the dramaturg for my town's Shakespeare Festival. She ... knows a lot about Shakespeare. And literature. And she does NaNoWriMo every year!
Mr. V is a musician - he leads the community band. He's played on movie soundtracks such as Ratatouille and Pirates of the Caribbean - and on the Focus on the Family Narnia productions. So they got those for free, I think. Way cool.
Little V the elder knits and acts - she and her cousins put on their own Thanksgiving Shakespeare Festival each year. This year she's playing Katerina/Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew. She and Little V the younger are in The Music Man with me, and she played the Duke in The Comedy of Errors.
Little V the younger loves piggy-back rides. We established this as a fact on July 4th, 2008. After a long, hot Comedy of Errors rehearsal, both of our families drove up to a nearish town to watch fireworks. We sat around for a few hours waiting for them, and in that time I swordfought with both Little V's, gave them piggy-back rides, spun them around, etc. Quite fun. And she looks like Georgie Henley sometimes.

They have a dog named Curly who has, as Mrs. V said, fallen in love with Ellie or Spicy as they have named her (she is a sort of spicy color :) ). So I don't feel bad at all about not wanting her. :P

I woke up this morning at six o'clock with a stuffy nose and the kind of sore throat that makes you feel like you're going to swallow your whole throat when you gulp. So I got up, nodded sleepily to my parents (dad leaves for work very early) and made myself a cup of chamomile tea. My mother made me take some Airborne (gag), which I managed somehow, between a cup of water and a box of crackers. It was a mild lemon-lime flavor - definitely not as nauseating as the orange stuff I took last year. Blech. So I drank my tea and went back to sleep for a few hours, and woke up feeling a bit better. Then at around 2 o'clock I lost my voice. I've never lost my voice before. It was very strange: I would try to say something, and finally just give up because I could barely hear myself. I was very worried, since we had a Music Man rehearsal tonight; but I drank a lot of special Throat Coat tea, and I feel a bit better now.

On Wednesday we Music Man leads had our first run-through of Act 1: with double and triple cast characters, this was interesting. It usually meant that whoever was more prepared would do one scene or another, and both the Harold Hills and Marians did their songs together for extra practice. I had a lot of fun doing a scene with one of the Harold Hills. We had blocked it, but never acted it out before, so it was fun to experiment a little. But my favorite moment was watching Marian the Librarian. Some of the cutest blocking I've ever seen, involving the Harolds lying down and folding their arms over their chest at "I could lie on your floor unnoticed, till my body had turned to carrion." I'm used to the movie, so I just about fell off my seat laughing. Next favorite was watching one of our Alma's do a small scene in the middle of Iowa Stubborn: "And there I was, in Madison Hospital, and no one come to see me!" Both of our Alma's are small 12-year-olds with POWERFUL voices. So it's a lot of fun to watch them.

I'd love to sit here and type up the whole evening (I've committed much of it to memory) but I'm being told to get off the computer now. Have a lovely week, everyone! :)

12 comments:

Erin said...

Ooh, I really liked this post! Thanks for all the updates!

Holly said...

Agree, the lemon-lime Airborne is definitely better than the orange.

Kristen said...

*suddenly wishes she had a play to work at* I'll have to think of something since my sister has taken my Week Before Christmas idea. ;)

The Puppy Woman sounds unfriendly...and desperate. What a interesting experience, very nice of the Vs to come and rescue you.

The Vs sound like a lovely bunch. What fun!

Yay at the rehearsal updates! (I do visit your blog just about everyday I just don't always comment.) Sounds like fun! ;D Explain blocking to me, please. Is it were you just say, "He comes in and sits here and stays there until his line 'blahblah' and that's when he gets up and walks over to stand be her"?

*passes Delaney some silver to gargle and makes some apple cider vinegar for her to drink* Very good for colds and etc. Just don't swallow the silver, it's not good for you to eat. Too much of it and you'll turn blue, and then I think you die. ;) :P

Delaney said...

Yes, that's blocking, Owan. :)

Melissa Cecilia said...

How are you feeling now, sis? Don't worry, I'm right there with ya. Sore throat and feel very fatigued, ew. lol.

P.S. You are NOT heartless. You're quite the opposite. :D

Delaney said...

I'm feeling better now, thankfully. :D I hope you feel better soon too! *hugs*

Melissa Cecilia said...

Glad to hear that. :D and.. Thanks, sweet pea. :D

Apprentice Seamstress said...

NaNoWriMo ?????
whats that?

aww i like puppy's but there kinda hard to take care of. and i aleready have one.
lol i dont think your mean if you dont like a dog thats fine you will like a different dog :):)

Delaney said...

NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month :D www.nanowrimo.org

Judi said...

Hi..thanks for the comment on my blog..no it's not Charlie Brown, but that was funny :)
You've got a cool blog.
-Judi

The Real Katie said...

where are you??? UPDATE! pweeze?

and i tagged you for a meme on my blog Shakespeare & Showtunes ;)

Rose Marchen said...

Hey Del! I nominated you for an award on my blog!