Category Archives: Throwback Thursday

Is There Such A Thing?

I do not know what is wrong with me lately, but when I try to write, I am blank.  That is why I say I suffer from Writer’s Blank rather than Writer’s Block.  I do not feel there are stories inside of me unable to get out.  I feel there is a vast wasteland where my brain ought to be.  All this by way of introduction to yet another Throwback Thursday, because at least I hope I can manage some semblance of a blog post.

See the papers in those people’s hands? That’s all me!

To prove to myself that I did so write something sometime, I flash back to the last murder mystery I wrote,  A Revolutionary Murder, which was very well received both times it was performed.  In fact, I wrote two different endings to it, in case we had an overlap of audience.  Now that I think about it, it was during rehearsals and the second performance for this one that the pain in my leg started getting really bad.  I have not written much since.  Oh dear.

You may have seen this bunch before.

I search further in the past for more inspiration, October 2017 and A G.R.A.V.E. Murder. That was a fun one, and it featured my late, dearly missed husband Steve (he is the handsome man on the right).

I have been writing a few things here and there, entries in various journals (regular readers may recall I have several), blog posts, a very few letters.  I must strive to do better.  In the meantime, I am over 250 words.  A writer friend assured me, writing about not writing is still writing.  True?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

I Am Up-LiFTed by ThrowBack Thursday

Throwback Thursday follows Waste Not Want Not Wednesday, and that is the way it is sometimes.  I did mean to have some Mohawk Valley Adventures, and I kind of did.  But now I have a headache.  I got it in the middle of last night, and every time I think something I do has helped, the relief is short-lived.  But do not allow me to piss and moan about my aches and pains, let me make with the memories, and if you have heard them before, bear with me, I beg you.

Look how colorful!

I go back to August of 2017, and one of my favorite theatre memories, The Tempest with LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company.  Here we are performing at the Utica Zoo.  I am the one in the yellow tights.  This is one of my favorite roles as well as one of my favorite costumes.  The hat, cape, collar, and sword were loaned to me by Matt Powers, the director, but the rest was all me and thrift stores.  The shirt was purchased in Georgia years ago, for my late, dearly missed husband Steve to wear as a pirate.  The vest, shorts, and pantyhose were purchased locally.  I threaded elastic through the hem of the shorts to make them pumpkin pants.  The shoes were given to me.  Perhaps I am overly proud of myself, but I have to take my self-esteem where I find it.

She was and still is lovely!

Sticking with August and LiFT, this is 2018, when we participated in the parade associated with Canal Days.  I  believe Canal Days are going on even as I blog, but I have a few other things on my plate currently.

We were an eclectic bunch.

I think one more shot from that parade will be acceptable.  Since I got so wordy about my costume, I am now over 300 words.  I think that’s dandy for a Throwback Thursday. I hope to have some more Mohawk Valley Adventures, so I have something new to throw back to in the future.

 

Memories in Costume to Cheer Me Up

I feel sorry that all I am up to today is a Throwback Thursday blog post.  I am just not feeling well, and am feeling sort of down in addition to my ever decreasing brainpower.  Can I do something to cheer myself up? Possibly. In fact, making my blog post has been known to cheer me up.  I can only hope it has a similar or other positive effect on my readers.

A fine looking pair!

I looked in July 2017 in my Media Library and found this backstage shot from The Tempest, performed by LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company.  I dreamed about Shakespeare last night, more than once.  When I woke up from the last one, I was still dreaming and I was running around saying, “I dreamed three times about Shakespeare!  We have got to make it happen!”  As if it was that easy.  Dream on, me!

I’m such a ham!

I can’t help but include a silly picture of me.  This is from July 2018, when Ilion Little Theatre participated in Ilion’s DooDah Parade.  They allowed me to ride on the truck.  One or two years I walked with everybody else, then I became a diva and insisted on riding.  They graciously allowed me to do so.  Oh the irony!  I was well capable of walking two miles at the time.  Now it is painful to go two blocks.  Well, one never knows what the future will bring.

Who could these sweet ladies harm?

I was looking for something more colorful and cheerful, but I had to use this shot of me and my friend Kim, portraying the ghosts of two murderesses for a haunted tour of the Herkimer 1834 Jail.  I believe there were actual ghost hunters there, along with a historian or two.  There may have been actual ghosts, but I did not encounter any. In fact, it was wickedly hot in the jail, especially in our period costumes, and I was unable to stay the entire evening.  But that is a tale for another post.

This post, I see, is over 300 words.  Not bad for a blogger who feels she does not have a functioning brain.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

 

Throwing a Little Wild

Hello and welcome to another post from the couch.  It is a good day for a Throwback Thursday, I think.  I had a chance to go to breakfast with my Elks friends (the Breakfast Club, the son of one of the members calls it, I like that) but feared my leg would not cooperate.  I am in better spirits these last two days, because I managed to brew some coffee.  Two cups yesterday, and I am on my second cup today.  AAAhhhh!

Behind the coffee cup is my biggest fan.

I just scrolled all the way down and all the way back up my Media Library and could not find the picture of the coffee mug I am using.  I settled for Dyn’s Cider Mill, so I can plug an area business.  I just looked at their Facebook page and saw a post from July 2025 saying they would be closed for the upcoming year.  I wonder if that means they will be open sometime in 2026.  I can only hope.  And hope if they do open I can make my way over there.

I do not currently feel fresh as a daisy, alas.

I said this was going to be a Throwback Thursday, so I share this picture from June 2017 of my lovely front lawn daisies.  I missed the daisies and my peonies this year. Who knew the season for them would be so short?

A dignified group, yes?

This is a kind of guerrilla theatre group I was in in 2019, Mummers Along the Mohawk.  We performed at the Great American Irish Festival, the last year it was held in the Herkimer County Fairgrounds in Frankfort, NY. What fun it was.

The house had no tenants.

This was in 2020, a barren year for activities, theatrical or otherwise.  But I see I took time to decorate my front yard.  Why did I not do that again? Note to self: decorate the front lawn.  After I get rid of the dead daisies and peonies.

I see I am over 300 words.  That’s pretty good.  Coffee, theatre, daisies… I could bill this as a Non-Sequitur Thursday, too.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

 

Past Views and Maybe a Preview

I did say I was going to have a Throwback Thursday Post today, which will make a nice change from whining about how I can’t have any Mohawk Valley Adventures these days.  I guess if I really wanted to give my readers a break, I would not even have mentioned it.  What am I, always fishing for sympathy?  Just ignore me.

Flowers for Cynthia?

A shot from my container garden of 2017.  I do not entirely despair of having a container garden this year, because there is no point in giving in to despair.  We do what we can do, after all.

Play ball!

Now there is something I have not done in years:  Go to a Diamond Dawgs baseball game in Little Falls, NY.  It seems every year I say I am going to go to a game, and every year I wimp out.  I don’t mind doing many things by myself, but it really is more fun to go to a game with a group of friends.

Look at all those blooms!

Here is my rhododendron in 2019.  You can see all the forget-me-nots at the bottom.  At least there are some blossoms in my year, although I am not able to go outside and get any pictures today (oh dear, there I go again, alluding to my stupid problems).

I love music!

Something else I have not done in a long time is go to hear music at Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort.  This is Matt Grainger in 2021.

I hope this post turns out to be a Preview of Coming Attractions as well as a Throwback Thursday.  Container gardens, baseball games, local music, these are all things I would like to get back to.  Will I be able to? If so, how soon?  I like to say a little uncertainty adds interest to my Thursday.  In this case, I confess I would prefer to get my interest elsewhere, but I must not get back to whining again.  At least I have made a blog post of over 300 words.  Yay me?

 

Where Have I Been? Where May I Go?

With apologies for missing my Wednesday blog post, I attempt another Throwback Thursday.  I have done a few things this morning, not many of course:  took a mile and a half walk, met friends for breakfast, talked to my parents, met with a contractor (long story, not very interesting)… OK, I have not done much.  I have a hair and toenail appointment this afternoon and a murder mystery rehearsal this evening (preview of coming attractions).  I certainly hope I remember to take a couple of pictures at rehearsal for a Post-Rehearsal Post.

Now what did I do with that little silver purse?

This is a picture of my bestie Kim and me at a Prohibition Party at Gerber’s 1933 Tavern in Utica, NY.  I actually have some better 1920s outfits now, and I am always hoping to add more. Note to self:  make the next murder mystery a 1920s theme.  I thought I would throw back to businesses previously visited, but of course I cannot get away from my theatrical (not to say drama queen) nature.

Cheers to a Cute Little Blonde!

Here is a local business I need to return to soon, Heelpath Brewing in Frankfort.  The Cute Little Blonde mentioned in the caption refers to the wine Kim is drinking, from Rustic Ridge Winery in Burlington Flats.  That would be more of a drive for me to visit, but it is a delightful place.

The bunnies were still there last week!

Now here is a place I have been recently and intend to return to today: Valley Wine and Liquor in Herkimer, NY.  I go for their weekly tastings, for a naughty sip and some pleasant conversation.  I must see what they are tasting today.

I have cheered myself up, thinking of these places I have been to and can go to again.  I miss my Kim, who has moved halfway across the country, but perhaps she will return for a visit sometime.  In the meantime, there is no reason I cannot enjoy some Mohawk Valley Adventures with other friends or even on my own.

 

Murder Remembered

Alas, I have once again fallen down on the job as a daily blogger by failing to make even a Wuss-out Wednesday post.  A quick check of my phone tells me a Waste Not Want Not Wednesday is also ineligible.  As I sit here on my couch feeling rather tired, I fear a Throwback Thursday is my best bet.  For one reason, I am pondering the latest murder mystery and throwing back to past triumphs may inspire me.

You knew I would include a picture of Steven if possible.

This was indeed a fun one, Fabulous and Fatal in the fall of 2019.  My late, dearly missed husband Steven made quite the hit as Ophelia Upp, a member of Drag Queens Along the Mohawk.  I played the glamorous Roxanne Rolls.

Nothing suspicious about him!

And here is my friend Tucker as Renwick Spaulding, a great lover of all things insect in Donate to Murder.  He was pretty awesome.  I feel proud of myself for writing these murder mysteries, but really, it is the actors who make the stories come to life.  Which may seem like a funny thing to say about a murder mystery.

How could somebody that fabulous kill anybody?

Here is a less than candid shot of one of our suspects for Shooting at the Grange, which we performed at Salisbury Grange in the spring in 2023.  It was a pretty fun script in a nice setting.

I don’t know that I feel particularly inspired now to work on the mystery we are rehearsing tonight, but at least I have my blog post done.  I hope you’ll stay tuned for future Mohawk Valley Adventures.

 

What Would Truman Capote Do?

I had the intention to combine my Throwback Thursday and Lame Post Friday posts and thus pretend I am caught up, but of course it is a little Non-Sequitur to be posting on the wrong day, and I do have a feature of Non-Sequitur Thursday.  Then again, it is kind of a sequence to do Monday’s post on Tuesday, Tuesday’s post on Wednesday, etc.  What’s a blogger to do?

As long as I can wear a tiara, I’m good.

I was looking for a more appropriate picture, but then I thought, Why?  Did I not say Non-Sequitur Thursday?  Or Throwback Thursday, although this is only throwing back to a year ago, when I appeared in Four Old Broads on the High Seas with Players of Utica.  The blue hat in the background is another actor trying to photo-bomb.   I feel bad that she did not succeed.  I started to write a similar play.  I mean a silly comedy about a few older ladies.  I must put in more work on that.

There’s the photo bomb!

OK, now my two pictures are sequential, so perhaps Non-Sequitur Thursday is out of the question.  I don’t care. It is my blog and I will do what I like.

In a preview of coming attractions, I may go to a fish fry tonight, and I may go to a couple of my favorite fun local businesses during the day.  I may also do something to celebrate Friday the 13th, which always sounds like a holiday to me.  I could walk under a ladder or go into a theatre and mention MacBeth (that is a theatre superstition you may or may not be familiar with:  real theatre geeks must always refer to it as, “The Scottish Play.”

To explain the headline:  Truman Capote once said about some work or other, “That’s not writing, that’s typing.”

 

More Memories, This Time Theatre

I want to do a Throwback Thursday Post today, specifically a Theatre Throwback Thursday Post, because I realized that with the pictures I shared of my late, dearly missed husband Steve, I did not share any of our joint theatrical endeavors.  Theatre was something we both loved and loved to do together.  Steven was a great actor and director.  We helped start the Seaway Valley Footlighters in Massena, NY back in the 1990s.  About that time we started the company Murder for Hire, which did interactive murder mysteries at area restaurants and clubs. We didn’t make a lot of money, but we had a great deal of fun.

After a dry spell (long story,not very interesting), we relocated to Herkimer and found Ilion Little Theatre in the 2000s.  A little later, I started again writing murder mysteries, which I now only do for free and to benefit not for profits.  Well, this is turning into a long story.  Quick, throw in a picture.  I hope I can find something in my Media Library.

It was our “big scene,” as Steven called it.

Here we are in Harvey in, I believe 2012.  Steve is Dr. Cbumley, I am Veda.  It is one of my favorite theatre memories, and this is one of my favorite pictures of the two of us.

I set him straight in this scene.

This is our scene from Splitting Issues, which was a series of sketches about relationships.  There was a large cast and, I think, three directors.   I went with Steven to auditions, not intending to audition myself.  However, I agreed to read with him.  We read this scene, and I was later told that when the directors discussed who should play which part, all were agreed that Steve and I had to do this sketch.  It was very flattering, and it I think we did a pretty good job.

A suspicious bunch, indeed!

I close with a picture from a murder mystery, Rubbed Out at Ruby’s, which LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company performed at the Overlook when it was a bed and breakfast.  I do love a 1920s theme, and have been trying to write another one ever since.

Steven kind of participated in Prescription: Murder, the play I was in last year about this time (perhaps you read a few of my blog posts about it).  I loaned his wedding ring to a fellow cast member.  I think Steve would have liked that.  Anyways I liked it.  I hope to make some more theatre memories soon (preview of coming attractions).  In the meantime, I guess I got kind of long-winded (for my blog posts), but you’ll have that.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

 

Still Ill on Throwback Thursday

Well friends, it is another Blogger’s Sick Day, but I think I can manage a Throwback Thursday post.  I spent most of the day trying unsuccessfully to sleep.  Perhaps I will be better enough tomorrow to get some exercise, which I would think would help me sleep.

He was so cute and sweet!

This is from January 2017, our second dog, Spunky. That basket was not meant to be a bed for him but a container for my crochet projects.  However, he went right over and made himself at home.  How could I deny him?  I am thinking about getting a dog, for company and for a reason to go for more walks.  We shall see.

 

My reason for attempting a blog post.

My brain truly does not want to write today.  I attempted something earlier and managed a page of nonsense.  By my rules for me, Any Writing Counts.

A fun theatre memory.

Since it is Throwback Thursday, I share a picture from rehearsals for Rubbed Out at Ruby’s, the murder mystery LiFT, Little Falls Theatre Company, did at the Overlook Mansion, back when it was a Bed and Breakfast and Destination for weddings and other things.  It was a 1920’s setting, and I am dying to do another set in that period.  I started to write one that I hoped to do at Salisbury Grange.  I could work more on it.  When my brain feels a little bit better.

In the meantime, I am over 200 words.  Score!  Maybe some more hot tea with lemon and honey would help.