Category Archives: Tired Tuesday

Theatre Memories on Tired Tuesday

Posted on February 22, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I interrupt my reading of other people’s blogs to make my Tired Tuesday post.  I’d like to do the picture thing, but I think I’ve used all the good ones in our Downloads, and I haven’t downloaded any new ones lately. I wonder if Steven has.

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Photo by Mark Hanna, who is also a pretty good actor.

This is the cast of the murder mystery I wrote last year for Morning Star Methodist Church in Ilion, NY, Engaged to be Murdered.  I’m writing a new one for that church, to be presented April 1.  This one is titled He Laughed Himself to Death.  I intend to incorporate the April Fool’s Day holiday in the plot.  I shall write more blog posts about that, rest assured.

 

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They were all leading ladies to me!

To continue the theme of theatre memories, here is the cast and crew of Leading Ladies, which I was blessed to direct with one of the finest groups ever associated with the Ilion Little Theatre stage.  Perhaps you read one of my blog posts about it.

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Full disclosure: a selfie stick was used in the taking of this picture.

Is it silly of me to post two pictures of the same cast and crew?  No matter; it is what is in my downloads, I will post it.  We took a selfie of the whole group a few times before performances.  It was one of those casts that really bonded.  I’m hoping we take a few backstage selfies of Steel Magnolias.  I’ll be sure to share them here if we do.

For now, I must scurry off to rehearsal, which is a little earlier tonight.  Happy Tuesday, everyone.

 

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I Ax You: Is This a Good Picture of Me?

Posted on February 1, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

 

Oh I am having a dreadful case of Writer’s Block.  Seriously, my brain is blocking me from writing this post (I know, I know, that’s not writing, that’s typing, as Truman Capote said).  It is Tired Tuesday, but I truly did not want to spend 200 or so words whining about how tired I am and how I can’t think of anything to write.  So I went to my new standby: looking through photos we’ve downloaded to this laptop and picking a few to write about.  I had found some good ones of me and my husband, Steven.

I don’t want to post any pictures of me!  I don’t even like looking at pictures of me!  Many people feel this way.  Most of us look better in pictures to others than we look to ourselves.  I can’t tell you how many times people have said, “Oh, what a great picture of you,” and I have thought, “Wow, I’m not nearly as cute as I think I am.”  I don’t even like to have my own picture as my Facebook profile.  This is what I currently have:

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I was having a Lizzie Borden kind of a day.

The caption doesn’t show on my Facebook.  I prefer threatening people with an ax on general principles, not to get candy.  I can buy candy.

Oh, OK, I have never actually threatened anybody with an ax in real life.  On stage once, I held an ax over the guy who was playing my husband, after I had shot him and he had fallen on the floor. However, I was not threatening; I actually brought the thing down on that bastard.  He had it coming.  This was in Roxy, a play about Roxalana Druse, a famous local murderess. Herkimer County Historical Society presented it at Ilion Little Theatre in September of 2015.  Perhaps you read some of my blog posts about it at the time.

So now I am over 300 words.  Whined a little, showed a picture, shared a memory.  I call that all right for a Tired Tuesday.  Now I’m off to my rehearsal for Steel Magnolias at Ilion Little Theatre.  Maybe I can find my Tablet and take pictures of the progress made on the set.  I think it’s looking pretty good, and will make a marvelous Wordless Wednesday post.  Hope to see you then.

 

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Picture Me Without a Blog Post

Posted on January 25, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

If I do the picture thing today, can I still have a Wordless Wednesday?  You know what, I can’t worry about Wednesday.  I can’t even see Wednesday from here. I’m going into my downloads and pick a few pictures to share.

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Oh, I hate it when pedestrians can’t stay out of the road!

Ah yes, that’s what I was going to write my blog post about:  the weather.   As I drove to work this morning through heavy snow over icy, snow-covered roads (it rained then snowed last night), I thought to myself, “This is what we might call winter.”  I’m sure other people have more colorful ways to describe it.

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Full disclosure: I have no idea where this photo came from or who took it.

As I drove to work, I admired the snow-covered trees.  Um, I did not spend so much time admiring them that I was a danger on the roads.  I would like to take a walk sometime when everything is snowy and take a few pictures myself.  In the meantime, I guess I’ll steal other people’s pictures.

 

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I don’t remember actually taking this picture, but, really, who else would have?

This last picture (I like to have three, it’s kind of a thing, isn’t it?) is my backyard.  Alas, no snow.  I meant to take some pictures of the dead plants in the snow but have not gotten around to it when we actually have snow (it’s been coming and going this winter).  I have kind of a fascination with dead plants. These used to be black-eyed susans.  I think they look cool.

So this is my Tired Tuesday post for the week.  In my defense, at least I kept from whining about the dreadful cold which is currently making me miserable (oops)  so soon after I whined about a migraine.  What a mess I am!  But never mind that.  Now I must get ready for tonight’s rehearsal for Steel Magnolias at Ilion Little Theatre.  Perhaps I can take pictures of the progress on the set, for tomorrow’s blog post.  Hope to see you then (figuratively speaking).

 

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Off the Cuff and On to Rehearsal!

Posted on January 18, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I spent my breaks at work studying my lines for Steel Magnolias, the play I am in at Ilion Little Theatre.  Production dates are the first two weekends in March.  That makes it just a little early for this blog to become All Steel Magnolias All The Time.  However, I don’t have much else to write about today and I REALLY don’t want to blather on about how I’m having trouble writing, as I have done too many times in the past.

We had rehearsal last night.  You should see how much the set has progressed!  Alas, you cannot, because I did not think to bring my Tablet and snap a couple of pictures.  We have rehearsal again tonight, so perhaps I could remedy the omission in a future post.

And I just this minute remembered something!  I am supposed to have my bio for the program ready by tonight!  Oh no!  Longtime readers may remember that I have a problem with bios.  I think I wrote a blog post about it once.  Oh well, I’ll come up with something off the cuff (what, ME? come up with something off the cuff?  SAY IT AIN’T SO!).

As I was saying, the set is filling in with set pieces and props.  Now we have to learn our lines, so we can drop our scripts and pick up the props.  It is just a bit awkward, script and pencil in one hand (to make notes about blocking), prop in the other.  Then you drop the prop or lose your place in the script… um, not that everybody does that.  Some of my fellow cast-members are most adept.  OK, I’m the big klutz in the bunch, as usual.

Well, this post is not amounting to much, is it?  I guess there is not a whole lot to report about the play.  But I suppose this will have to do on Tired Tuesday, because I have to get ready for rehearsal.  I hope I remember to bring my Tablet.

 

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Remember Those Donuts?

Posted on January 11, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

So Tired Tuesday follows Mental Muck Monday, everybody must have seen that coming.  For anyone that was worried (although I don’t imagine anybody was),  my writing abilities seem to have returned.  Um, not that I expect this post will reflect my best efforts, but I did work on my articles for Mohawk Valley Living magazine.   The deadline is looming; I must make haste.  In the meantime, I need a blog post.

I had thought I would be posting in haste (posthaste, there’s a word you don’t see much anymore) before getting to rehearsal.  First, of course, I had those articles to work on.  As I worked, I could hear the sleet striking my window panes.  Oh dear.  Luckily my rehearsal is not far.  Still, it was not going to be a fun drive.  This is why I don’t like being involved in the March production, but it is useless to repine about that now.  Then the phone rang.  It was the director, cancelling rehearsal.  Cast members who live farther away than I do had phoned him, saying they did not want to drive in this weather.  I didn’t blame them.

I’m sure some readers are thinking, “Well NOW you can write a decent blog post, can’t you?  Can’t you?”  And I’m thinking,”Apparently not.”  However, I do have a few pictures to share.  Not very good pictures.  Perhaps not worth a thousand words.  Then again, my posts don’t usually run to a thousand words.  Who has time to read thousand word blog posts anyways?  Not me!  Let’s look at the pictures.

These were taken Saturday, at the set-building session to which I brought the donuts (perhaps you read my blog post about it).

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Two walls were already up when I arrived. And you see how fast our set-builders were working: this fellow is a blur!

 

 

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There was much discussion about where the window would be.

 

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They are discussing more walls to raise. The walls are there now, but I did not have my tablet with me at rehearsal last night.

Perhaps I can remember to bring my tablet to the next rehearsal and take more pictures of the set in progress.  At least I can hope to post pictures of the completed project.  And I will write many more word about the play itself, especially when the blog becomes All Steel Magnolias All The Time.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

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Merry Post-Christmas Letdown

Posted on January 4, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

So last week my excuse for foolish blog posts was that I was on vacation.  This week my excuse is I’m back at work and trying to get into the swing of things.  Does anybody have a problem with that?  You there, in the back?  You do?  Or were you just shooing a fly?  I thought so.

That by way of a silly introduction to a Post-Christmas Tired Tuesday post.  I returned to work today, still grateful for having had yesterday off.  Now I only had a four day week to get through!  It was not until I sat down here and started typing just now that I remembered:  in school on the first day back after Christmas vacation, everybody had on their new clothes they had just gotten for Christmas.  How fun was that?  Until I would realize I still wasn’t beautiful and popular, which I spent most of my childhood and adolescence hoping I would one day wake up to find myself.

Of course with school as well as with work, it did not take long to feel as if I had never left.  Vacation?  What vacation?  When is the next one?  I looked at the calendar and counted the full weeks till a three day weekend.  Far too many.  However, I do have a few discretionary days to take.  I may treat myself to a Monday off in February or March.  I will probably write a blog post about it.

All things considered, it was not a heinous first day back at work.  Some of the usual annoyances annoyed, but some of the usual amusements amused, and it was nice to see my work friends again.  I do like having friends.  I’m still not beautiful, but now enough people talk to me that I can at least pretend I’m popular.  Happy Tuesday everyone, and I hope you are all recovering from any post-holiday blahs you may have.

 

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Murder Most Different

Posted on December 7, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

OK, so I did not write a blog post while at work today, because I spent every break working on a murder mystery.  I LOVE writing murder mysteries!  I feel so clever when I am inventing characters, deciding on their relationships and problems.  When I realize this one wants to do dirt to that one, or the other one loves this one but yet another character knows the dirty little secret of…  you get the picture.

I actually have three mysteries to write with varying requirements for each.  Today I was working on one that is particularly intriguing, because the format is different from what I am used to.  What I usually write is dinner theatre:  the actors mingle with the audience during cocktails then have an actual, rehearsed performance in which all the clues are presented.  The murder I worked on today will be almost completely interactive, with the audience seeking clues throughout several rooms.

I will have to figure out how the murder was committed and, more importantly, how somebody might figure out who did it, how and why.  What clues will be found?  Where will they be?  How did they get there?  Where do they lead?  Can they possibly MISlead?  How about a nice, juicy red herring or two?

However, for me, everything starts with the characters.  I know who will be the victim of the first murder (I think we’ll have more than one corpse during the evening, just to keep things lively).  I started thinking of who the other characters will be.  Soon I had several people identified by roles:  the guy that runs the speakeasy (did I mention that it is a 1920s theme?), the madame of the brothel, the proprietor of a rival speakeasy…   Once I had given everybody a name, things got really fun.

Soon I will have figured out what everybody thinks of everybody else, who hates or loves whom, who did dirt to whom (I do mean “whom” don’t I?  How embarrassing that I am not sure).  I write a lot of random notes then try to organize everything.

Hmmm…  I seem to be babbling on without a whole lot of specifics.  Well, I will give more specifics on these mysteries when I know more about the where, when and how you can get tickets.  In the meantime, I hope I have intrigued my local readers and entertained those farther afield.  If so, I say good work for a Tired Tuesday.

 

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At Least I Voted

Posted on November 9, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

I thought I would make my blog post now, before the movie-watching portion of the day but after the sweats on, bra off portion of the day.   Yes, there was a sweats off, bra on portion of my day, because I went to vote.  Regular readers may recall that I am still at home, trying to recover from what I thought was an extremely minor medical procedure.  I guess it was minor, and I am not nearly as tough as I thought I was.   Today, however, I knew I must be tough enough to make it to the polls.

In my favor is that Herkimer, where I live, is a small village.  My polling place is a mere two blocks from my house.  I have never encountered a line, whatever time of day I have gone to vote. I contrasted this, as I do every year, to a story I heard back when Iraq held its first elections after the fall of Saddam Hussein.  A grandmother was pushed in a wheelbarrow some large number of miles (I wish I could remember the number), so she could vote.  Pushed in a wheelbarrow! And you know they do not have good roads over there, if they had roads at all.

So there should be no problem for me, I knew.  I thought I also had to go to a doctor appointment, but they called and re-scheduled that this morning.  Something about emergency surgery.  You know how it is with doctors.

I originally had some wild thoughts of walking to vote.  I really, truly must begin getting exercise again.  I was advised not to directly after my procedure, and I certainly did not feel like moving at first.  But one can only spend so much time lying around, taking naps and wishing the pain medication worked better.  Oh dear, now it sounds like I’m whining again.  I suppose I am.

Anyways, Steven drove us the short distance, although we did not get the closest parking space possible, so I got a little more of a walk at least.  We greeted the poll workers we usually see there, including one nice man who always Steven “Doc,” because he remembers Steven playing Dr. Chumley in Ilion Little Theatre’s production of Harvey some years ago.  As usual there was no line.  We completed our civic duty and received our stickers.

Then I came home and wrote a blog post about it.  Not a brilliant blog post, I’m afraid, but I’m going to call it OK for a Tired Tuesday.

 

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Waiting for What?

Posted on October 26, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was at the doctor’s office this afternoon.  I won’t get into why because, you know, HIPPA and all.  Nothing serious or even particularly interesting. But I need a blog post and it is Tired Tuesday, so here we go.

They decided to do an EKG (is that how you spell it?  I mean, are all three letters capitalized?  I don’t know from medical terms).  The machine decided to give the nurse a little trouble (yes, I think of machines as sentient beings who delight in tormenting hapless humans).  It would not give a good reading.  I just lay there on the table with all those little wires taped to my body, trying to catch a nap.

The nurse said the machine kept saying, “Waiting for good data.”  I flashed on Waiting for Godot but did not know if she would get the theatrical reference so did not say anything.  I repeated “Waiting for good data” in my head several times, so I could use it in a Facebook post.  I decided to use it here instead.  I hope somebody was amused.

The last thing I had to do was let them draw blood.  I remarked to the phlebotomist that the blood was very seasonal, but she was not amused.  Come to think of it, she was a little cadaverous-looking herself, very thin with large eyes and a dead serious expression.  I’m sure she was not a vampire, because sunlight was coming through the window.  It wouldn’t matter that it was a cloudy day, would it?  I’m not up on all the vampire rules.

Oh dear, do you suppose I could get in trouble for making vampire jokes about a local phlebotomist?  She was a very good phlebotomist; I barely felt the needle go in.   And she wasn’t really cadaverous-looking.  I just threw that in for effect.

This is what happens on Tired Tuesday.  I get a little punchy.  But I see I have managed over 300 words, so let’s call it a post and move on.  I hope to go running tomorrow, so maybe I can write a post about that.

 

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Just a Few Shout-Outs

Posted on October 12, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

So yesterday I thought I was coming down with something and today I am pretty sure I am.  It would not be such a big deal if I could keep from being such a colossal baby about these things.  Or if I could just quietly take a day off from posting.  But, as they say, I gotta be me.  However, instead of whining for 200 or so words about how crappy I feel, how about I give a brief overview of Steven’s and my Monday morning adventures.

We began by fueling up at Crazy Otto’s Empire Diner in Herkimer, NY.  Then we headed for the big city of Utica.  I drove, as I had slightly more of an idea where we were headed.  That is, I had been there.  I had not driven there.  However, after a wrong direction and only one turn around, we got to the So Sweet Candy Cafe on the corner of Columbia and Varick streets. Yay!

After that we had wanted to check out Adirondack Distillery, which is handily located right across the street.  The message on their answering machine said they were open Monday through Friday.  This Monday, they were not.  Rats!  We walked down Varick Street, just because we were there, then back to the car and headed on.  The Other Side Gallery was also closed.  I had not even checked their Facebook page, so I suppose that served me right.

We found Off-Center Records & Collectibles with very little problem.  A parking spot presented a little more problem, but we got one not too far away.  After a fun interlude there, we checked out New York Connection, which I had never heard of but noticed a couple of doors down.  Those are both stores I mean to write more about.

On our way home, we stopped at Juliani’s Produce and Greenhouse in Schuyler.  I got and immediately ate a chocolate half-moon cookie.  We also got fixings for a salad, which I later made (I believe I mentioned it in yesterday’s post).

We enjoyed our little jaunt very much, although I was ready to get home and relax.  I am ready to relax now.  I guess it is Tired Tuesday after all.

 

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