Tag Archives: murder mystery

Once Again, Technology Eludes Me

Can I manage a Throwback Thursday Post today?  Full Disclosure:  I was at the Herkimer Elks Lodge and had a few glasses of wine.  In my defense, I had to go and answer a few questions about Recipe for Murder Royale, the murder mystery we are presenting there to benefit the Herkimer County Historical Society.  I know, I only could have answered the questions and gone home.  I chose the more fun option.

Oh swell.  I can’t figure out how to get the flier of the murder mystery onto my blog post.  I suppose it is not very surprising  considering my full disclosure.

Here it is!

It is now Friday morning, so I call this a late post and do not despair of making a Lame Post Friday post later today.  I still haven’t figured out how to get a picture from Facebook to my blog on my Chromebook, but I can do it on my phone.  I didn’t think of doing that last night, silly me!

And while I was at it…

I also managed to share the flier from the show at Salisbury Grange, a week earlier.  That makes this NOT a Throwback Thursday post.  Oh dear.  Should I edit the first paragraph or continue in my stream of consciousness way?

This was a fun one!

One throwback, to the original production of Donate to Murder, presented at Herkimer Elks in 2019 (we presented it again a couple years later).  I’m in the feather hat on the left, then Tucker Lester in the Steam Punk goggles, my late dearly missed husband Steve, and Laura Powers.  I would love to work with both Tucker and Laura again, but they are very busy these days, alas!

I see I approach 300 words, which is pretty good for a late post.  I think I”ll bill this as a Non-Sequitur Thursday and drive on.  As always, I thank you for tuning in.

 

At Last! A Post-Rehearsal Post!

I had another rehearsal for Recipe for Murder Royale, the murder mystery we are doing to benefit the Herkimer County Historical Society, tonight and remembered to take a few pictures!  They weren’t the best pictures, but one does what one can.

We rehearsed at Herkimer Elks Lodge.

The setting of the mystery is that we are a group of people putting together a new recipe book, a royal recipe book, with all the recipes tested by royalty.  Our money man is missing.  We do hope nothing has happened to him.

None of us know our lines yet.

We are putting on the murder mystery twice, once at the Elks to benefit the Historical Society, and once at Salisbury Grange to benefit them.  We rehearsed at the Elks because it is closer for all of us.

You can’t tell in this picture, but it is a dramatic moment.

Rehearsals are going pretty well. I think I have a great group of actors this time.  I almost always do.  There is a lot of talent in the Mohawk Valley!

This was actually the first picture I took.

I guess I don’t have too much to say so far.  Can we call this a Wuss-out Wednesday? I fear I am a little tired after my rehearsal.  As usual, I will try for a better blog post tomorrow.

 

Another Murder Mystery Begins!

Something I did not mention in my previous post:  on my cool down walk on Saturday I figured out the Big Clue to my murder mystery Recipe for Murder Royale.  Would it work?  I thought it would!  I got home and typed it into the script I was working on.  I emailed it out.  I composed the Conclusion. I withheld that till the first rehearsal, as I like to do.

We had our first read-through this evening.  My cast liked the script!  They thought the conclusion was good!  We are on our way to a good murder mystery!  Stupid me forgot to take a picture of the cast.

A suspicious looking lady.

This is a picture from a previous murder mystery at Salisbury Grange. This actress is in the next murder mystery but in a completely different costume.

Oh swell. I cant’t figure out how to get the flier from the Historical Society onto my blog post.  I think I can do it on my Tablet or phone but not here on my Chromebook.  Full disclosure:  after our rehearsal this afternoon I had a couple of drinks.  I thought I might not make my blog post till tomorrow morning then reconsidered.  It may not have been the best decision.

In any case, Recipe for Murder Royale  will be presented Sunday April 27 at Salisbury Grange in a lunchtime show to benefit the Grange, and Saturday, May 3 at Herkimer Elks Lodge to benefit Herkimer County Historical Society.  I will share more details in subsequent posts.

 

In Haste and In Need of a Second Wind

Oh dear, this is terrible.  I have about 45 minutes before I have to leave for the theatre and I am SO TIRED!!!  Never mind why; explanations are tiresome.  For anybody just tuning in, the theatre is Ilion Little Theatre for the play I am in, Prescription: Murder.  Everybody tells me I am doing a splendid job (although I don’t think anyone has actually used the word “splendid”), and I have no reason to believe they are insincere.

Me in the play, before I am dead.

I do not have any new pictures of the play to share, unfortunately, so I share this one again.  What a hair-do!  I tried to preserve it overnight by wrapping a scarf around my head and trying not to toss and turn too much.  I had little success, then the mop got rained on this afternoon.  It was, as they say, a good day for ducks.  It was actually a good day to stay home, but I did not, alas.

Columbo plays his game of cat and mouse.

It may be obvious by now that I got nuthin’.  Yes, I am brain dead but most somehow catch a second wind by 7:30 when the curtain opens.  I will try to take some more backstage pictures for your entertainment tomorrow, on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.  Then I must navigate my way through Post-Play Letdown while putting together the murder mystery Recipe for Murder Royale (preview of coming attractions).  As always, I hope you will stay tuned.

 

Thickheaded Thursday It Is!

Now look what I’ve done!  It’s late (for me) Thursday night, and I still haven’t done my blog post!  Sounds like a Non-Sequitur Thursday Post for me.  I am very tired and feeling a big brain dead.  Could I start a new feature called Thickheaded Thursday?  It has the charm of alliteration at least.

There’s no point in losing my head over it.

I do like to use a picture to pep things up.  This is shown at the end of that William Castle classic StraitJacket, a long time favorite of mine, and often part of my Severed Head Sunday viewing, when I have Severed Head Sunday.  When am I going to have another Severed Head Sunday?  Not this Sunday at any rate.  As regular readers may recall, I will have the final performance of Prescription: Murder, the play I am in a Ilion Little Theatre.

How I’ll feel by Sunday night.

Of course there is no rest for the wicked, because after Prescription: Murder, I have to get going on Recipe for Murder Royale, the murder mystery we are putting on for Salisbury Grange and the Herkimer County Historical Society.  Oh what trials and tribulations that will cause!  You’ll be able to read about it in this blog, no doubt.

In the meantime, I am over 200 words.  Score!  All I need is a punchy headline that doesn’t quite fit.  Uh oh.

 

Memories of Theatre Husbands

What a terrible time I am having getting anything done this week.  And how unbecoming of me to whine about it.  I’ll stop whining and try to make a Throwback Thursday post.  As I mentioned yesterday, I did not have rehearsal tonight (for Prescription: Murder at Ilion Little Theatre, for anybody just tuning in) so was able to cover a meeting of the Frankfort Town Board.  I still have to write my story about it, but I thought making the blog post first might be a good idea.

He thinks he’s tough now, but…

This is a rehearsal shot from Roxy, which Ilion Little Theatre (ILT) presented in 2015.  That’s me as Roxalana Druse, on the left.  The brute with the ax is my husband.  I kill him later in the scene.  I do not have good luck with stage husbands. There was one in And Then There Were None in 2011 who wasn’t too bad.  Neither of us killed the other, but we also did not survive till curtain call.  I can’t find a picture of that one, unfortunately.  I had a better time with husbands in real life.

There’s the best husband!

Here is my late, wonderful husband, Steve.  He had a few parts in Roxy, and was very good in all of them.

We were an exceptionally cute couple.

And here are Steve and I together after A G.R.A.V.E. Murder, which we put on to benefit the Herkimer County Historical Society in 2017.  I always thought it was so great that both Steve and I loved theatre. The couple that does plays together, stays together!

 

Last Rehearsal, YIKES!

And it’s another Post-Rehearsal Post during this week of All Prescription: Murder All The Time here at Mohawk Valley Girl.  For anybody just tuning in, Prescription: Murder is the play I am in at Ilion Little Theatre (ILT).  I had meant to take pictures of my fellow actors in costume tonight but, alas, neglected to.  I will try to get some pictures on Friday, opening night.  Yikes, that’s SOON!

We have no rehearsal tomorrow.  It is an ILT tradition to be dark the night before opening.  In this case, it is good news for me, because there is a Frankfort Town Board meeting tomorrow night I need to cover for Sentinel Media Company (I believe I mentioned my side hustle of writing for them) (full disclosure:  I don’t have a main hustle any more) (but this is not a work blog, so never mind).

Where was I?  Ah yes, the play.  I still have a couple of rehearsal shots I haven’t shared.

You can tell which is Columbo by the raincoat.

I think I have mentioned that the play later became the first episode of Columbo, which regular readers know is a series I adore.  I have seen the episode several times, and I must say, I prefer the TV movie to the stage play.  However, I am having a great deal of fun with the play, and my fellow actors are doing a wonderful job.

Yeah, he SHOULD feel bad!

I hope my readers realize I do not need to include a spoiler alert as I point out my murderer, because that is the point of Columbo:  the audience sees what looks like a perfect murder, but Lt. Columbo brings the murderer to justice nonetheless.

For more information about Prescription: Murder,  you can visit ILT’s website, www.ilionlittletheatre.org, or their Facebook page,

 

Throwing All the Way Back to the 1920s!

Well, I guess I am back to making late blog posts, because I did not make a post on Thursday, and here I am early(ish) Friday morning, thinking I can get away with a Throwback Thursday post. Or perhaps Non-Sequitur Thursday.  The possibilities are almost endless.

We thought we were hot. OK, KIm was (is) hot.

This was back in 2017, when my friend Kim and I got dolled up and went to a Prohibition Party at Gerber’s 1933 Tavern in Utica.  I saw on Facebook that today they are doing a Meet the Artist with RC Oster tonight.  I actually met RC Oster at Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts once.  I LOVE his artwork!  Will I take a drive to Utica to meet him again?  It’s difficult to say what I will do on any given Friday.

There’s a couple of cheese-eating grins!

Here is me all 1920’d up again at a fundraiser for the Landmarks Society of Greater Utica.  The gentleman, whose name escapes me, is one of the movers and shakers behind the Society, I think.  Hey, this was 2019.  You can’t expect me to remember things perfectly from the last decade.  At least, I guess you could expect me to, but you would be doomed to disappointment.

Another time I thought I was pretty hot.

I guess I had to do it: share this picture of me showing off a little leg.  The setting is another fundraiser for the Landmarks Society, and the costume is the one I wore as Ruby Van Rensselaer in my murder mystery Rubbed Out at Ruby’s.  One of the cast members keeps saying we ought to revive that one.  It might be fun.

I feel this has been an unusual post in that I am in all the pictures that I shared.  I am usually not so vain.  At least, I suppose I am vain, but I don’t have so many pictures of myself that I like.  I am more apt to look at pictures of me and say, “Damn, I’m not nearly as cute as I thought I was.”

In any case, I am over 350 words.  Score! Will I make a Lame Post Friday post later today?  As I said earlier, it is difficult to know what I may do on any given Friday.

 

Post Now, Slack Later

I have blogged every day since Monday, posting in the morning about the previous day’s adventure.  This is what I used to do when I first started blogging, I think.  If I can remember back to 2011.  Wow, I have been blogging for a while, haven’t I?  All this by way of introduction to a Slacker Saturday post.  It seems funny to call this a Slacker Saturday prior to 7:30 in the morning.  How do I know how much I am going to slack in the coming hours?  OK, it is a pretty safe bet I will not get much done.  My point is, if I do not make a blog post now, I am afraid I will not make one before the end of the day.

Which poop do I feel like today?

I threw in a picture from my Media Library to pep things up.  Pepping up with poop?  Regular readers know how much I enjoy alliteration.  Anyways, you can plainly see it is fake poop.

I do not know how many Mohawk Valley Adventures are in store for me today, if any.  I really need to get some work done around my house as well as working on my latest murder mystery, Recipe for Murder Royale. Yes, it has a title now, as well as a cast of characters and a good (or do I flatter myself?) three pages of script.  That reminds me, I need to email the places we are doing the mystery for and tell them the title.

One of my favorite murderous bunches.

I throw in a picture of another murder mystery for your further entertainment.  This one was supposed to be a 1920s theme, and I had quite a bit written on it, but I just couldn’t make it work.  I do not despair of finishing it eventually (preview of coming attractions).

We all get carried away sometimes.

I wanted to add a third picture and could not resist making the silly caption.  If I get extra ambitious today, perhaps I will have a Mohawk Valley Adventure and make a second Saturday post.  As always, I hope you will stay tuned.