Tag Archives: Shooting at the Grange

I Would Kill for a Good Meal

I failed to take any pictures of last night’s rehearsal for Recipe for Murder Royale, the murder mystery we are presenting Sunday to benefit Salisbury Grange then again May 3 to benefit the Herkimer County Historical Society.  However, I have some fun information to impart.

Mmmm… Hats and Broccoli

Of course I am looking forward to the lunch at the Grange on Sunday, but I have to really hand it to the chef catering at the Elks next Saturday.

A nice appetizing little murder.

The poster does not include the menu, but I saw a copy and wrote it down.  Diners will enjoy Italian Chicken Stew made with real Italians, and Roasted Cauliflower or is it brains?  Main dishes include Baked Chicken (sure… we’ll call it chicken)  and Balsamic Pork (wink, wink).  And watch out for the Sauteed Peas and Pearl Onions; those are definitely not eyeballs!  Dinner will conclude with some desserts to die for.

How fun is that?  I should be so creative!

Here’s an actress to die for!

Here is a shot of one of my actors at the Grange in April 2023, when we did Shooting at the Grange.  She will look different this time out; in fact, she will put the Royal in Recipe for Murder Royale.  I will definitely try to get pictures!

 

Lame Me Your Ears

You know, like “Lend me your ears”?  I was trying to think of a clever title, because I do not have anything particularly clever to say.  Cue unkind remarks about how I am never particularly clever (you know who you are).  I am home relaxing after doing some minor running around related to Deadly Night Life, the murder mystery we are putting on at Salisbury Grange tomorrow.  I’m sure a fun time will be had by all, or at least most.

It might look a little like this.

I went into my Media Library to look for a picture of a murder mystery and found this one from Shooting at the Grange, the murder mystery we presented last April.  I am a little disappointed that I did not find any of the last one we did at the Elks Club to benefit the Herkimer County Historical Society.  I looked rather fabulous in that one, although I daresay I flatter myself.

There’s a fabulous bunch!

Here is the cast of Fabulous and Fatal, the murder mystery we did at the Travel Lodge in Little Falls for the Herkimer County Historical Society in 2019.  The beautiful blonde and the lovely fellow in gold (I loaned him the dress) are in tomorrow’s play.  I positively must get some pictures!

In the meantime, I am over 200 words.  Sufficient for a Lame Post Friday post, at least by my rules for me.  I hope you are all having a lovely evening.

 

 

Post Rehearsal and Past Mysteries

I am not sure if I can up with anything for a Post-Rehearsal Post, but I will try.  I just returned from a rehearsal for Deadly Night Life, the interactive murder mystery we are putting on for Salisbury Grange this Saturday.  It went pretty well.  At least, we all had a good time and a lot of laughs.  These murder mysteries are always a lot of fun.

A suspicious bunch I’ve shared before.

Slipping into Throwback Thursday mode, here is a bunch from a murder mystery we did a few years ago, A G.R.A.V.E. Murder.  I had a lot of fun with that one.

Another fun night.

This one, Fabulous and Fatal, actually came up in a conversation tonight.  Of course we always bring up previous theatrical experiences during rehearsal.  Sometimes I have to interrupt the reminiscences to get us back to rehearsing.

Actors at work.

Here is a shot of the show we put on at the Grange last April.  I certainly hope Saturday’s goes as well.

This fabulous lady is in Saturday’s show.

For one last picture, I give you a cast member from both last year and this year’s shows.  I often have repeat cast members.  Could it be they like my scripts?  I can only hope!

 

Too Tired for a Pre-Rehearsal Post?

How about a Pre-Rehearsal Post on this Tired Tuesday (full disclosure:  I am tired most days).  I ought to be looking over my lines again, but regular readers know how seldom I do what I ought.

The rehearsal is for Deadly Night Life, the murder mystery we are putting on at Salisbury Grange this Saturday.  I have not blogged much about it, because it sold out quickly.  I did not want my local readers to get all interested then be disappointed.  However, as I have very little to blog about right now and (again, as regular readers know) very little brain to blog with, I thought I could talk a little bit about it.

Only there will be all tables on the floor.

Here is a picture I took of the Grange last April, when we presented Shooting at the Grange.  I did not act in that one, which I regretted on the day of the performance.  Oh well, I had my reasons for not taking a role, and we cannot always predict how we will feel about these things.

Here’s a shot with tables.

The above is a picture taken at one of last year’s rehearsals.  I have not taken any pictures of this year’s rehearsals, but perhaps tonight I will have a photo op.

It seems I have rattled on for over 200 words without saying much about the murder mystery, the Grange, or tonight’s rehearsal.  How typical of me.  No matter.  It is Tired Tuesday, and I always feel that a blah blog post is better than no blog post at all.  Do you agree or disagree?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

 

Wrist to Forehead Sunday is Not a Crime

It is the time of day on a Sunday where I need to either start getting ready for my Monday or make my Wrist to Forehead Sunday Post.  I pick the blog post.  I purchased one of them there Roku doodahs today so I am kind of sort of looking at In Ice Cold Blood as I type (with ten fingers on my Chromebook, lounged on the couch, just to give you the picture).  True Crime, one of my loves!

My friend Kim and I took a trip to a store which needs no plug from Mohawk Valley Girl, and that was just about as much as I bestirred myself today.  Well, I did do the dishes, and I took a shower (not at the same time, although I did splash around a lot of water while doing the dishes).  I composed an email which I sent to the actors for our upcoming murder mystery at Salisbury Grange.  I outlined the situation and listed the characters.  I hope they do not email me back and say stuff like, “Well, that’s pretty lame” or “I don’t want to play THAT character!”  I just do not imagine they will.

He did it! No, she did it!

This is a shot from a rehearsal of the murder mystery we did last spring at Salisbury Grange, Shooting at the Grange.  A few of the same actors will be in this one.  I thought an illustration would look well just then.

I must get to work writing the new mystery, which is as yet untitled.  That would certainly be under the heading of Useful Things Accomplished.  And it is a little more interesting than, for example, making tomorrow’s lunch.  At any rate, I am over 250 words for my Sunday blog post, so I will sign off with a wish that your had a lovely weekend.  I hope to see you all again on Monday, Monstrous or whatever it turns out to be.

 

Some Semblance of a Tired Tuesday Post

Probably no one is surprised, least of all me, that I was too tired to make my Tired Tuesday post on Tuesday.  I am having difficulty doing any kind of writing lately (and even typing; kept making typos on those last two sentences), but I did not come here to whine.  I cam here to drink coffee and, I hope, make some semblance of a blog post.

I like my coffee hot!

This is not the mug I am currently using, but I thought a Halloween mug would be nice since I did not make a Monstrous Monday post yesterday.  I do love all things Halloween.  Well, most things Halloween.  Not the really nasty stuff, like the dead baby decorations or most of the ’70’s slasher flicks.  I know that makes me lose cred in some horror circles.  So be it.

I’m afraid I do not have any plans for Mohawk Valley Adventures in the near future.  However, I may start running soon, making Running Commentary Posts a thing again.  I must decide by Feb. 4 if I am going to run the Boilermaker 15K in Utica in July, in order to get the best pricing for registration.  I had rather a traumatic time of it last year and would like to better my record.  Not that I think I can ever make a really good time; I would just like to finish without being helped to the first aid tent.  But enough of my running woes.

Additionally, I am writing (and having trouble with; see first paragraph) a murder mystery for April at Salisbury Grange.  That will necessitate a few blog posts, I hope.

A suspicious lot, to be sure.

Here is a picture from a rehearsal of last year’s mystery, Shooting at the Grange.  I see I am approaching 300 words.  Score!  I adjourn for more coffee, and once again, I thank you for tuning in.

 

Murder Makes Me Feel Less Lame

I begin my Lame Post Friday post on Friday but fear I will not finish it till Saturday.  I am on my Tablet,  pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus.  Once again I am unable to add a headline.  That will be my excuse.

My real excuse, unfortunately, is that I have waited till too late and am too tired to make a decent blog post.  I guess that is not much of an excuse but is in fact the reason.

A picture from a long ago walk.

Once again I put in a picture to show the passage of time.  In the first paragraph I mentioned pecking in one letter at a time with the stylus, but I’m afraid I was letting predictive text do the talking, I mean typing.  I keep losing my stylus and have to use my fat finger.  It feels fatter on my phone than on my Tablet, but still.  My fingers are a lot more clever when they work together, as right now as I ten-finger type (I love typing; it is so much fun!).  There’s a metaphor for life:  everything is better when we work together!

And that, if you like, was a bit of half-baked philosophy suitable for Lame Post Friday.  Only I don’t think it was half-baked; I thing it is the truth.  For example, I felt much better about Lights, Camera, Murder!  after the cast had met and started working together.  It is going to be great!  My actors will make it great!

They ponder the clues.

Here is a shot of my last cast making Shooting at the Grange great.  I like working with a movie theme; it give us all a chance to be real hams.  Oh, who am I kidding?  We can ham it up in all my murder mysteries.

Who, her? Be a ham?

One more shot of a great actress.  I knew some of the lines I wrote were funny, but I didn’t know how funny till Mary Jane put her special spin on them.  I love theatre!

So I have gone from a late, lame post to raving about theatre, my own murder mysteries, and the casts that make them wonderful.  I think that is work enough for a Saturday morning, and I adjourn for another cup of coffee.  Once again, thank you for tuning in.

 

Small Wins on Non-Sequitur Sunday

If I manage to finish and publish this blog post, I will have made all my weekend posts on time (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).  Some might argue that I do not have much room to feel pleased with myself over it.  After all, daily on time posts are what I am supposed to do as a daily blogger.  Still, I like to celebrate every small win.

For another example, earlier today I was at a big box store and took my purchases to self-check-out.  When I finished, I said to the employee who was standing right there, “I made it all the way through without needing help, are you pround of me?”

“Yes,” she replied, “It makes you the best customer of the day!”  I complimented her on her hair (it was really pretty, thick and brown in one big braid) and went about my business.

She looked fabulous.

I thought it was time to add a picture to pep things up.  Before I could find anything remotely apropos in my Media Library, I saw this one of my friend Mary Jane in Shooting at the Grange, the murder mystery we did in April to benefit Salisbury Grange.  I need to spend some time working on new murder mysteries (Preview of Coming Attractions), so perhaps it is apropos.

I am having a pretty OK Sunday myself.

I am once again watching an episode of Columbo.  I enjoy watching Columbo on a Sunday night.

I guess that makes this a kind of a Non-Sequitur Sunday Post, not my usual day for such things.  Still, it is a Sunday Post on Sunday.  Like I said, celebrate the small wins.

 

Still Shooting (for an On-Time Blog Post)

Before this blog at last segues out of All Shooting at the Grange All The Time,  I would like to use up the last four pictures I took on Saturday.  For a late Tired Tuesday Post, I thought it would beat whining about how tired I am (more than is warranted, I feel) (both my tiredness and my whining).

One actor is blurry; I am nobody’s idea of a good photographer.

This shot shows the stage, which we only used briefly.  The actors thought it would be better to stay amidst the audience, and I agreed.  We have a lot of Actor’s Choice in my murder mysteries, although I reserve the right to all final decisions.

Another blurry actor, but what a fabulous outfit she has on!

As I said before, it was very uncomfortable for me to watch the mingling without participating.  To me it is the most fun part of the shows.

You wouldn’t believe this was the guy with the bugs in Donate to Murder.

One of the other fun parts of these shows is seeing actors play different roles.  Tucker, for example, was the dashing leading man on Saturday but previously played the creepy Renwick Spaulding.  I was thinking about writing a mystery called Renwick’s Revenge (preview of coming attractions).

A better view of the fabulous outfit, including the boots.

The actor on the right (as you may have noticed, I do the thing of referring to both male and females as actors) is new to my murder mysteries.  She came on Tucker’s recommendation, and a good recommendation it was!  The other two, a mother/daughter team) participated last November in He Laughed Himself to Death.  I was delighted to work with them again.

So I have gone a whole two days without definitely committing to another murder mystery, although I know a few groups who would like one.  Well, perhaps with no commitments or definite plans to actually perform it, I might just start writing a few notes on Renwick’s Revenge. No promises.

 

 

About That Murder Mystery…

Regular readers may be anxious to know how our murder mystery turned out, and I kept them in suspense by neglecting to post either Saturday or Sunday.  Or perhaps I flatter myself.  For anybody just tuning in, I refer to Shooting at the Grange, which we presented to benefit Salisbury Grange on April 29.

She welcomes you to my blog post.

I foolishly did not get pictures of each character, but I did take a few shots while the actors mingled with the audience before the scripted part of the performance.

They got a big crowd.

Everybody seemed to be having a fine time.  For my part, I was a little uncomfortable, because I am usually one of the actors.  I wanted to be out there interacting with the audience, dropping clues and dissing the other characters!

The Grange volunteers were very sweet.

They served pulled pork, corn, potatoes, cole slaw and rolls.  The actors and I ate after the performance.  It was delicious!

I should have gotten a closer shot of that glamorous character.

The whole thing went pretty well.  The audience seemed to enjoy it.  The actors did a good job.  The Grange people are hoping we will return with another murder mystery,  perhaps this fall.

I personally need to take a break.  When I mentioned this to a co-worker on Friday (incidentally, I had named the victim after this particular co-worker), he said, “Then on Monday, you’ll say, ‘I have an opportunity to write another murder mystery.’ ”

Who, me? Write another murder mystery?