Home

Home again.  A bit tired.  My brother's friends, Rich and Lawana picked me up at the airport.  Then they had me over for dinner.  I had a couple of glasses of beer with my meal and now I'm zonked.  I had a great time in AK.   Here is a picture of me with Lark (in Alaska):

It's Always Sunny In...

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA!!!

At least it has been since I arrived here on Friday.  And everything is still lush and green.  To top it off the moon has been full and bright until late in the evening. Kathleen and I went for a walk along the coastal trail yesterday, after stopping by to visit with her mother, who she sometimes affectionately refers to as K.B. or "The Mother Ship."  Today we are going for a drive and then over to her mom's house for a salmon dinner.  It sounds fantastic to me, but I've gathered that to Alaskans in late summer, fresh caught wild salmon is something like home-grown zucchini is to those of us in the lower 48.

Reading Material

For the flight to Anchorage (and to read there as well) I am taking along a book of Tennessee Williams' short stories, a printout of Equity guidelines, and a copy of No Exit by Jean Paul Sartre (adapted by Paul Bowles, who happened to be one of TW's best friends).

Brezhnev

In The Cuban Missile Tango I played a party guest playing the part of Leonid Brezhnev.  This is the photo that I based my costume on. Brezhnev is on the left, next to Castro.  Khrushchev is on the far right. I have no idea who the other guys are.  Yesterday, I met two women, one Russian and one Ukrainian, while shopping.  I told them about playing Brezhnev, and they exclaimed, "You look just like him!"

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Travels

I'm off to Anchorage, AK tomorrow on a free (almost) ticket.  I will see and stay with my dear friend, Kathleen Bielawski.  I'm looking forward to meeting her new kitten, "Lark."  Got some kitty treats to give him!

Cuban Missile Tango is Over

Last show was a Sunday matinee. To my surprise, the house was packed again, even though it was a nice sunny afternoon outside. I think my Breshnev getup worked, as my sister heard another audience member refer to me as the "guy with the big eyebrows." After the performance, we had a cast party at the director's house. He and his wife have a home at the foot of the West Hills. On the way there I was thinking that Imago should do a show called "West Hills Like White Elephants," which is fitting since Elephant's Deli is not far away. Next up at Imago is No Exit.  I am going to work as the assistant stage manager on this one, as I like the back stage stuff too.

Opening Night

Cuban Missile Tango opened at Imago Theater tonight.  Full house.  Fun.  Come and see it!

Quote

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Home Again

Both mother and father are out of the hospital and at home. Hopefully things will stay that way for a good long while.

The day my mother got out of the hospital, she walked out to the garden without her oxygen tube. Well, that might be good except she was still on antibiotics and steroids to treat her illness. I'm afraid I got mad at her and was a little mean. I told her that I should tie a rope around her waist to keep her from running off, just as she once did to me when I was a little boy. Then I said, "At least we know you still remember your way home." That's the part I feel bad about, because her short-term memory has been getting steadily worse since her illness in the Winter of 07-08. I must be more mindful about what I say.

Hotel Legacy

Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital is nice as far as hospitals go. It's new, it's spacious, its walls and rooms are decked out in attractive colors. It's also where my mother was on a ventilator a couple of Christmases ago. And now it's where I am--here with my mother. She has pneumonia again--not as severe as that Christmas, but bad enough to keep her overnight; hopefully that will be sufficient. They have built-in day beds here, large picture windows, TV with all the channels, and even wireless Internet. It's almost like a hotel. But it's not where I want to be staying, and it's certainly not where my mother wants to be right now. My step-father just got out of the hospital on Monday, his second stay in a month's time, and now my mother is in. It's kind of like a yo-yo, one out and one in. As my mother's doctor said the other day, their health has taken a real nose-dive in the last year. But we want to keep them with us and at home for as long as we can.