Dinner Theater a la Teatro Zinzanni

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As a surprise for my mom, and a way to have fun for my birthday, J and I took her to see Teatro Zinzanni last night. It’s my third seeing, the first back in ’99 with it’s original presentation (and Ann Wilson [of Heart] as the chanteuse, “Love, Chaos & Dinner”), and the second in 2002 or so (with J., at their temporary Belltown location “Dinner and Dreams”). Both of those times I saw the same emcee (Kevin Kent), which is interesting because the cast, and show, changes over time. They have world class performers doing acrobatics, juggling, magic, stage comedy (not stand up), singing, dancing, and — for lack of a more precise term — stuff. The menu is created by Tom Douglas and is of a fairly high standard.

We had so much fun! Laughed until we cried, ate good food and drank great wine (they do a wine flight of 2.5 oz pours — one for each course, five in all — for $35), and had a nice time chatting with the other people at the table. General admission is in booths along the outer ring.

The setting is a gorgeously restored spiegeltent (mirror tent) constructed at the beginning of the 20th century. There are only eight tents left in existence, one of which is at the sister Teatro Zinzanni production in San Francisco.  and The current emcee, Chef Caesar, leads us through the “All Dressed Up with Some Place to Go” event and we thoroughly enjoyed all of the acts. Most especially Les Petits Freres, Ming and Rui, and The Vertical Tango.

A word about that last one: the title is literal. Take a 50 foot pole, about 6 inches in diameter,add your partner, and  wrap your hands, feet, legs, arms around in in various combinations we you tango up and down, the pole.  Oh, and do it in time to music. Its incredible. Want to see? (Link opens a youtube video.)

Just for fun: here’s Ming and Rui (this one is for you Jeremy) and one of Vita Radionova, the company contortionist.

Inaugural Grill Party

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(Note, this post should have gone up back in the 1st week of June. Oops.)

A few weeks ago, while J was in Ashland, the power went out. It was only for an hour, and I happened to have rented a car for the weekend, so I wasn’t stranded. But it got me thinking: I have plenty of candles, and only in the bitterest ice storm would I have trouble keeping warm (good insulation, lots of blankets, and a DOG = plenty of warm). But without power NOTHING in this house works. I suppose the pilot light on the water heater stays on — but it’s connected to the household heating system so I can’t get hot water, or heat when there is no power. My stove won’t work . . . nothing works. I’d have to leave if it lasted longer than a day because I wouldn’t be able to eat much beyond cereal and sandwiches.

So I decided that we need a propane grill (other things too, but that’s a different post) so that even if we have no power, we can eat a hot meal and boil water.

We bought it on our Lowe’s card — 12 mos no interest, thereby costing me an additional $50/mo. Natch.

This weekend, we invited a few friends over for a grillout. The menu:

grilled chicken breast w/ one of three sauces: lemon/garlic, BBQ, honey teriyaki

potato salad

green salad

coleslaw

corn muffins

chocolate brownies

The traditional chips, celery, and carrots were served up as well, and we asked people to bring a drink or dessert (S. brought guacamole, which is just fine by me) so there was a nice selection.

Garden Joys

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At this time of year, J’s ever-blooming gift to me is doing just that: blooming. Here’s some pictures:

roses and lillies

roses and lilies

The lilies are on their 3rd year, the roses on their 2nd.

What is astonishing to me is that this:

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turned into this, a few days later:

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The flame sort of mellowed into a pink (and the rose faded further over the next day so it was a cream with pale pink edges just before it died). Even more astonishing, the same plant produced this:

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Here’s a picture of the whole grouping:

DSCN3421I have no idea what the purple flowered plant is in the lower left hand corner. I know I planted it, but I didn’t keep track. It’s HUGE (5 ft tall) and the flowers look like this, close up:

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The little white flowers are my lovely Alyssium:

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I love my flower garden!

August Facing North Update!

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We have a nice collection of reviews this month, some older (like Sacred Places of the Goddess) and some published this year (such as Egyptian Revenge Spells).We reviewed a book of poetry (The Dancing God) and an atheist’s perspective (The Atheist’s Way)

We also have two excerpts from Robert Mack’s Happiness from the Inside Out: Lessons Learned from the Wizard of Oz and Telling a Happier Story. Finally, we have a lovely interview with Robert Mack — if you’re feeling pessimistic or ‘down’ you’ll want to read it.

September’s reviews are coming along nicely and include a 2nd review of The Dancing God, a new mystery from the fabulous Barbara Bretton, and a 2-disk collection of word and music meditation from Sharon West.

Miss Cella

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Nothing particular on my mind today, but a couple of things have come to me to post here.

The Fabulous Anne Johnson, whose “The Gods Are Bored” blog puts me in a good mood nearly every day, is looking for a set of Encyclopedias for her classroom. Yes, she’s bucking the all-online trend. So if you have a set in moderately good condition and less than 25 years old, would you consider giving it to her? (She’ll pay for media rate shipping.)

Chas Clifton directed readers to an article over at LiveScience about how humans emit light in a way that varies through the day and seems to be linked with metabolism. Who was it who said magic is just science we haven’t figured out yet?

A friend asked me to find recipes for pawpaws. I’ve got a bunch *somewhere* around here . . . .

*pant*

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If you read the news, you know that it has been intensely hot here in the PNW. Yesterday it was 105* in Kent (a new record high) and its now been long enough to break the record for number of hot days in a row. One of the most noticeable reasons has been the lack of an overnight drop in temp — it doesn’t dip below 65. This means that the houses don’t have a chance to cool down, and we start the day ‘warm’ and get warmer from there.

In our house yesterday morning, it was 76* — and this was with every window open and the door to the garage open to encourage cool air to rise up the center hallways (yes, I know hot air rises, not cool air; but warm air leaving the top of the house will pull cool air from down below). When we opened the windows again in the evening (after 9pm) it was 84* — in a perfectly sealed house with no electrical appliances running (except the fridge), no human activity, and nothing to warm it except the sun on the outside walls. (Yikes.) This morning it was 74* and apparently its supposed to get cooler from here on out (and the forecast is for 101* today).

We are basically living on take out in our basement guest room. Sasha spends a lot of time lying on the (cement) floor of the garage. We leave the car parked outside to keep as much of the coolth inside. We eat take out because I can’t stand the idea of turning on the stove. We keep two pitchers of water in the fridge at all times. (Although tonight it’ll be sliced fruit, veggies, and a nice salad.)

Bottom line: it’s very uncomfortable. But we are fortunate in being able to maintain a relatively comfortable temp and lifestyle (albeit limited) at so little cost. A coworker had central air installed a few years ago, and while she’s cooler than I at the moment, the ongoing cost of that system is far, far, higher than I’d be willing to waste, year after year. A few days of discomfort won’t kill me, or even harm me.

Keep the USPS

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As regular readers know, I’ve had my share of issues with the USPS. That said, I have always praised them to the high heavens for what they DO get done, so (relatively) efficiently.

Apparently, that may be about to change for the worst. A friend turned me on to this post, which reads in part:

Basically, some people in the USPS are pushing fast and hard to change the USPS radically, closing many, many locations and potentially subcontracting for retail and delivery services. This is so not okay. Without a federally protected mail service, we have no strong federal guarantees that our mail will get where it is going, let alone in a timely fashion, or that it will arrive safe and unopened.

At the bottom of the post she gives links so you can verify that she’s not exaggerating.

I also believe this is a credible threat. We may be an email-based world, but my grandmothers (in New Jersey and Maine) are not. With out affordable mail service I’d never hear from them (and vice versa).

I too urge you to contact your congressperson and let them know that this is not acceptable and to support Support HR658. (Link is to a gov website and then one for the American Postal Workers Union.)

EFF Action Alert

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This popped into my inbox the other day:

Google Book Search Settlement

With help from a proposed class action settlement, Google is planning to dramatically expand its Book Search service so that millions of books will be available for browsing, reading, and purchasing online. But in designing this new service, Google is leaving reader privacy behind. Without strong privacy protections, all of your browsing and reading history may be collected, tracked, and turned over to the government or third parties without your knowledge or consent.

Email Google CEO Eric Schmidt and demand that Google Book Search protect your freedom to read privately. You should be able to read about anything — from politics to health — without worrying that someone is looking over your shoulder. Demand that Google pledge it will not stockpile information about who you are and what you read and will not become a one-stop shop for government fishing expeditions into the reading habits of Americans.

While you’re at it — send a bit of money to the EFF. Like the ACLU, they are a non-profit legal group dedicated to keeping electronic free speech, anonymity, innovation, privacy, transparency,  and intellectual property rights from being infringed upon. A more detailed explanation of what they are doing is here: http://www.eff.org/work.

(Full disclosure: my sister is a Senior Staff Attorney at EFF.)

Facing North Updated

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Personal events kept me from updating in June, so we have a double-sized collection for you this month. Highlights include:

  • A article about dealing with adversity from Alison Bonds Shapiro, author of Healing Into Possibility.
  • An excerpt from Robert Mack’s Happiness from the Inside Out, focusing on appreciating your self.
  • Two interviews, one from Marc Lesser (author of Less: Accomplishing More by Doing Less) and the other with Brooks Palmer (author of Clutter Busting).
  • One music review and 20 book reviews.

I always welcome feedback and suggestions.