The Sunday Report: a cow and a goat

It's been a warm day, but not so hot that I have to have the air conditioning on; this is good news, as it pleases me and Carlos both to have the windows open. He's sleeping in a window, in fact, so low and long that from a distance only his ear proves his location.

See?

Today has been a low-key day, where even a proposed trip to the movies ended up not happening, and I have been puttering about instead. Most recently, I have been watching Return to Cranford, which has to go back to the library shortly. Did I mention watching Cranford recently? I don't think I did. I read on a blog about it last month: it's a Masterpiece miniseries from a few years ago, and the writer was watching it while feeling Downton Abbey withdrawal. I decided to try it, and it truly is wonderful, just beautifully done, the costumes and the scenery and the acting, my word, Judi Dench is something, isn't she?

I do recommend it if you like that sort of thing, though there are two things I would say if you're thinking of watching it yourself.

• First, while I understand that in the mid-1800s, people did in fact often die younger and of things we don't expect to die of these days, knowing this is true does not make it any less painful to watch when one has become attached to a character. Or a lot of characters. Just saying.
• Second, although that's very true, there are also many truly funny moments. As the librarian said to me when I checked the first one out, "Let me know what you think of the cow."

Yesterday I had a really excellent evening with friends in Malden, watching Shakespeare in the Park! One of my friends had told me about it; there's a new organization in the city that was putting on A Midsummer Night's Dream in four local parks over four Saturdays in July. How excellent! Free* Shakespeare on a lovely evening with a like-minded group? Count me in!
*They didn't even "pass" the hat, but merely mentioned that one could contribute at the table if so moved. I hope a lot of people did, for they deserved it!

Before I share photos, let me add one thing that I didn't know until we got there, which pleased me mightily: it was "set" to music of the 80s, aka my childhood! It was great, great fun; I was the perfect target audience. They really chose well, too, such as playing a bit of Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go when the four wanderers awake from their drugged sleep.

The costumes were 80s-like as well, which just cracked me up. I mean, not all of them were; here's Titania, for instance:

Nothing about the 80s there. But Oberon:

Ah yes, into the time machine. And see Puck, there behind him? Also wonderful.

I also must call out Bottom the weaver, such a fun part but it could be deadly if not done well, and it was done well.

You can just tell he threw himself into it, can't you? Really the whole thing was remarkably well done, not at all what one might expect when one imagined a new group doing community theater in the park.

I wouldn't say it was perfect: there were moments when an actor was facing the other way, or particularly loud traffic went by, and words would be lost. But I do think they did a remarkable job under the circumstances. By all means, if you're around Malden next Saturday, seek it out. If not, we'll watch for them next summer, shall we? Hopefully they will have sound amplification by then, so we won't miss even a word.

I learned one other thing during the evening, which I would have been glad not to know but must admit to be true: I can't sit on the ground for that long, and next time must bring a chair. My back was killing me afterward! I wish it not to be true, but it is. Plenty of people were in chairs, so I will be in good company.

Also, I could and did knit through the production, meaning that I got to here on the second sock:

Having finished the first Saturday morning:

And today, I've been working on the Tardis shawl, and the tops are starting to appear:

This is very exciting! (Just nod. Humor me.)

Finally, one other thing about Friday night, when I was meeting my friends for dinner. Since they came to my town, I walked over to the restaurant early to put our name in, so we could get a table on the patio. That done, I sat on a bench outside to knit and people-watch until they arrived, which was very pleasant (two of my favorite things, in fact). At one point, a pair of teenage girls, perhaps 15, came up and politely asked if they could ask me something. I said sure*, and they asked, if I could give everyone one piece of advice, what would it be?
*Refraining from giving my father's answer, which would have been, "You just did."

Ah. Well. Hmm.

I thought for a moment, then decided on, "Just relax," because as a people, we do tend to get worked up a lot, don't we?

(Perhaps I should have told them, "Be the goat" but that's more a visual joke, right?

)


They thanked me, said that was good advice, and walked on. A woman of around 60 was coming down the street, from the same direction they had come, and when she got closer to me, she said, "Did they ask you about the fish?"

Ah. No?

"They asked me about fish," she explained.

"They asked me what advice I would give everyone," I told her, and she said, "They asked me how I would define fish."

Hmmm.

I wonder if it was a school project, or if they were just amusing themselves? Pretty inventive if they were.