"Rumors" Has It

(No, I haven't ditched Alan...that's our Director, Ben Layman!)

That's the headline I'm hoping for from the local critics, but whether they say so or not, this show has "got it"! Neil Simon's farcical mayhem has come alive under Ben Layman's professional direction of a fantastic ensemble cast of local amateurs. The only thing missing from this production is sell-out crowds.

With two shows down and four more to go I'm having a great time listening to the audiences react to the antics on stage. Unfortunately, I can only guess at what exactly they're seeing because I live backstage now hunched over my script, poised to cue up the next sound effect. Most of the time, I have a pretty good idea what's going on based on the many hours of rehearsals I watched and took blocking notes for. But now and then the laughter surprises me and I have to wonder, what new bit of genius did the actors come up with tonight? Last night, they were laughing hysterically when someone came out of the powder room and all I could think of was maybe she has toilet paper on her shoe. I was right and it was perfect. What I really don't understand is how the cast doesn't lose it completely. They are really good. Even their mistakes elicit moments of inspired ad-libbing.

I'm having a great time and feel like an important cog in the show's machinery even though I'm not out there under the lights. In a way, it's nice: I didn't have to memorize pages and pages of snappy [read: difficult] dialogue and I don't have to worry about how I look. And, while I am nervous about screwing up the sound FX, no one sees my face if I do. I've enjoyed wearing many hats with the added bonus that most of my work is done now: I designed the posters and programs and a portrait for the set; I took blocking notes, served as prompter and ran a couple rehearsals; I procured props and helped build and decorate the set; and I helped with costumes. Now all I have to do is "crew" for the shows, setting props, running the sound system (music and FX), making a loud crashing noise once backstage and saying my one surprise line.

Now, all YOU have to do is COME TO THE SHOW!!

Next Generation Theatre at Between Friends Art Center, 39 Center St, Brewer

$10.00 (plus yummy concessions, including wine)

Remaining shows are TODAY, Sunday Sept 27 at 4:00pm

Friday-Saturday, October 2-3 at 7:00pm, Sunday October 4 at 4:00pm

Come enjoy a glass of wine and a lot of laughs!

Coming Soon To A Theatre Near You

Bangor Comunity Theatre presents
Neil Simon's

Directed by Ben Layman

Assistant Director/Stage Manager: Nancy Soule Marks!!

STARTING ONE WEEK FROM TOMORROW!!!

Anyone have a living room set they'd like to make famous?!?

The Secret Garden

One of my favorite places to go with the kids is "the Secret Garden", aka Littlefield Ornamental Gardens on the UMaine campus, right next to the credit union (shhhhhh....don't tell them I told you!)

This summer, Jeremy and I went on a nature photo expedition there. Just the two of us.

The obligatory boy-in-a-tree picture:

I don't know what this face is, other than adorable:

Time to go home...Jeremy heads out through the (deer-proof) turnstile:

One last shot--this is what you see from the parking lot which helps make our garden look "secret". It was also a sure sign, even a month ago, that fall was on its way.

We Concerted

Or rather, we went to a concert. Not any concert, though. A free, friendly, LL Bean sponsored, outdoors-on-the-most-gorgeous-day-ever, Blues Traveller concert.
Along with a few thousand other people.
We arrived at Freedom Park, in the center of the LL Bean smoke-free campus to discover that people had been staking out places to sit since Wednesday. We happened to arrive just after a set of bleachers had been opened up right next to the park, so we left a couple tee-shirts and wound up with a great view.


Chairs were neatly arranged and left for days with no fear that any would be stolen or moved.



Because this was BLUES TRAVELLER, a giant video screen, chairs and additional bleachers were also set up in the parking lot just behind the park.



Check out the imaginative housing for the video projector (it's a dog crate). A fellow MacGyver in our midst.



Here's what it looked like around 6pm as many people were coming to claim their seats or look for places to stand.





Bean's even decorated the trees and provided a lovely sunset.



The opening act was really good, and the headliners were fantastic. They gave a real show, too, not a take-what-you-get-it's-free show. Here's the big guy blowing away on that harmonica. He threw at least four of them into the crowd by the end of the night.



And here's what it looked like less than 24 hours later from the retail store looking across toward where we sat.




Concert? What concert?

We Shopped

This is what our debit transaction list looked like for August 1st and 2nd:


LL Bean FACTORY

LL Bean FACTORY

LL Bean RETAIL


LL Bean RETAIL

Mexicalli Blues

LL Bean RETAIL

LL Bean RETAIL




We like Bean's. We love Beans bargains!

We Biked

Someone gave us a bike carrier years ago that we'd never used and one of us had the bright idea to actually strap it on the car and load up the bikes and ride into Freeport from our campsite to further enhance our weekend experience.

It sounded great in theory until I started thinking about how un-athletic I am and until Alan actually tried to mount the rack on the van. One of the clips was missing and, after vainly checking every store we could think of that might have the right sort of thing, Alan was at a loss and we briefly thought perhaps it would be better to bag the idea.

But to me the missing strap was a puzzle to be solved. So I got creative and improvised with a plastic clip, some strapping, and a toy rolling pin the kids use for play-doh and I proudly presented my MacGyver-like contraption to Alan proclaiming that "If this works, I'm a genius!".



Well, it did work, but I suddenly thought "Genius?!? I'm an IDIOT!" I had thrown away a perfectly good excuse not to go on a really gruelling bikeride!
Ah...the high price of brilliance....





So we managed to get our bikes to Freeport in the appropriate number of pieces, and the weather was gorgeous, and the road looked pretty good and not too long and so my excuses all washed away with the previous night's rain.

And we were prepared. We had water bottles and snacks and sunscreen and helmets and cell phones and a spare tire tube and a toolset. We had an amazingly brilliant clear beautiful day. We were in no hurry and we walked up most of the hills without shame. We saw rambling farmsteads and quaint cottages, rolling vistas and a cool wind sculpture, gardens and guinea hens (at least, I think that's what those birds were that stopped traffic to usher their fluffy chicks across the road).


Here I am before we embarked on our 9 mile round trip looking confident...




or not [double-click the picture to see the look on my face]!



It was an hour before we arrived in Freeport's downtown, dripping with sweat. Fortunately we discovered that the new outlet village has luxurious, air-conditioned restrooms, where I changed into a clean tee and practically took a bath in the sink.

Then we shopped [see future post on the subject].

Here I am in Freeport looking pathetic because it's time to get back on the bike for the return trip:

Here's Alan contemplating the view--we're almost back to our campsite at this point, enjoying the breeze and the reasonable assumption that we'll make it back alive:



And here I am back at the start proving that I really did it (right before I basically fell over):



It was actually fun at times, and Alan never even needed to call the paramedics for me.

And eventually he even admitted that I am, in fact, a genius (at least in this case), so it was all worthwhile!

We Coleman Camped

Our weekend featured more than a few items from a certain prominent brand of camping gear, spanning decades of purchase dates, from "seasoned" items handed down to us from our parents to new items acquired via E-bay and Amazon.com.

We slept in Coleman flannel sleeping bags on a Coleman king-sized airbed, inflated with a Coleman battery powered air pump...

under a Coleman battery powered fan/overhead light...

inside a (you guessed it) Coleman 8-person tent.

We looked for our stuff with a Coleman wide-beam flashlight...

We set up our camp by the light of a Coleman lantern...

We kept our perishables in a Coleman cooler...

and cooked part of our breakfast on a Coleman camp stove (although the rest of our cooking was done properly on the fire, thank you very much!)

Hey Coleman guys! We like your stuff!!

We Camped

James spent a week at Camp Roosevelt with the Boy Scouts. He returned boggy and bugbitten but cheerful and chatty. He earned merit badges in fishing, swimming, and basketry.

Madeline spent a week at Camp Natarswi, the Girl Scout camp I attended for something like 9 years running "back in the day" (I'm refusing to do the math). We caught a mere glimpse of Katahdin on the way to pick her up but she did have some good weather while she was there. She passed her swim test, braved the tippy test (intentionally swamping a canoe so you know how to deal with it), tied a fly, got a bullseye, and earned her canoeing and archery pins.

[I'm telling you, Katahdin is right behind her.]

Jeremy spent a few days at Nana and Gumpy's camp in Hancock, learning about blueberry fields and collecting rocks.

And Alan and I camped, too. By ourselves. Just the two of us.

We drove to Freeport on Friday from Orono via Millinocket [we weren't lost, we had to pick up Madeline at camp first and then leave the kids with Nana Mary]. We arrived at Recompense Shore Campground at 11pm and set the tent up by the car headlights. We were fortunate to be so late because that's how we missed doing it in the pouring rain. Which would have been very bad.

By light of day our campsite looked like this:

Breakfast Saturday featured fried purple potatoes with onions and red peppers, bacon, and french toast:

After our Saturday adventures (see next few blogs) we enjoyed a peaceful campfire.

Yup, summer has truly arrived for the Marks Family.

Summer Crafts

We've made pipe cleaner critters a la Martha before (usually tigers and monkeys and such).
I thought we would make some woodland creatures as an homage to the local wildlife (deer and squirrels and such). Silly Mommy forgot she has boys!

Jamie made an alien:

and his alien had a pet:

And Jeremy made (oh what a surprise) an alien:

Madeline came through with a Lady Bug:

While I made two deer:

We put them in their own little habitat with real moss and a sprig from the prickly bush that needed trimming anyway...

...and presented them to our neighbors (a mother and daughter) along with the bread.

They remind me of our other neighbors who are a little shy: