The Miracle Worker Miracle

As Sheryl posted in February, she auditioned for and landed the part of Aunt Ev in the local production of the Miracle Worker. She really had been a shining star in her college days, at the OSU theater, decades ago, so I was taken by surprise at just how nervous she was at auditions, play practice, and then opening night. Not to worry, what a pro. It may have been a mere 40 years since her last performance but she was wonderful. One evening they had a scene where Helen Keller was still a baby (played by a doll in a cradle) when someone accidentally kicked over the cradle and sent the doll sprawling across the stage. Drawing not only on her theater experience, but her well tuned grandmothering skills, Sheryl rushed across the stage grabbed the poor baby and soothed her back to tranquility as if it was part of the production. She drew kudos from the director for her quick thinking. (He obviously has never seen her grandmothering before.)
I had enjoyed her rehearsal days as she drove a twelve year old cast member back and forth every night and this generated hilarious stories as they became good friends over the two months. She obviously enjoyed the entire experience, made some good friends, and it brought quite the sparkle to her eye. They made her up as an "Old Lady" which I found to be quite a hoot! I love that girl.

Its Called "Spring"

Having lived in Klamath for 34 years we enjoyed the 3 seasons, Summer, Fall and Winteeeeeeeeeeeeer. Now, here in Corvallis there seems to be a 4th season and the locals call it "Spring." It's quite nice and we are enjoying it quite a lot. Yes, there is still some rain now and then but mostly it is warmer and rejuvenating. Flowers grow right out of the ground! Grandkids play soccer. (Aren't they cute as little Beavers!) Andy is thrilled his first year as a vice principal will last only 40 more days, and Sheryl is in her last rehearsals of The Miracle Worker.Opening night is next Friday!

Going to Class

Life in Corvallis is beginning to shift (though FAR from over) from unpacking boxes to dabbling in the academic life of OSU and its community of folks who make us feel really dumb.
Those of you who have followed this blog surely know we have attended scads of Beaver sporting events. That continues, as well as hosting about a dozen Mazama & Henley friends who came to Corvallis to watch their basketball teams in the state tournament. But now we have more free time so we have joined the OSU Alumni Association, the Academy of life Long Learning, The OSU Folklore Association, and continually watch the University Calendar to find events, exhibits, lectures and programs of interest, not to mention, Sheryl’s role of Aunt Ev in the upcoming production of the Miracle Worker.

We have attended “What bugged the dinosaurs?’ (insects trapped in amber), “Medicine in Early Christianity,” “Global Warming and Tropical Rain Forests,” “Is there life in the Universe – The Drake Equation,” “Roving Mars,” “Glass on the run” “Is there Life After Death – The Debate,” “The physics of cancer treatment,” and some other junk I don’t seem to remember.

Depending on who you are that might be reading this you may say, “Gosh, that sounds interesting!” or “Why would you go to that crap?” Well both responses would be appropriate. If you are of our generation you probably recall only a few good college professors who made things interesting. Others simply used a chalkboard or maybe showed slides while they read from their yellowed notes in a boring monotone.

Nowadays modern professors in this futuristic, whiz-bang, glitzy world of high tech show a power-point presentation while they read from their yellowed notes in a boring monotone. Shouldn’t we have known? Some things just do not change. As I recall from college days, once we had suffered through that freshman year we started to ask around and figure out who were the interesting professors and which classes were actually worthwhile. Well, I think we are just now finishing our freshman year of Corvallis retirement and we shall start asking around! But it will probably just remain a crapshoot.

Protests and the Theater

Bryon usually does these posts - but this time I'm trying my hand at one, so here we go...

Today took us back in time. We are after all - products of 60's. So - we went to a protest rally at the State Capitol(Salem, Oregon)in solidarity with Wisconsin workers. We sadly had no cheese heads to wear - but we brought a home made sign and participated - a small gesture - but one small stab at returning our country to the basics that made it such a great place to live and raise kids all these years...

I also stepped back in time last week - about 40 years back in time. Back in the 60's, at OSU, I got involved in some University Plays, and for years and years since then I talked about auditioning for a play in Klamath Falls. But I just never got around to it. I can't believe that 40+ years slipped away and I was still only talking about it - but never doing anything. So when I saw that the Albany Community Theater was auditioning for the Miracle Worker, I walked down to OSU, checked out the play and read it. There seemed to be only one part for an "older women," that of Aunt Ev. Bryon was happy for me to give it a go. So with sweaty palms and heart palpitations, I drove the short distance to Albany and found myself on a stage with a bunch of people I had never met, squinting - with a "deer in the headlights" expression - reading for the play. Needless to say - I was the oldest person in the entire theater and I thought I botched the whole thing royally. The next night we all were supposed to return for the second night of auditions. I decided not to go and just give up the idea, but alas and alack, couldn't do that because I had to go back to return the script I borrowed from the Stage Manager (the OSU copy I had read was different in many ways). Well - if I was going to go back - maybe I would just spend a few hours reading over Aunt Ev's lines and seeing if I couldn't figure out how to do a better job this time. (Bryon, bless his heart, thought I was nuts to give up so quickly.) To make a long story longer - I found out two days ago that I will be playing the part of Aunt Ev. Jumpin-Jee-Hose-Afats. I guess we will find out if I can still learn lines, remember them and say them at the right time? This will be a stretch! It will be an adventure, for sure. The last time I dressed up as someone other than myself was with mixed to poor results, as a member of Cheech and Chong for an Oscar party, as you can see from the photo. Wish me luck. I'll need it.

Christmas in Corvallis

Family, that's what it's all about. Ty and Meghan spent Xmas eve with us then we all drove down to Eugene for Christmas with the entire family. As always Kaylin and Brooklyn were the center of attention. Andy deep fried an 11 pound turkey that was fabulous. I think he just inherited a tradition. The kids were fun, Santa was good to all and we were just so thankful to all be together.
The next day we were invited across the street to a wonderful neighbor's birthday party. This ain't Klamath. When we moved in the average IQ of Cascade Ave dropped about 50 points. The neighbor Cliff is a statistics prof at OSU (I hated statistics). We chatted with a really nice lady who is doing Oceanic Paleantology of Foraminifera and then spectroscopy of their oxygen isotopes to evaluate ancient ocean temperature in the Bering Sea. Honest! It just goes on like that. But we didn't chat too much as Cliff's son was part of the four piece group playing incredible stuff on the mini stage they have in their living room. Previously we had been to the block Christmas party held by a pair of married doctors and I quite enjoyed meeting the entomologist and her forestry professor husband.
Gee we feel dumb.
It does rain a lot in Corvallis.
The snow was in November we had a wet Christmas, not a white Christmas.
Today ( December 27, 2010) the contractors are done! Please come visit.

Family Times

As we get more moved in every day we have had some time to go Baby-sit Kaylin and Brooklyn and to have them here with us. They are just such a joy and usually have us howling with laughter in no time. I'll post a video of them dancing to the Beaver fight song over Thanksgiving weekend.

They're Home!

Just before Thanksgiving Tyler and Meghan arrived here in Oregon after 10 months plus on the road. Ty looked a bit like a Yeti as he hadn't had a shave or a haircut in months but we didn't care, it was just so good to see them and to have the entire family together again. Those of you who have followed their bus crash in Turkey should know that they both seem just fine now that they are back in clean sheets and western food once again.