May. 7th, 2009

camping!

May. 7th, 2009 11:29 am
jazzfish: Jazz Fish: beret, sunglasses, saxophone (Default)
It's easy enough to say "don't post on topics that may inspire lots of comments on a day when you aren't going to be around to continue a fairly fascinating conversation." Only, who knows what those topics may turn out to be? Which is to say, lots of good stuff from last Friday, and thank you all.

I ran off that weekend to have my shoulder looked at. The one that's been bothering me for, um, around eighteen months now. The physical therapist has me doing stretches and things to generally improve my posture, which can only be to the good. Having actual instructions other than 'don't slouch' (those being 'drop your shoulders' and 'tighten your shoulderblades together') is likely to help matters.

Also visited the Canadian embassy in DC and got told that only the Buffalo office handles immigration matters. Waste of a perfectly good afternoon.

After that, [livejournal.com profile] uilos and I headed off to the wilds of Pennsylvania for a weekend of camping. Said weekend mostly consisted of things that didn't work out quite as anticipated but were really good anyway. Getting locked out of one campground ("oh, we don't actually open for camping for another two weeks. yeah, you're not the first people to try this after reading the website. sorry about that") and driving another 30 minutes to another. A BRIDGE OUT detour that took us through crazy back roads (and thank gord for the Device, as without it we'd never have realised that the detour kicked us out further north on 82 than we needed to be). Enough rain that the picnic table oozed water when we sat on it, but still a mostly-dry Satyrday for hiking and campfire. (Which was its own Experience, as the wood had really only had time to dry out on the outside. I don't think I've ever had that much trouble making a fire before.) Also, protip: do not refrigerate the two-year-old marshmallows, as this causes them to become like unto chewy sticky rocks. Even after toasting.

The rain dripped through much of Sunday morning while we were breaking camp, and then opened up on us as we loaded the last of the things into the car. Rather decent of it, I thought.

Once loaded we met up with [livejournal.com profile] tamnonlinear for a run through the Brandywine Museum (a gorgeous converted mill), featuring various Wyeths and most importantly a wonderful Edward Gorey exhibit. Plenty of illustrations from the books; also, decorated envelopes from letters to his mother, a handful of sketchbooks, and Gorey's fur coat. Then lunch (french toast, despite the name, should probably not be made from french bread; the pancakes, on the other hand, were nothing short of amazing), and an enjoyable ramble through the Book Barn. And then home, through more rain. (We waved to [livejournal.com profile] elvenyukiryu as we passed Avondale but were too exhausted and wet to stop and say hi.)

In all, an immensely pleasant weekend. The tent has been set up on the porch since Sunday evening. At this point I'm starting to wonder if it will ever have a chance to dry out.
jazzfish: artist painting a bird, looking at an egg for reference (Clairvoyance)
If you're in the DC area (even on a visit) I can highly recommend taking an evening to see Tom Stoppard's modern classic Arcadia, now playing at the Folger Shakespeare Theatre. Everyone involved did an excellent job; the only quibble I had was that Lady Croom was a bit too over-the-top and, well, theatrical, for my tastes. I'd always thought of her as being more of the devastatingly-raised-eyebrow type. This was pretty clearly a deliberate directorial choice, and one that worked well enough.

If you're unfamiliar with Arcadia, go see it anyway. It is hilarious and smart and poignant, often all at once, from the very second line through to the final blackout.



I can't remember the last time I was at the Folger. It may have been spring '96 (or maybe '97), watching Troupe's performance at the Student Shakespeare Festival. It's. . . unchanged. Very odd, to see the long marble walkway and think "right, those are the stairs where we took group pictures," or the narrow lobby with the big marble columns around the stairways, or the giant awkward pillars on the stage.

Running into Alicia McBride (who I think recognised me) and her father (who didn't until I introduced myself) outside only added to the surreality of the whole experience.

High school was a really long time ago now.

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Adventures in Mamboland

"Jazz Fish, a saxophone playing wanderer, finds himself in Mamboland at a critical phase in his life." --Howie Green, on his book Jazz Fish Zen

Yeah. That sounds about right.

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