O Little Theaters of Washington......

Hi there. Before I forget again, I need to hold forth on our theater events here in D.C. Maybe it won't interest you, but in some cases I just have to say .... err things.
First before Christmas we (grandma, grandad, and I) took little one to see A Christmas Carol. It was put on by the Ford's Theatre company at the Shakespeare Theater -- Ford's is still under renovation. It was a wonderful perforamance. Absolutely wonderful! I should put a caveat on that that I am addicted to A Christmas Carol, and I tend to be prissy about it. This was a great production. Little one had never seen a play before and never seen anything but the Muppets Christmas Carol. He was thoroughly entranced, so much so that when we returned him to his parents he said he wanted to have a "Christmas Carol birthday"! Now that's a fan!!!! Mommy explained that it would be kinda hard to take his friends to a Christmas play in March, but maybe they could find another play.
On the 30th we went to see the new production of West Side Story at the National Theater. Ok, I'll admit right up front that I never saw the original, adn I don't speak Spanish. The dancing was wonderful as were the lighting and the set. The sound left soemthing to be desired. You know how theaters always seems a bit too loud when you first start a performance and then you get used to them? Well here it was always a bit too soft. I found myself almost always straining to hear what was being said. Add to that the fact that the new revision of this is now in Spanish. And add to that the fact that the National Theater is terribly uncomfortable (look people, I am not the only 6-foot-tall person in the world and I have to sit sideways in my seat because my knees do not fit between my seat and the seat in front of me). Ultimately I enjoyed the evening and I'm more than happy I went. It was, however, an experience I don't need to repeat. Oh, and pet peeves of the evening -- 1) who thought it was a good idea to hang the giant speaker system (which apparently doesn't work) directly over the beautiful original federal stye eagle over the stage? Moron. 2) There's a guy called out in the program as the official National Theater logo designer. Dude, the logo is a stylized version of the eagle over the stage that some moron put the speaker over. Oh, and by the by, that logo of your's is close enough to the NRA blue eagle that you really needn't have bothered.
Finally for New Year's Eve we went to see the Songs of Andrew Lloyd Webber at the Kennedy Center. If you are here and are musically inclined, I'd suggest an evening at the Kennedy Center. It is a marvelous structure and, as should be the case, the acoustics are divine. The Webber show was very, very good. My BIL couldn't help humming in the first half and my sister could help but sing along with the second half.

My heavens I've yammered on a lot about all that. Let's have some pics, shall we?

On and off here it's been cold ---
Here's the "outdoor freezer" in use (as a Californian this is totally foreign to me)

This is the pond directly behind my sister's house:

And here's ice in the yard of Montpellier (Madison's house):


Despite the cold on the day we went to Montpellier, it was a nice trip. If you're out here and have a day and a car and are inclided to historic homes, I'd recommend the trip out to Orange, VA to see where James Madison lived. It's diferent than most historic homes since they are not seeking to bring it back to looking like the Madisons just left for the day, but rather they have restored it to sort of bare bones construction so you can see what went into the building of a house of the era.

Seriously, how would you like that view from your front porch?
And this view from fromyour side yard:


Some random DC pics:

new to the "yard" of the Smithsonian American Art Museum is Roy Lichtenstein's "Modern Head" which used to be in Battery Park NYC until just after 9-11

The exterior of the Newseum which I hope to get to .... maybe (they are hosting two cool exhibits right now, "G-Men and Journalists" and "Presidential Pets")


A new light sculpture installation in the understreet walkway between the East and West buildings of the National Art Gallery


Ok, I'm part magpie-- I can't help but stare at the sparkles....

For an article about the installation called Multiverse by Leo Villareal

On Christmas day we went over to the FDR memorial -- it was a darn cold but beautiful day --

And it's a nice monument -- sure Franklin would hate the sculpture of him in a wheel chair, but the rest of it is nice.

(that paque is 18-20 inches tall -- pretty cool, eh?)
Official FDR Memorial Squirrel:


Note to National Theater-- please note the eagle is older than your bloomin' logo.















Sister and BIL

Me and The Sister

For the record, I'll have more stitching updates soon. I have been doing things, honest. Today I even hauled out my sister's Christmas stockings and began working on my BIL's. Maybe tomorrow after we fill little one up with sugar and send him home to his parents (heee heeee) I'll get a chance to download some updates for you.




Happy stitching to all and to all a good night!