Yesterday I met Tiffy downtown for an early lunch at the Globe, then we drove to the outdoor theater to see Fallen Angels, a play by Noel Coward. This was the play we had been most interested in when the Dairyman's Daughter gave us the list of plays we could get discounted tickets for, but I already had Mallards tickets for the night it was cheap. We decided driving home in the middle of the night on a Friday after a whole workweek was a lot anyway, so Tiffy got full-price tickets for the Saturday afternoon showing. Had we known, we could have waited for a day when tickets are half price, because wow are they expensive at full price! Meanwhile, the Dairyman's Daughter had won tickets in a silent auction, and she could choose any date, so she decided to go the date we were going. During the day there is a large awning over the stage to protect the actors from the sun, but nothing to protect us, unless we wore a hat like some very intelligent people did. (Just sayin.') The Dairyman's Daughter got a bit burned and bought some sunscreen during intermission. Wow, did we get hot out there! By the second half the sun had gone behind the trees enough so that we were in shade, and we wondered why they didn't just start the play an hour and a half later. It was a hilarious play about two women fearing they would be tempted to adultery by an old flame coming to town. Afterwards all three of us went out to dinner at the Riverside Resort, but all the outdoor seating that was actually riverside was full, so we had to sit inside and content ourselves with looking out the window.
After that Tiffy and I drove to Deerfield for an Arabian Nights Hookah Party co-hosted by Mamastep and the actual owner of the house, which had a spectacular garden he had filled with beautiful lights and tables with hookahs on them. People brought Mideastern food, and Mideastern music played in the background. The co-host and his paramour wore matching shirts. His house was full of orchids, and I loved this rug.
I should have taken a photo of the garden. Tiffy just stayed at a table on the deck and smoked the hookah with lemon cake flavored tobacco, but I went around and tried all the flavors: sweet corn, cappuccino (very disappointing), passionfruit, and banana milkshake. A woman I am friends with on social media said to her the banana milkshake was the uncanny valley of banana, which led to a discussion of the House on the Rock, the premier site of experiencing the uncanny valley. This morphed into a discussion of the problems with agriculture in this country, and Mamastep said, "I'd like to change the topic to manure," which isn't really changing it, and my social media buddy said, "By all means, let's talk sh-t." We all lost it, and her husband said, "That's why I married her!" She also brought pistachio cream tartlets in phyllo dough cups with chocolate drizzled on top in an attempt to make her own Dubai chocolate, and they were incredible. Travalon (who had been at Horicon all day with his high school buddy - photos soon) arrived and tried the different hookahs, and he loved the banana milkshake one, which was my second favorite. Almost everyone liked the lemon cake one best. When the party was winding down and I thought most people had left, I popped inside to powder my nose and discovered a small party in the living room, listening to Boismortier. When I mentioned it to the host, he said, "I changed the music to Egyptian jazz, but they must have changed it back." I said, "Egyptian jazz sounds cool," and he said, "Oh, it is!" but far be it from me to criticize anyone for listening to French Baroque composers. This was the coolest party I've been to in years, and I got home very late, so it felt a little like college again.
Today I felt a little queasy (too much hookah?), and at Mass it didn't help that a woman ahead of me had disgusting growths on her shoulders, and someone was having issues with flatulence, but I made it through. We were just going to go home and have a simple lunch there, but Travalon wanted to stop at the coffee shop on North Street, and outside of it was a truck selling lobster products. We got all distracted and forgot about the coffee; I was going to get a good, old-fashioned lobster roll, but they had a lobster grilled cheese sandwich on the menu, and I remembered those fondly from Bimini. Travalon got the lobster tail with tater tots. What an incredible find!
Travalon and I took a walk on Governor's Island, then we checked out a mysterious trail in the woods we had seen nearby, but it only went about twenty feet and then dead-ended, so we walked on the trail across from the bluff. We met Jilly Moose at the East Side Club to hear the steel drum band, and I hadn't realized that both of my Brazilian drumming teachers were in it. Toward the end of the concert it rained a tiny bit, so a bunch of people left, but we hardcore types (including a coworker from years ago) stuck it out. I saw this mysterious arch inside the East Side Club. It looks like it's for an autumn wedding, but it's not autumn yet!
And here is a gaming machine I saw at the Riverside Resort. Am I the only one who find this vaguely dirty?
And my tradescantia that is outside is blooming. This is a "bonus plant," because the pot is supposed to have a fuchsia plant in it, but that died and this plant appeared out of nowhere.
Tonight I had band practice, but I was a bit late getting there after the steel drum concert, so Hardingfele said, "You weren't trapping cats, so what's your excuse??" Apparently she was almost as late as I was. Our bassist was playing fiddle, so there were four fiddles, and I said, "Man, I almost brought my fiddle - we could have had five!" The bassist got her bass, and she let me play her fiddle on some klezmer tunes. It felt weird to go back to playing the mandolin again after all that time with my violin, but we got reacquainted with each other. She desperately needs new strings, so that is a project for sometime soon. Travalon bought me a set at one point, but I have no idea where they went. I might as well just buy new ones.
I forgot to mention that during Irish Fest I was hanging out with a pescatarian (Famie) and a hardcore vegetarian (the red-headed flute player), so I ate like them and never felt better. I came home resolved to continue this but quickly reverted to my old habits and then felt kind of sick. Today at the East Side Club the cheeseburgers grilling smelled so good, so I caved and had one... and it was incredible. Travalon agrees it was the best he'd had in a long time.
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