This Land was Made for You and ME!

What an opportunity I’ve been granted! To see the places and things I’ve only previously seen in text books or on television. It really is a great boon to get to see this nation of ours while doing the work I was trained to do. I’ve been privileged enough to stay in some of the greatest cities and lovliest places in our land, and all on the company dime! Sure, sometimes it’s really just a drive-by viewing and a lament of “we hardly knew ye!”, but nonethe less we’ve been having a great time running around America, taking it by storm!

Among my favorite excursions was the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. It has to be seen to be believed my friends. This batty old lady was the heiress to the Winchester Rifle fortune in the days before income tax; in short she was loaded. She was also quite eccentric and probably more than a little bored. After her Husband and only child succumbed to tuberculosis she was overcome with grief and sought spiritual advice with a medium, hoping to contact her deceased loved ones in séance sessions. (This was a very popular and fashionable movement for the wealthy upper class at the time- even Mary Todd Lincoln jumped on this bandwagon at its advent nearly half a decade previously.) During one of these sessions, as legend has it, the medium informed Mrs. Winchester that the reason her loved ones had been taken from her was as punishment. Bad fortune had befallen Mrs. Winchester because of all the souls killed by Winchester Rifles. The medium told Mrs. Winchester that she must appease the souls killed by the Winchester rifles or suffer even more misfortune.

Apparently the spirits wanted her to build them a house, to CONTINUALLY build a house 24 hours a day, 7 days a week NON-STOP until the day she died. She did just that. She had carpenters and construction workers working at all hours with only the vaguest building plans, which were provided-, no joking- by the spirits who communicated their desires during weekly séances. This results in a very confused, jumbled together and ENORMOUS estate with bizarre features such as stairs that go directly up and disappear into ceilings, doors that open into walls, windows on the interior of the house, French doors in the floor, and even a door that opens up to a three-story drop.

By the end of the hour tour we’d seen over 60 rooms with hundreds left un viewed, we’d walked a full mile puzzling over the mental state and financial situation of this whimsical woman, and according to our tour guide, witnessed more panes of glass than are contained in the Empire State building. Such a Mind Trip! I encourage you to check it out online, and I can’t wait to show you pictures. I mean, one of my favorite parts was the 7\11 staircase: It was a series of three short staircases going up and down and over, that, when you were through took you right back to the same level of the house only about 10 feet away—in short, a HALLWAY would have sufficed, but I suppose the spirits thought that too mundane! The best part of the whole thing is: even though she had some insane number of bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, dining rooms, sitting rooms and so forth, she NEVER ENTERTAINED GUESTS, never, because she was in mourning. Wild huh?

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS . . .

I also had occasion to Visit the fabulously spectacular city of
LAS VEGAS! It was quite bright and glittery and everything the movies make it appear, and I was surprised to find myself enjoying it! I wanted to see it of course, but didn’t think I’d take to it- I’m such a staunch New England Girl (not fond of too much nonsense and excess), but the fancy and whimsy of the place really made me feel like a little kid! A little kid with a margarita, but hey! I don’t care for gambling, but played some slots under threat of death from my mother (“You’re in VEGAS, you HAVE to try it!), and had fun (though I only won a few dollars at most.). I loved looking at all the themed hotels and marveling at how clever the designers and architects were to have conceived of and completed them. I enjoyed seeing clumps of Elvis impersonators hanging out together and posing for photos. I had fun spotting various locations used in major motion pictures. And mostly I was in good company with some incredible friends. I can understand why Mum and Nannie enjoyed it so much- smoking is allowed EVERYWHERE! And do you know what? Everyone was friendly and helpful. I suppose this is because they want you to be in a pleasant mood so you’ll spend the most money possible at their establishment, but nonetheless I appreciated the kindness.

Then we headed down to Arizona where I spent Thanksgiving away from my family. This was hard, it was a bit sad and it was a first: The first time I’d ever missed a thanksgiving in Massachusetts. It was surreal to go swimming –outside- in the late fall, but It was pleasant. It was strange to be watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from a hotel room with a view of palm trees, cacti and sunshine, but that too was oddly pleasant. In fact, when it was time to head down to breakfast, out of force of habit (23 years in the making) I looked around for my shoes and coat before I realized a robe and slippers would suffice: see, we always put the cider outside in the snow or chill to get it cold enough for dinner, but here it would have actually become more like mulled apple cider out in the desert sun!

THE FLORA AND THE FAUNA

One of the most delightful and exciting parts about this expansive cross-country journey has been the flora and fauna along the way. Sometimes I grapple with the reality of it, that I am ACTUALLY seeing a huge mountain, that it is not on t.v., or that I am REALLY watching buffalo munch away on a butte, not looking at a photo in National Geographic. It is spectacular and humbling to witness some of the sunrises and sunsets, to be dwarfed by the forests on the incredible Northwest, to get a sunburn at the beach in the middle of November and to touch petrified wood in the petrified forest and then drive through the painted desert and gape at the beautiful painted mountains!

Beyond the scenic wonders is the wildlife. I have seen Deer and Antelope playing as well as buffalo roaming. I have witnessed huge birds that look like something out of Jurassic Park. Wild horses, vultures dining on roadkill, coyotes (umm roadkill, but still, nothing I’d ever see back home!) lizards, and even some dangerous little beasties!

In California we all stopped in our tracks as a spider rappelled down before us. As we skirted around the gigantic ting and were marveling at how large it was, we recognized the tell-tale orange-red hourglass shape on it’s body. That’s right, a genuine BLACK WIDOW SPIDER, and yours truly nearly walked right into it and got the thing stuck in my hair!! Then in Tucson one of the stage hands had to capture a little trouble maker as it tried to invade the theatre. He had it in a Tupperware container and was glad to show us tourists the baby SCORPION! Apparently a baby variety of the most poisonous and deadly scorpion in the south west. He told us that even though it was just a baby it would still pack quite a punch if it stung, and the pain would be considerable- even lose-a-limb dangerous if not treated properly!

A Black Cat Didn't Cross My Path, but . . .

But sometimes mother nature is more than something to gawk at out the window of our quickly moving vehicle, or ooh & ahh over above a Tupperware container. Sometimes, like on the drive from Oregon to Reno Nevada, she has plans of a more interactive variety. I was the driver for the second half of this journey, for when the drives are long (10-14 hours long) we split it up between two people. Megan drove through most of Oregon- a beautiful drive through state preserves and the strange alkali lake region of the ‘oregon outback’. I kept calling out the window for bigfoot- a gutteral sort of wailing something like Chewbacca does in Star Wars, but much less effective- hoping to sight the Sasquatch and get them on film, but to no avail. The first half of the trip was wonderfully scenic but not terribly eventful.

Then I got behind the wheel. Folks, I have never hit an animal. I had never, before this journey, come very close to hitting an animal (except for the times Daubach likes to lay in the driveway regardless of my Honda’s intention of parking right where he is sun-bathing), let alone had so many close calls in one drive! I NEARLY HIT 5 CREATURES in about 5 HOURS!

The first was a cow. Now, incase you haven’t traveled across the country you should know this: every contiguous state of this union has cows. Some states have more cows than others maybe, but every state we’ve driven through has contained at least one cow farm that we pass regrettably, holding our breath for the stench. Usually the cows are in pens. Large paddocks, fenced in areas to the left and right of the highway. This cow, however, was a rebel. She was standing precisely in the center of the road. Standing there pleased as pie and with no real intent to move apparently. Luckily this was not a major highway so I was the only vehicle around and wasn’t going very fast, else this cow would be through. I slowed down and we all took pictures of her. I guess she was camera shy, however and didn’t care for the paparazzi because she trotted off the road looking embarrassed and we waved goodbye on our merry way. I was very glad I had been paying full attention to the road, and kind of excited to have an “I almost hit a COW!” story.

As we drive along I’m careful to pay more attention to the signs along the side of the road that you usually ignore= the ones regarding animals that have the potential for wandering into your path at any given moment. The signs start telling me that LIVESTOCK may happen across my path fro the next 6 miles. Where was that warning BEFORE I’d nearly hit the cow? So I’m joking and looking out for crossing farm animal, when I DO see something venturing into the road ahead of me! My brain is rapidly trying to process what variety of livestock this creature could be while simultaneously performing the proper emergency avoidance procedure that the driver of a vehicle must perform, when finally I realize that this animal isn’t livestock, but rather a dog—a dog wearing a cone around his neck! Maybe he had fleas or had just been neutered, but for whatever reason this dog felt so depressed he wanted to fling himself into traffic. At the last moment however, he must have decided that wearing a cone wasn’t the end of the world and he turned back with only precious seconds to spare! Crazy mutt! So now it’s strange that I’ve nearly hit two animals and I’m beginning to feel a bit uneasy.

Now the sun is setting (which is a tricky time to drive) and it is getting dark quickly. We’re somewhere in California and the sunset over a huge lake has been so beautiful I have trouble keeping my eyes on the road. However I must have had them on the road just enough because I very narrowly escape plowing our van into a large young Buck. Antlers and everything! There he was, majestic as anything, sauntering across the road without bothering to look both ways! This one was a much closer call than the cow, had to really hit the brakes, as it was dark and I didn’t see him till I was too close for comfort. I apologized profusely to my shaken passengers, but they were happy I’d stopped short rather than hit it! Knees shaking I continue.

The drive is uneventful for a time, but I feel a distinct apprehension. 3 near misses- the next time I’m bound to hit something. I can only pray that it is small and not human. I start joking that about the hypothetical menagerie of animals that may find themselves drawn before the beam of my headlights, and since we are now driving through parts of the desert I start imagining even Extra Terrestrials crossing my ill-fated path.

We get off on a wrong exit and have to take a strange little connector road with corn crops towering next to us and hardly a car in sight when I have to break fo another animal! It wasn’t an alien, but a skunk! Waddling right across the road at a leisurely pace. Now this is just getting crazy!

We drive by a freshly killed coyote and I feel as though that was a near miss for me as well, when a huge bird (probably an OWL) dives infront of the van, deciding that a fine cruising altitude of 3 feet would be safe! As I’m on the highway at this point and it happened so fast I just have to be grateful that that Owl’s luck held out and he just barely flirted with the disaster that would have been him smeared all over my grill.

By this time we were nearly to the hotel and I couldn’t be happier- my knees were weak and I was drained from the undue amount of vigilance I had needed to maintain. Maybe Mother Nature had it in for me, maybe it was a coincidence, but NOBODY else on this tour has ever come close to hitting any animals, yet I had 5 encounters in one ride! Boy am I glad I wasn’t driving in BigFoot territory- I would have felt just awful hitting something so endangered and rare- not to mention the Damage he’d do to the van!

Love you, and can’t wait to come home to New England where the flora and fauna are better proportioned!

-BETH

P.S.
The American Southwest is quite an interesting place, very evocative of the movie westerns and childhood imaginings of cowboys and indians. Here is a short list of some of my favorite place-names that we drove by:

Dead Man Wash
Horse Thief Canyon
Bloody Basin
Dead Horse Gulch
Dry Beaver Creek
Two Guns
Meteor Crater Road
Dead River
Coyote Landing
Crazy Creek
Big Bug Creek

A DAY IN THE LIFE . . .

Monthly Update

Well folks, it certainly wasn’t my intention to continually go so long between posts, but life on the road is a lot busier and more exhausting than I ever could have anticipated! After a typical morning of waking at 5:30 am; a bath routine of showering, brushing teeth, brushing hair, dressing and re-packing my suitcase; getting my items packed into the van; checking out the continental breakfast to see if there’s anything remotely palatable or containing at least a modicum of nutritional value (I wish I were joking- the over-sugared, half-frozen, bruised or week-old items they set out every dawn at some of these hotels would raise your eyebrows or maybe raise bile in your throat most of the time!), we pile into the van by 7:30 ish (7:45 if the Lord has smiled upon us) to be at the space by 8am. {Keep in mind folks that this is a typical day, not a NEW VENUE day or a particularly difficult Load-in where we’d move the whole schedule up a half hour or hour: Joy of Joys!}

Once at the venue we start unpacking the truck and setting up all our various and sundry equipment and constructing the set. This involves working with the local crew and tech-staff. Usually this goes well enough, but occasionally we get stuck with know-it-all crews or especially stubborn crew, crews who are actually temps and have never set foot behind stage or in a theatre (I’m not joking- not even a bit- this has happened several timesJ) and my particular favorite variety of uncooperative crew: THE SEXIST CREW! Being raised in the American Northeast sometime after the 1965 I have rarely encountered such levels of sexism and backward thinking, but visiting some of these (well Backwater is the term I’m thinking, but that sounds rude…) out-of-the-way places—places well outside the modern century, More than half of our company is looked at as weak, incompetent, unnatural, useless and maybe delusional for choosing a man’s career. What a way to start a morning huh? But honestly, we just grin and bear it most of the time because to make up for the handful of really jerk populated crews we get blessed with wonderful, helpful, fun and professional crews the rest of the time.

From about 8:15 (if the un-loading went well) until 9am I am meeting with the house sound tech and determining technical issues like ‘where can I plug in?’ and then having him do all the time-consuming tasks that require little-to-no brain power (I do this as busy-work while I set up more important stuff, usually because of the slow or incompetent crews, it is a safe default.) We have to set up my speakers, run cables, set up my sound rack, and set up my microphones.

At 9am I swap my sound engineer hat for the stylish House Manager cap and set out to locate my ushers and the local house manager. Like the crew, this collection of people can also be temps (which makes life really un-pleasant), they can be quite stubborn and set in their ways (this can be very difficult, but often ends up being a blessing because these people know the house and have run the house the exact same way since the fall of the confederacy), ancient (again, anti-bellum. I can’t tell you how many octogenarian house staff I’ve encountered. They are precious but often have difficulty with America’s teenagers of today), or completely wonderful (well-trained, flexible and cooperative.) I meet with them for 5 to 10 minutes outlining Chamber’s policies and procedures, relaying any special seating information and thanking them profusely for all their anticipated help.

Then I hustle back into the auditorium to finish my mic-set up and to run a sound check, determining levels and making sure everything is in working order—a very important step when your sound equipment lives in a truck getting jostled and rattled around daily!

By 9:45 we are supposed to open the house and start seating the schools. Sometimes this happens, but due to inevitable technical difficulties (old equipment, broken set, etc.)it usually ends up being closer to 9:50 to 10:00. When we’re ready to open I head uot to the lobby and greet the school groups!! This involves checking every teacher in and going over the behavior guidelines, getting them to sign financial papers, and handing them off to the ushers for seating. Sometimes there are only a handful of schools with groups of 30 to 50 and this goes quickly and efficiently. More often however I’m dealing with a veritable ZOO out front with 30 groups waiting to be seated, all of them wanting the front- the best seats, when the house is at full capacity of nearly 3,000 people! Eventually we get them all seated (though not always happily), and barring the old ‘Bus Breakdown’ story or ‘We’re lost and can’t find parking!’ all the schools are using the restrooms in droves and chattering loudly before the curtain goes up at 10:30!

The first act consists of THE TELL TALE HEART and THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, both of which the kids really seem to enjoy. They love the blood and murder in Tell Tale and get a kick out of the silly humor and special effects in Sleepy Hollow. During the first act I am usually still fiddling with levels and knobs trying to get the sound as perfect as possible (My father’s daughter), and during long stretches without any sound cues I’m starting my paperwork.

At intermission I run backstage and am in charge of changing the set. Our Stage manager does one half and I do the other. This means adding platform extensions, putting out new props, moving benches and dressing the set.

Then Act Two! Act Two means THE MONKEY’S PAW, THE NECKLACE, and THE CELEBRATED JUMPING FROG OF CALAVERAS COUNTY. The second act always starts off a bit rough, because the kids have just had about 15 minutes to get vociferous, to get up and use the restrooms, and to generally goof-off. However, by the exciting technical-extravaganza of a climax where the zombie son crawls home from the graveyard the kids are generally rapt. Then comes The Necklace. This one always surprises me- it is a lot of exposition, a lot of dialogue with not much action, in a word: It’s Boring for an audience of middle-schoolers. HOWEVER, in the end, when the ironic twist is revealed, the kids are really vocal in their response- they talk about the turn of events to their neighbors all throughout the scene shift into FROG and seem genuinely excited about what they have just seen. The reactions range from dismayed gasps to surprised laughs, even to shouted exclamations such as: “OH SNAP!” or “WHAT?!?!?” or “NO WAY!!!”. The teachers try to shush them, but we smile, glad that they have been hooked by the story. Then, across the board, every audience has LOVED the Jumping Frog story. This is like watching a cartoon come to life. Very campy, but they eat it up. A grown man in huge frog flippers doing a tiny falsetto voice just puts them in stitches every time! Then they all leave in an up-beat mood and it’s great to hear them as they exit comparing favorites or arguing over which was the best. It makes me proud to be a part of this venture- bringing theatre to young audiences who might otherwise never get to see something like this—keeping a grand tradition alive.

OK! Now we breakdown the set and equipment, pack it all away in boxes, on carts and such, then start re-packing the truck! I also have to call the home office and report financial information and relay the day’s events, while getting all the necessary info for the next day’s show. The show should end by 12:15 and we should be out by 2pm (one minute over and Chamber has to pay the union people for another whole hour! Nice union to be a part of huh?). We then hop in the vehicles and travel, often for many hours, to the next city where we lug our stuff into the hotel of the moment and generally collapse on our questionably-clean sheets. It is a gamble whether or not the hotel will have internet access, and even if I do have it I’m often too tired to muster the will to blog!

Now you know what my life is like. We live for weekends or small pleasures like good lunch or internet access. However, despite being so busy and tired, I am ultimately happy. This tour has improved immeasurably since our new stage manager Ahsley’s arrival on the scene. We are all a lot happier, more sane and in general more excited about our work. I am, of course, missing home, and eager to be on the way back at last, but am ultimately glad to have some incredible memories and fond feelings to take back with me- not to mention the valuable learning experiences (awww, sappy huh? Movie of the week ;).

See you all before you know it!

Love Always,

BETH

You're the Best!

A quick thanks to all those who keep checking back regularly and leave me comments too! I enjoy you words of encouragement, advice, support and humour! Especially Aunt Reggie, Aunt Nancy and DER!! (I know others read too, particularly Mum, but leaving a message is tricky- I understand!). I have Aunt Nancy's E-mail, but I don't have everyones, so be sure to drop me a virtual line sometime too!

My email is available in my Blog Profile (or I'm sure dad will be glad to give it to you :)

Love Always,
Beth

At Last!

Hello, and welcome back to the blog that has been grossly overdue for some time now! I'm Beth and I'll be your host through another harrowing installment of: "Tour Happenings 2006!" Fasten your Seatbelts folks, it has been a VERY bumpy ride for the past few weeks.

The first order of business: Heartfelt Thanks are in order for my dear relatives who have taken me in, taken me out, taken me into their hearts and shown me a greatn time on this side of the continent! Those crazy and wonderful Carnathans! First Aunt Jane and Uncle Chip in Colorado, then Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Carnathan in Seattle- I was treated like a foreign dignitary or a traveling diplomat. In denver I was treated to a home cooked meal of delicious steak with loads of fresh veggies (which I don't get nearly enough of on the road) and even home-made desert-- I took an entire plate of brownies back to my tour mates and they nearly wept with joy- the yummy squares of love were devoured not only for dessert that very night but also for breakfast the next morning!!

Then I went to Colorado Springs for a day, where it SNOWED! Snow in mid October, it was magical, and very exciting (though confusing to my inner calender). After which we returned to Denver to play the same theatre {Don't ask, I've learned it is better not to think too hard about why THE OFFICE does what they do}. So, as an extra bonus I got to visit with Uncle Chip & Aunt Jane again, this time over a delicious Chinese Dinner where I tried Lamb and Moo Shoo!!!! It was really a pleasure visiting with them, catching up on years of happenings, seeing wedding photos and generally enjoying being in the bosom of my loved ones- It's a pleasant thing to find out you like your relatives, that you genuinely enjoy their company and can talk easily with them at length. I feel as though I have really made friends in them.

As if that weren't fantastic enough, I then got to see my Awesome cousin Jesse and his beautiful wife Kandace. They took me to a really atmospheric and delectable restaurant in Seattle where we enjoyed a great evening of cathing-up and laughs. I teased Jesse about how geeky we always thought he and Paul were growing up, and how weird it was having cousins all the way out in Colorado- but then told him how excited and delighted we all were when we found out how funny, cool, and FUN they are now that we're adults! Jesse and Kandace showed me a really great time and again I felt as though I'd made friends as well as touched base with long lost relatives. Kandace is really wonderful- warm and friendly and gracious and I'm so glad to have her as a cousin- and though it is mushy, she and Jesse are a wonderful, sweet and fun couple of people to be around. I told them I look forward to treating them to dinner when I have a place someday.

2 Oxen are Dead...

We took a highway route that is basically the famous Oregon Trail and continually made jokes about our wagon wheel breaking or finding a river that was too wide to ford. The running joke was about dead oxen, or which one of us would be the first to succumb to a fatal snake bite. Little did we know that our joking would turn out to be prophetic!
In many ways we have felt like those pioneers of the westward expansion- our belongings breaking, our endurance being constantly tried and battled day-in and day-out with new and unforseeable challenges, we have seen new and awe-inspiring sights and we have all, I think, felt humbled and blessed by the experiences as we long to see it through to the conclusion and pine for home simultaneously. And, as in that treasured childhood game of ours, One member of our party fell off the proverbial covered wagon.

After a great deal of unnecessary struggle, angst, misery, akwardness, and mendacity- Our Stage Manager decided to QUIT THE TOUR. I'll have you know that this decision was not argued by any member of our company- it really is best- but I know many of us felt betrayed, let down or even mildly disgusted. Quitting isn't an easy thing to stomach, even if you know it is the best option. This tour proved too much for him and he made the move I think to preserve his own sanity and well-being----- but one can't help but feel he took the only life-raft off a sinking ship (and we all know the rule of the sea: The captain goes down with the ship! [not the other rule of the sea which allows cannibalism if no land is in sight, we haven't resorted to that . . . YET]).
Ultimately I wish him no ill will, but I must say this: In this or any profession you must be accountable for your actions and must always make yourself equal to the responsibilities given you. In this life you must have a modicum (at least) of common sense and decency and mus endeavor to THINK. Think before you do something, think about the ramifications of your actions, think about how you are affecting those around you and think ahead. Open your eyes and SEE.
It astonishes me that anyone could get through life without these essentials, let alone achieve a position of leadership and responsibility.

After the news that he'd quit life on tour got a bit bizarre- or more bizarre than it had already been. We were presented with a distinct air of somebody who ahs checked out- somebody who was just barely going through the minimum requirements to get the days completed, and we fended for ourselves. I am proud that we all hung together DESPITE and put on some great shows and didn't resort to that 'other' rule of the sea and kill him for his blood! (Please read this with a sense of humor, I am, of course, not vampiric--- though my irish REARDON temper did threaten to let my itching fingers wrap around his throat once or a hundred times! heeeeheeeeheee)
Then we had a substitute stage manager for about a week, which was already much better though still a bit akward since she was so transitional we couldn't really feel settled. We were like a family being bounced around to different foster parents! You already feel uprooted due to the fact that you're away from all your friends and family, seeing places unfamiliar and foreign, and sleeping in a different bed nightly- and now you're presented with new management of a sudden- really quite strange and unsettling. I had serious knots in my stomach quite often, I'm glad I didn't get an ULCER!!!

We had a neat little halloween party in Reno with goody bags and scary stories on the T.V. - very low-key but nice because a huge dead weight had been removed from around our necks, and we all toasted to a new beginning.

Friends and Enemies, A new beginning it has been! Ashley arrived at the advent of November and has been absolutely wonderful. We all told ourselves that we didn't have to like her personally as long as she got the job done, but the bonus is we like her AND she does her job! What a novel idea. She is competant, reliable, handy, resourceful, laid back, unflappable and very professional. She is also a really fun person to hang out with outside of work. The Chamber tour has recieved new blood and it shows- we all smile alot more, we are more pleasant in the morning on the way to work, and we feel more optimistic and positive about life in general. It had been really rough for a while with a whole gossip magazine's worth of scandal, lies, miscommunications and drama (drama? on a THEATRE tour? never!), but she has brought a clarity. a focus. direction and simply relief. The churning and knotting in mys stomach is finally easing. I'm enjoying my friends and enjoying the scenery and even the lame continental breakfasts alot more!

Next time on BLOG:
-The Winchester Mystery House
-My close call with St. Christopher
-What's the deal with my crappy eqiptment?
-November = the birthday month
-A New Englander in the wild west on THANKSGIVING (my thoughts and trepidations)

Tune in Next Time Folks!

Love, BETH

P.S. I hope you enjoyed the slideshow- did you like seeing me with my first Tumbleweed?!?!?!?!

Throwing you a bone!

AAAAHHHRRRRGGG!
It is frustrating to have lost that entire blog, and every day that passes only adds to the anticipation for my next post! Today we had two shows back-to-back, a DOUBLE HEADER if you will, so I'm pretty exhausted. A whole lot of goings on have been, wll... going on! I can't wait to fill you in, but for now please enjoy this little slideshow I've whipped up. It's meant to pacify you, to titillate you and to leave you eager for more!
While it lacks the stunning technical values that a STAR WARS teaser trailer might have, I hope you feel giddy and warm when you see it- and it will give you some nice visuals to go along with the new blog (whenever I end up posting... )

Also, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Love, BETH