April Showers...

I took these from the patio this morning.  The rain was pouring down, the wind was blowing, and there was a constant rumble of thunder.

By late morning the first storm had passed and this is what I found in the yard.  I thought I had missed the forsythia blooms.  They are not prolific but we have some.

 On the flowering crabapple tree, the leaf buds were opening.

I was surprised to see that the Flowering Dogwood buds were no longer tightly closed.

Daffodils were open.

And at the end of the flowerbed closest to the driveway, I found this hyacinth.

Have a Wonderful Day

The 18th Annual Butterfly Identification and Monitoring Workshop (Ohio)

This was the third consecutive year that Tom and I have gone to the butterfly conference.  I didn't ask him if we could go.  I wasn't sure I wanted to go, not after our experiences at the other two.

The conferences were worthwhile all three years, but we had difficulties relating to us alone.

In 2013, the conference was in Cleveland.  We decided to make it an extended trip and do some visiting in the area.  All of the visits with family and friends were enjoyable.  We were in a cheerful mood as we headed on to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History on Saturday morning.  The weather was cold but clear as we pulled into the parking lot and found a Handicapped space.

I pushed the toggle switch  which moves Tom's scooter on its lift out of the van.  The lift moved out but not down.  And it wouldn't retreat back into the van when I pushed the other end of the toggle.  The lift extended beyond the back of the van and the scooter sat on the lift.  We couldn't go anywhere.

A  wonderful mother with two  lively preschool boys helped me take the scooter apart and reassemble it on the ground.  But we were still stuck.  We couldn't drive anywhere with the lift extended, we didn't know the area. Triple A (American Automobile Association) would only pull us to the nearest gas station which was closed for the weekend.

Finally, we called my sister and her husband who lived an hour away.  Tom explained the problem. Our mechanical engineer brother-in-law gathered up tools and materials and drove up to the museum.  Between Tom and the engineer, (and the instruction book),  the lift was repaired.  The incident left Tom and me feeling skeptical of the lift so after the conference we headed home instead of finishing the trip.  That turned out to be a wise move since Ohio was hit by a late snow storm the next day and our planned trip would have put us into the heart of it.

In 2014, the conference was held at Aullwood Nature Center and Farm which is close to us.   Rain poured down as we headed out our driveway.  We were late getting to the conference and had to park in the auxiliary parking which had been a corn field, but now was part of the nature preserve.

We listened to an entertaining talk about moths.  Do you know that all moths are similar except the ones that aren't?

However, during the time we were inside, the rain turned to sleet and then to snow.  When Tom tried to back out of our parking place, the van ended up stuck in the mud.

The snow turned back to sleet.

This time we were near home and had some resources.   A Triple A (American Automobile Association) crew pulled us out.  And they were cheerful about it which was truly remarkable because they had to lie down in the cold mud to fasten a harness around the front wheels.  Of course the sleet continued as they worked.

This year, we had confidence in the lift since we had had it into the shop for a check-up.  The parking was on a paved parking lot at the University of Toledo.  The weather was cold, 20 degrees Fahrenheit, but clear.

We learned about butterfly gardening, and also heard about  a pilot program to gather Butterfly Transit information from across the United States into a single data base.  In a third presentation  we saw all the instars of dozens of butterfly caterpillars from Ohio.  Each time the caterpillar molts, the result is called an "instar".  Most caterpillars  look different after each molt.  Caterpillars often molt at least four times.  That can make caterpillar identification problematic.  I won't remember all the instars but it helps to know they exist.

We had no problems with the lift or with a muddy parking area.  The jinx has come to an end.

The Troy Civic Theatre's Production of The Dixie Swim Club, March 20, 2015

Back row, left to right...Julie Zalar (Dinah), Jennifer Kaufman (JeriNeal), Kari Carter-Terpstra (Lexie), and Jessica Suba (Sheree).  In front...Beth Shrake (Vernadette)

These actresses were happy when I took their photo.  Five minutes earlier, they had received a standing ovation for their acting in the play, The Dixie Swim Club written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten..  The play was directed by Cathie Melvin.

The four scenes in the play take the characters from their forties almost to their seventies, as they continue their tradition of meeting  for a week each year in the same cottage at the beach.

The Dixie Swim Club is my favorite of the newer plays that I have seen.  This was the third time I have seen it.  Each group presented it in a unique way.  That is one of the interesting aspects of  The Dixie Swim Club.  There is latitude in its lines which allows for for multiple interpretations even though the lines don't change. Depending on how the play is presented it can be anything from extremely funny and frivolous to humorous but deeply sensitive.

Whichever way it is acted, I like it best when all five women are equally strong in their acting ability. This is the second time I have seen the play when this has been true.  Part of the play's zip comes from the characters' comments bouncing back and forth bringing out the contrasting personalities.

Rumors, the play by Neil Simon, Presented by The Drama Workshop

On Sunday, March 15, I saw the last performance of  this season's production of Rumors presented by The Drama Workshop. The audience and I spent a lot of time laughing at the antics as the actors dashed this way and that.

In the Director's Notes, this season's director, Julie Jordan, mentions that she was in The Drama Workshop's 1992 presentation of  Rumors playing the part of  Cassie.  At that time the play was a fairly new one.  It was first performed in 1988.

Members of the 2014-2015 cast were...

Kristy Rucker as Chris Gorman

Fred Hunt as Ken Gorman

Megan Schultheis as Claire Ganz

Eric Day as Lenny Ganz

Gretchen Gantner as Cookie Cusack

Robert Weidle as Ernie Cusack

Bill Keeton as Glenn Cooper

Jennifer Richardson as Cassie Cooper

Joe Ward as Officer Welch

Ian Tinney as Officer Pudney

As is common in farces, there are many doors on the set through which actors come and go.  The guests begin arriving at the host and hostess's home to celebrate their tenth anniversary but where is the happy couple?  The rumors fly as more and more guests arrive.  The audience can't help but laugh as the guests run about wildly and try to solve the mystery.  Several of the actors told me that this play was a lot of fun to perform.  They enjoyed the rehearsals and spent a lot of time laughing as they perfected their lines.

Photo by Lauren Wenning

Starting at the left  Ray Persing  is kneeling, then the back row... Jason Cox, Joe Ward, Robert Weidle, Bill Keeton, Eric Day, Fred Hunt, and Ian Tinney.  On the arm of the couch is Julie Jordan.  Seated are Gretchen Gantner, Jennifer Richardson, Megan Schultheis, Kristy Rucker and Elaine Volker.  Seated beside the coffee table is Cynthia Mottel.

I like this photo because it includes not only the cast but some of the other volunteers who make The Glenmore Playhouse in Cheviot, Ohio, a delightful place to see good theater.  These fifteen people are only a few of the volunteers.  The playbill lists thirty-seven who helped in some way.  Many of the volunteers served in multiple roles.

Winter Aconite is Blooming!

The flowers are closed because it was raining when I took their picture.  As soon as the sun came out the flowers opened up.  Tom and I timed our trip perfectly.  We are back in time for the first flowers.

My little patch of flowers came from my neighbor's big patch.  Hope my patch is as big as hers some day.

There is still snow hanging around but it is all heaped in dirty piles.  We'll soon see the last of it for this year.

Charleston Falls is roaring as rain and melted snow pour over the ledge.

High in the top of the sycamore trees the red-winged blackbirds are singing.  When they sing at Cedar Pond we know spring is near.

Portraits from the 1990s

I was looking through some old photographs a few days ago and came across these drawings and one painting I did before we had a computer to scan them on.