Ringing out the old year

Christmas in Boston was lovely this year as we celebrated with both our children and Jim's youngest brother.  The weather was brisk, but not terrible and we even got a little dusting of snow on Christmas Day.  Anna and I cooked dinner at her house and we all enjoyed each other's company while sharing delicious food.   Anna treated all of us to tickets for the Huntington's production of "Our Town" on the 26th and then we had a terrific Indian dinner with family and friends at Mela in the South End.  All in all, a brilliant holiday.

Jim and I are at home on New Year's Eve as has been our custom now for many years.  I'm making roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and we'll be lucky if we make it until 10:00 pm!   Have a safe and happy celebration tonight and here's hoping 2013 is peaceful and happy for all of us.

A little brag, an exhortation, and some housekeeping

Photo by Dr. John Zimmerman

I have to brag a little. Our daughter, Anna, is going to be the new company manager for the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston. She's worked as the assistant to the managing director, Michael Maso, for about a year and a half, but had to go for this position when it opened up. We are so proud of her and happy that both our children have jobs in the fields they want to be in during these incredibly dismal economic times.

The picture above is one of my favorites of Anna and her dad. It's from a Wabash College production of The Man Who Came to Dinner in which we all appeared. Anna's first love is directing, but she's also a wonderful actress. The play was directed by Jim's former student and current Wabash theatre department chair, Micheal Abbott who blogs at the Brainy Gamer.

And now for the exhortation...I know everyone is feeling the results of this recession, but people and organizations in the arts, and most particularly, the theatre are being savaged by it. Grants have dried up, large donors aren't coming up with the big bucks, and box office is off. This is where you can help. Wherever you live, please, go to the theatre. Most theatres rely very heavily on their box office receipts to fund what they do. Even if you can't afford to donate, you can probably afford a ticket. There is no substitute for live theatre and it may be an endangered species. If you have little children, take them to live theatre early and often. Even small towns usually offer some kind of children's performance. Trust me, they'll love it. Community theatres, college and university theatres, as well as festival and regional theatres could die if their audiences disappear. Since the livelihoods of both my husband and my daughter depend on live theatre, I thank you for your support. And since I love the theatre, I encourage you to be an enthusiastic and frequent audience member.

And finally, the housekeeping: I've gotten some very nice emails from the bloggers I mentioned in the One Lovely Blog award post and several of them have mentioned the award in posts of their own. Here's a link to Dog-Daisy Chain and A Spoonful of Sugar.

Boston, Day 2

Our hotel was right across the street from the Christian Science campus. This is a picture of the main church.



There's a beautiful little grove of trees on the Huntington Avenue side of the campus. You can see, the trees aren't nearly as far along as ours down South.



Saturday, Jim, Anna, and I went to Priscilla's of Boston so we could see Anna's beautiful wedding dress. Back in 1973, when I was in Laurel Lea Schaefer's wedding we all wore dresses from Priscilla's of Boston. Anna's dress is perfect. After we finished there, we walked down to Copley Square to wait for the number 9 bus to Southie.

We got off the bus one stop early so we could make a little pilgrimage to the Italian bakery. We got some lovely treats to have with our tea and spent a lazy afternoon in South Boston. That night, we had a delicious dinner at the fantastic Venezuelan restaurant called Orinoco on Shawmut. It's a tiny place with just a few tables, but the food is so unique and exciting. These are baskets decorating the wall.



Colorful chairs enliven the small table area.



After dinner, we walked to the Calderwood Pavilion to see a preview performance of the Huntington Theatre Company's Miracle at Naples.
Days three and four will be Friday's post.