Monday, May 11, 2015

Camping Season Has Started (Sort Of)

Last weekend my family took the motor home and the trailer to our very favorite KOA in Fillmore for a quick little camping trip.  I love these camping trips so much and I hope that this is the first of many more during the summer.  It was cold and rainy the whole time we were there but it really didn't matter because Marilyn and I were very cozy inside her little trailer.  We joke that it is like the tent in the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One because it looks really small on the outside but it is surprisingly roomy on the inside.  I really enjoyed listening to the sound of the rain on the roof, especially at night.  We had lots of treats and spent most of our time watching movies.  Marilyn even brought her sewing machine and worked on one of her quilts.  We couldn't BBQ or make anything in the Dutch oven so we drove into Fillmore and got dinner from Costa Vida and ate it inside the motor home.  I guess it wasn't really camping (it was actually more like a big slumber party) but it was so relaxing!

Note:  This time we brought the dogs and they provided no end of amusement for us.  Marilyn and I went to the bathroom really early in the morning (this KOA has great bathrooms) and Marilyn decided to check to see if the dogs needed to go out.  When she opened the door to the motor home they just looked at her with disdain.  Apparently it was too early and too cold for them!

Friday, May 8, 2015

Tulip Festival 2015

One of my favorite things to do in the spring is to go to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point.  The flowers are always incredibly beautiful and it wan't very crowded yesterday because it was a bit overcast.  Walking along the pathways was so peaceful and relaxing!
This year my favorite garden was the Creek Garden.  I stayed in this area quite a while because the sound of the moving water was so soothing!
I also really love the Secret Garden.  It is usually really crowded but it was almost empty while I was there.  I loved sitting there and listening to the birds!
I really enjoyed myself wandering through the gardens!  The Tulip Festival continues at Thanksgiving Point until Saturday, May 9.  Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for children.  Go here for more information.

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

The Music Man at PTC

I love all of the old classic musicals like The Sound of Music, The King and I, South Pacific, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof,  OklahomaSeven Brides for Seven Brothers, and, of course, The Music Man.  There is just something so wonderful about all of those those familiar songs and I have such fond memories of watching all of these musicals at my Grandma Anderson's house.  Last night I was able to see PTC's production of The Music Man and I loved everything about it!  What a great way to end the 2014-2015 season.  The cast is perfect!  Harold Hill (George Dvorsky) is as charming as he could possibly be and Marion the Librarian (Lizzie Klemperer) is perfectly uptight and buttoned down.  Mayor Shinn (PTC favorite Max Robinson) is the embodiment of befuddled pomposity while his wife, Eulalie Mackecknie Shinn (Anne Stewart Mark) just about steals the show with her Grecian Urn!  Zaneeta (Jessica Blair), Mayor Shinn's oldest girl, and Tommy Djilas (Garrett Hawe), a boy with reform school written all over him, are amazing dancers.  Ye Gods!  Winthrop (Wally Inkley) is adorable, lisp and all, and I loved Amaryllis (Alyssa Buckner) and her cross hand piano piece.  I knew every single word of every single song and had to stop myself from singing aloud, especially in "Ya Got Trouble," "The Wells Fargo Wagon," and "Gary, Indiana."   The choreography in the big production numbers is so much fun to watch and I especially loved all of the business with the books in "Marion the Librarian" and the baton twirling in "Seventy-Six Trombones."  As usual, the set is superb.  The library (both the interior and exterior) is perfect and the foot bridge is lovely with all of the flowers and the twinkling stars through the trees!  I, along with just about everyone in the audience, had a grin from ear to ear throughout the whole performance and I suspect you will love it, too.  The Music Man runs through May 16 (go here for tickets).

Note:  I think I laughed out loud every single time Mayor Shinn said, "You watch your phraseology!"  I don't know why that is so funny to me but it always has been!  I'll probably be saying it to my students for days!

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

The Age of Adaline

Saturday afternoon, after getting manicures, Marilyn and I went to see the movie The Age of Adaline and we both absolutely loved it!  Due to an accident involving frigid temperatures and a bolt of lightning, Adaline Bowman (Blake Lively) does not age past 29.  Because of her intense fear of being discovered, she changes her name, appearance, and residence every ten years.  The movie begins in the present day after Adaline has lived 107 years and, aside from a friend who is blind, her daughter Flemming (Ellen Burstyn), now a senior citizen, and a series of dogs who all eventually die, she has a very lonely existence.  She meets a handsome stranger named Ellis (Michiel Huisman) in an elevator at a New Year's Eve party and he begins to pursue her.  She once let her guard down and fell in love with a man during the 1960s but this relationship ended in heartbreak so she is wary of falling in love again.  Will Adaline finally stop running and find happiness?  I thought the exposition in this movie was incredibly clever.  Adaline works in the archives section of a library and the story of her life is told as she views old films ready to be digitized.  I also loved Adaline's wardrobe because everything she wears is absolutely timeless (all of her clothes are "vintage").  Lively and Huisman give great performances.  Huisman, especially, is quite endearing.  I'm not a big fan of beards, but wow!  Finally, I really loved that Adaline kept getting the same breed of dog year after year and that it just happened to be a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (my family has a Cavalier named Red and he's a pill).  I would highly recommend this sweet and original love story!

Note:  Marilyn and I enjoyed this movie so much, we saw it again later that evening with our niece, Tashena.  She loved it, too.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony

Friday night I attended my final performance of the Utah Symphony 2014-2015 season.  It has been a fantastic year (go here, here, and here for some of my favorite concerts) and I certainly picked an amazing concert to end with!  The orchestra began with A Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky.  I have heard this piece performed many times and I always picture a coven of witches dancing around a large bonfire.  It is very atmospheric!  The concert continued with Symphony No. 5 by Alexander Glazunov.  I was completely unfamiliar with this piece but I really enjoyed it.  I thought is was very dramatic and I especially loved the themes played by the brass section.  After the intermission, the orchestra played the Organ Symphony by Camille Saint-Saens (who is becoming one of my favorite composers).  This piece featured Richard Elliott, the principal organist for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Several years ago, I saw the orchestra perform this piece with the same soloist and I enjoyed it so much that this one was one of the first concerts I picked when creating my season package.  I absolutely loved it!  There is a section in the second movement where the organ plays in unison with the strings, punctuated rather dramatically by the timpani and cymbals, that is so incredibly stirring I had goosebumps!  The guest conductor for the evening, Kuzuki Yamada, was absolutely brilliant and there was a particularly touching moment when he ran over to embrace Elliott at the end of the concert.  It was a very enjoyable evening of music, as always.

Note:  The Utah Symphony still has a few concerts left in the season and they will be performing in many outdoor venues throughout the summer.  I already have tickets to a concert at Red Butte Garden and I am really excited about some of the Deer Valley concerts!  Go here for information and tickets.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...