Summer reprise ~

That it was today as a pre-cold front surge of warm, humid air brought Florida-like skies and temps that blossomed to 80F as winds from the south rocked the trees. I didn't see any of it until almost 10am, since I'd hit the hay about 0200 after two nights of fairly short sleep.

M went out and exercised while I frittered away the fair part of the day catching up on e-mail and the like. Then we had a pleasant glass of wine on the deck before heading down to the Club for an early dinner which started on the verandah, moved into the screen porch, and finally into the Ospey Grill as the beautiful sunset skies began spitting rain. But it was a lovely dinner, our first at the Club since the cruise. [As usual, this blog has posted the photos in the reverse order of my selection, and not where I want them.]

Thursday we rolled on up to DC and after a pleasant visit and bag-drop at Joe Beene's, we headed downtown where we enjoyed a leisurely meal at Legal Seafoods in DC at a table overlooking the street. A motorcade came by which may have been Obama. We then headed over to the Shakespeare where a Restoration-period comedy called "The Way of the World," which was well-done and quite funny.

After a wunnerful breakfast cooked by Joe and some more coffee and conversation, we eased on out and headed downtown where I attended a retirement party for an expert witness I've known for 30 years. His daughter organized it and a lot of old friends were there; it was 5pm by the time I left.

M meanwhilst was having a great time over at Pentagon City, paricularly at Linens 'n' Things bankruptcy close-out. She'd called me to report they had a great price on Scoobas, the cousins of our vacuum robot Roomba, which wet-cleans hardwood floors, and asked if we should get one. I was forced to reveal that I'd planned to get her one for C'mas so she should go ahead. When I got there I found they had several display model Roombas of the newer generation and, unable to help myself, I got one of those too at a good price. Scooba goes under the tree; Roomba II got his test run today and did great. It's very interesting to see a number of upgrades in the sophistication of its operation; for one thing, the new one "sees" obstructions and slows down before bumping into them, whereas the old one flies blind and goes charging into things at full speed. The new ones have more sophisticated "escape strategies" and handle problems like rug fringes and edges with greater aplomb. And they're quieter and inhale more. Two thumbs-up.

We left Pentagon City and journeyed out to the new Lord of Life West church in Centerville. It's slightly larger than the original and has been open since August. They did the sanctuary with some stage-friendly features and so they're doing the Players' productions out there now.

The show was the beloved "Music Man" and we were all misty about Rew's debut as Winthrop in 1995 (when I reprised my 1965 role as Harold Hill's sidekick Marcellus). We were warmly greeted by a passle of old friends, most of whom also remembered Rew before we reminded them. Good friend/stage star/Spiritwind comrade Suzy McCarthy was director and Paul Denfeld (same descriptions) played Harold Hill to perfection. Marian the Librarian was a new face and had a stunningly fine voice.

The young man who played Winthrop did a creditable job but (of course) paled by comparison to The Rew. Behind us sat Don Nelson, an older gentleman who did some shows with us and has never been afraid to speak his mind. When the play was over he leaned up and said quite loudly, "Winthrop was okay, but Andrew was MUCH better!"

Afterwards Pastor Qualley was kind enough to show us all around the new church and confirmed his interest in having the Coachmen up for a concert. We're eager for a Road Trippe and will see if we can work something out. Speaking of the Coachmen, yikes! We have our concert in the Wmsburg Library theater (part of their "Dewey Decibel Series") a week from tonite and will be brushing up here tomorrow afternoon, as well as learning the Trio's C'mas numbers for our three Grand Illumination joint appearances with Tim Seamans, renowned local musician of many talents/instruments. The latter gigs have Peter very nervous and it is proving especially difficult to get rehearsal times we can all agree on for that one.

Dr Brado had a blast of Good Newz the last couple days: a fine review from his fellow doctors/practice owners AND notification that he passed his medical board four-hour oral exam (in Chicago last month) with flying colors. Thus he is now Board-certified in Emergency Medicine, a credential which he notes took him eight years of study, work and exams to obtain. He now gets an eight-year respite from further exams and certifications before he has to renew this one.

Ms Caroline meanwhile hit the theater with 25 of her closest friends Friday nite for the new 007 movie. She went in with high hopes and came out with a firm "save your money." We'll see what Rew has to say.