Lester, Meet Your New Dad

At long last, Lester finally met her Dad today.

Phil had flown into San Francisco and spent the night at Ned's. When I got home from Cousins Day, Ned invited me to come to dinner, and to bring Lester. I had to review a show in Davis at 9 p.m., but we decided we could eat early and I could still make it to the show on time. I packed up Lester and headed for Sacramento.

A look at the photo above says it all. Lester was at her most endearing, Phil, who has been looking for a dog ever since he and Jeri decided to make it permanent, was thrilled to finally have a dog. And Lester had a great time bonding with her new cousin, The Bouncer.

The dogs chased each other around and around and around and around, then stopped and did it all over again until they finally dropped, rested for a few minutes, and started the chasing all over again. It was clear by the end of the first half hour that they had become great friends.

Lester also took time to do a little bonding with Ned.

And Ned showed me Bouncer's trick.

Ned made a great BBQ chicken which we ate in the open air party room, so we could watch the dogs play. Then I had to leave to rush back to Davis to review the show.

I hate theatre. Sometimes.

I got to the performance area (not really a "theatre"), where I overheard someone telling someone else that this wasn't really a performance, it was the final dress rehearsal. I talked with her and she said that the "preview" is tomorrow and the show opens the next night. I talked with the director, who confirmed that yes, theydid invite press to review the rehearsal. I asked if she REALLY wanted me to do that, that rehearsals and previews were generally to work out the rough spots before the opening performance. But I said that as long as I was there, I'd stay and asked for a program. She said they had no program or cast list to give me because those wouldn't be coming until tomorrow. WTF?

So I'd left Ned's early and rushed back for a REHEARSAL and didn't even have a CAST LIST to refer to in writing a review??? I left, called my editor and we decided I'd come back in a couple of days, when they are really ready for prime time.