Sunday, September 21, 2014

Hangin' in JP

It was a low key day today.  Jeri and Phil went off to a yoga class at 9, while Walt and I stayed at home.  Phil had walked Lester at 6, so there was no need for Walt to walk the dog.  I borrowed a sweatshirt from Phil, so I was finally warm.

The kids stopped at a bakery on the way home and we had a sweet and savory breakfast of muffins, some incredible onion-garlic-spinach-and other stuff bread, and sausage rolls for "brunch" while Jeri read the comics to us.

 
Phil was working today, so the rest of us (including Lester) took a walk to the nearby farmer's market, and checked the "open studios" along the way.  This is an event whereby people can drop by and see some 200 artists in their homes and studios. It seems very festive.

 
I love the look of this neighborhood, and all the houses in their own unique style.

 
We stopped in a school yard where several artists had set up booths, and Lester got to meet some friends.

 
We also went to the Farmers Market, which had lovely produce for sale. Jeri bought stuff for a BBQ tomorrow night.

 
After the farmers market, we went to the main street and saw a guy making sock monkeys, which he then uses as models for his photos, which he sells--along with the monkeys (he said he had to make them himself because where else could he find a sock monkey with six arms?)

 
We went into a liquor store when we saw a sign that said they were giving away samples of "pretty things," which we discovered was a brand of beer.  Lester could go into the store too and was all excited because she knew that there were dog treats at the check-out stand. The rest of us tasted the beer.

 
We discovered Jamaica Plain is very dog-friendly and businesses leave water out for the dogs everywhere.

 
We all came home and had much needed naps.

 
After our naps, we got back on the bus and went to a concert hall for Berklee College of music where we saw the....

 
Teams were announced 24 hours before.  Writers and musicians worked all night to come up with the idea for a 15 minute musical.  In the morning they gave the script and the music to a team of directors and actors and they had all day to rehearse it and present it.  This was the first time Berklee has done this and they did a great job.

The first play was the weakest because they were reading from the script and there was a lot of flubbing.  It was the story of a queen bee and searching for honey.  The second group did better with the script because their story took place on a space ship and the configuration was like the deck of the Starship Enterprise, using music stands, on which they had their scripts (they were also better prepared).  It was the story of 3 women going into space for a year and one of them confessing she is pregnant.  Musical #3 was my favorite (and seemed to be everyone's favorite).  They didn't need a script, the actors were very good and the story (a couple dining at a restaurant and having sexual encounters off stage) hung together.  #4 was two brothers confronting the contents of a chest left behind after their mother's death...Mom is a ghost.  The 5th one was a little confusing but it dealt with a murder in a hair salon...and the murderer was a surprise to everyone.  We rode home on the bus with one of the writers and it was fun to talk with her about the process they went through.

Now we're home and everyone is going to bed and I'm going to test out the thing I've been looking forward to all day...to see if I really can see tonight's episode of Outlander on the STARZ app on my iPad.

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