Vacation Views -- Flora, but no Fauna

I took so many photos on vacation, I'm going to have to divide them up by subjects. (There will be prose entries too ... eventually. I just have to organize my notes and my time to do so.)

Desert Flora

Cacti

Doesn't this look like a menorah?

Joshua trees only grow in a few places in the world.

In the southwest, there are acres and acres of them.

Pretty Plants and Fleurs

I liked this view for the contrasts. You can't tell, but the tree is scarred from a major fire that swept across this valley about three years ago. The underbrush is coming back, which just highlights how resilient nature is.


Major flooding on the Virgin River a few years back wiped out a lot of the area where I was staying. Some of the trees didn't make it, but others did. If you also look closely at the foreground, you can see tumbleweeds, as well as some in the making.

It's really bright in the West. My eyes are VERY light sensitive. Considering I had to peel off the dark shades, squint, and try and focus a mini-esque digital camera to shoot a lot of these, I don't think they came out all that badly.


Also, NO photographers were harmed by the cacti in the shooting of these photos ... unlike some of stories my siblings could tell of their photographic adventures!

Vacation Views

As I mentioned as I was leaving for vacation, I headed as far away from the concrete jungle setting as I could get. Don't believe me?

Here's some video of my favorite scenery out near the Dam place where I stayed in Arizona. Note the traffic jams, the crowded conditions, the hustle and bustle, and pay no attention to my horrid videographic technique or the editorial narration. I was dodging tumbleweeds and dust devils, not to mention looking out for scorpions and rattlesnakes.

Middle of Nowhere, AZ

Virgin River, Some Dam Place, AZ

I'm back!

After many days of traveling, Auntie Nettie is back,

but boy is she cranky ...

and tired ...and, oh, so glad to be wired!

More photos, posts, and VIDEO to follow, eventually.

VACATION!

Dear Interblog and Webinet,

It is official. I have succumbed to May-itis. My doctors have prescribed two weeks of rest far, far away, in the land of the Nutmeg, the Utes, and the magical land of casinos. Therefore, I am leaving the concrete jungle and travelling posthaste. Unfortunately, I will be staying in a Dam place where there is no cell or 'net service, so my blogging will have to put on hold. I also predict that the very warm weather will cook my brains, and leave me at a level at which I will be able to speak only coherently with Drew, Amber, and Elle.

Farewell, cruel cubicle. Farewell.

I will see you in a fortnight!

Hugs and kisses,

Auntie Nettie

RENT

No, not the kind you pay. The kind you see on Broadway.

A few weekends ago, I went to see a Saturday evening presentation of RENT with a former colleague at Caramoor, Amelia. Of course, being me, there's a story about WHY.

Once upon a time, an old ogre named Auntie Nettie worked in a castle called Caramoor. She toiled and labored, and much time passed. After the tenth year of her labors, along came a young, dewey-eyed college graduate named Princess Amelia -- who then spent the next 12 month calling the old ogre "Dude" until the ogre couldn't take it anymore and chucked things at the princess's pretty little head. During this time of turmoil, a musical called RENT was being made into a cinematic presentation and Amelia decided that she MUST listen to the original Broadway soundtrack in the ogre's office ALL THE DAMN TIME.

Flash forward more than a year: The ogre left the castle (for lots of reasons) and was transformed back into semi-human form. Princess Amelia continued to call the residents of Caramoorland "dude," to drive likest an old woman, and to listen to the RENT soundtrack and to cry for 525,600 minutes.

Suddenly, horrible news flashed across the land. The Broadway production of RENT was to end. Weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth abounded, as many a RENT fan had still not seen the production. Being among this group of slackers, the former ogre and Princess Amelia banded together with other fans and bought tickets to the show.

This then be the photographic tale of fair Amelia and the former ogre's journey to RENT, as much as they could show you before theater management wouldst intervene and actest to abscond with the various photographic equipments.

Amelia: Wait, what is this show about?

Pay RENT here

The Marquee

Current cast: including an American Idol contestant and a soap opera player or two The set

The merry travellers: Introducing Lindsey and her brother!

The land of Times Square -- late in the even

Chrysler Building from the vicinity of Broadway

We did NOT take this Subway back to the train stationWhilst it was good to be with friends, old and new, for this evening of song and dance, the production itself was not all that I had hoped for. It felt rushed to me. The audio was too loud, the mix was bad. What's worse, I just didn't "connect" to the production. I wanted to be, but it left me cold. (In speaking with some current associates who also just saw the production, apparently it wasn't just me. They had the same impressions.)

I actually was more moved by the movie, especially with Jesse L. Martin (who knew that the dude on L&O could sing!?), and by the tales of the original Mark Cohen, Anthony Rapp. I recommend you read his biography, Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent. (Though it does have some references to "adult" content, the story of love and loss gets you right in the heart.)

RIP: Jonathan Larson -- Gone too soon.

The end.

Fashion Tips for Plural Wives

I have resisted posting comments about the news reports on the situation with the various polygamist communities in Texas, Utah, and Arizona. That is, until now!

What do you get when you cross Mo Rocca's droll wit with fashion tips from the star of Project Runway?

Thanks Mo.

Weehaw --- Now, show me the money

As we type, on its way to the National Endowment for the Arts via FedEx, is over five pounds of paper, two CDs, and weeks and weeks (and weeks and weeks) worth of work in the form of a work-related application for funding. YIPPEE SKIPPY!

Now I just have to wait more than a year to find out if the Big J will get the money for 2009-2010. (No, I'm not kidding ... over a year before notification.)

SHOW ME THE MONEY!