Rewinding a little.....

In his haste to recap our time in Chicago, my better half skipped ahead chronologically a bit, which is fine. It just means that this post will rewind to our last days in I.C., which, as proven by the dearth of blogging going on, were jam-packed. We had our final performances of course, but also a closing party (replete with a synchronized swimming performance), an awards ceremony on the eve of closing, and a party which I co-hosted with the actress who played my sister in 'Shrew' and my stepdaughter in 'Invalid.' I was also under the wire to finish making my company gifts, which proved to be more time-consuming than I planned (what else is new). In addition to all of these company-related activities, my Mom was visiting! So we had all kinds of daytime fun as well.... where to begin?!?! ....

Mom's flight was delayed considerably on Thursday. She was supposed to land at noon and wound up getting in closer to 3. Unfortunately, Dennis and I had a 3:30 brush-up rehearsal for 'Invalid,' so we pretty much brought Mom to the Browns', showed her where her room was, introduced her to Victoria and then high-tailed it to the Festival Stage for a hot and humid rehearsal. Later, since none of our eating schedules were aligned, Victoria offered to share the dinner she was making with Mom, and as Dennis and I left for the theatre, the two were sitting at the dinner table eating and chatting away getting to know each other. Victoria was going to drop Mom at the theatre closer to showtime, so she wouldn't have to wait around in the heat for an hour beforehand.

So Mom saw 'Invalid' that night, and she reacted in much the same as Bob and Colleen: "It was just silly." A completely understandable response--the show was not everyone's cup of tea. Here's Dennis and I as Beralde and Beline, respectively, in the very silly 'The Imaginary Invalid':




One day--I think it was Friday--Dennis needed some time to finish up his gorgeous side tables, and I took Mom to 'downtown' (!) Iowa City for some browsing in the Artisans' Gallery (where you can buy all kinds of art, jewelry and craft items made by local artists). We walked all around the ped mall and then stopped in at the ever-popular Java House for a refreshing beverage before hopping in the car and heading to the mall in nearby Coralville to tackle the always-enjoyable task of shopping for a bathing suit! AHHHHHH!!!! I'll spare you the details, but we did leave victorious with a very cute suit that I wouldn't have even tried on if it hadn't been for my trusty mom! (No, there will be no pictures of me in said bathing suit, thank you very much.)

On Saturday, we made a little day trip to Mount Vernon, Iowa, home to Cornell College. No, not my and my father's alma mater Cornell University, but Cornell COLLEGE, which has about 1/10 of the student population but does have the prior claim on the name, believe it or not. This is also the college where our host Jim Brown was on faculty for many years, and now works as assistant to the President. We had a scrumptious brunch at the famous Lincoln Cafe before taking a long walk around the campus. (Too long, actually. It was quite hot that day, and we Williams women were getting blisters by the end of it and sent poor Dennis ahead to get the car and pick us up, which, being a rather chivalrous chap, he was happy to do.) Here are some pics from that day:





And I'm going to stop there for now because I have to go curl up in our freezer for a while. In my next post, more on the closing party, the 1st Annual Riverdog Awards ceremony, and pictures from 'Taming of the Shrew'.....