New Zoo Review or How I Revisited My Youth in 8 Hours

My Aunt Chris came up with her grandson Jaden Saturday to see the Zoo and the Children's Museum and she invited me to go with. I will be honest here (and if you're reading this, Chris, I'm sorry), I was NOT enthused with the idea because I'm not keen on children. Well, most children. There are the odd few who I can tolerate. Chris promised that Jaden was well-behaved. And I had not been to the Zoo since Brynn was about a year or so and we took the neices/nephew (as there was only one at the time) to Easter at the zoo. And I have this adorable pic of the kids attacking the Easter Bunny. My point is that it's been a while since I've been there, and they just opened this new Amazonia exhibit of the rainforest. And I've been interested in going. And then, despite the fact that it is in the building NEXT DOOR to my office, I've never been to the Children's Museum (CMOE). The building used to be the Central Library and I was there all the time. Maybe it's a subconscious boycott for moving my library, but I've also wanted to check it out. So I agreed to go with Chris and Jaden. And I will say that #1) Jaden is a very well-behaved kid; B) I did have a very good day; and finally, I looked adorable with my face painted. But I digress.

The weather Saturday was beautiful. The sun was shining and it was in the low 80's. In AUGUST! First things first, we hit the gift shop! Well, ostensibly, we went to get Jaden an hat and sunscreen as his mom had not packed any. I, however, was looking at the gift shop, since shopping is my avocation. But then, we were off like a herd of turtles to the Amazon! The Amazonia exhibit was nice, but small. I was very impressed with these pretty birds - Scarlett Ibises, I think - and they just roamed all over the rhino's rhoom. We saw the baby zebra, although we weren't sure which one it was. And several monkeys and big cats and a bunch of ducks/geese. The zoo had been a success although I don't know if it's just because I'm looking through 41 year old eyes or because it's been 17 or so years since I've been there, but I seem to recall there being more animals in the zoo. Of course I also recall there being a noxious effluvium all over the place and I only smelled that once Saturday!

Now what? Well, it was lunch time and my footies wanted a break, and my throat wanted some iced tea, so I suggested we go to Turoni's for lunch as pizza was one of the 4 things that Jaden will eat. (Don't ask.) We filled our tums and rested our footies and then we were off to the Children's Museum.

As I previously said, the building used to be the Central Library of the Evansville Vanderburgh County public library system, but it opened up when they built a new building and moved. The building is a big ol' art deco style behemoth. We started out on the second floor in the Live Big exhibit. This is the room that I can see into from the copy room at work and I've often wondered what this odd reddish thing hanging from the ceiling that looks like a bunch of puffed up plastic bags. In case you want to know, it's supposed to be a brain. And as you walk into the room there's a big nose shaped thing in the floor. I'm not sure what the point is, but we got Jaden to crawl in it and hang out one of the nostrils to look like a blond booger! In another room, they had a bunch of art-y type activities for the kids. That's where Jaden and I painted our faces! Aren't I adorable?

After the obligatory visit to the gift shop, where I purchased a dragon keychain for my dragon collection, and a few other areas, we left to go out to Wadesville for dinner. Jaden and I played with Winifred while Mom and Chris chatted. Then Rose, being pooped, left to go home. Speaking of poop, in the restroom at the Children's Museum, they had this sign entitled "Feces Facts" and I couldn't resist getting a picture. (I hope you can read it.) Enjoy!

To Be (Blonde) or Not to Be (Blonde)

Ok, for those who have known me for a while, you know that during the last seven months, I stopped coloring my hair. It wasn't a conscious decision, it was just that since Dad was sick, I didn't take the time, or it just didn't occur to me, to color my hair. I've been very ambivalent about the change. Frankly, once I realized what was happening, I could have done something to halt it, but I was intrigued to see what my natural hair color would be, since I'd been a Garnier Nutresse #100 for the past 15 years.

I had to get my driver's license renewed in July, and when the woman at the BMV asked if anything had changed in the hair, eyes, height, and weight categories, I spent more time considering my answer to the hair question than on the weight question - where my answer was a lie in 1985 when I first gave it. Is my hair blonde?

I think it looks ok the way it currently looks. There is definite gray/silver in there, and that doesn't bother me. It's the underlying tone of ... what? Is it dark blonde? or light brown? My friend Becky thinks that the color of her hair affects how people perceive her mood to be. Maybe Bonnie would stop making thinly-veiled comments about my mood if I went back to being a blonde. (I'm not in a bad mood, damn it!)

Last night, I went to Factory Card Outlet and bought me a pirate treasure chest lunch box to set on my desk and use as a candy dish for September - as September 17th is Talk Like a Pirate Day - and the cashier gave me a senior citizen discount! Again, for those who know me, my age doesn't bother me, never has. But I'm guessing she wasn't sure and their policy is probably when in doubt give the discount. And since it saved me $1.35 on my lunchbox, I was ok with it in general. But in specific, I'm thinking it was the hair. So I need some feedback - do I go back to being a blonde? I've put two pictures of me in here - one as my hair is currently and one from when it was definitely blonde. Can I have some input?

Now, Where Was I?

It’s happened. I think I’ve officially hit that age where forgetfulness is setting in. When I turned the Big 4-0 last year, I thought it was just the warranty on the physical parts that had expired, but it turns out my hard drive is going, too. Either that or I have too much stress in my life at the moment. I’ve been having problems with the English language or at least remembering words. I’ll be talking to someone and my mind will completely reboot and I have no clue what I was talking about. Or I’ll be talking to someone and try to remember a person’s name and it’s totally blank.

Not that it’s ever easy for me – especially in times of high stress, people’s names have always been the first thing to go. I liken the phenomenon to an episode of one of my favorite TV shows, Married … With Children. In this particular episode, Bud was tutoring dullard Kelly so she could pass her finals, so she could graduate high school. Unlike one of my other favorite episodes, where Bud was tutoring her in history by teaching her TV show theme songs (Thomas Jefferson => theme to “The Jeffersons”), he was taking this task seriously and she was actually learning the stuff. But they were finding out that as she learned more advanced information, the other info in her brain was dribbling out to the point where when the doorbell rang she had no clue what it was.

Now, my VERY favorite episode (“Hot Off the Grill” Season 4, Episode 1) is the one where Peg accidentally knocks over Al’s grill and loses all the ashes from previous grillings (which is the secret to his famous –if only in his mind- Bundy Burgers) and she sends the kids around the neighborhood to steal ashes from the people’s homes. And the dippy kids come back with the ashes of Marcy’s dead aunt Toonie… Wait, what was my point? Oh, yeah, so in times of stress, people’s names tend to be the first tidbit of info to dribble out of my brain. And although things are super busy at work, and there is still probably some residual stress from Dad’s death and being there for Mom, I don’t feel overly stressed, so I wouldn’t think that’s what’s going on.

But, see..Sunday morning, I woke up about 7:30 (Sophie let me sleep in, I suppose) and watched Vh-1’s weekend Top 20 Countdown while working on my farm. I was playing hooky from Sunday School class, but church started at 10:45, so I had plenty of time. About 9:30, I left my place, went to Walgreens, bought some shampoo and a monster bag of Tootsie Rolls and a bat Halloweenie Beanie from Ty. Then I hit a McD’s for a couple of Sausage Burritos (a big thank you to Haley for THAT addiction) – BTW, they got my order wrong and gave me a Sausage Egg McMuffin, but I ate it anyway – and then I drove to church. I got to the parking lot about 10am, but having plenty of time, I sat in the parking lot in the car for about 15 minutes reading my book. But then nature called, so I decided I could easily go on in, go, and then stake out a prime pew and read until Sunday School was over. Let me repeat that I KNEW church starts at 10:45… I firmly believed this, but when I walked in, I noticed that my Sunday School classroom was empty. Then I realized that I heard Pastor Dave’s voice on the sound system. I saw one of the deacons in the entryway and I asked him, “exactly when does church start?” He told me that it started at 10am. Whoops!

The thing is, this is not the first time this has happened. A couple of months ago, I arrived for Sunday School, and I figured I’d be late (as is my usual modus operandi) but when I plopped down in my seat, I received a look from my mother and she whispered that I was 45 minutes late! Whoops!

But the problem is that for at least 35 of my 41 years, Sunday School started at 9:30 and church started at 10:45. And then they go and change things on me? I’m not a big fan of change, unless it has pictures of presidents on it, but I can usually deal. So is it age, stress, or something else?

Wait.. now what was I talking about? hmmm...

Ode to a Peeper – by Rosemary and The Victim

Ok, so now that you’ve recovered from reading our first joint masterpiece... It took another year or so before Jennifer (a/k/a “the Victim”) and I were inspired to write another epic. It was entitled “Ode to a Peeper.” And again, some background begs to be sketched in, but I’m going to give you the poem first this time, and the background after:

Ode to a Peeper

BFOH has a sixth floor peeper.
He resorted to getting thrills cheaper.
He schemed and planned as he hid in the stall.
No feet could be seen, he was crunched in a ball.
So the innocent prey had not a hunch.
Soon to be spied, they returned from lunch.
The Victim’s behind was up in the air,
While Rose stood at a mirror and played with her hair.
Rose turned around, and what did she see?

But a sneaky male face watching The Victim pee.
Just then the perverted face disappears
When The Victim heard, she turned red to her ears.
The sight made Rose let out a screech
And the Peeper slithered out like a slug or a leech.
The moral of this story is plain to see
CHECK FOR MALE FEET BEFORE YOU GO PEE!!!!

So obviously, we returned from lunch one day and went to the restroom. Now, you have to understand that there were 4 stalls in that restroom, left to right, let’s call them A, B, C and D. B was open and that is the stall that Jennifer entered. C was closed and, it turned out, housed the aforementioned Peeper. D was open, but it had no paper. A was open, but it was what I lovingly referred to as the "mutant stall" because it was 2/3’s the size of the regular stalls and, while that might be ok for most people, I was not comfortable squeezed in there. So after whining, “Oh, man! That leaves me the mutant stall..,” I decided I could wait for one of the other two stalls and stood at the mirror by the door checking my hair. At this point, the Peeper must have figured it was safe to stand up and peep. I, looking in the mirror, saw this decidedly male head go up over the stalls behind me and I turned to see him peeping on Jenny-poo. I let out a squeak (it was more mouse-like than a screech, but for poetic license, we used ‘screech’) and he looked up, saw me, and smoothly hopped down (as he must’ve been standing on the toilet) and calmly exited the ladies room. The Victim knew only that I’d squeaked, so upon exiting her stall, she asked what was wrong. Obviously I told her and she was not pleased. But boy, was I happy that stall D had been out of paper and that I decided against using the mutant stall. In fact, I don’t think I ever used it again!

Around the same time, Georgeann had an encounter with possibly the same person. She was on the 9th floor and walked to the elevators. There was a “man” sitting in one of the guest chairs. He asked George if she had the time. Upon looking at him, George realized that his, uh… shall I say, "unit" was out flapping in the breeze. Poor George just looked at her watch and said, “Uh, 1:15” and then she used the stairs instead of waiting for the elevator.

Upon hearing of these events, Mr. Hahn (the “H” in BFOH), asked Jennifer and I to provide him with a written report regarding our encounter. (I assume he had George write one up, too.) So again, we trotted off to Grandy’s and instead of coming up with a serious report, we came up with the “Ode to a Peeper.” We did write an actual report, containing a diagram of the stalls in the ladies room as we assumed Mr. H had never had the pleasure of seeing it, and provided both it and the Ode to Mr. H for his review. Come to think about it, I don’t recall ever hearing anything more about the report or the Ode. Poor Mr. Hahn was probably speechless! Although I think the lock on the restroom door was repaired soon thereafter. Now that I write this, though, I solemnly vow to NEVER complain about the ladies room here at KDDK being locked ever again.

This was the final poem Jennifer and I wrote together. After this incident, we decided to aim our creativity toward writing a best-selling murder mystery, with the heroine being a cute paralegal, taking place in a law firm. Hey, they say write what you know, right? We used as our inspiration the various characters at BFOH. But before we got too far, our murder victim (who has since been suspended from the practice of law) left BFOH and our murderous feelings toward him (which had been our muse, of course) ebbed. Ah, good times...

So there you have it, them, my brushes with poetry. I truly think my talents lie more toward rambling prose. But I may still try to come up with a haiku for that one blog's contest... assuming I can find it again. That's all for now.

Ode to Kevin – by Jennifer and Rosemary

Continuing my brushes with poetry in my humble 40+ years....

In all honesty, I can’t take 100% credit for these next two epics. My fiend Jennifer and I would go to lunch at Grandy’s, and our creative juices, as well as the grease from the chicken, would start flowing. So she is co-author of both “Ode to Kevin” and “Ode to a Peeper.” The first one is regarding Kevin our supervisor. First, I will sketch in a little background:

In May of 1990, I started my paralegal internship at Bamberger, Foreman, Oswald, and Hahn in Evansville. My supervisor was an attorney named Kevin and I had to work with the asbestos files. Well, fortunately, Jennifer (the aforementioned fiend) had started there in April of 1990, and Kevin was her supervisor as well, and she needed help in the collection/subrogation work; so after my internship was over, BFOH hired me full-time while I continued my 5th/6th year of college (depending on how you look at it) part-time at night. I started working with Jennifer in that work. Thus my life story was changed irreparably, in many ways. Anywho, Jennifer and I loved working with Kevin. Heck! We loved Kevin. He was a good supervisor, a good attorney, and a good person. He was so fun to work with. Therefore, we were horribly saddened when he told us that he’d accepted a position with West Publishing Company as a salesman and was leaving us.

So off to Grandy’s we went. I can’t recreate the conversation where we came up with the idea of writing an ode to the man, but once we started, it soon turned into a six-verse ode. We printed it on nice paper and framed it and gave it to him as a going away present. Over the next several years, we’d see Kevin occasionally, and he’d assure us that the framed Ode was hanging in his office. Oh, and as a note, Georganne (George) was his secretary, and we added her name in because we needed another syllable. Now, without further ado:

Ode to Kevin

There once was a lawyer named Kevin,
Who stood about five foot seven.
He’s going into sales
Where the Liberty Bell hails
He thinks he’s died and gone to heaven.

He’s leaving BFOH for a job with West.
As a salesman, he’ll be the best.
Soon he’ll be rich.
(Ain’t that a bitch?)
Remember us in the will with the rest.

And so to Philly goes Bev,
To be with her husband, Kev.
The children will foller
Although they may holler.
So let’s help them load up the Chev’..

We’ve worked with this man about a year.
He never joined us for lunch and a beer.
We like him a lot.
(Would we write this did we not?)
When he leaves, we’ll all shed a tear.

He encouraged us in times of despair.
He still has a full head of hair.
Much like a brother,
He compares to no other.
Where will we turn when he’s not there?

So off to lunch we goes,
This limerick to compose.
Congrats on the news!
You’re the master of schmooze.
From George, Jennifer and Rose.

I Have a Buddy, My Buddy's a . . .

I was bopping around on someone else’s blog the other day, and they are having a haiku contest (which I’m waffling about entering, BTW), and I was reminded of my own poetic experiences in life. So I got into my drawer of memories and dug them up. I will discuss them chronologically. Therefore, the first ones would be the “My Buddy” poems.

Growing up, I adored Garfield, the cat, the comic strip. In fact for years, I would receive some very odd presents from family – all having Garfield on them. To this day, I still use my Garfield trash can, and if I could pry them from my mother, I’d take back my Garfield pillow case(s). But that’s neither here nor there.

Also growing up, I was in a church group called “Guild Girls” along with my friends Debra and Shannon. It was a missions group and generally we did mission-oriented things, but each summer the leader (a wonderful woman named Thelma Shaw), would drive us to Santa Claus Land (now Holiday World) for a day of fun. I don’t know how old Thelma was, but I’m sure that she could have listed plenty of things she’d have rather done than take a group of pre-teens on a road trip, but she did it every year… until Debra got her license and she was able to drive us! Stay with me, now, these two items will collide in a minute.

One year, in Thelma’s backseat, I recited for Deb and Shannon a poem that would impact my life for years to come. I can type it now from memory. It was in a Garfield strip. I can’t recall exactly the point of the strip, but I loved the poem. Here goes (with apologies to Jim Davis)…

My Buddy – by Garfield the cat
I have a buddy
My buddy’s a toad.
He’s kind of muddy
He’s flat on the road.

But he’s my buddy,
My buddy to stay.
‘Til he’s peeled up
And sailed away.

The three of us started reciting it over and over to the point that I’m sure Thelma was ready to abandon every Christian teaching she’d ever learned and hurt all of us. But then at some point we decided to each come up with a new verse. Honestly, as I’m writing this, I cannot remember any of them, but again, I dug them out of my memory drawer and here is the one I wrote (I’ll not reprint the others out of respect to my friends):

I have a buddy
My buddy’s a rabbit.
I have his foot
‘Cause he don’t have it.
People run from him,
He’s kind of scary.
He’s missing an arm,
His name’s Two-Legged Harry.
But he’s my buddy,
My buddy to stay.
‘Cause without that foot,
He can’t run away.

So I know you’re thinking what an odd life I must’ve had for this stupid poem to effect it, right? Well, when I got into high school, Mrs. Hunt, one of the English teachers (she taught Creative Writing – which, ironically, I did NOT take because I did not consider myself creative) somehow found out about the poems. Again, memories here are slightly fuzzy as to the how, but she fell in love with them and during my freshman year at DePauw, she wrote me to tell me that she’d inaugurated the First Annual (or it might have been Semi-Annual, I seem to recall that that class was just one semester) Rose Barger My Buddy Contest – she was having her Creative Writing classes write new verses to the My Buddy poem and she’d mail them to me to judge the winner. The first time, I was surprised and honored. But by the, I don’t know, 10th year, I was beginning to dread back to school time because I knew the kids would have to write those poems and I’d have to judge them. In retrospect, I should have stayed honored. That was really nice of her and I hope she never got the feeling from me of my disdain (although I’m afraid she must have because they finished coming at some point… but then that might have been just because she retired.) But in case she did, and despite the fact that I have NO reason whatsoever to think she reads this blog, I apologize to her. In fact, now that I’m thinking about it, you know I’m going to have to print this out and mail it to her. Dang me!

Mrs. Hunt, that was really a very sweet thing and although I don’t think your students ever really got the true “my buddy” feeling, (because, you know, sometimes they had the buddy surviving the poem!) it was fun to read them. So I truly apologize for my ill feelings toward the whole contest/judging thing.

Well, that's it for my first poetic remembrances. Tomorrow... an Ode to a Hoosier Attorney

Review - Julie & Julia

Mom and I went to go see Julie & Julia yesterday afternoon. Mom has wanted to go see it ever since we saw the preview during Angels and Demons back in May. It looked cute, but I've never considered myself a Meryl Streep person. Again, I generally go see movies that involve explosions and/or fart jokes. But this movie looked good, so we marked it on our calendars and planned on going.

Let me just say that this movie is EXCELLENT. Mom fully believes that it will be nominated for Best Picture this coming Oscar season, and what with their changing the rules and allowing more nominees this year, that may well happen. At a minimum, Meryl Streep should be nominated for Best Actress! I don't recall watching much Julia Child on TV growing up, although I know that I occasionally saw her on PBS at the 'Rents' house. My strongest and earliest memory of Julia Child involve the Dan Ackroyd sketch on Saturday Night Live. BTW, the movie showed this scene and that just was the icing on the cake to me! Having seen this movie, though, I may never picture her in my mind again without seeing Meryl Streep's face.

The movie spans the years of Julia Child's life, starting in 1948 when she and her husband moved to Paris until the 60's when her famous cookbook was published. Interspersed in with Julia's life is a year in the life of Julie Powell, of a modern day New York woman as she cooks/blogs her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year. I found this juxtaposition very effective from the beginning, as we see the Childs arriving in Paris, driving past the Eiffel Tower, and arriving at their new home, and then we see the Powells driving through New York, past a water tower-type thing, and then arriving at their new apartment, over a pizzeria. As Julia encountered road blocks first in her quest to learn French cooking and then in the publication of the book, so would Julie in her attempts to stuff a duck or boil a lobster. Likewise, we saw the ladies' celebrations in either Julia's finally forcing the woman in charge of the Cordon Bleu to allow her to graduate or in Julie's learning that she has actual readers who aren't her friends or family. (BTW, I can appreciate that joy!)

Late in the movie, after Julie's blog becomes well-known enough for there to be an article in the New York Times about her, she received a call from a reporter asking for a comment on the fact that Julia Child was not happy about the blog. While this may have been true to life, both Mom and I agreed that this was a bit that could have been glossed over or even left out of the movie. Odds are that Julia Child, being close to 90 at that time, didn't understand the concept of blogs and had not read it. I couldn't see any reason for her to have had problems with it.

So finally, as I've already said, I loved this movie. Turns out that maybe I am a Meryl Streep person. After all, I've loved two of her last three movies - the other being Mamma Mia. I've googled the real blogs that Julie Powell wrote - I may have to read through them. Although I may just truck myself and my Borders gift card to ... well, Borders, and get her book. I would consider getting Julia Child's book, but let's face it, I'm not going to learn French cooking... after all, I'm more an Easy Mac girl.

Now When He Was a Young Man, He Never Thought He’d See, People Stand in Line to See the Boy King!

I recently trekked to Indianapolis to see King Tut. (Cue Steve Martin..) Tut is currently on exhibit at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum until October (BTW, Haley, you’re welcome for the plug).

I had seen a Tut exhibit several years ago in Kansas City, but the items we saw there were replications, (or so I’ve been told – I don’t consciously recall that.) This exhibit, however, was the real stuff and it’s a real honor for Indy to have this exhibit, because normally it only goes to bigger cities/museums.

The exhibit opened with a short video narrated by Indiana Jones himself, Harrison Ford, explaining what we’d be seeing. Then the doors opened into several rooms with non-Tut-related artifacts. It was in one of these rooms that I found my favorite item: the sarcophagus for Crown Prince Thutmose’s pet cat. See, due to my father’s recent passing, I think of these things more often, so I had been discussing with Holly what would happen to my beloved cats, Sophie and Gizmo, if I were to go before them. But here the light bulb popped on in my head that if they go first, I could just have them mummified and put in a cute little sarcophagus just like Thutmose did! It was in this room, for this item, that I was sorely tempted to risk Security’s wrath and take a picture, but I chickened out. Fortunately, I was able to get a postcard of it. (See the picture)

After seeing several rooms of non-Tut stuff, you entered Tut’s tomb!! (mwahahaha) From here on, the exhibit was set out like the actual tomb was when Howard Carter found it in 1920-something. Of course, there was a lot more stuff packed into the actual tomb and it was rather haphazardly shoved in there, from what I’ve read about it. But the items that were on display were pretty interesting. We got to see Haley’s favorite item: a beautiful mini-sarcophagus, about 15 inches high and inlayed with gold and jewels, which held the body parts (brain, stomach, etc.) removed in mummification and went into canopic jars. We got to see toys for Tut to play with in the afterlife. There was a solid gold earring that must’ve weighed 30 pounds! And there were a bunch of shabti – little statuettes that were buried with the mummy and would do any hard labor that the deceased might be expected to do in the afterlife. (Even in death he got to have minions – why can’t I have just one?!)

Finally, as with all respectable exhibits, the tour ended in the gift shop. There was something for everyone, young and old, in the gift shop – from the usual cheap crap to incredibly expensive nice stuff. I purchased the aforementioned postcard of Prince Thutmose’s cat’s sarcophagus and the Egyptian addition to the United Nations. The United Nations being my growing collection of stuffed animals representing the countries I, or members of my family, have visited. (Yes, I think this counts!) (See the picture)



The night before we went to see the Tut exhibit, Haley’s boss was able to get Mom, Holly, and I tickets to attend a talk at Butler University by Dr. Zahi Hawass, the noted Egyptian archaeologist. He is the Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities and he is a hoot! He spoke of the DNA studies that are being done on various mummies, including two infants buried with Tut, and anticipated discoveries of new tombs. Unfortunately, though, the man was maddening in his refusal to give details on the results; saying only that there will be news conferences in a month and later in the year.

Review - Guys and Dolls

Mom and I went to go see the New Harmony Theatre's production of "Guys and Dolls" on Friday. Guys and Dolls is one of my favorite musicals. I think it's because I have a minor crush on Marlon Brando, or at least him as Sky Masterson. I don't think I've ever seen him in anything else.

I've never seen Guys and Dolls live - only watched the movie, but this was very good. The New Harmony Theatre performed in Murphy Auditorium which is a cozy little place. The performances were all very good, however, the woman who played Adelaide stole the show in my book. She was funny, and she belted out her tunes just as good as the woman in the movie did! :)

The Evansville Courier also reviewed the production here: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/aug/02/guys-and-dolls-production-top-notch/

Now two things about the show. #1) I went to Borders the next morning to buy the DVD of the movie because I only had the VHS version, and I had a coupon good for $5 off any DVD, and $5 in Border bucks, and I had a gift card from Steve (boss #1) from my birthday, so I got it for free. But the guy who rang me up asked if I'd been to see the show in New Harmony and I said, yes, last night!! He asked if I'd seen him? I looked at him consideringly... hmm... He said that it was a trick question because he was in the orchestra and they were hidden behind the scenery on stage. Well, I hadn't realized there was an actual orchestra. I assumed the music was canned - it sounded good enough to be recorded.

#2) in the booklet, there was an ad that said that if you took your ticket stub to the Firefly Grille on the east side of Evansville, you would get a complimentary dessert. So Sunday after church, mom and I went with two of the ladies that we saw the show with for Sunday brunch. I had never been there before, but it was very good. I got the ______ and Eggs. You could fill the _____ in with your choice of a variety of items. I chose the fried green tomatoes. Everything was delicious, but the fried green tomatoes were not as good as mom's. They were dipped in batter and the tomatoes inside were wafer thin.

The complimentary dessert that I chose was the "Something Very Chocolatey" - which was basically chocolate mousse. YUM! Mom got "Glazed Donut Bread Pudding" and it was YUMMERS! Amy got Red Velvet Cake and her mom, Mary Lou got Southern Tiramisu. We all shared bites and they were all delicious!