Thursday: slept reasonably late, got up, had tea, blogged, got showered, went to breakfast. One of the other patrons was doing the ‘this bacon is completely inedible because it’s not the exact crispness that I like it’ thing. I was accidentally catching her husband’s eye from time to time, wanted to say, “is this just today, or is she always like this?”
I’d known for several days that this day was “100% rain”, but as it turned out, the rain wasn’t going to start until the afternoon. I really could have taken the planned bike ride, but it was windy as well, so decided not to. The plan was to drive around and do indoor things like antique malls and shops and the Gorey house. I decided to start with another “bucket list” book item, the Cahoon museum.
The Cahoon museum was quite a bit west, almost back to Falmouth, but everything is close here, so not a big deal. I’d hoped to stop at antique stores and stuff on the way, and did stop at one little strip mall for some gift shops, but didn’t actually see even the antique store I’d noticed on previous drives, oh well. The museum itself was really interesting, although once I bought my ticket, I was surprised when the ticket taker said “wait here” and they made me listen to a spiel from the docent about the museum. She finished with ‘any questions?’ and I was like, “where’s the bathroom?”. But they had a great exhibit on scrimshaw, with not only artwork, but household items, all beautiful and quite detailed. One of the fancy things that they made from whalebone were pie crimpers, these little handles (often quite ornate and beautiful) ending in a wheelbarrow-like crimp wheel on an axle.
Then upstairs, they had an exhibit of the works of a local artist who’d been inspired by the pie crimpers, and did these rather large sculptures of, for instance, a running greyhound with a crimp wheel between its paws. It would have to be a gigantic pie, though.
Off to the Edward Gorey house. I’d been a fan of Gorey’s macabre and hilarious work since college, and have all the Amphigorey anthologies. He was an odd duck, but very interesting. The house was fun and quaint – he’d grown up visiting this basic area every summer, his aunt owned a house nearby, and when he got a big chunk of money from Broadway’s “Dracula” (for which he designed sets and costumes, and got a Tony for the latter), he bought the house. It needed extensive renovations, but once done, he moved there from NYC and never left.
He’d been an avid collector of all sorts of things – a hoarder, really, but on his death, they moved out most of the cat-pee-stained books and cleaned everything up and made this little museum. The ‘tour’ (which was really just a lecture) was really interesting, and the gift shop had all sorts of great stuff. I bought a mug, will post a picture later.
By the time I left, it had started to rain. I headed back to Dennis Port to check out an antique mall there (I walked through it, but wasn’t really in the mood to stop – I was hungry). Decided to get a whole pizza and eat half for lunch, save half for dinner so I wouldn’t have to go out once I was back in the room. Good plan, because it got really rainy and stormy later.
I spent the afternoon commenting online and responding to congratulations. I’d hinted earlier about good news – it got publicized so I can talk about it now. I’m going to be music-directing/conducting Ruddigore for Savoynet at next summer’s International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Harrogate, England! I’m very excited! This is the fouth time I’ve conducted a show at the festival, but Ruddigore was my first G&S ever. The summer between high school and college, i was a counselor at a music camp and we did the “Abandoned person”/patter trio scene – I played Despard. Then once i got to college, hey, look, the G&S society is doing Ruddigore! I auditioned, didn’t get cast (meanwhile my roommate got the lead, and that didn’t make things awkward at all), but played in the orchestra. I adore that show. I was in the chorus the last time Savoynet did Ruddigore (titled “Ruddygore”, because we did the first-night version) in 2006. Conducting it’s been on my bucket list for forever.
So I have a ton of work to do once I get home. The show isn’t until next August, but I know we want to cast it as soon as possible, so need to come up with audition material and such. Plus, Ruddigore, more than the other shows, has various different performing editions and we’ll have to make decisions on a pretty granular level on what score we want to perform. *rubs hands in anticipation*
Watched the news while I finished my pizza, then did some more knitting (finished a coaster and a hat!). Then a Drag Race and reading, then to bed.
This morning, I’m using the washer/dryer again, then getting cleaned up, fed and packed. I’m off to Wellfleet to poke around, then Truro (if I have time). I’ll end up in Provincetown, where I need to return the car by 3:00. And then it will be part 3 of this lovely journey, far less straight than parts 1 and 2 have been.
The Toast Point Page 