We’re now up to the Tuesday before Memorial Day. I’m so far behind in blogging, this may turn into a historical memoir.
Tuesday morning, I needed to get up and out quickly and drive from Charlottesville to Richmond (an hour) before I could start work. No fear, I slacked my team and said I’d be on the road for a bit, but would still be contactable until I was at a desk again. It was a very quiet week, and my job rarely has emergencies, so there were many shrugs and I continued on. Cleanup, breakfast in the lobby, quick pack and out the door. At checkout:
Them: did you enjoy your stay?
Me:, yes, except the room didn’t get turned over yesterday. But I know this is a residence inn, not a hotel, so I’m not sure what the expectation is.
Them: oh, yeah, we turn the room over every other day. And since you were only here for two days…
Me: ah well, I’ll know next time.
I think springing for the residence inn was a good experiment, but I won’t need to do it again unless I actually am ‘in residence’ for a week or more. As long as a hotel room has a desk and chair, I can work. (Many people don’t even need that, but I’m so not the ‘lounge in bed with my laptop on my lap’ guy.)
Anyway… on the road again, tanked up as soon as I saw a gas station, drove the very pleasant hour, and had no problem finding Liz and Drew’s house. They were both at work, but had left the door open and had told me how to get in and around, so it didn’t take long at all to unload the car and get set up at the kitchen table.
Who are Drew and Liz? Well, Drew and I went to college together and even performed together in Pirates and at least one other show, but didn’t really know each other back then. But we’ve become friends on FB over the last ten years or so, and a few years ago, when Drew (and Liz, his wife – they met in the Richmond Symphony chorus, which they’re both still in) came into town to go to the US Open, they suggested we get together. I was going to just have them over for cocktails and then take us out to dinner, but Charles took it as an excuse to throw a dinner party and cooked quite grandly. So we had a great time, and Drew and Liz and I usually get together when they’re in town.
Then… much to my surprise, when we were prepping Ruddigore for the festival last year, Drew reached out and asked if they could play in our sandbox and be in the chorus. I was absolutely delighted, but also worried – I made it clear what the time and financial commitment would be (you have to get yourself to England, find yourself room and board for more than a week, and there’s a production fee too) and they were fine with it. I was also worried that these two, who had no connection to our company other than me, would go through all that and then possibly not enjoy themselves or make new friends. And Liz, although a singer, had never been on stage before, really.
No worries at all, it turned out. They had a great time and everyone loved them. Liz was particularly helpful, putting together cheat sheets for the bridesmaids for their many entrances, and when Risa had her knee accident during the overture, Liz (a nurse) was first on scene. Liz also got to be the ‘raspberry girl’ in the ‘vulgar girls’ scene, which was her favorite part.
The bridesmaids (Liz with foot out), and the Bucks & Blades (Drew in Sherlock Holmes drag)
So anyway, when I mentioned I might be visiting, they opened their home to me in a big way. They have a lovely ranch home with two guest bedrooms, within walking distance of the U of Richmond. And great wifi, so I was all set.
Liz came home just as I was jumping on an hour-long Zoom meeting, but afterward we greeted and hugged. I wrapped up my day, then she took me to the Quirk Hotel‘s rooftop bar for cocktails. This was merely the first of many local attractions they took me to – I had, I guess, ‘been to Richmond’ before, but had never actually seen anything. The Quirk hotel was, as implied, delightfully quirky, and the rooftop bar gave great views. Drew joined us there, then we headed over to Carytown to walk around and find dinner. They’d had a particular French bistro in mind, but it was closed. We ended up going to a seafood restaurant, which was excellent, then getting ice cream at Kilwin’s. There was also some driving around – at some point, we drove down Monument Avenue, where all the (Confederate) monuments have been removed. (Arthur Ashe is still there.) According to them, the town really hasn’t come up with a plan for dealing with the empty statue spots yet, a shame.
Wednesday, Liz had the day off, so we started the morning with a walk around the pond on the University of Richmond campus. I didn’t even know there was a U of R, but apparently it’s quite prestigious, and the college campus is lovely. I then ‘worked’ until lunchtime, and Liz took me out (in her Miata convertible! with the top down! and yes, I made Isadora Duncan jokes, although I may have mixed her up with Jayne Mansfield) for sightseeing. We went first to drop in on the Jefferson Hotel, just to look inside, it’s very schmancy. Then to the Virginia Capitol to walk around the grounds and also to look at the Governor’s Mansion. All very pretty, and it was a beautiful day. We also walked by the Dominion Energy Center, which is where the Richmond Symphony performs. I’m willing to bet this is where Brad and I saw the New York City Opera’s tour of La Boheme back during our college days. Lunch at Wong Gonzalez, a trippy mix of Latin and Asian food – I had some kind of fish tacos, and we split some sort of yummy appetizer. More touristing as we drove back, I don’t remember what we saw.
(also, judging from the tourist-guide commentary that Drew and Liz peppered throughout, Richmond is very much about the ‘old families’. Again, something that I knew nothing about and wasn’t part of my background at all.)
Once Drew came home, we set out for the Virginia Fine Art Museum (VMFA). This was quite spectacular, I must say, a world-class level museum. We looked at all the stuff, avoiding the boring bits (I have no interest in medieval religious art, for example). They even have Faberge eggs! I was super impressed. Then we went back to Carytown to eat at the French bistro we’d missed the night before. Well, actually, it’s a brasserie. It was quite awesome – I forget what I ordered – maybe a chopped steak? it was yummy. Then were going to go across the street for some dessert, but they were closed, oh well.
Thursday morning, Drew was off to work again, but Liz drove me to the “teapot bridge“, so we could walk across the river for our morning constitutional. Liz was very excited about all the birds we saw – herons and so on. I’m not a nature boy, but it was nice to have those interesting things pointed out to me, particularly the… cormorant? … flying by with a fish in its claws.
Worked until lunchtime, then took Liz to the local tavern to treat her to lunch. (Drew had picked up the check the night before, quite unfair!) After the afternoon work session, Drew came home and we sat on the porch and had cocktails – I think Liz made me an old fashioned, which I liked a lot. Great chat session – one odd thing about my relationship with Drew is that, even though we knew each other in college and have a lot of the same friends, I didn’t know anything about his college experience. For instance, that he worked at the old-tymey bakery in Colonial Williamsburg for years. He had to get up way early to get the fires going, but that was a good time to study and read as the fires built up. He also knew a lot about scions of super-rich families that went to school with us – something I’d been completely unaware of. Apparently there was a very talented proto-opera singer who went to school with us, but did nothing with the music department or shows or anything – she just flew to NYC on her family’s private jet every week for vocal coaching with some fabulous high-level coach. Who knew?
Anyway, Liz was off to play tennis, but she’d put together a big salad bar, basically, so Drew and I built and ate salads, then we went out for ice cream at Blue Cow. They had some trippy flavors, like strawberry balsamic. I got, I think, banana pudding (flavor) and some peanut butter/chocolate concoction, delicious.
And Liz came home and there was lots more chat until we all went to bed early.
Oo, forgot to mention that they’d bought me a gift of these Gilbert and Sullivan music books.
I’d never seen these before. They’re vocal selections, four books in all, and include all the operas, including Utopia and Grand Duke. Unlike some similar collections, the numbers are in the correct keys and pretty much use the vocal score accompaniments, maybe with the vocal line layered on top of the accompaniment to provide assistance. Anyway, they’re really cool and that was thoughtful. Knowing I’d be flying home and they were heavy, Drew offered to hang onto them, but I ended up taking them with me, and dealt with them later.
I didn’t get to see Liz again on this trip, but Drew got up early and we had a great morning conversation before he had to leave for the office and I had to pack up and head out.
I am very blessed to have friends like these. This was a wonderful wonderful stay.
To be continued!
The Toast Point Page 
aw. We loved having you. And it was an osprey and a peregrine falcon fishing on the river.
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