HoodedHawk

Last Saturday Kirsten and I went to see Mrs. Kemble’s Tempest, a play by Tom Ziegler and directed by Lee Mikeska Gardner. We absolutely loved it! This coming weekend is the final weekend. Grab tickets and go, you won’t be disappointed. It is basically a one-woman play (Kimberly Schraf plays Mrs. Kemble).

The Fascinating story of Fanny Kemble; one of the most famous actresses to grace the 19th century American stage, an early feminist, and abolitionists. This evening is her farewell tour, as her extraordinary solo performance of the Tempest interweaves with episodes from her own tempestuous life. –(from www.baltimoreshakespeare.org)

Kimberly Schraf as Mrs. Kemble in Mrs Kemble's Tempest

There is another actor (no speaking role, but very good) who plays the part of Mrs. Kemble’s onstage pianist. Ms. Schraf was just wonderful; I’m always amazed when an actor can pull off a single-person play like this. How do they ever memorize the whole shebang? Anyway, I was mesmerized by the story and the acting.

The venue itself is great – an old church (St. Mary’s in Baltimore) with good acoustics and seating.

Mrs Kemble's Tempest at the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival

Let’s hope for a scholarship: Just got an alumni email from Dartmouth (my graduate school alma mater, at left), and the undergraduate tuition, room/board/fees for next year total $52,275.00.

For grins I also checked my my undergrad alma mater (Boston College, below). BC is now at $50,970.00.

Mind boggling, the cost of college these days; nevermind what it will be in 18 years…

Over two feet of snow, and more coming down. Oh, the joy! At least we still have power (fingers crossed!) and plenty of food. This is a record for Maryland; from what I’ve been told, this is the most snow at one time since ~1950. Normally we get ~18 inches over the course of the winter. So far we’ve had that much dumped on us just in December, and now this current storm is in itself over 26 inches so far…

Just a bit South of here (DC) and East had actual “blizzard” conditions last night. We just had a major snowstorm. :)

Click any picture for slideshow.

Snow Storm 2-2010: Two feet.

Over 2 feet- taller than Olivia

Snow Storm 2-2010: Two feet, and he's not going to be much help shoveling...

Snow Storm 2-2010: Two feet.

Snow Storm 2-2010: Our Mailbox

Snow Storm 2-2010: Preparing for the arctic.

Snow Storm 2-2010: Preparing for the arctic.

Snow Storm 2-2010: Actic Trail left by explorers

Snow Storm 2-2010: In the arctic.

Monday night after dinner Preston and I enjoyed a game of Kids of Carcassonne. It’s one of the few kid’s board games for which he can sit “still”. A typical game only lasts around 10 minutes, which is just right for him. He even remembered the name of the figure pieces: “Meeples”. The “full” version of the game, Carcassonne, (I think it’s for 10 to adult) is also a lot of fun, but too long for him.

This is a much simpler version – you basically pick a tile from a stack and place it on the table next to another. When you “complete” a road (when it has an obstruction on both ends), you can place your meeple on any same-colored meeple picture on that road. First player to play all their meeples (8) wins. Fun!

The game itself is well-made, with nice wooden “meeple” figures and thick cardboard tiles which hold up well to a 3yr old’s treatment. Not much can stand up to the gnawing teeth of a 1yr old, so we keep Olivia at bay during play. The graphics are very good as well, and Preston enjoys finding all the little animals, etc. on each tile (“Hey! A sheep! What’s he doing there?”).

Not bad for a game without dinosaurs.

Kids of Carcassonne Board

Kids of Carcassonne

Preston and Kids of Carcassonne

So far it looks like we have more than 18 inches of snow here. That’s a record! Preston loved “helping” me shovel out the driveway (though he used a Swifter as I only have one shovel). Olivia just cheered us from afar. Then both got into the BlueBird sled, though only Preston actually went for a ride (many, down the driveway). The BlueBird is supposed to be for Olivia, but it was convenient for Preston. BIG snowbank at bottom of driveway so no worries about him getting too far.

Fun!

Olivia in the SnowBird

Preston in the SnowBird