Wednesday evening in Boise

[nlbarber]

The week progresses. The business meeting is going fairly well, though one of the major tasks we need to finish is going to require more discussion and work--won't be finished this week. The other major task, however, should get done. A side task assigned to me personally will get shunted aside to work on the first thing, and I'll have to try to work on it back in my own office. But there's never time to do that....

On the recreational side, most of us (7 of the 11, I think) went to see The Tempest at the Idaho Shakespeare Festival last night. ISF has a pretty open-air theater on the banks of the Boise River, west of the city proper. The seating is either "lawn" (assigned spots, bring your own low lawn-chair or rent one), or "chair" or "box" (plastic patio chairs, and tables in the boxes). Bringing or purchasing a picnic to eat on the grounds or in the theater is encouraged, and that's what we did--very nice gourmet salad and sandwich options were offered by the onsite vendor. We ate outside the theater proper in a patio area, and got rained on lightly. Then we headed in to catch the end of the Greenshow*. Got seated in our rented lawn chairs, and then, just as the Greenshow wrapped up, the rain came pouring down. We huddled under whatever we had--several of us hadn't brought raingear (it's Idaho! It's supposed to be dry!). I had a jeans jacket I held over my head and it got soaked--but the rest of me stayed fairly dry. After the worst of the storm passed, the ushers finally started passing out plastic garbage bags for impromptu raingear.

So anyway, once the rain mostly quit the director made the call that they would try to do the show. We watched the extras and stagehands mop the wooden stage, the sets were removed as too hazardous until they dried out (and reappeared toward the end of the first act), and while a few people left, most stayed. The show started about 15 minutes late but with real atmosphere for the storm that opens The Tempest. I enjoyed the production, though the low lawnchair in a small space turned into minor torture for me--I'm a fidgeter, and I couldn't shift position enough. At the intermission, Todd and I moved up to an empty box behind us where we had full-sized plastic patio chairs and did much better. Oh, and the rain held off for the rest of the evening, despite a very brisk wind that felt like it should be bringing in a storm front--again, good atmospherics for the play. Oh, and Idaho *is* dry--by the end of the performance my sodden jacket was almost dry again.

We were out late, and then up early this morning so those going on the whitewater rafting trip could head out at 3 PM. Under 5 hours of sleep isn't really enough for me any more--I was pretty brain-dead for part of today's meeting.

Dane, Lynn, and I went for an early dinner excursion so we could get more sleep tonight. We walked from the hotel to the Ram Brewhouse/Restaurant by way of the Boise Greenbelt, in company with Kira, Lynn's 9-month-old Siberian husky. I begin to grasp the concept of the dog as babe-magnet--Kira got compliment after compliment, mostly from women. <g> And now it's time to hit the sack.

*This was my first experience with a Greenshow--it's a tradition that dates back to Elizabethan theater, and is a warm-up performance traditionally held on the grass outside the theater. But the grass is *inside* this theater...

Comments

[ann-mcn.livejournal.com]

What a cool experience! GA Shakespeare (at Oglethorpe) started in a tent, but we stay so soggy here after rain. We went out West one summer with a pop-up camper, and I was always flabbergasted at the dry air. My hair would dry in about 20 minutes, instead of the two hours it takes back here.