Busy, busy, busy..... spent a good portion of yesterday photo copying and scanning more family tree stuff  that I had acquired. Only about halfway through it all and it has already consumed more than half a ream of copy paper and nearly a full ink cartridge on the printer. Pretty fascinating stuff however, most of it concerning the time period leading up to and through WW II. Once it is all scanned in, I'll actually have time to go through some of it and see what it all is. Right now though there is a time limit on how long I can keep some of it, so I'll just have to keep plugging away.

   It wasn't all work yesterday though. I stopped around 4:00 and got cleaned up and a bit dressed up. Clean shirt, long pants etc., that's about as dressed as I get these days, since giving away most of my ties, dress shirts and pants and all of my sport coats. But anyway; I headed over to pick up a friend of mine here in the Denver area, Steph. She had gotten a set of tickets to go see a production of Fiddler on the Roof down at the Denver Performing Art Center, DPCA, and had invited me to go along with her.

   We first headed over to Racine's, a local Denver restaurant, for a very nice meal out on the patio in the setting sun. They have these wonderful shrimp tacos there that are to die for. Along with some rice and black beans, and for me, some ice tea, since I was driving, it was a nice hour and a half of pleasant conversation and relaxation.

    Drove on down to the theatre afterwards and picked up the tickets at will call. We even had enough time to go out and take a short stroll around a couple blocks of downtown Denver. Usually we are so pressed for time that we have to go right in to the theatre and take our seats. Lots of changes there in the past couple of years, but mostly in what stores and restaurants are still open and a going concern.

    The production last night was being put on by a group called PHAMALY, which stands for, 'Physically Handicapped Actors & Musical Artists League'. This group was the first theatre company of it's kind in the U.S. where it exclusively featured actors with disabilities. It does a lot of productions around the surrounding cities and has been going steadily here in the Denver area for more than 24 years. Each actor in the group has some type of physical or mental handicap, that could be anything from near total paralysis to a hearing or seeing impairment to those with cognitive or other mental challenges. 

    From the very start when you see a young violinist on stage, with another one up near the roof top, playing the opening lines from the theme song, you realize that this play is going to be something different.  I must admit that when the show began I spent time trying to figure out what handicap each performer had. Some like the actors in wheel chairs or the ones being lead by other performers or the violinist holding her bow with her prosthetic arm, were obvious. But what was wonderful was how as the timeless story of Tevye, the milk man from the little Russian town of Anatevka, played out in front of the audience, those thoughts of one or another being handicapped disappeared and you simply got caught up in the wonderful music and dialogue.

    The production was in one of the smaller theatres at DPCA and was done in the round, so the stage was right there in front of everyone. Minimal sets and props of course, but the staging was marvelous, with movement in and out of every entrance and set of stairs in the place. Every single cast member was expertly cast and the costuming and staging were wonderfully complex in their simplicity. Nothing was added that wasn't needed and nothing that was needed was left out. I especially liked how the casting was done so well that you really felt like each of the three girls ended up with just the right husband, and how Tevye and Golda were such a loving pair even after 26 years together. Sorry... but it made me tear up just a little bit in a couple of places. :)

     Today has been a transition day for me. Up rather late today after getting to bed so late last night. Got everything packed up into as few bundles as I could, and got them loaded into the truck right after breakfast. Said my last goodbyes to George and Marge for now, I'll be seeing both many times in the next few weeks, and then headed out for the day.

   Went and did some grocery shopping first off. Needed to put together some breakfast's and lunch's for the upcoming river trip in 5 days. We are all responsible for our own B & L's, so I headed over to pick up some of my standard meals. Now you need to understand that I'm pretty much a 'simplist' when it comes to meals on river trips. The simpler, the better! So I go in for a lot of meals that involve opening a can and eating what ever is in it on either a tortilla or some crackers. If the can is one of the self opening kinds, even better. So for lunch I usually have sardines, tuna, canned chicken, smoked oysters or something along those lines. Then along with it I have one of those fruit cup thing's for dessert. Breakfast is generally a granola bar or a pop tart and another fruit cup. This time though I did find a really small jar of peanut butter with granola and dried fruit already in it, so that sounded pretty good. Plus I got a squeeze bottle of horseradish mustard to put on all the rest. Top it all off with some kind of Kool-ade/Crystal Light stuff to drink and I'm pretty much set for the week and I don't have to worry about keeping any of it cool. Oh... I also picked up some packages of dried fruit just to have something sweet to snack on.

    I'm now over at Tom and Donna's place and have been busy packing everything away since I'll be here until at least the 12th of September. All of the canoe trip people are going to be over here tonight for dinner and a last meeting before the trip. It will be good to see them all again and get a chance to go out and do some paddling or sailing this evening once it cools down a little bit.

   I did spend a little time this afternoon on line trying to track down another bent shaft, carbon fiber canoe paddle for the trip. Had been meaning to pick up another one for the past year or so, as I don't really have a spare to take on my trips. Still have a half dozen or so wooden paddles, but I wanted another carbon fiber one just because I'm tired of sanding the wooden ones down and refinishing them every couple of years. I'll still keep them or course, and actually, one of them will be going on this trip since Steph will be using the new paddle for herself. I did actually find one after much searching over at Canoe Colorado, the place I bought my solo canoe at. Probably should of looked there first, but never really thought of it. But Jerry says he has a nice 54", slightly used one for under $150, Usually over $200 new, so I get to go pick it up tomorrow morning. It sure is nice to paddle with one that only weighs in at 13 oz's though. Doesn't seem like and extra pound or two would make much of a difference, but after about 10,000 strokes you really start to feel it in your arms.

    May write a little more later after things settle down again, but I think it is time to get this one posted and go see If there is anything I can help with.




 Thanks to my friend Steph, who invited me along to share the evening.