School of Rock

Marina has been a fan of the works of Andrew Lloyd Webber for most of her life. So, when I learned his musical School of Rock was coming to town, I knew we had to see it. I invited some of our friends to join us. At first they didn’t think they could, so I bought our tickets. When they decided they could see the show, they bought tickets as well. We all decided to meet at the theater.

Marina decided to wear a plaid skirt, similar to the school uniforms the kids wore in the show. Shortly after we arrived we ran into our friends. It turned out their seats were two rows behind the ones I bought. Another surprise was that one of my coworkers was seated behind them. So Marina talked with her a bit before the show as well.

The show was funny and filled with rock music. I could hear the girls reacting to the show throughout. Clearly they had a good time.

Solo Story

We decided to see the new Star Wars movie Solo this afternoon. Marina was so excited she wore her Jyn Urso costume.

We arrived at the movie theater early and found that even though the menu has changed, our favorite dish is still on it So, of course we ordered it. The food arrived shortly before the movie started.

Solo was action packed and fun. We both enjoyed watching it. Marina didn’t even mind when I spent time with other fans afterward trying to get the timeline straight.

Summer at the Zoo

The weather today was beautiful. So we decided to go to the zoo since we haven’t been in quite a while. The parking lot was crowded but we managed to get a parking space in the garage. We wandered around stopping to see the animals who were out in the sun. We got a good look at the kangaroos, Dall Sheep and found the cheetah hiding in the grass.

We were both thrilled to see the barbecue place we both like was open. So we stopped there for lunch. We both enjoyed the food before going through the rest of the zoo. We looked at all the primates. Marina, of course, wanted to see the tigers. We caught the seals swimming around and then looked at giraffes wandering through their habitat.

Marina was disappointed that the feline house was closed for renovations. But we talked about the renovations over the years that were shown on the signs. After walking through the whole zoo, we went back to the car and spent the rest of the day at home.

The Man of La Mancha

This evening we had tickets to see The Man of La Mancha at one of our favorite theatres. It’s a show I am not familiar with, so we were both looking forward to it. We ran into a bit of traffic on the way, but we arrived with plenty of time for dinner.

When we arrived at our table the other group was already there. The ladies introduced themselves to us and told us our server was the lead in the show. We were thrilled because we knew it was a friend of ours! When he came by our table we gave him some of the photos we have taken of him over the years. He was thrilled with them.

We had dinner then ordered desserts for intermission and settled in to watch the show. The story was a more mature one, but Marina seemed to follow without a problem. At intermission she said she really liked it. She also liked her dessert.

After the show we took photo with the actors we know. Then we headed home. Marina’s phone had died, so she dozed off on the way.

Pixelated

Today was Marina’s first day of summer vacation. I decided to take the day off and we went to the Botanic Gardens. We both slept in and left in the late morning. The weather was very warm today and the Gardens were popular. We were very happy to get a parking spot in the garage and out of the sun!

Once we got inside the gardens, Marina was ready for lunch. So we stopped at the café and ate sandwiches before looking around. They have a collection of sculptures called “Pixelated” on display this summer and Marina was particularly interested in seeing those, so she used the map to make sure we saw them all.

We headed toward the lilac garden in hopes that they were still in bloom. A few of the flowers remained, but not as many as we have seen in the past. We also took some paths around we haven’t used as often. We saw columbines and irises in many different colors all over.

Marina really enjoyed the Pixelated sculptures – she was especially excited about the “Cat Head” one. After we went through the garden we went to the children’s garden. After seeing the sailboat sculpture Marina spent a bit of time playing in the wading stream before we decided to go home.

A Hymn to the Goddess

This evening we went to one of our favorite theaters presenting A Hymn to the Goddess based on the Egyptian myths of Isis. Marina decided to wear her t-shirt from Egypt to the show.

We ran into some crazy traffic on the way, but we were still the first to arrive. Our friend the theater manager met us at the door. I gave her the photos I took when we came to see Jotunheim. She said she would add it to the others from the shows we have given her.

The theater was warm and eventually filled to capacity. (All the shows sold out before the run even began!) It was a bit uncomfortable. We all liked the show. Afterwards we made sure we got Marina’s photos with the cast – it’s tradition now! Most of them had seen the collection by now and were happy to be a part of the photo. It was a fun way to end the night.

Pinball Wizard

We had tickets to see The Who’s Tommy this evening. We left with plenty of time but ran into traffic and road closures on our way. We ended up arriving about ten minutes before the show started. We managed to get a few photos in the lobby before taking our seats.

Our seats were in the front row, where we have sat many times before. For this show, unfortunately, our view was obstructed by set pieces and actors standing in front of us. Marina eventually moved to the empty seat on the other side of me where she could see a bit better.

The show was entertaining. Marina seemed to be engaged for the first half although the second part seemed to drag a bit. We both were impressed with the music, the set and the actress playing The Acid Queen.

When the show was over, Marina said she liked it. The running time was ninety minutes with no intermission, so we were home fairly early.