AUTUMN IN MAPLETON

What's prettier than autumn in Utah?  Not much.

 

 

And then there is the school fair, but check out those mountains!

HOUSE OF CARDS
Sophie wanted to build a house of cards. Ken said she did the greater part of it. Impressive.

Ta-da !

WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON WITH THE AGLE SR.s ?

Here's a few things that have been going on in San Juan Capistrano.

Several weeks ago we had a handy man come and do some repair work for us.  It included removing a practically non-functioning shower door, new floor molding, new exhaust fan and a new water saving toilet in our bathroom and new faucets in the guest bathroom. Yipee! (Thanks for the help kids.)

Felix is a great worker.

 And no plumbers cleavage!

 

 Here's the new shower door.

 

 Re-caulked the tile.

 

 New baseboards (plugging the hole the mouse came in!  Eeek!)

 

New toilet.

 

 Before. (Guest bathroom)

 

 During.

 

 Very tight working quarters.

 

After.  Ta-da!

 

And on another note:

 

Every day on Dad's computer he gets an half off offer.  Usually we pass them up but on occasion we take advantage of them.

Recently we have attended two plays on "preview nights" and then adding the 1/2 price (of the lower preview night price) it's about $5.  Can't go wrong with that.

We saw Irving Berlin's, I Love A Piano.  Pure delight.  He wrote over 1,500 songs.  This play included 50.  It takes place between the turn of the century to the late 50s.  There were 3 women and 3 men in the cast and four were equity actors.  All could SING and DANCE and the costumes and sets were great.  It follows a piano through those years.  There was also a great orchestra.

Here's just a few of his songs that even the young'uns will know:
Alexander's Rag Time Band
Easter Parade
God Bless America
Oh! How I Hate to Get Up In the Morning
There's No Business Like Show Business
White Christmas

 

Then last night we went to the Laguna Playhouse and saw The 39 Steps.  A farce that managed to include a nod to most of Alfred Hitchcock's movies.  There were only 4 actors playing multiple parts and it was hilarious. Really great.  As an aside, The 39 Steps was one of Hitchcock's earlier movies.

 



Lastly, we have a pet!  Meet . . . 

Bartholomew. 

He loves to hide in the plant.

 

He is a Japanese Beta fish.

You can only have one because they will fight and kill the other.

GERMAINE'S EMPORIUM

One of Carol's goals this year is to put up a website for their store. She has completed the first step of getting on Facebook. They no longer sell feed and grain and have moved more to "emporium" type things. It is a wonderful store that you can spend hours looking at all the different areas. There's lots of antiques, knick-knacks, memorbilia, saddles, guns, well, you name it and they probably have it. What they need now is lots of followers. I encourage you to take a look at their page and suggest it to your friends. They want lots of "friends" to help spread the word.
 

Here are some more pictures to enjoy.

SUNDAY IN THE PARK, PLUS, PLUS

I received this email from Ken today and thought everyone would enjoy reading about his Sunday adventure.

I had quite a nice day yesterday. It started off with a good night's rest, which is always nice. I have such a nice view of the Manhattan skyline from my view. The morning breaks on New York and it is rather nice. 

I took off around 10:00 for the city, but found it rather necessary to get some food. One of the things I love about New York is that every neighborhood seems to have these neighborhood markets that have a deli where you can the most delicious sandwiches. I got the deli version of a Sausage Egg McMuffin, walked my 100 yards to the station, ate my delicious sandwich and then boarded the subway to Manhattan.  (Ken stayed in Queens.)

I went to 86th on the "4" Train. I wanted to go to a different ward building than the one I've been to a couple of times where they have the Temple. I found the building and went to Sacrament building. It was very lovely and the organist was amazing. He played the interlude hymn (#260, Who's on the Lord Side?) between speakers as if it was carnival ride. It was rather amazing with all the slides and rocking fun style. I've never heard anything ever like that at a ward building. Even the speaker commented on it. It made me say "Amen" at the end. The speakers included a guy who joined the church. His wife is an opera singer in New York. The congregation seemed to have a lot of amazingly talented speakers. The 2nd and 3rd speakers were this young couple. They were most impressive. All of the talks were on Charity and very good. The last speaker was a 25ish very polished young man that you can tell has a bright future. He spoke most eloquently on the subject focusing on that Charity begins in the mind, then goes to our words and finally to our actions. 

After the service I walked up Lexington (It's the block next to Park Avenue) where this amazing street faire was going on for what seemed like miles. It was rather lovely. I went about 8 blocks up it before cutting over to Central Park. It was about 1 pm, but I knew I had some time before the program (The Fork) began at 4pm. So I strolled through the Park. It was an amazing day weather-wise and really I enjoyed strolling through various spots. I put on some music and just visited much of it including Jackie O's Lake, the Castle, the Sheep Meadow and so much more. It is an amazing piece of real estate. I walked to the end, which is about 65th. I just decided to walk to 43rd where the production was going to be. I figured by now I'd walked 5 miles and had another 3 or 4 to go. My leg was feeling it, but not so bad that I couldn't make it. I strolled the remaining miles through the streets of New York. It was fun. New  York is such a place. Everyone is a no one yet someone. When you live in New York you know you're somewhere where things happen. You feel special just seeing everything. But, then there are so many people there that you can't help but notice it. It seems to produce people that are quite independent and very confident. Everyone just seems to do their thing connected by a city, which is really a massive amount of small neighborhoods (each with a nice deli, I might add). 

In any case, I made it to the theater about 3:45 pm with 15 minutes to spare. I knew it would be chaos as I'm beginning to realize that organization is not the theatrical world's expertise. I also knew that I had no money to buy the $20 ticket. But, I figured I could try and use my writer's credit and get a free ticket. I saw that the guys running it weren't really confrontational so I just walked past them and into the theater and selected a seat. I'd imagine that there were 50 to 60 seats in this small theater. It was in a building where lots of creative things happen (dancing, casting, theatrical efforts, etc.). It was old and very NYC-like. We were on the 4th floor and the elevator was a classic thing. 

Now getting there early was rather bold of me. It meant that I would sit through all 10 productions prior to The Fork. The night before was tough since I had only a few hours of sleep and the actors/story lines on two or three of the productions were killers. One of them was a Sherlock Holmes mystery that went 24 minutes the night before and almost made me want to scream. (The productions are supposed to be 10 minute plays.) But, I didn't. From the previous night, after all of the productions, the organizers, who were definitely not young, polled the audience for the shows they liked and counted the votes. Since we were last, we had one advantage because a lot of people left (or just committed Hari Kari after Sherlock or the Ode to Hitler piece). In any case, the prior night we had about 12 votes with the next highest being 8. 

So, this time the show was at 4 pm. Much of the audience was enthusiastic this afternoon and the productions were better. The audience laughed a lot more on Sunday at each of the shows so I was bit worried. Plus, they didn't leave, even after the significantly tightened (this time just 20 minutes on Sunday) Sherlock production. So, when The Fork went on I was thinking this could be tough. The changeovers between acts were very fast. Ours had the most props by far. But, we had a stage manager and she was fast in the setup. The play was cut down by Dennis by 3 pages so a few of our lines and laughs were cut out. Still, by the time the waiter says "As big as your head" at 90 seconds in, the audience is into it. I recorded both nights and you can really hear the audience laughing. When the meatball makes its presence, the whole place just rolls over in laughter. From there it just keeps going. In the end, most shows received about 8 votes with a couple getting 0 (Sherlock's 20 minutes, shockingly didn't please folks). When they asked for votes on the Fork, I saw most hands go up and I knew we had one. They basically counted everyone, but after about 20 votes, just announced that The Fork had won. It was a slam dunk. They invited Erik up to receive the $75 cash prize (retirement!!), but more importantly to receive the applause. Erik (the director) was kind and acknowledged me. I would have put up a picture of Dennis, but I wasn't carrying one. In any case, there was much love for The Fork. It is a fun 12 minutes (I know, I know). 

Afterwards, we had a lot of handshaking and congrats. I took a few pics with the Crew/Actors. Erik Orton was very good. The actors were all quite excellent. I'd say that they did a very good job. It was different than Utah (and they had less of the material), but they did very well. Some of it was funnier than Utah and they innovated on it. I love that about theater. 

In any case, eventually, I went with Erik and told him my plans. I want to move to New York in 2013 with the family/business. It just feels right. I now know a few people and believe that we can make this theatrical/Triac combo work. Who knows. Could be great. Besides, flying from JFK/La Guardia is easy. 

I carried home the Meatball on the subway and through the streets of NY. I received many, many looks, inquiries and laughs. Its just funny that Meatball. 

Ken 

WINNER: THE FORK!

THE NYC WINNER:  THE FORK

NYC Cast, crew and director.

Ken with the organizer and holding the famous "Meatball" 
On the menu it reads, Spagetti and Meatball.  You can see why meatball is singular!

Yes, it's true. It's two for two. First Utah and now New York City. The Fork won the grand prize of viewer's favorite. It is a clever story line and grabs your interest immediately. Dad and I were able to see a filmed version and we laughed nearly all the way through.  Congratulation, Ken and Dennis.  Ken was in Florida and NYC on business last week and was able to attend the performance on both days.

He works tomorrow in the Big Apple and then takes a late flight home.  Here's some pictures he sent of his time in Miami and NYC.

Chipper Jones last hit in Miami 

Ken said it was amazing.

Their heads bobbed at different times.  Fun to watch. 

 Central Park.

The Castle (in Central Park)

 

 Not Utah.

THE ALEXANDRA UPDATE

Here's a little update from Sashy per my request. Note: There are six girls that room together.  Two to a room.  Thanks, Sashy.

Life in Florida is going well! It's crazy challenging but so enjoyable with a million new experiences every day. We certainly do have to fight bugs! We have an ant problem in our apartment which isn't very fun to deal with but we've adjusted a bit. Also, there's mold along the window sills because it rains every single day here and we have some leaks but hey, it's not killing us so it's all good! Yesterday I played in the parks for the first time since I've been here. It was a lot of fun and reinforced my love for Disney which is good because reminders of why I do what I do is appreciated. What I do is very hard and hot but I love it! I'm "friends with" a couple characters here at the parks. My day usually starts at 7am and I get home around 7pm. Disney sure does work us interns hard!

 

 I started school on Thursday and it was great. I'm taking one class called 'Marketing You'. It's going to teach me about networking, resume writing, interview skills, the works. My teacher is a very enthusiastic lady so hopefully that will make the start time (8:30 am) and duration of class (4 hours) bearable.  I wish there was more to report but there isn't unfortunately because I do the same thing every day which is work and sleep. (Oh and eat. A LOT. I use a lot of energy here so I've been eating like a teenage boy!) But if you ever have any questions or anything specific you'd like to hear about, I'd be more than happy to answer them!

 

 Earning my ears ribbon. 
 

 My actual room roommate, Taylor (from Maryland).

 

I tried on an XL in childrens size Little Mermaid dress at the Magic Kingdom. Prime.

 2 of my roommates, Morgan (left) from Florida and Shaina (middle) from Chicago.

 2 of my roommates, Becca (left) and Abby (middle). Both from Massachusetts.

Ariel's in the window display behind me. I love her.

 

 First day of work with my nametag.

 

TREES, BEAUTIFUL TREES

When the wind blows in Iowa, and you have old trees, it usually happens that one (or two +) might break some branches or blow down.  That's happened a lot to the Lancasters of late, and all it takes to take care of it is $$$s and a big cherry picker.

SUPERVISING

 

 

POOF!  IT'S GONE.