Father's Day and Shakespeare on the Green

Vivian and I arrived back in Omaha after our weekend camping trip just in time to celebrate Father's Day! We had a giant dinner with Vivian's parents, which included glazed pork kabobs, roasted asparagus, and a giant bowl of potato salad. After stuffing ourselves silly, Jack and I set about setting up his Father's Day gift — a new flat-screen TV. It took us a few minutes to figure out how to screw together the stand, which came in several pieces unlike the other models we've assembled. It seemed to work fine, so I'm hoping we won't have to figure out how all the Styrofoam pieces fit back in the original box so we can return it later.

Vivian had her own special Father's Day gift for me — a week of special lunches! It was so sweet to see what she'd pack for me every day the following week. One Wednesday, I got sushi from Sakura Bana. Now that was a surprise!

On Friday, Vivian and I made an appearance at Jitterbugs Night Out — partly because it was our turn to set up for the evening, but mostly because the Grand Marquis were playing for us again. It turned out to be a busy night, with about sixty people showing up for the beginning lesson. Several other noteworthy follows making a rare appearance at the Eagle's Lodge, including Sara and Sarah (up above). It seems strange that it's rare these days to have a Sara(h) among our group, let alone two. Also making a rare appearance was Margaret, who we hadn't seen since Bart's funeral several months ago. (I among several others was quite happy to have her back among us again.)

On Saturday night, we and a bunch of our friends attended Shakespeare on the Green, an annual traditional that combines the rich flavors of Deep Woods Off and Merlot (so saith a certain emcee/weatherman). I arrived early enough to claim a spot near the front of the crowd and then enjoyed an afternoon of being forced to enjoy the outdoors with a good book (a copy of The Fountainhead I managed to grab from the library on the way to the park). Friends started to arrived around six o'clock, and we got to spread out on our blankets together to enjoy wine, cheese, strawberries, and an assortment of other vittles as the standard Shakespearean entertainers wandered among us. The chorus of wandering minstrels sang for us, and the juggler made a well-expected appearance with his cigar boxes. Before the show, a troupe performed a couple rounds of two-minute Shakespeare for our amusement. They were quite good.

The show itself was excellent, of course. This year they performed A Midsummer Night's Dream, a play I was fortunate enough to study in High School (so I could tell what was going on). It was interesting to hear the audience laughing along with the funnier parts that were written a couple hundred years ago and are still enjoyable today. (Nick Bottom's extended death scene was particularly hilarious).

In other news, I'm now a Virgin Mobile customer. Once I discovered that I could get an Android smart phone and actually pay $15 less per month than with Sprint, I had to jump ship. Now I'm happily playing with GPS and Facebook and trying not to become one of "those people" whose face is forever glued to a two-inch screen, oblivious of the world around me.