Breakin' a Leg ... a blog-within-a-blog ...

August 26, 2009
But wait a minute there! I was asking for apples ...

Still glowing in the aftermath of my first ever and last audition for a role in a stage play, I felt quite smug about stepping onto the stage at the Claire vg Thomas Theatre and fumbling over a few lines from a script.

However, fate has a droll sense of humor, which I found out firsthand when the morning after the audition, I took a phone call from Stephanie Maksin, the director of “Faith County.” Stephanie was personally calling me to invite me to join the cast in the role of Ruthann Barns, “wife of Ezekiel Barns and local Moral Majority leader.”

I was physically shaken with disbelief at what I heard. All of my carefully crafted rationalizations instantly tumbled to the floor along with my jaw, as I tried to regain composure enough to reply.

It really is incredible what one can mentally process in a mere instant. Quickly transiting through sheer terror at the prospect, I acknowledged to myself that I was being presented with an opportunity to grow in heretofore unconsidered ways.

I was immediately reminded of a paragraph in “The Artist’s Way” about trusting a higher power to bring us into contact with people, places and things we needed. Julia Cameron stated, “I have seldom seen it pay off in a linear fashion. It seems to work more like we shake the apple tree and the universe delivers oranges.”

It was obvious to me that I was being gifted with a crate full to overflowing with delicious, juicy oranges.














“Thank you, Stephanie! I am tickled pink to take on the role of Ruthann Barns!”

“Good! We meet Friday to do a complete read through of the script. See you then.”

Oranges, eh?

Well, y'all, it sure looks like I’m going to be performin' in the “Faith County” Fair!

And then ... and then ...

Breakin' a Leg ... A blog-within-a-blog ...

August 24, 2009 … Artist Date

I was about six weeks into a creativity workshop based on Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, and I was considering and rejecting off-the-wall activities to do for my “artist date.” (An artist date is one component of the concerted efforts to work through creative blocks or to rekindle inventiveness and spontaneity in a life. )

For previous artist dates, I had chosen to do some odd things, i.e., I attended a fly tying workshop. Well, I don’t even fish! I must admit that even though I don’t fish, I found it fascinating to learn how much of tying flies is based on entomology and observing which stage of development of which insects fish are biting, whether the bug needs to float on the water or sink or wiggle or whatever, and which feathers or materials or metallic threads or beads are used to replicate the appropriate insect. I came away from that artist date with a healthy respect for fly tying artisans and fly fishing.

When I read in the Bellingham Herald about an open audition for a play to be performed in Lynden, I was confident there was no way I would ever be assigned a part, so on a lark, I made the audition my artist date. The last time I had stood on a stage or been in a play was in the 3rd or 4th grade at Yoyogi Elementary School in Tokyo, Japan when my dad was stationed at Tachikawa Air Force Base.

Over 50 years later, here I was in Lynden, a little excited because I didn’t know what to expect and I didn’t know anyone else there at the audition. None of us had seen the script beforehand, which I learned was termed a “cold read.”

I wasn’t nervous or apprehensive because I knew this 2-hour interval was all there was to be. I wasn’t there to audition for an actual part, I was just playing around, so I just sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed observing the others auditioning, and got up every so often when the director called my name to read some line or another.

“Faith County” takes place in the South, so the director, Stephanie Maksin, asked if we could affect a Southern drawl when we read our lines. It was hilarious! I was impressed with how quickly many of the people there really auditioning dropped right into character and how convincing they were in the lines they were directed to read.

The director had us all read a variety of lines for different characters. Some people were not only reading their lines but were also walking around on the stage, interacting with the other characters they were dialoging with at that point in the script. Walking, reading, AND talking in a Southern drawl simultaneously. It was all I could do to keep my finger on the place in the script I was assigned to read and then read it when appropriate. Sometimes I wasn’t very adept even at that. Sometimes I read with a quasi-Southern drawl and other times it was some undecipherable gobble-de-gook.

My date with myself had been a successfully enjoyable caper and I was pleased that I had shown up.

Let me explain, I have difficulty remembering the names of my children, much less memorize lines to be performed in a play, and so I was pleased that I was done with the exercise, and could get back to my usual life routine. I was even okay with having made a fool of myself stumbling haltingly through the reading or missing cues, because in the overall scheme of things it didn’t matter.

I knew the director would choose the right people for her cast from those who were legitimately auditioning, and come the following morning, it would be nothing but a pleasant memory.

I enjoyed myself immensely and thanked the director for the experience and told her I would certainly be sitting in the audience watching the play when it was finally performed. Then I merrily made my way home.

Little did I realize then what was to happen next ...

All in a summer's day after day after day ...

Oh my! July 17th was the last time I uploaded any thoughts or goings on! It’s not that I haven’t had any in this interval of time. I’ve been overwhelmed by thoughts, ideas, a seasonal spurt of real estate business activity, a new acrylic painting series that started as a whim to help my sister Sandy keep on target for her goal of 20 paintings for a show she wants to do in November, hence the series name: “20 x 11”, and all manner of summer art shows attended and galleries visited and musical venues enjoyed and such. I experienced my first Oysters Rockefeller, made by Julie V with fresh oysters from Taylor's down on Chuckanut--oh la la! Tres magnifique! (This also was my first experience with shucking raw oysters--oh la OUCH!) It has been a very satisfying and fun-filled summer in Birch Bay and environs … and the fat lady ain’t yet sung … so, I’m carrying on with my summer fun!

My brother Eric celebrated a birthday earlier this month, one of my granddaughters, Sierra, will turn a year old next week, in fact, our family and friends make for a lot of birthdays celebrated in August: Eric, Ron D, Steve S, Terry DP, Eric, Sierra, Rob AND Jeanine A, Diane D, Erin F … a most gracious HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one and all of you!

It astounds me how others around me keep growing older, and I keep growing younger all the time. I most assuredly enjoy this phenomenon.

Speaking of years and years, I attended a brokers open this last week viewing a resort property of seasonal waterfront rentals—9 cabins—here in Birch Bay). I had an opportunity to chat with the owner who has had this resort in her family for 80 years; she’s the third generation to own and operate it. Can you imagine the hundreds, if not thousands, of laughing, fun-loving families enjoying their summers there since 1929? And, although the current owner is selling, the new buyer—is that you?—will continue the tradition of Birch Bay summers and the part they play to come in making new memories!

I think this is why I enjoy doing real estate here in Birch Bay: it’s a resort and people primarily buy places here to get away from their stress-filled lives and have fun. Yes, there are people moving here for other reasons, but it’s still a very small resort community … emphasis on “community.”

So, that’s it for today! I have to go take some photographs of a new listing I’m working on with Carol McCaig.

But, here are the photographs of Dawn Durand’s listing of the seasonal rental units. These photographs were taken by Dawn. I was so happy for the opportunity to meet the waterfront cabin rental property owner and hear her stories of the families who return year after year.

Just love those stories of connection and history!

Oh yes ... AND ... dungeness crab season starts on August 14th and boats are popping up everywhere on the bay in anticipation! I have a great new recipe for crab fritters ... sure to reduce you to quivering in blissful oooohs and aaaaahs!