My Favorite Season

Fall is probably my very favorite season for so many reasons:

1. Cooler weather: It's perfect for wearing sweaters, cuddling under blankets, and enjoying warm drinks like hot chocolate, apple cider, and wassail.
2. Autumn leaves: The crunch under my feet, the musty smell, the gorgeous colors. And who doesn't love playing in piles of leaves in the back yard?
3. Fall foods: Apple pies and cobblers, baked apples with raisins and nuts, pumpkin pie and breads, melt-in-your-mouth squash, and Thanksgiving feasts.
4. Holidays: Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday (next to Christmas) because I love getting together with family and friends, especially to celebrate our gratitude. And I've gained a new appreciation for Halloween seeing how much fun the kids have with it.
5. Activities: I love going to corn mazes, hay rides, decorating pumpkins, making scarecrows, and planning costumes for Halloween.
6. Smells: My favorite smells are in November. Besides the smells of autumn leaves, baking pies, and Thanksgiving, I love the transition to the smells of Christmas: pine, peppermint, cinnamon.
   

What do you love about fall? What is your favorite season?

Utah Shakespearean Festival Fall 2007

There are three plays this fall, The Tempest, Art, and The Mousetrap. In my opinion, they were all excellent. I liked them all for very different reasons.

The Tempest: This is certainly not my favorite of Shakespeare's plays. I don't really identify with any of the characters, and I don't find the play compelling. In the play, Prospero and his daughter have been stranded on a desert island for 12 years because his brother usurps him as the Duke and sets them adrift in a boat. Ariel, a wind spirit, does his bidding, and Caliban, a beastly half-human, grudgingly serves Prospero also. When Prospero finds out his brother is on a ship, he arranges to "shipwreck" him and everyone else on the ship. In the course of two days, he arranges the marriage of Miranda and the Prince of Naples, torments the people who sent him adrift until they feel very guilty, and arranges to become the Duke again and return to Milan.

Despite not loving the play script, I thought the performances were phenomenal and the interpretation was very interesting. They visually compare Prospero to Leonardo da Vinci by including his writings and drawings on Prospero's coat and Ariel's wings were designed to look like something da Vinci created. The idea is both were very close to being more than human. Caliban was very animalistic, the best I've seen. I also loved Chris Mixon as Trinculo, the jester. He stole the stage any time he was on. It was the best production of The Tempest that I've seen, though I still don't like the play that much.

Art: Nate really didn't like this play because he doesn't enjoy watching people argue. I, however, enjoyed the play. It was the one I was most looking forward to seeing because it's won several awards and it was playing both times that I was in London, though I didn't have the chance to see it. The story is simple: Serge buys a painting that is white on white, his friend Marc thinks he's insane to do it, and their friend Yvan gets caught in the middle. Basically, the whole play is a series of conversations, not just about art, but also about friendship and what keeps us together or tears us apart.

It reminded me a lot of a Tom Stoppard play because watching the play required a lot of intellectual work. However, I appreciated hearing the different arguments and having them come to some sort of resolution. And the performances were extremely good.

The Mousetrap: This is a classic Agatha Christie whodunit play. I've seen it a couple of times before and actually remembered whodunit, but I still enjoyed the journey. It's a fun play . . . something easy on the eyes and the mind.

Despite heavy rain on Saturday, we really enjoyed the plays. And I highly recommend them all.

A Week in the Life

So this week has been jam-packed (I'm trying to squeeze as much as humanly possible into the little time left before Sofia--btw, 10 days and counting!). Last Friday, we went up to Big Cottonwood Canyon for the annual Burt Family Campout. We had a beautiful location surrounded by the trees and mountains; best of all, it was just across the road from a bathroom with a flush toilet and running water (really important when you're 38 weeks pregnant!).

Ryan immediately was in heaven, playing with his cousins, watching the fire, trying to roast hot dogs:
Saturday we went on a hike. Keri, my sister-in-law, remembered it being about 1/2 mile up to Doughnut Falls. I thought a mile round trip sounded great, especially since she said there wasn't much in the way of elevation gains. We probably ended up hiking more like four miles or so; I was pretty darn sore and exhausted at the end of it, but it was still fun and the falls were beautiful. A long nap in the afternoon made it all better.

Ryan had a hard time leaving his cousins at the end of the trip, but Nate and I were grateful to get home where we could sleep in our own bed! Ryan loved everything about camping except for sleeping in the tent . . . Poor Nate sacrificed himself every night while Ryan rolled all over him, pushed him off his camping pad, stole his blankets. But then Ryan would turn around and do really cute things in the morning, like helping Grandma roll up her camping pad.

On Tuesday, Mom Burt, my sisters-in-law Keri and Machelle, my niece Sadie, Ryan, and I went to Gardner Village to do a little shopping and have lunch. There are a lot of boutique shops in historical buildings. My two favorites are the Storybook Nook, a cute toy and bookstore, and the Village Christmas Shoppe, which has ornaments, villages, nativities, and all sorts of other Christmas things year round.

We tried on hats for fun, watched ducks (at Ryan's repeated insistence), and enjoyed lunch at Archibald's, located in an old mill with a waterwheel.
Oh, and to top off the week, Ryan posed for this really cute picture in the bathtub:

Whew! What a week! And this next week promises to be just as busy--as long as Sofia waits until October 1st. :D

Our San Diego Trip

Last week, Ryan and I went with my brother Warren and his friend Sarah and met Mom and Dad Burt in San Diego. Mom's best friend has an efficiency apartment in Ocean Beach, just off the fishing pier. We had a great time, especially watching Ryan enjoy his first experience at the beach and getting so excited over what the fishermen caught.

Here is what the OB pier looks like at sunset:
We ate dinner up on the roof of Linda's place to enjoy it after a long day at the zoo:
At the zoo, my favorites were the polar bears (they were roughhousing in the water for a really long time right in front of the window), the pandas (they did nothing but sleep in the trees, but they're still pandas), the new baby giraffe (need I say more?), and the hippos (they were putting on a water ballet for us). Ryan's favorites were the pandas, the snakes, the turtles, and the new baby monkey who was just learning to walk (and dropping all over the place like he was drunk).

We had a great day at the beach. Ryan was so excited about scooping sand into his bucket that he almost didn't let us take him a little way into the water to jump in the waves. He loved everything about the beach and was very upset about having to leave it.

We also spent some time on Dog Beach, where Ryan got up close and personal with some pooches:

We also went to Cabrillo National Monument, where we toured the lighthouse and watched an aircraft carrier leaving port to go up to its home port in Washington.
Of course, Ryan's favorite activity was to walk up and down the fishing pier and check all the fishermen's buckets. By the last day, he had worked out a system. If they had a lot of fish, he would bend over with his hands on his hips, scrutinize it, and say, "Oh, fish!" If they didn't have anything, he'd throw his hands up in the air and say, "No fish!" and hurry to the next bucket. It was hilarious, and he kept everyone highly entertained.

At the end of the trip, Mom drove home with Ryan and me, which was so wonderful!! It was nice to have someone else who could help keep Ryan entertained on the long car ride home. :D

Things to Be Thankful For

I thought I'd write a list of a few things I've been grateful for lately.
1. Getting to go on vacation--I had a great time in Cedar City with Nate, Ryan, my parents, and Austen. The UT Shakespeare Festival is one of the milestones of my year and something I look forward to greatly. And then I was lucky enough to go with Ryan, Warren, and Sarah to meet Nate's parents in San Diego. I loved going to the zoo and hanging out at the beach! While I came home exhausted, it was oh so worth it! Plenty of memories to get me through the rough time ahead of not sleeping, etc. And I had a wonderful road trip with Nate's mom on the way home!
2. The beach--Did I mention how much I love the beach? I haven't been there in several years, but there is something about the waves, the crashing surf, the sand under your feet. And every time I go, it reminds me of Nate proposing.
3. A healthy pregnancy--As much as I ache and can't sleep and keep getting kicked, I am very grateful that everything is going along smoothly. Sofia is active and healthy. Oh, yeah, and I only have four weeks to go! The official date is October 1, unless she decides to come early, which none of us really thinks is going to happen.
4. Nate--Nate's been giving me lots of chances lately to sleep, keeping Ryan busy, and letting me have some time to myself (I went to Becoming Jane today, and I've been scrapbooking a few times with Keri and Mom Burt). And Nate's been extremely understanding through all my mood swings and complaints. Nate, you're the best!

USF Summer 2007 Reviews

Since we saw this the week before the season was over, unfortunately I can’t recommend any of these to go see . . . except to say that everyone should go to the Utah Shakespeare Festival!!

This year at the Utah Shakespearean Festival was probably one of the most pleasant surprises we’ve had in years. I was looking forward to seeing Twelfth Night, possibly my favorite Shakespeare comedy, but I didn’t have overly high expectations for any of the others. However, not only did we enjoy all the plays, but the cast was also possibly the strongest we’ve ever seen. And Ryan, just like last year, really enjoyed going to child care to play with the sand and the toys.

Without further ado, here are my reviews of the plays in the order that we saw them:

Candida: This play by George Bernard Shaw is about a woman who is married to a minister who doesn’t realize how much she does for him and who is loved by an 18-year-old poet who is artistic but not much more. I was prepared not to like this play because I don’t like the idea of a married woman entertaining the idea of leaving her husband for another man. However, there was never any danger of that—the poet, while romantic, had nothing to offer. And Candida does teach her husband that she does a lot more than he realizes so that he can live the life that he wants. All of the performances were wonderful, and the play has given me a lot to think about, particularly about marriage.

Twelfth Night: I’ve seen this play probably more than any other. This particular one was set in the Middle East, so the set was covered in blue and gold geometric designs and turbaned or veiled costumes. It had the best Viola I’ve ever seen; I loved the choices that she made that really made her seem uncomfortable in her own skin as a man. It also had the best swordfight; Viola and Sir Andrew were so afraid of each other that they couldn’t look at one another, so Sir Toby uses his own sword to hit both of their swords and they think they’re fighting each other. Olivia was also extremely strong. As much as I love the Trevor Nunn movie, it can be very dark and serious, more than I think is warranted by the play. I would love to take this production and include the Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Malvolio from the first time that I saw it (they were very funny, complete with eye-popping and wild gestures). But this was a very solid performance.

Lend Me a Tenor: The Musical: There has been a lot of buzz about this one. Two of the festival regulars turned this play into a musical with the playwright’s blessing, and they did a fabulous job, such a wonderful job that producers have been coming from Broadway to see it. It’s a wild farcical romp about a womanizing opera star coming to Cleveland, losing his wife (temporarily), and being replaced by shy assistant director in the big show. The songs were a lot of fun, and we laughed and smiled all the way through. Especially since we weren’t expecting much, we were really pleasantly surprised and gave them a well-deserved standing ovation.

Coriolanus: This is not Shakespeare’s best play, but I was glad to see it on stage, especially with James Newcombe in the starring role. It is the story of a very proud soldier who is unwilling to humble himself in order to become a senator. And while it is not as compelling a tragedy as some, we have discussed this play more than almost any other, contemplating pride, duty, family bonds, etc.

The Matchmaker: Thornton Wilder’s play was the basis for Hello, Dolly! Leslie Brott did a fabulous job as Dolly; actually, the entire cast was amazing! It’s a fun play that focuses on learning to really live life and appreciating the joys and small adventures that life can offer.

King Lear: Dan Kremer was by far the best Lear I’ve ever seen, so good that I forgot who was playing Lear—he just was Lear. All of the performances were strong, and it was directed by one of my favorite directors at the Festival (he directed the only version of Macbeth I’ve ever liked). This will stand as my definitive version of Lear for a long time.

The only complaint I have is I really don’t like the person who’s been running the literary seminars where people discuss the plays. She doesn’t know anything about the plays, even by the end of summer . . . I don’t think she read any books, articles, or anything else about any of them. However, we’ve decided that talking amongst ourselves is almost as good as talking with someone who’s an expert. So on the balance, it was an excellent year.