Hamlet

I watched the National Theatre production of Hamlet (with Cumberbatch) at the movies last night. (Monday)

Wow. First of all, it was in modern dress, which surprised me because I hadn't noticed it on the trailers. But that was a good thing because, often when I watch period pieces, the costumes distract me. I look at the yards and yards of fabric and wonder how heavy or hot the costume is and I linger on the detail and workmanship. None of those distractions here.

Cumberbatch has Hamlet's hysteria and suffering down pat. I was exhausted after some of his protracted outbursts. He and the other cast members managed to play the humorous parts (yes, there are some) broadly, inducing belly laughs.

At first, I was not impressed with the woman who played Ophelia. But when she entered the stage as "Mad Ophelia," she owned it. I have never seen such a convincing portrayal of insanity. 

And when Hamlet's mother announced Ophelia's death (whom she had hoped would become a daughter in law), the actress was really crying with tears and stuff dripping from her nose. All in all, the cast was great.

Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the production.

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A couple of days ago after lunch (Wednesday?), Nancy Wight invited me to her house to paint. I was (and am) thrilled because she had the canvas, acrylic paints, and even a table top easel. I was in heaven in her kitchen while she painted around the corner at her draftsman easel.  Here's what I came up with after a couple of hours.

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It occurs to me that I never showed you the pictures from my July 3rd Tanglewood soiree.

This is how we viewed James Taylor. He really is way to the left of this under The Shed.

Here's the crowd from my seat about a half hour before the performance began.

Here's most of our merry band in picnic mode. Three more women, including myself, are not in the picture.

Thank you again to Nancy Pagano (white outfit with sunglasses) for being the organizer for this trip!

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Here is the famous Stop and Shop robot. I think he's really a busy body. I wonder if he can "listen." I may have to try bad mouthing the store and see if an employee comes running up to offer me a complimentary steak or something. Ha!

Speaking of really nice complimentary offers: I got an email from Amherst Coffee and it said, 'We haven't seen you in a while, so come back for a free coffee.'  Woo hoo! I am there ... maybe I'll do that today. 
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Yesterday (Saturday), Nancy W. and I went to the Forbes Library in Northampton to see the Plein Air Society exhibit which consists of art from 30 of their 70 members.

The works of art were all gorgeous and all media were employed. I got to see Val Steinberg's fabulous water colors again and I fell in love with paintings by Steve Schneider. He was there (as was Val) and I got to tell them both how much I liked their work. I did not see the thought bubble over their heads saying, 'So why don't you buy some?' which was a relief.

(Going by the prices I saw there, my little ditty up above would be priced at $300. Ha!)

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I have learned a new game at the Senior Center! Well, it's new to me. It's called Mexican Train Dominoes and it's fun.

It's usually fun. On Friday there was one lady who couldn't see and couldn't hear so she had a 'helper' who really played for her. But she seemed to enjoy being there. And there were the two ladies who got into a verbal altercation about where they should sit and who would have to reach the most to place their tiles. I was worried that one would hit the other with her walker, but we avoided physical violence.

I am so happy that I bought a Sr. Ctr. sticker for my car. For $25, I can park in the Bangs Lot for free Monday through Friday when the Senior Center is open. In California, the Mizell Senior Center has a large, free, parking lot but they ask you to join for $25/year. You can use the center without joining but they add a dollar to the lunch donation.

Speaking of which, from what I saw, they are religious at Mizell about collecting the lunch donation. Here in Amherst, I only see 3 or 4 people out of about 15 to 20 who actually put in their $3 donation.

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I've got to go and walk Brownie, the beagle next door. But I will leave you this Palm Spring sunrise from last winter. I'll be heading out there this coming Thursday.  Cheers!