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It was more of the same until….. well, I’ll save that for last….

Bowling: I have had my new ball (a KARMA brand – black and blue) for 5 sessions of league now, and I’ve improved my average by 5 pins.  Funny thing: my series have been 432, 536, and (now get this) 476,475, 474….. I think statistically, I’m doing rather consistently with it, and at a much better rate.  Bottom line is this: Before the KARMA, I was doing 142, with the KARMA, I’m doing 160.  I’d say it’s been a successful changeover for me.

The play is going quite well – I’m getting to know the people so much better now.  I need to play a bit of a dirty old man, which doesn’t come all that easily for me… I guess you can’t have everything.  We had the orchestra with us last week for a night.  They set up on stage for now – and they’re moving into the pit soon, which will be a real challenge since the pit is SO very small, and between the drums, keyboard and bass player alone there’s not enough room, which leaves out the winds.  They’re looking at doing some fun stuff with it, though.  See if you can find me in the picture.  The photo is by way of Steve Kohls, photographer of the local newspaper.

We took in SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.  I have a review here on my blog.  I will say this – I liked it better than ARGO, so I don’t see why ARGO is winning all those awards.

The difficult matter of this week – Wilma’s dad died last night.  It was quite a day.  Wilma and I left for the airport – a 2 ½ hr. drive – and it took us 3 ½ hrs.  Traffic was horrendous from Rogers to Maple Grove, then again around highway 169, then again near downtown.  Poor Wilma was beside herself – it was tough on her to think she would miss her plane, miss seeing her dad, etc etc etc… and I can’t blame her.  I sure saw no reason why the roads were so dang infested like that – they weren’t even all that wet.  Fortunately, she made the flight with plenty of time anyway.

It got sublimely better for her once she arrived.  She was at her dad’s side by early afternoon.  Her mother was there, as were her two sisters.  They sang songs for him, and some hymns.  They even sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY since his birthday is/was Feb. 5.  They laid with him in his hospice bed, sat and visited, had a supper there – and then the nurse told them he maybe had a few hours left to go.  At 8:30 pm, eastern time, he died so very peacefully with all of them at his side.  I can’t imagine a more perfect situation for them all to share.

And so we see what the next week holds.  Plans for the funeral – make that a celebration of life service – are in the works, and they’re doing what they can to work around the play for me, which I appreciate… and there’s a retired pastor friend who will be doing the service, so that’s a special plus.

See you in Week Six.