THIS IS 45

B's First Birthday Party

Today I went to the 1st birthday party for my friend Denise's little girl. These pictures are of me, Denise and her 2 kids. I had not seen H. since he was about 2 1/2 years old and he has grown so much! I had not yet seen B. and so I was glad to finally meet her. I hope Denise will be moving back to Texas sometime in the near future so I can see her and the kids more.

Lohengrin at the Houston Grand Opera

Joe is currently in Lohengrin rehearsals at the Houston Grand Opera.

Synopsis: One secret protects one great love in Wagner’s mystical romantic opera. Celebrated Wagnerian tenor Simon O’Neill makes his Houston Grand Opera debut as the knight Lohengrin, whose pure love is threatened by common human greed. Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka sings the misguided Elsa, bewitched into betraying the very one she loves. Soprano Christine Goerke is the sorceress Ortrud and Richard Paul Fink plays her husband Frederick of Telramund, who will stop at nothing to gain the throne. Daniel Slater directs this grand-scale production, conducted by HGO Music Director Patrick Summers. Richard Bado is the Chorus Master.

The opera is sung in German with English supertitles.

Performanes are Oct 30, Nov 13, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. (early curtain time!)and Nov 1, 8, 15, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.

The most famous piece from Lohengrin is the "Bridal Chorus" ("Here Comes the Bride"), still played at many Western weddings

Come see the opera and support the arts in Houston and Joe!

The Lohengrin postcard above is from around 1900

Joe as Samuel and Sarah Lee as Kate in Pirates of Penzance

Opening night performance of Pirates of Penzance

Joe is playing the role of Samuel and he was awesome!! He had lots of fans at the patron party come up to him and tell him how much they loved him and that they thought he was great! I am so proud of him! Eight years ago, Joe and I met at the patron party after the Pirates of Penzance production where he played Samuel so this was a special night for us - the anniversary of our first meeting!

Bingo night

Does the fact that we are going to play Bingo officially make us middle aged? If so, it sure is fun! Joe hasn't been able to partake before because of rehearsals and performances so I'm glad that we are going together. Last time I went I actually got a Bingo! Of course, we won't have our troll dolls lined up with our special inks in a particular order. There's a whole superstition that comes with being a Bingo regular!

Joe as Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance

Come see Joe starring as Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance at The Wortham Center, Cullen Theater, 500 Texas St., Houston, TX 77002 .

The shows are July 17,18, 24, 25, 2009 at 8pm and July 19 & 26 at 2:30pm. There is also a pre-show lecture 45 minutes before curtain.

Tickets are available by clicking on the following: http://www.gilbertandsullivan.org/.

If you go, please let us know so that Joe can look for you in the Green Room after the performance.

Wedding

Tonight Joe and I attended the wedding reception of our friends, Anne Sears and Muhammad Aziz. This picture is of Jonathan, Julie, Anne (the bride), Steve and me. We all worked together at Munisteri Sprott. We had a nice time catching up with everyone! Anne was a GORGEOUS bride!