With a cast of thousands (well, at least 190!), a prima donna of precious dancers and a foppishness of fledging actors, the annual middle school performance enters its performance week. The director of makeup, however, has fallen foul of some sickening bug and she is suffering from sinusitis badly which has also developed into a very sore throat today at work. We have to get her diagnosed and medicated to make sure she can cope with a super busy week!
Poor Cass has been laid low all weekend as she's tried to rest and recover in order to face the rigours of the week ahead. We've hardly done a thing in hope that the rest would work. We did the weekly shopping together and then I scootered hither and yon to source various needed supplies while Cass tried to relax at home. It appears all our efforts may have been in vain as her condition has worsened throughout the start of the work week and her first duty for a full dress rehearsal today along with trying to teach all her regular classes.
On Sunday, I managed to drag myself up the stairs yet again as I felt a little stir crazy. The temperatures here have soared in the last week or so and I made the trek in 35 degree heat. Mercifully, the canopy of the forest overhangs at many points and the foliage grows lush and tall, ensuring a cool shade in many spots on the way ever upward. The old water pipe has been tapped at regular intervals and the stream spurts into various rivulets that gurgle and splash along the side of the path, occasionally spouting over mini-cliffs in tiny waterfalls and pooling in shady oases in others. A frog even plopped on my shoe as he crossed the path in search of the reviving waters.It all makes for a rather pleasant experience despite the scorching temperatures! I was, however, in great need of my cooling draught at the bottom, and replaced more lost liquid when I got home as well.
During the latter part of the week I scurried away from school when one of my classes was at a field trip to take the car for its bi-annual inspection. After a huge recent overhaul, I was very confident it would pass with flying colours (it did, I'm pleased to report!). The system was as slick as ever and as I awaited the car to go through its various "tests of strength", I pondered a sign and accompanying bookshelf in the waiting area (see first photo above). All the books were in Mandarin, but what a great idea! It reminded me of a book exchange we'd spotted on various street corners in Vienna at Christmas: glass cubes where one could either deposit or retrieve books, all for free! I can't think of a more immediate and brilliant venture which could be set up for next to no dollars. Very obvious segue will now occur....!
I've started reading the "sequel" to "To Kill a Mockingbird", namely "Go Set a Watchman" by Harper Lee. Of course, there is much mystery surrounding this book, not the least of which concerns its authorship: how could she have kept this manuscript a secret and unpublished for all these years? Well, in my humble opinion, and after just finishing a re-reading of Mockingbird, it is either the genuine article by the original author or a very, very clever fake. The first half of the book contains many of Jean Louise's (Scout's) reminiscences about her childhood....it's so lovely to revisit Maycomb County and those rambunctious kiddies! I'll be sure to let you know my opinion about the second half of the book....it seems to be starting in a far more controversial pattern!
Wish my poor girl luck for the week....she'll need it! Photos: The car getting its six monthly inspection over the pits, flower installations in the front lobby at school, shots from the stairs and a gigantic pair of ruby slippers awaiting the arrival of Dorothy and the rest of the cast from "The Wizard of Oz". I'm reading Lee's "Go Set a Watchman" and Cassy is reading Ella Ferrante's "My Brilliant Friend". A video from Vienna is up top for a while, or here later.
