April 7, 2013

Waiting for Linda to arrive yesterday AM, I took time to clean out the water gardens. In Kevin the frog’s I found– Kevin the frog, who had been hibernating in a thin layer of black muck at the bottom of the barrel. I touched him to see if he was real and alive, then refilled the barrel and reset his mass of weeds, hoping I had not disturbed him enough even to enter his dreams. The larger pool I prepared for Lawrence the fish, putting in lovely rocks for him to hide among. Linda is disturbed that he spends all the time alone, so I may find him some companions, though he is the lone survivor of quite a throng introduced to the ponds last spring.

Linda and I went to the Biltmore winery, took the tour, and laid in a supply of surprisingly good wines. Roamed the gardens in a day of blinding blue radiance. Biltmore is certainly well organized and charming employees appear out of the air to service one’s desires. Chit-chatted about the boys, and the it was off to the theater with DJ. We tried to eat at LAB (which I normally like), but an hour passed and we had not been served, so we had to leave and see the play hungry. The play, Shipwrecked., bored me to weeping, but the bright, sweet, red-haired kid next to me had seen it twice and kept leaning in with an excited whisper to help me savor to upcoming moment, so I suppose that it was for some people and not for others. The actors were blameless. Moments meant to be underwater were quite beautiful.

Belated supper at Avenue M with Jake and Jeff. We were warned off the UNCA production on no uncertain terms. Directorial “concept” is the annihilator of many a decent play. Happy and exhausted there in the restaurant, surrounded by the friends of friends.

The cats are freaked by a strange sleeper in the living room.