Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone is having a terrific holiday season!

Cyn and I are having a great (and busy) one, apart from a bout of cedar fever which has cut a bit into the marathon training.

After the Trail of Lights 5K, Cyn and I went to a fun Christmas carol sing-along party and, for Christmas Eve day, we went to see the The Hobbit. (It's very long, but worth seeing :-)).

Then we had a quiet Christmas together.  Here is a pic of our tree this year:

Here are a couple of the gifts she gave me.  The first is my first pair of cowboy boots ever (or at least, since I was around 5).

I'm definitely a Texan now :-).

The second gift was a fossilized shark tooth:

The guy we bought it from said it was from a C. megalodon, an extinct relative of the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias).  Incidentally, the dinosaur Carcharodontosaurus was named after the great white shark because its teeth are similar.

Finally, the day after Christmas, we went to see White Christmas (highly recommended) at the Zach Scott Theatre, in their new Topfer Auditorium:

Cyn, Me, Bethany Hegedus, Nikki Loftin

 Photo courtesy of Dave Wilson Photography.

The Play's the Thing...

This weekend, Cyn and I indulged in some theater with some members of the writing community at two of our favorite central Texas venues: the Kleberg Stage at the Zach Scott Theatre and the Barn at Winedale. 

Photo by Kirk Tuck, courtesy Zach Scott Theatre

First up -- with Salima Alikhan, her husband Sam; Nikki Loftin and her husband Dave -- was XANADU, an absolutely hilarious spoof on the Olivia Newton John film.  I haven't laughed that much in a long time.  The acting, singing, costumes and sets were absolutely spot-on.  A terrifically fun jaunt back to 1980 and the era of roller disco.  Check out the official photo gallery here.

Next up was A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, one of the three plays being presented this season by the students at Shakespeare at Winedale. (It's been a while since Cyn and I have been out there -- it used to conflict with Cyn's VCFA residencies; this time, we went with a gang from the Austin children's writing community).

The performances were, as always, outstanding, especially since the performers are non-theatre majors.  (If you've never heard of the program, in a nutshell, every summer, fifteen non-theatre UT students go and live at Winedale and learn three Shakespeare plays, and then perform them in July and August.  The program's been going on for 42 years and still going strong). MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM has never been one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, but the troupe was engaging and funny and brought a nice verve to the play.  Afterward, there was a chance to have lemonade and chat with the performers.