No Shelton Vineyard with Bob Garner!

We just got an email today letting us know that they did not have enough people signed up, so they have canceled the Shelton Vineyard trip. We are just gutted! We were really looking forward to it. The saving grace is that weekend is the Ayden Collard Festival, so perhaps all is not lost! More later...

Guilford Courthouse, NC

Photos

We made a quick afternoon road trip to Greensboro, NC today for one purpose. To at last obtain for Clay a $10 Senior Lifetime USA National Parks pass! Incredibly, this no-fee Revolutionary Battleground Memorial Site is the closest place to our home where we could buy one. So, spurred by a trip coming up in 2 weeks, we drove over to Guilford Courthouse National Park and got one today. We also toured the park and visitor's center for an hour or 2, saw the film about the battle and Clay bought a T-shirt. (Made in Honduras! For those keeping track of such things...) Anyway, it was a nice park, trails, roads, visitor's center all well done and well maintained. The Park Rangers were all very friendly and helpful. It was a nice afternoon.

Then of course, we had to eat. We chose Lucky 32. We still, years later, really miss Raleigh's Lucky 32 and their building still sits empty! It was relatively near the park, so it was also convenient. We arrived after 3pm so Sunday Brunch menu was over and we ate off the dinner menu. I had the chicken & dumplings. I enjoyed it, but it was far from NC traditional! Clay had a Black & Blue draft and pulled pork on johnny cakes with collards and a salad. He enjoyed it, but again, it was far from NC Traditional. They brought us breads which were very seedy! Good! For dessert, I had peanut butter pie. Clay has been craving chocolate chess pie since seeing The Help at the movie theater on Friday! Fortunately, Lucky 32 had one on their menu. Clay ate it. It was a huge slice! I am afraid that after the movie, Chocolate Chess Pie may be ruined for me. I don't see myself eating a slice again until I cook my own. Just to be sure! I won't say anything more so as not to spoil the book or movie for anyone else!

So, now we are all set for our next upcoming road trip. We are calling it The Three Wrights Historical Road Trip. We will be visiting Charlottesville, VA to see Monticello, then to Antietam, then the 3 Frank Lloyd Wright Houses in Southwestern Pennsylvania. They are Kentuck Knob, Fallingwater and the big finale (Did you know you can spend the night in a Wright house?) the Duncan House. We will be spending the last night of our little trip at the Duncan House! Very exciting... stay tuned!

Sorry the photos are not captioned. At some point in time due to Photobucket policy changes, meaning this is the 3rd time I've had to rework these photos since 2011, the captions were lost.

Photos

ADF - week 6

Well, so our ADF season is over. Happily, it ended on a very high note! Paul Taylor Dance Company was flawless! It so met and then exceeded our expectations. Best of all was that it was just dancing to music in costumes. How low really are our expectations! If this year's ADF has had a theme it must have been naked twitching to nerve-wracking noise. A little of that goes a very long way for us. I suspect from the size of the audience over the summer, we were not alone in that opinion. Honestly, we will look long and hard at next year's line up before committing again. Once burned, twice shy and all...

I am chagrined to say that The News & Observer did not review Paul Taylor! After a sorry season, the biggest remaining name in classic modern dance goes ignored. I don't even have words... Anyway, I did find this. And this!

For our last meal in Durham this summer we went to Pops. I think this is only the 2nd or 3rd time we've been since it changed hands and locations and we just don't really love it anymore. It was just okay. We skipped dessert since they did not have anything that tempted us and went for a final visit to The Mad Hatter. Good as usual.

Anyway, that is it for us and ADF for the year. Next little trip scheduled for us right now is a Bob Garner road trip in September. Clay says he needs to take some leave time between now and Christmas, so we'll have to see how that shakes out. I'll keep you posted! Later.

ADF - week 5

Another painful hour of our lives is past. We are thanking God for Paul Taylor next week. Give us some old-fashioned modern choreography with real music. Please! If the economy doesn't do in ADF, then another year of programming like this season will. Good grief. Here is a link to the local paper's review. I hope it isn't that we've become old and jaded as far as modern dance is concerned, but I think we can still trust our judgement and ADF has just not been up to the par of recently past seasons. Though I think that when I feel the best part of a 65-minute sound track is the 10 minutes or so of listening to the computer-generated voice of the National Weather Service reading the current conditions and short-term forecast, that it is a negative reflection on the artists and not on my judgement! As Clay said as soon as we got outside, I think I really prefer an evening of rhythmic motion... I am really looking forward to Paul Taylor. Amen!

This evening for the first time this season, we took my car. The weather is still hot, but it wasn't unpleasantly humid and there were no thunderstorms for the first evening in a while. So, we aired out the SLK with the top down. When we first left DPAC, we couldn't see the moon. We didn't see it until we exited I-40 for Wade Avenue. And then, what a moon! It was a low-hanging, huge orange ball! The man was clearly visible. It was an impressive lunar display! So, I guess we aren't too jaded to appreciate an impressive show yet.

We repeated our first and best meal out in Durham at Rue Cler. But, this time with the added bonus of free desert with entree upon presentation of a current ADF ticket. That was a nice bonus. But, here is a warning, they fill up fast upon their 5:30pm opening and without reservations once the 2 tall 2-tops and bar seating is filled, people were turned away! We have not seen that kind of full house business in a restaurant during ADF in a number of years. It may just be a Rue Cler thing, because we haven't seen it at any other places this season. Just a heads up.

Well, one more week of ADF and then we have another Bob Garner Road Trip coming up in September...

Alegria

Alegria was amazing as all Cirque du Soleil shows are! We very much enjoyed it. Clay got a T-shirt, so he is happy. We went to eat beforehand at Salsa Fresh. Hadn't been there in a long time. They take credit cards now. It was the otherwise the same and as good as we remembered it.

ADF - week 4

Man, time flies. There are only 2 weeks left to the American Dance Festival this summer. So, far this season seems uninspired. But, Emanuel Gat's Brilliant Corners was painful. I mean it isn't the most painful hour I have survived in my lifetime, but it was up there. Not like it was in the top 10 or anything, not like anything involving blood or tears. But in the pantheon of painful hours spent without blood or tears being shed, oh yeah, top 10. It was a good waste of 10 talented dancers for one very long hour. Clay was happy there was no intermission and second half and I had to laugh and assure him that would not have been an option. If they had closed a curtain and raised the lights, people would have stampeded out of that auditorium like a building afire. Oh, well. It is an evening we will be sure not to repeat in the future. Cacophony and twitching. The sound track was composed of what artists refer to as found sound. Laypeople will know it as atonal and non-rhythmic noise. It went on for about 20 minutes and then they "danced" in silence for about 20 minutes. At that point, I was having trouble deciding which was more painful, then the "music" came back and I still am not sure.

We had dinner at Piedmont. It was strangely disappointing too. I won't go on about that. I'm done.

We love Black & White cake at Mad Hatter Bakery. Clay loves their Chocolate Whopper cookies. Mad Hatter now closes at 9pm so we haven't been able to squeeze in a visit yet. We took over a cooler and ice packs and brought home treats, so we still have that to look forward to next week.

We have a Cirque du Soleil performance to attend tonight. So, still something spectacular to look forward to. We have tickets to Alegria. We are looking forward to it.

ADF - week 3

This July 4th weekend was as traditionally covered by Pilobolus. This is their 40th Anniversary and their 38th straight year performing at ADF. So, kind of an institution! Had a disappointing dining experience this week and one we probably won't give a second chance to, though their predecessor in the same space was a favorite and we will miss them! Boo to the loss of Tosca and boo to Cinelli's at 604 West Morgan.