Cinderella (from Backstage)

I (Jamie) saw a post on Facebook in early July that Village Arts of Colorado Springs was looking for crewmembers for their upcoming production of Cinderella. That sounded like fun, so I responded. And it was fun, and, as it turned out, was a great time to get re-acquainted with fellow theatre people from a few years ago. It was also a kick to get to work at the Ent Center for the Arts (on the UCCS campus where Fina is going to college this Fall). This Rogers and Hammerstein musical version of the story is really great with super messages embedded.

Load In

The Town

Inside the step-family's Cottage/House

The Ent Center for the Arts

Backstage control panel for Ent Center staff

From the wings looking up (mostly).

My world for the show.

Green Room

Actors (3 at left) singing from off stage and Crew (2 at right).

The traveller (a rear curtain) is closed
hiding the palace and a piece of the town (left).

Crew often got "stuck" behind set pieces for a scene.
One crewmember, the Fox, and the Raccoon.

The 3 flats were 15 feet tall.

My view of a flat while "stuck" behind it, looking up.

Happy Ending

Strike.

Gold Mine Miniature Golf

Nana and Papa took a crew miniature golfing today at Gold Mine Miniature Golf about 20 minutes south of us. There's a powered conveyor belt that if you can get your ball onto it, lifts it up to the top of a tipple then drops it down an enclosed ramp for a hole-in-one; very exciting.

The whole crew.

Front yard flowers

CDB? SABZB! (upper left)

Family Dinner

Big day today! We continued Fina's birthday celebration and had Family Dinner. We continued our discussion of "how to be good" by doing a "lifeboat ethics" exercise and ranking the Ten Commandments. Both led to much engagement and conversation.

Spaghetti Carbonara, a fan favorite.
This also covers one of several dinners
Fina is requesting before she heads to UCCS.

This has become Nana and Papa's fave.

Bundtinis!

Another Nana quilt...

The flowers out front are looking good, too.

In the Backyard

The flowers in the backyard are doing well. And Lexi has taken to doing morning stretches following along with a video on her tablet. Today she chose to do those stretches out back.

Taming of the Shrew

Nana, Papa, and Fina saw Taming of the Shrew this evening. The show was produced by TheatreWorks at the Ent Center for the Arts. This is on the UCCS campus which will be Fina's home come this Fall. The show was held outdoors. However, everything was moved inside abruptly when the weather turned bad.

Fina's Birthday

We celebrated Fina's birthday this week with our traditional Birthday Breakfast!

The living room looked like a library
 later in the afternoon.

2023 Points West Wrap-up

This is it. Nana and Papa's last leg of their 2023 Points West Tour. We leave Moab, UT in the rearview mirror and head for home. Thanks to advice from our Moab innkeeper, we took UT-128 out of Moab to rejoin I-70. It takes about 15 minutes longer than the direct route but is so worth it. You're traveling along the Colorado River down at the bottom of some magnificent cliffs for 75% of your time on this highway. And once you get into the Rockies along I-70, it's even more grandeur to punctuate the last leg. We can't seem to get by Frisco, CO without stopping at a favorite breakfast/lunch spot, Bread+Salt. We arrived home late afternoon. What a run! Today's photos start here. To review this entire trip, go back to our post of June 20th and come forward day by day. Or, if you don't mind going in reverse chronological order, just keep scrolling down...

Along UT-128 leaving Moab.

East of Moab along I-70.

In Frisco, CO