Chaos Attraction

Pride and Prejudice

2014-07-20, 1:20 p.m.

I had a lovely weekend. We went over to Lili the adorable corgi's house for more pet-sitting. I swear, that house is like some kind of restful retreat. I just wish we'd had more time at the house not being out--but two things were going on only this weekend that simply had to be checked out.

Mom's friend Carol had asked us to go to Art Under The Oaks, which was a craft fair being held at the giant plant nursery in town. We first went to the Railroad Cafe for lunch, where I discovered that they had a Monte Cristo sandwich that was actually good eating. The only good Monte Cristo's I've ever had were the ones at the Blue Bayou at Disneyland and the Madonna In in San Luis Obispo--every other one I've had closer to my neck of the woods has been decidedly lackluster. This one wasn't fried up, but it was actually still delicious in every way. Go figure!

After that, we went to the craft show, which was gorgeously located. They had a rabbit rescue art show in one corner of it, and I ended up buying a painting of a rabbit there. I keep seeing a bunch of cute rabbits this summer and it's making me want a rabbit again...but if I get a pet, it means I can't just take off for the weekend on the spur of the moment, and other things like smelling up the apartment with poop. So I should not. Sigh.

That night, I had insisted on seeing Pride and Prejudice, which is being put on by the Shakespeare company in the olde hometowne. More specifically, they were putting it on at this fantastic old Victorian house that's owned by a winery. As a native of the burg, I had grown up with that house being totally falling apart in a field for like decades on end, but they have now fixed up the house adorably and turned it into a useable stage on the front porch area. It looks amazing.

I've always wanted to go inside the house, but this was as close as I'll ever get to seeing it. And unfortunately, the theater company is getting kicked out after this year--"apparently putting on weddings there brings in more money." So this was about the last time they would get to perform there, which I think is a total shame. The company also said before the start of the show that while they were narrowed down to two new stages, both of them weren't as cool as this and would require them to actually build sets and/or mike people up, so ticket prices were going to have to go up. AND on top of that, they have whopping amounts of fundraising to do (and tickets will still go up). Ouch.

Anyway, the show itself was quite lovely. The staging was something to be seen, as the action was mostly taking place on the giant front patio stage and having a few scenes taking place on the second floor balcony above. Lizzie herself ran into the audience a few times--in the P&P play version, she narrates to the audience. It's a pretty faithful and well done adaptation of the book, managing to get in all of the details and handling the scene changes well. And the casting was superb. The expressions on the actors at times (especially the perpetually-ticked Caroline, and Kitty and Lydia as dimwits) were just great.

I also had a great time talking to my neighbors in the audience, who were thinking the same things as I was about the house and they eventually gave me some wine. How sweet! It also turned out that my mom knew a few people in the theater company, so I met some of them as well. All in all, it was a great show and I'm sorry their tenure there is over.

As for Sunday, that did turn out to be Quality Time Day with Lili. I did get to play with her in the pool a bit for about an hour on Saturday, but I had several hours of that on Sunday. She would get SO excited at me whenever I was in the house, and followed me around, and slept in my room.... Mom figured Lili probably got pissed at her whenever she would demand that I stop the splashing. She kept worrying that Lili would tire out, and I was all, "Hey, she stops when she needs to take a break, and then she goes and gets me when she's ready to go again." She seemed to manage herself very well on that score. I was sorry to have to leave again.


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