WORLD PREMIERE: Tonight, CJ and a couple dozen peers took the stage to share the story of Ariadne's Thread, a tale about Theseus and the Minoatar.
While CJ readied himself with the cast, Christian, Annabelle and I got our best Top Chef game faces on and readied to serve over 150 spanakopita on demand. Naturally, we had to make sure all of them were hot enough, but not over baked. Therein lies the dance of feeding a crowd. Knowing everyone was basically going to arrive at the same time for dinner, and that we only had one standard home kitchen sized '70s era oven to work with at the venue, so we had to plan ahead, bringing in extra warming trays and a portable oven. In the end, we put every single order out within 10 seconds, I'd estimate. I think I'm ready for Gordon Ramsay's "Hell's Kitchen" or some such thing. :) I was honestly surprised at how well and quickly it went. Yay for that.
The photo below shows some of the banners/sets we worked on for the show, as well as CJ as the really dastardly Procrustes, the inn keeper of a place you'd never want to stay. Tomorrow night we get to do it all over again!
MYTH MINDED: This afternoon, while I was making MORE spanakopita (the last of about 325 mini muffin sized portions), I had the kids watch an ancient myth. We found an episode of the Canadian series "Mythic Warriors Guardians of the Legend" on YouTube. The kids chose the episode "Daedalus and Icarus." Spoiler alert: As expected, Icarus met his doom by being too brash. Other important takeaway: If you have wax wings, avoid the heat.
SONGSTERS: The kids dusted off their guitars today and and had a very-rough-at-times practice. We need to do more.
Speaking of songs, I received an email from NASA today letting me know about curriculum available for Space School Musical from Jet Propulsion Laboratory Education.
It's Web site describes it as a "hip-hopera" featuring a teenager on a trip through the solar system. The site has all the info one would need to perform the musical, or people can just watch it online. We'll have to check it out.
Image Credit: ESA/NASA HELLO DOWN THERE!: One of the first things I saw this morning was this lovely photo (above) from NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who is closing in on a year in space aboard the International Space Station. Kelly wrote, "Good morning, Aurora and the Pacific Northwest!" To be honest, I don't think I would have known this was a photo of the PacNW if Kelly hadn't told us. I wish I had a point of reference in that photo. I'm guessing that one of the biggest city lights clusters is Seattle, but I could be wrong. PLAYING AROUND: Midday, we spent about 90 minutes doing the full install of the banners that make the set for the play ("Ariadne's Thread," a Greek Myth based on "Theseus and the Minotaur") that CJ and a couple dozen others will be performing in on Thursday and Friday.
We sewed the muslin banners and then had to figure out how to hang them, working around things like the HVAC ductwork and fire sprinkler system piping. The art on the back wall (vases inspired by ancient Greek art and architecture) was done by students, including Annabelle.
The photo above is from the actual dress rehearsal. CJ (center stage), has his back to the audience. This evening, we made another 70 spanakopitam, which will be available as snacks for play goers. We're getting closer to the magic "300" number we have to produce. Hooray!
TRANSITION: See the little pink balls above? They're salmon eggs. And many of them have progressed into their next iteration, alevin, which are now living off their yolk sacs. Pretty cool. Annabelle was noting that some eggs haven't hatched. I told her that some of the eggs never will hatch. That's nature, often cruel. TROOPER: So, I'm down to crying about David Bowie's final act about twice a day now. Not bad, I think. We were in Joann Fabric this afternoon to get a couple of things for the play CJ's in later this week and Annabelle spied this ... Ziggy Stardust Stormtrooper!!!
How fabulous! And obviously the packaging was done before David Bowie's demise on Jan. 10. Love that whoever put this package together did it for love of Ziggy Stardust, not for trying to capitalize on recent events. COUNTDOWN'S ON: We have made 200 spanikopita. We have 100 to go. Just thought you'd want to know that. SKETCHBOOK: I flipped through some of Annabelle's sketches this afternoon. What a fun, mixed bag. This is a sketch of the main character in "A Single Shard" catching a boat ride.
And this one is Annabelle's newest Dungeons and Dragons character.
IN REVIEW: CJ and Annabelle attended their first hockey game yesterday. They offer this up as a review. Annabelle first: ...
When I went to the Silvertips game, it surprised me how fast
the game was played. The players- and the referees- both glided across the ice
without much effort. I also learned that hockey is played in 3 periods, with a
3-on-3 sudden death if there’s a tie by the end of the 3rd, which is
how the ‘Tips won. The hockey game was very fun to watch, and I would love to
go again!
And here's CJ's take ...
Yesterday, we went to a minor league hockey game with the Everett Silvertips and the Saskatoon Blades. The game was my first hockey game, and we were lucky enough to get a free food ticket* for every person in our group (6 people).
Hockey is a sport played on ice, where the objective is to get a small disc called the "puck" into the opposite team's goal. In the end, the Silvertips one with 2 to 1.In the game, several players hit the wall, and it made a very loud sound when it did. There was also a fight, and at one point, there was blood on the ice (not a result of the fight). There was also a vehicle called a "Zamboni" that would smooth the ice by putting water over it, then immediately freezing it.
*specifically, it offered a free hot dog and soda of your choice.
The game was big fun, and we're looking forward to more hockey in our future.
FLOWER POWER: What you see above is no garden-variety zinnia. This one's special. It was grown in space! More specifically, in the International Space Station's "greenhouse." How cool is that? Astronaut Scott Kelly posted the photo this weekend on social media. I think I like this shot of it even better. You can see Earth in the background!!
I think it's my favorite photo of a flower EVER! PRODUCTION KITCHEN: We're in the midst of a rather large baking project - making THREE HUNDRED little spanakopitas for the audience to snack on while watching a Greek-themed play CJ is involved in on Thursday and Friday this week.
It's a bit of a project. ... We've got about half of them done as of this moment.
ICY AFTERNOON: We took a break from our ancient Greece inspired cooking and sewing projects to go to a hockey game. Specifically, an Everett Silvertips game. It's the first hockey game CJ and Annabelle have ever been to, and it was big fun!
The Zamboni was entertaining, as always. Talk about a specialized machine! The game posessed all of the elements you'd expect to see at a hockey match. There was a (brief) fight, there was blood on the ice (an unrelated incident), and lots of crashing the boards.
We had great seats (eight rows off the ice) for $12 apiece, including a good sized hot dog and a drink. In the end, the Silvertips were victorious, thanks to a goal in sudden death overtime. As an added bonus, the venue is home to the Snohomish Sports Hall of Fame.
Definitely some familiar faces in the crowd there, including former Cougars coach Dennis Erickson.
And there was Gilby ...
As well as a display honoring Jim Lambright.
Another Husky legend, Chris Chandler, is also a member (as is figure skater Rosalynn Sumners - I forgot she was from around here).
SIDETRACKED: After the hockey game, we headed to the Everett waterfront for a quick early dinner. We passed the first driveway to the restaurant, so came in the back way. Turned out to be a fortuitous reroute, as we accidentally stumbled across this wreck of a ship.
We pulled over to take a closer look. Turns out this decrepit old schooner hull is none other than the Equator. It doesn't look sea worthy right now, but in 1889, the schooner carried Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife on a voyage through the islands of Micronesia.
