Dear Family and Friends,

Well, we've closed in Nantes, Tuesday night the 3rd, and it was probably the best show yet. 
It was also the Twins birthday, One Year Old, and they were of course napping when I called, but Moo and Bubba T. assured me that they would tell them Happy Birthday for Daddy and let them know that we'll celebrate it when Daddy's back! 
Randall's girlfriend and 18 month little girl showed up that night and I got a 'baby fix'.  When Randall took his daughter back someone remembered that wasn't it the twins' birthday soon and I had a quiet fall apart in the makeup chair, ticking off my makeup gal because she had to redo my eye makeup! (She wasn't really upset but very sympathetic.)  Of course I had to 'leave' all that in the dressing room, but it was there waiting for me when the show was over.

After the show many of us went out for a beer to our regular coffee place.  The loud techno beat, absent during the daylight rehearsal hours, is deafening, annoying, and persistent, but was matched this evening by a young drink besotted French lad who, upon hearing the English being spoken at the table, and at table were an Englishman, a Canadian, a Welshman, an Irish woman and a Southern American (not to be confused with a South American), not to mention the several French at the table who are good English speakers, would NOT leave wanting to practice his English with each and every one of us.  It came out in conversation that he is a student of Osteopath, so I let him give me an adjustment at the table!  He was impressed that there was very little out of alignment (that's TaeBo every day!) and wanted to tell us how excited he and, if indeed he were to have his finger on the pulse of his countrymen, France were about all the things that Barak Obama was going to do in the world.  I opted to Sigh and Eye roll instead of getting into a debate.  He then asked me why I liked McCain and was FLUMMOXED, that is to say, FLABBERGASTED when I told him I thought McCain was an equally wrong choice.  Some people, French or American, just cant get a hold of the idea that we dont HAVE to have a 2 party system - and of course he had never even heard of Ron Paul...  C'est la vie.

The night before we were invited to the Opera Club dinner (ok, we were thrown to the wolves) and for the First Time Ever I had bad French food.  Imagine my horror!  Only 4 of us met the challenge (a couple of last minute cancelations, Cowards! and the staff, knowing about these things didn't even show!  Not a one!), Nic, Nu, Elzbieta and I, oh, and the chef of the chorus, Xavier ate rubbery ginny fowl and rancid pate.  Not to mention that there were no English speakers there, which is fine, (Elzbieta speaks her native Polish, German, French, English and Flemish - Nu and I can do just fine, Nu better than I - Nic had a really hard time) but by the end of the evening my brains were dribbling out of my ears.  I had my iPod with me and got many oohs, aahs, and OuLaLas! from the pictures of my children, always gratifying.  The man next to Elzbieta drank at least a bottle and a half of wine himself, not a surprise noticing his varicose face, but he kept asking El the same question Over and Over . . . she did very well not to spill her carrots over his head.  His wife didn't even try to conceal or to effect stealth when she moved the wine to the other side of the table, just picked it up, stood up, deposited it out of his reach, and sat back down.  Very funny.

On Friday the 27th I got up, did my normal routine and continued research into NPD then went to lunch with Vero and Olivier (I had fish soup with croutons and swiss cheese, then muscles with potatos, then a pear tart covered with hot chocolate, delicious) then to Les Machines de L'ile Nantes (www.lesmachines-nantes.fr) and I took a mess of pictures that can be found:

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 (and there will also be found pics of the to be mentioned Cheese and Wine Party) then we walked around town a great deal and went into the Palais de Justice, that is the court house - which looks more a Prison than a court house!  Really, it is most menacing and imposing (pictures can be seen at the above album), then the new Architecture School - which was the PITS, if you had told us it was a homeless shelter we would have believed you, but it's only just opened so I'm sure in a year it will chic.  After we parted company I met up with Nu and saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, very thought provoking.  I came back to my apartment and had a lovely chat with the children for 40 minutes and  found out that Ambrose has a whuge 'owie' because he climed up on the top bunk bed and fell off.  Nice.  I'm sure it will come out in court that it was my fault.  Talked to a guy today who had been in Swiss Jail for 3 months and told me how great it was! - as far as prisons go; Private rooms each with cable tv, a fridge, and a Bath Tub!  Very glad it's nice, but, Um, no thank you.

Sunday the 1st after the Matinee I organized a Wine and Cheese Party which Nic and Andy graciously offered to do at their place since it is a mite plus grand.  16 people drank 14 bottles of wine and I have no idea the pounds of fromage consumed.  Really good.  Olivier brought a salad with pistachios which was also fab.  Ordinarily, we singers dont really enjoy having to sing in the afternoon, especially if it's a hard sing, much better at night, but the glory of the matinee is that we can have a lark together and still get to bed at a decent hour!  The make up gals didn't take us up on the offer, but the general director and his wife did show up and he's going to have us over to his house again (see pictures from other albums) on Friday 13 for a clam fest!  Woo!

Yesterday I walked a lot.  I went to the Musee Beaux Arts, a small museum as far as larger european cities are concerned, but a few really nice paintings then walked to the old Nu Biscuit Factory.  The tower is very pretty, but I couldn't really figure out what was there to see other than the closed exhibit hall (they are putting in a new installation) so I didn't get a ticket to just go up in the tower.  I got home after a long afternoon of walking and noticed on the table the few 1/2 price coupons that our Conductor left me.  He left them to me because I'm pretty much the only singer left in town, all the others having gone home the 4 days off before we do our pickup/tech rehearsals in Angers.  I got online quickly (making use of my 2€ a Day subscription . . . ugh . . .) and saw that Clint's Grand Torino was playing in a half hour, so I threw my coat back on and went to the movies.  I know that seeing a movie alone isn't something many people like, but it's fine by me.  And I love Clint and I love the fact that he is still on the screen, unafraid of being filmed as an old man, unworried about not being remembered only for his youthful films, as the man with no name, as Harry Callahan, he's really exemplary in my opinion.

I'll leave you with a poem that has been on my mind a lot lately.

Of course, I ask your continued prayers for me and mine, and promise you mine for you and yours.

In Him, 

Beau

IF you can keep your head when all about you 

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
--Rudyard Kipling

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, the show is open!  It was a good night, and below you'll find links to the photographer's pictures of the show and the pictures I took at the party in the rehearsal space, loads of people!  It was a really tough show for one of the singers, and when one's chords are swollen there is no amount of technique that can solve it all, but he stuck it out like a champ and came back healthy for show two and was fab.  Anyone who has sung long enough, knows first hand what it's like to be on a stage knowing you cant trust your mechanism, it's not your fault, there is nothing you can do about it, and it's a really, really lousy feeling (but you get on stage none the less  because if you dont you dont get paid).  Ok, pictures . . .

The Staff Photographer at work, and he's great:

 http://rabillon.com/mahagonny/

The party after the show:

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While I'm giving Links I may as well give the other links of photos as well.

Nantes 5

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Nantes 4

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Nantes 3

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Nantes 2

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Nantes 1

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The day of the opening I went to the Flea Market and found for just a few Euro a big, heavy metal Rosary (with a beautiful patina on the beads) but the chain was a little rusty in places.  Pleased with the thought of cleaning it up and using it here (and passing it down to one of my sons - everything I get from now to the end of my life is colored with the thought of which of my children may like it later in life) and not 4 minutes later saw a few cassocked priests walking around the market.  I waltzed right up to one of them and asked him to bless it!  He whipped out his holy water bottle and did the job - how's that for service?!  The day before the opening I went to my daily mass at 11:15 then met Nu at the Green Oak and had a coffee.  We were met by Elzbieta and it was a lovely afternoon.  I went home but it was so beautiful outside I got my camera and set off to the castle.  I walked the ramparts and then took the Audio Guided Tour of the museum which was quite good.  If you know me you know I'm a bit of a history buff and this castle doesn't disappoint!  Here is what a few travel guides have to say about the Château des Ducs de Bretagne.

New York Times Review

This is a monument to the city’s history, built over the course of centuries, beginning with the 15th. This was the home of Anne de Bretagne — twice Queen of France — who bound Brittany to France, quelling rebellions while securing rights for her region. Originally situated directly on the Loire, the branch of the river that once ran in front of the château was filled in the 18th century as the city expanded. In the 20th century the château was briefly taken over by occupying Germans — in fact, Nantes was an important part of the French Resistance network. (A nearby monument commemorates 50 executed Resistance hostages.) After the war there was much debate over the palace. Now, after 25 years of discussion, and 15 years of restoration, the doors reopened in February 2007. It has become a city museum, a restaurant (Les Oubliettes, the Forgotten, named for the prisoners who languished in palace cells hundreds of years ago) and an exhibition space. Rarely has a local history museum been so engaging and interactive.

Frommer's Review

Between the cathedral and the Loire is Nantes's second major sight, where the Edict of Nantes was signed. The castle was constructed in the 9th or 10th century, enlarged in the 13th century, destroyed, and rebuilt into its present shape by François II in 1466. His daughter, Anne de Bretagne, continued the work. Large towers and a bastion flank the castle, which contains a symmetrical section (the Grand Gouvernement) built during the 17th and 18th centuries. The duchesse du Berry, royal courtesan, was imprisoned here, as was Gilles de Retz ("Bluebeard"), one of France's most notorious mass murderers. The castle's rich collections were recently shaped into a museum of the history of Nantes from the 17th century to the present.

How can you beat Bluebeard's cell?  There is a great deal of Catholic 'Graffiti' (that's what they call it) carved into the stones in the prison section done by priests and brothers who were stuffed away during the revolution, very sobering.

I called the children of course but they had gone to nap early,  I called back an hour and 15 later but they were still asleep, so I did my TaeBo workout in the interim and called back in 45 minutes, and they were Still asleep!  The sitter asked if I wanted her to wake them, but Mary Raine wakes up about as well as her Aunty Toady (my sister Julia) so I asked her to give them my love and tell them I'd called and we'd talk Monday.

Earlier that week, Wednesday to be exact, I went with Véro to the Mechanical Animal Park which was closed till 2:00 so we went to THE crêprie in Nantes, run for the last 40 years by a single woman (and by that I mean one woman, a lone woman; I have no idea as to her marital status) who is still in the kitchen making the crepes individualy by hand with love (as says on the Carte de Visit) and we'll go back to the Mech Animal Park tomorrow afternoon.  I took some pictures but wont post them till I've taken some from the top of the elephant as well! 
I went to dinner that evening with Patrice and Moshe, Nu and Elzbieta at the lovely L'Océanide (www.restaurant-oceanide.com) that evening.  The boys had picked up the tab the last two times we went out to fancy restaurants so Nu and Elzbieta wanted to take them out for a nice evening.  We sat down to a lovely fish spread and delicious toast pieces that complemented the Champagne, then I had the Tripe de Saint Jacques as an appetizer, then we were served a gorgeous beet mousse/marinated muscles/potato layered mousse in a slender cup, then we got a bottle of local-ish light red wine that had very little initial taste but exploded in the mouth and had a very lengthy finish, I had Sea Bass again with caramelized carrots, diced rutabagas, sauteed mushrooms with fabulous fresh baked rolls, then a chocolate soufflé that was heaven sent.  This was also the final time we got to eat with the boys as they are leaving the day after the premier and have plans with visiting  friends the night before. 
I Went to the honey store (yes, a store that sells only honey and honey related products!) in the morning and got Propolis losenges with Propolis drops (Highly recommended by Nu) and was stuffing Zinc up my nose, gargling with salt water, all the usual stuff.

I talked to the children for only 25 minutes because I took a bit of a back seat to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!  Mary Raine was telling me what was going on in the movie, but would then forget to tell me and just watch . . . what a good movie.  It's a neat feeling to watch with my children movies that were brand new almost 40 years ago and that I watched in the theater with my parents!

Monday I finally went to Doctor, was just tired of not feeling well, and was told I have allergies but that my chords look great.  It means I can sing  fine, it just isn't comfortable, but so what.  Life isn't comfortable all the time, now is it?  I then hoofed it over to the movie theater at Place du Commerce to meet Nic and Nu, Randall and Pascal, but was 20 minutes late and was told that I couldn't buy a ticket.  On the walk home I stopped at a Pharmacy and got my little prescription filled for antihistamines or some such thing, then called my children.  Mary Raine reports that Silas' "Dadadadada!", and he erupted at hearing my voice on the speaker phone, was him saying, "Come Home Daddy! Come Home Daddy!"  She also said again and rather severely, "Daddy, I'm quite frustrated that you're not home."

I had cause to go into the office at the Appart'City, the place where I'm staying,  and the staff Oohed and Aahed at the show and me as they had gone to the opening night.  After the second night Randall, Andy, Frédéric and I went for a single beer and a kebab and a number of people came up and thanked us for a lovely show . . . but they didn't pick up the round . . . so much for stardom.

Tuesday was my father's birthday and I was glad to get to speak to him a couple times, and last night, Ash Wednesday, I had Andy, Nic and Nu over for a fish/scallops pasta I made, salad, a light rosé, cheese and chocolates that Nu brought.  Again, a lovely evening.  

Today I went to mass as always and there was a priest I wasn't used to seeing; he made an issue of the woman before me in line wanting to receive on the knee and on the tongue, then refused it to me alltogether.  Kind of lousy, but over all the Novus Ordo masses here are respectful and prayerful and I love going to daily mass; I love lighting candles in front of Our Lady where people have been lighting candles for hundreds and hundreds of years.

I'm still enjoying the walking around the city, looking for little things to bring the children, imagining what it may have looked like, smelled like 3, 5, 800 years ago, have yet to get  to many of the museums, but am increasingly eager to get back to my children who need their daddy, even if it is just for the week before I have to do another month in Lille.  I placed 4 calls over the course of a half an hour this evening that went unanswered at My house in GA, so it looks like I dont get to talk to my children today, that just isn't right, but it's not unexpected.  

I'm also eager to put my socks and undershirts etc. in a proper washing machine with bleach...lots of bleach...

I'm getting to do a little work on 2 musical projects I have going, projects that I'll make public when the time is right, which wont be for a while, but it's good to have some time for them.  

One of the stage hands pulled me over to the scale on the pool table to show me what he did, giggling the whole time.  First I must tell you that the pool table, having functioned as a pool table on stage, then as a sail boat, was now functioning as a judge's bench, upon which I sit.  The scale on it is actually a meat scale from a grocery store, but it hints at the fact that justice is for sale in Mahagonny.  (The projection on the wall just before the scene says, "The courts in Mahagonny were no better nor worse than anywhere else.)  The manufacturer of the scale was Busch.  The stage hand had put a piece of white tape over the 'C' making it 'Bus h', and then cackled, his ripple scented breath wafting through the theater, ranting in an alcoholic stammer about President Bush's lop-sided scales of justice.  The only thing that wasn't funny was that, well, he was pretty much right.

After the show tonight, which went very well, we all (well, many of us) went for a beer which was nice.  There are two days before the next show and it's nice to get together outside of the show now that it's open. It was also nice that we were all over the 'Second Night Blues' and back up to speed.  When I finally get season tickets for me and the children to some opera company somewhere, I will NOT get them for the second night . . . what are people thinking when they do that?  If I were a General Director I'd give a 25% discount on second night subscriptions.

Please be well, and have a fruitful Lent,

Still praying for you . . .

In Him, Beau

 Dear Family and Friends,

Less than a week away from opening, and finally we are going to get a little rest!  We have been run to a ragged edge these last few days, Wednesday a full Piano dress rehearsal, Thursday an all day Sitz Probe (seated orchestra rehearsal) in Angers requiring almost 3 hours of bus travel (see pictures on my Facebook page or at the links below), and both Friday and Saturday 14:30-17:30 and 20:00-23:00 Wandel Proben (onstage orchestra rehearsals).

In actuality Saturday's rehearsals were surprisingly fun, finally getting to run acts without interruption, and remarkably energetic coming after Friday's near revolt of the absolutely knackered singers.

By Far and away the funniest thing to happen this week involves gun safety, and how the European Union and European Mentality has put singers and crew in jeopardy!  How has even a couple generations of Euro gun hatred compromised the safety of opera singers?

Here's what I saw.

Near the end of Act I there Jimmy Mahonny has become discontent with the allures of Mahagonny, principally sleeping, smoking, fishing, swimming, cheap booze and equally cheap women, (eliminate the last item and in many ways Mahagonny does seem rather idyllic), and pulls a knife and a gun threatening mayhem and self destruction.  Fatty (moi) enters after this has begun to calm the situation in his bar!  A general melee ensues and Fatty finds himself (the reader will permit the telling of the tale from the eyes of Fatty) on top of the bar (surrounded by whoores) next to Jenny who has just disarmed Jimmy, (photos will come soon I hope), listening to Jimmy Mahonny's diatribe.  In this grand climax (which happens just before the immanent arrival of the hurricane - which in fact diverts its course right before destroying Mahagonny) struck in a tableau of terror, I had occasion to notice a trickle of what looked like smoke coming from inside Andy's (Jimmy Mahonny's) jacket, ascending like so much fragrant incense.  Then I cought a whiff of what was definitely smoke.

"Andy," I whispered, "I think you're on fire."

I dont know if he heard me but quickly afterwards he was batting at his clothes like a squirrel had run up his pant leg!  We finished the scene and then had a grand laugh.

What actually happened.

When Jimmy is beginning his rant he pulls the revolver and fires it in the air to get some attention.  What he did was jam his hand down into his pocket to get the gun and, violating the 'Never Put Your Finger On the Trigger Till You're Ready to Fire' rule, discharged the .22 caliber starter pistol in his pocket.  Fortunately he did not hurt himself directly with the blast (it could have easily burned flesh nastily) but it did smolder and burn a 5" hole in the pocket of his jacket!

Now I dont blame Andy in the slightest!  He is an absolutely capital chap without a malicious bone in his body and quite a good singer and actor, he's doing Jimmy very proud; I simply point out how a general knowledge of guns and their safe usage can protect life, limb and an over 400 year old theater from fire damage.

A Post Script to the story.

Agostino, the costume designer, not wanting his costumes burned further, went out and got a shoulder holster for Andy - being Italian he of course bought a rig for a midsize auto pistol, not a revolver, and when I offered to help, ever so self-effacingly (sp?), with learning how to use and draw from a holster heard, "EEuu jez pull eet!" . . .  sigh . . .

I had a conversation that one just wouldn't expect in France this week, and be forwarned, this conversation had politically incorrect  language - but I didn't start it!

The only black man in the opera chorus walked up to me and said, 

"Whaz up, my n!ggah!?"

Now, how does one answer that!?

In stride I did by, "Word up, dawg, a n!ggah be chillin', yo!"

He laughed and continued, "How my people in Georgia?"

"Dude," I proffered, "it is perhaps: 'how my peeps is, yo?'"

"Truf dat."

Truf dat indeed.

It's just not the conversation one expects to have in Nantes.

He is a really nice guy with an adorable 3 year old, Romeo, I have had the pleasure to meet and has obviously spent some considerable time in the states, NY I think, because his American is almost without accent; I was just glad I was around to help him wif his Ebonics an' shi'.

Last Sunday night was taken to dinner again (and again please see the Facebook links for my photo albums for corresponding photo documentation) at: http://www.leun.fr/ which is owned and run by the same people as Le Cigal.  I had (as did a couple others) the menu of: 

Salade gourmande au foie gras, Dos de bar sauvage (sea bass) au fenouil (I love fennel), Assortiment de fromages de chez Pascal Beillevaire and a chocolate torte that was heavenly.

And we drank some wine from the Savennières region, Château de Varennes, truly "a wine for intellectuals."  I hope to bring home a bottle or two.  Patrice and Moshe discovered this wine not too long ago and when approaching their local Lyonaise wine merchant, "Do you know this wine?  Can you get it?" was greeted with a knowing smile and, "Yes, I can, it's great, n'est pas?  It's a wine . . . it's a wine for intellectuals. . ."  He never did explain himself, but so it remains a wine for intellectuals that even opera singers can drink.

Patrice, Moshe, Jean-Paul, Aftra, Nu, Elzbieta, Andy and Nic and I were in attendance and the conversation was spirited.  Moshe has a new infatuation with his iPhone - they are ubiquitous here - and he is ever downloading this or that new application, some of which are amazing.  He asked for my address and in 30 seconds we were looking at an arial photo of my house (well, what was my house) on his mobile, in France, via Google.  He has also pulled out  his phone in rehearsal when he has had a question in his mind about how a situation was resolved in the original production, and watched the video - he has the entire opera as a video file on his iPhone.  Amazing.  He also has a light saber, a program that can record a few seconds of music to which one happens to be listening ,  determine what it is, display the information, then offer one the opportunity to purchase the music on the iTunes store.  He also has a big banner ticker that he holds up from the house.  Last night as we were holding the final pose, "Well Done M'F'ers!!!" was flashed to the stage, of course eliciting howls.

Last weekend we had lost the internet at the apartment and on Monday I went over to Andy and Nic's for dinner and to Skype the children.  Dinner was a lovely Thai chicken that Andy did, but I was disappointed when I was told by the sitter that Ambrose and Moo had gone to the dentist and weren't around to talk to the daddy.

Tuesday however I heard all about it from Mary Raine, "Daddy!  I got a new toothbrush, AND toothpaste!  And, OH DADDY!  I even got some red stuff that sticks to my teeth to tell me where to brush!!!"  And to think that it was just 6 months ago when I took all 4 of them to Macon so the older two could get their first cleanings.  I know of someone who has never taken all 4 anywhere without help - and couldn't.  My friends, please keep praying.

This week Mary Raine told me that she had made me buttered rice and that I had to come home and get it before it got cold, that she had made me a Valentines card and I had to come home and get it Now, that the babies were starting to get mad at me because I hadn't come home, that she needed me to bring her some cheddar cheese TODAY, but what tore my heart out was when she said, "You left me all alone here, Daddy."  There's a place somewhere for people who wreck children's homes for nothing but horribly selfish reasons.

I brought MINIMAL clothes with me, not wanting to get caught at the ticket counter of the airlines having to pay some grossly outrageous weight overage fee and so I'd have some 'give' room in the bag on the way home to bring the children some things!  Well, one of the 3 pairs of pants I brought (jeans, nicer corduroys and dress pants for Sundays and the opening), the corduroys have developed a rip and one of the 3 collared shirts I brought has frayed at the collar.  I haven't bought new clothes in a Looooooong time, so people are getting used to seeing me in the same stuff daily.  I dont care so much as things seem to dry overnight in the apartment just hung up in the bathroom, but I will look forward to swapping a few things when I'm home for the week in March.

Having forgotten about it totally, I did however arrive on Saturday at the Flea Market fortuitously and was not disappointed.  I found a lovely (but broken and therefore dirt cheap - I can easily repair it) holy water fount underneath a crucifix, and oddly enough, an early 20th century French coronet that also needs to be fixed up (by a professional) but was in working order.  It was also dirt cheap (I was there at the end of the day while people are putting things away and they tend to give things away instead of packing them up and carting them back to their store) and one of my sons will have a lovely horn to play in the high school band.  I just dont think it's a mistake to have many instruments around growing children.  It came in it's old wooden case that I can nurse a little myself.  When I left for rehearsal I surely didn't think I'd arrive with an antique coronet under my arm, but I left the flat with precious little money in my pocket and still had some when I got to the theater so it was foreordained!

This morning I got off to Mass at 10:30 (this the traditional mass, my weekday masses are N.O.) and then went to meet up with Andy and Nu for a coffee and croissant at Le Chêne Vert (The Green Oak).  On the way I found a couple of interesting motorcycles of which I took pictures.  There was a group of a few absolutely pissed (drunk, soused, not angry) folks who saw me and started jumping in the pictures.  Of course I took their picture and then took our picture and those photos will be found on my Facebook page soon enough.  When I finally got to The Green Oak I found things just as Nu had told me; there is a terrier of sorts who works as a doorman.  This dog greets everyone who comes in and renders verdicts.  I was admitted with a nod and was visited frequently for pets and caresses which I gladly gave, (this dog knows dog people), but did witness him going up to people entering and barking at them for reasons known only to the dog.  The people who received barking as reception were served like those of us who waltzed in, just not quite as quickly and with a slightly suspicious leer from the waitress.

We then repaired to the market (see Facebook photos) and I got a little salami and an extremely Nante-onaise wicker bag (from an outdoor vendor that sold nothing but these inexpensive wicker bags), the one people of all stations tote to the market to fill with goodies, that will also serve a grand purpose as a diaper/wipes/extra clothes/etc. carrier upon my return to my babies.  Who knows, we may even go shopping with it at Harveys!

I am now at home in my little flat, and whereas there were some going off to the sea today I opted to just chill out, smoke a pipe, and rest, perchance to nap.  The balcony door is flung wide and while it may be a we bit chilly, it's a gorgeous day out and I have a spectacular view, and I dont really have to open my mouth again till Tuesday evening - divine.

I hope this finds you and yours being well.

Let's continue to pray for each other.

Beau

Just to remind:

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Nantes 1

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Nantes 2

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Nantes 3

Greeting Family and Friends,

Another busy week indeed!

2 Feb 2009  MONDAY - being the day off, and me still being under the weather I stayed at home except to go to mass and rested which proved to be the right choice I think.

3 Feb 2009 TUESDAY  - I thought I was sleeping in late, but as I opened my eyes I found it was very overcast and dark outside and looked rather the middle of the night.  It was in fact 8:00 and the sun doesn't rise here now till almost 8:30.  I performed my morning ablutions and assisted at Mass at Saint Croix at 11:15, lunched at my flat then finished staging the opera from 14:30-17:30.

The final scene of the opera is one of total desolation, buildings are collapsed on stage, the stage is flooded with red light, people are staggering around in an increasing amount of smoke, most exceedingly apocalyptic.  The final tableau is the cast and chorus hanging over the proscenium begging for help while at the same time saying, "Neither we, nor you, nor anyone can help!"  Moshe was describing the terror that must be present in the scene,
"You want to get away from this  terribly, you want to run from it like it was the Twin Towers, or from the Gaza Strip, or from a concentration camp . . . or from Beau's wife..." 
This of course brought peels of laughter. 

I talked with the children as I do every week day and Mary Raine continued to try to trick me into coming home, "I made a picture for you daddy!"  

"Oh lovely!  Can you send it to me?"  

"No, Daddy, you have to come here and get it.  Can you come now daddy?" 

And Ambrose, "I lu' you, dadEE!"  

Mary Raine told me again that Ambrose was having catsup again with his breaded fish sticks, dont know wether or not it's accurate, but he's not supposed to have either of those things...

FINALLY actually sang today, not full voice, but it was so encouraging that it was coming back, and this was the high notes at the end.  Had a talk with Uncle Mosh about the Siegfried he saw in Strassbourg and confirmed that the next Siegfried he does is my first Mime!  Still want to find my first Herod . . .

20:00-23:00 was the condemnation scene and I stood around most of the night - dont sing much in the middle act, just look menacing.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention this most amazing Crème de Marrons de l'Ardèche Vanillée that I found in the market.  It is a candied chestnut spread that is out of this world.  I would bring a case home if it weren't so very dense and heavy.

Truly though, it is something for which to look stateside.

4 Feb 2009 WEDNESDAY - I woke up at 07:20 and just got up without trying to garner an extra hour of slumber.  Rosary with the nuns at 10:30, mass at 11:15, essayage de maquillage (they tried on my makeup) at 12:00 (Well, I arrived at l'office de maquillage and sat till 12:15, alone, then texted Olivier asking where everyone was.  In 2.5 minutes I heard footsteps running up the stairs and was shuttled down to another room where they were assembled).  The makeup is very simple for which I'm  glad and they are liking my handlebars, have asked me to keep just a little 'landing strip' goatee  on my chin and of course I've shaved my head like last time.  We rehearsed scene 18 from 14:30-17:30 and thus ended the afternoon.  The evening began immediately afterwards with a trip to FNAC (the big electronics store) and got USB camera for Skype and ear buds to replace my fizzing-popping-not working original Apple ones, grabbed a crock monsieur and an apricot croisant (unusual since I eat at home almost exclusively) then rehearsed 18 through the end of the show from 20:00-23:00 with the chorus.  To recap:  I'm now on Skype with video (Skype ID: beaupalmer) and can hear my iPod again, thank goodness.

When I talked to the children Mary Raine only wanted to have the conversation in recitative.  I had to sing her a few made up songs, then she sang me the I love you Daddy song, then we sang twinkle twinkle little star song a few times (which turned into a song about Moo and Bubba T. eating their tika (cheese) grits for lunch), then more I Love You Daddy song (which was dueted with the I Love You Mary Raine song and the I Love You Thomas Ambrose song and the Dont Wake The Babies song) and then the Good bye I'll talk to you tomorrow duet.  A couple of times Ambrose piped in, "I lu' you, daddEE!" and I love it.  And I actually SANG at the evening rehearsal which felt LOVELY!

5 Feb 2009 THURSDAY - I slept till 08:15 (is this talking about when one wakes up the beginning of old people talking about their morning constitutionals?) and it was a REMARKABLY a lovely sunny day! Of course the weather channel says that it'll be raining again by the afternoon.  Last night the rehearsal was almost disrupted by the Pounding of the rain on the roof of the theater being deafening!

Set off early for mass with the camera to take advantage of the sunlight, as fleeting as it was, the results of which may be seen on my Facebook account.  

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1230505&l=4c4db&id=623854508

Travail a Nantes

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1230602&l=c363a&id=623854508

Walking around Nantes

I Still got to St. Croix at 11:15, but just barely.  

Act I from 2:30-5:30.  Talked to Julia to wish her a happy birthday and then with the Children.  TAS (Thomas Ambrose Seay) actually answered the phone (not the nanny) and I had a conversation, really kind of a first, with only Ambrose for the first couple minutes of the conversation.  I didn't understand everything he said, but he seemed to understand me and his sweet little voice is very much like Moo's over the phone so it took me a second to realize it was just Bubba.  It was really lovely.  Mary Raine is increasingly vocal about her wish for me to come home, and while Ambrose still doesn't have the vocabulary, Moo has said, "Bubba wants you to come home, too, Daddy." and I believe her.  Mary Raine also asked, "Can you please try your hardest to take me to France, Daddy? " and, "Daddy, can you Please hold me?"  She's still got a nasty cough. After her request to just be held I found it near impossible to get off the phone and was a few minutes late to rehearsal; no one was cross.

6 Feb 2009 FRIDAY - 8:20 Up.  Ablutions. Worked on LiveJournal Post.  Rosary 10:30.  Mass 11:15.  Grocery: salad, oranges, bananas, cheese, granola, wine, baguette, etc.

Sole fell off shoe, grrrrrrrr.  (I'm walking a Lot...)  Found a pair of new shoes that I liked on sale (50% off!) on the way to the theater.  Rehearsed fight scene with chorus and banda from 2:30-17:00 and got to go while others had to stay and do the next scene.  Rained on the walk home.

In Mary Raine's quest to convince me to come home she now told me that I had to come home because she needed a new bathing costume to go to the Uncle Mosh pool, and that the babies really, REALLY needed me to come home soon - before it got dark!

Got back to rehearsal at 20:00 - and sat for 2 and a half hours when we finally got to the fight scene again.  I'm not complaining, it was good to see the other scenes that they were doing.  AND, the brothel scene on stage banda (different from the fight scene on stage banda) has a Bandoneon player in it.  I asked him about the instrument and he asked if I wanted to play it!  Heck yes!  So he fetched it and I sat down and got a little lesson and a history of how the instrument got to South America (a German sailor couldn't pay his brothel bill and left his German bandoneon as payment) and how it became associated with the Flamingo, (my French was getting a little stretched) and found out that I'd have to sell a kidney to afford one.

7 Feb 2009 SATURDAY - After prayer went out to the flea market and took a few pictures and was very disappointed that the antique motorcycle (early 1900's) that was there last Saturday wasn't there again.  Pictures are posted on Facebook - see the above links.  Came home, did this and am going to get ready for a Run of Act I.
There is TALK that if we get done what we need to get done today we may have tomorrow off . . . wouldn't that be nice . . . but I'll believe it when it happens.
Please be well, In Him, Beau