March Weekend in New Jersey

Taylor was able to go to NJ with us last weekend.  It's the first time he's seen Eleanor in several years.  She of course wouldn't have known who he was without us telling her and even then, I'm not sure how much she was able to understand but she did seem to get that he is her youngest grandchild.

 We took some old movies with us and she watched them for hours but didn't recognize her kids, her husband or even herself in them.  It was heartbreaking.

Eleanor and Taylor in Florida 1994

 She seemed to be eating and drinking less so we gave her some meds to hopefully get stuff moving through her.  She was very uncomfortable.  She still seems to recognize her boys better than anyone else and they all came by during the weekend along with "little" Dennis who is her oldest grandchild.  While I sat with Eleanor Tom took Taylor to do a little shopping and sight seeing since he hadn't been to NJ for such a long time.  They went to see Lucy the Elephant which the kids have always loved since they were little.

 And you can't go to Atlantic City without hitting the beach.  And we also justify poor eating habits by including at least one sub and pizza while we're there like we somehow will never have them again!  It kind of defeats the good eating we're trying to do during the two weeks between our visits!  Anyway, I'm glad Taylor got a chance to go with us and at least spend a little time with his grandma.

A Saturday

 As with any big city there is a large homeless population in DC.  The Metro near the VA office is always surrounded by men with their carts, bags and sleeping tools.  They're all over town in doorways of buildings and near the metro stops where they can panhandle.  It's very sad.  Especially all the vets.  I could give away tons of money on a daily basis.

Saturday, my small group got together to make 50 lunches as an in-service project.  There is a group who go out after church on Sunday to visit with homeless friends....especially those around Union Station.

Sandwiches, chips, juice, fruit and granola bars in brown paper bags.  Then we included hand written scriptures of encouragement to include in the bags.  I included one of my favorites:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."   Matthew 11:28

 One of Tom's co-workers invited us over to their lovely home in Alexandria for a "low country boil".  The co-worker is from Tennessee and this is very much a southern thing.  A bunch of ingredients cooked in a large kettle and then normally just emptied out onto a newspaper covered table.  That wasn't the case here because we didn't want to ruin their gorgeous kitchen.  It was yummy!

 This version was corn on the cob, scallops, oysters, shrimp, and chirizo sausage all cooked in a delicious spiced broth....so good!  Great bread, cheeses, and homemade key lime pie for dessert.  A fun evening with 4 other couples and a chance for me to get to know the people Tom spends every day with!  They were terrific.

Taylor

    So Taylor has been finding his own stuff in DC.  He loves the old record stores, the live music venues, has been hitting the museums and being socially aware, he went to his first demonstration on the national mall.  I wanted to post his photo from the crowd but The Washington Post would like to charge me $20 to purchase it first.  It's photo number 7, not the guy in the gas mask! He said it was a very cold afternoon (we were in NJ) but he stood with a crowd of 35,000 to promote safe energy anyway.

    He spent last week in New York visiting some friends from Salt Lake who had recently moved there.  They actually live in Brooklyn but he did some touring around Manhattan with another friend who came to visit.  These are precisely the kinds of opportunities we wanted him to have in coming here.

     And, good news....as of this week he is training at Starbucks just down the street at L'Enfant Plaza.  A ten minute walk from here and closed on weekends because it's really in a location for people working in the city.  He's very happy!

Auditions

    So I guess I had hoped I would waltz into DC and just step into the theatre community.  What I found was that there weren't many auditions going on in the city.  If I wanted to go into NYC to audition, that was open to me but that's not really feasible with any sort of regularity.  I sent packets of my resume and headshots to local agents and paid for a skype meeting with a girl who does voiceovers and she was very open to sharing information.  Anyway, in the meantime I have been applying for "regular" jobs.  Keep in mind, I haven't done anything since we left Utah and I've had a varied career.  So my resume has all the real estate stuff,  some fund raising as a board member for a non-profit and then a big jump to almost 20 years ago when I was doing special event planning, hosting karaoke, and managing the front desk at a private club in Salt Lake City.  Well, as I'm applying for jobs I'm trying to manipulate those skills to look like something marketable in 2013.  The reality being I've been self-employed for 20 years.  Yes, I had a broker who oversaw my real estate dealings and an agent who managed my acting gigs but  I was still self-employed.  And then the whole school thing.  Really?  Yes, I have a bachelor's degree.....yes, it was 30 years ago.  But here are my transcripts if you really want them.  And, oh yeah, I'm 55 years old.  So starting a new career has not happened.  Why didn't I get back into real estate?  Because it meant having to completely re-license not only in DC but VA and MD as the three are basically one.  And the financial burden of starting a whole new marketing plan for a business in a town where I don't know people (which is the heart of real estate) wasn't really feasible.  Alas.

     So finally, audition season has kicked in and as I get my Equity (professional actor's union) email every morning with all the auditions going on, here they were.....FINALLY in the DC area.  So, for the first time in 2 years I was preparing an audition (they want monologues here, no cold readings from the script) for the Washington/Baltimore Liaison auditions at The Round House in Maryland.  This is one day only for local actors for a bunch of people representing theatres in the area for the whole upcoming seasons.  I was in the first group of 10 who went in and the only one in the group who opted to do a song.  Anyway, the point being I wasn't nervous because I finally felt like I was up for a job where I actually have the skills to do the work.  It felt like home being in that theatre and every audition since has been that way.  Ford's Theatre held their audition at the Shakespeare Company Studios, then I was off to Woolly Mammoth to read a script for an upcoming show.  Didn't care for it so opted out of that audition but went back for another.  Then The Folger Shakespeare Theatre which was way out of my comfort zone as I haven't done a Shakespeare play for many years.  I chose a monologue I was comfortable with as I had played the character before and the audition went well.  Ultimately it just comes down to being patient.  I have been fortunate to work in a city for many years where I was well known, didn't even have to audition as I was just asked to do things.  So there's the upside of the anonymity thing here where no one has any preconceptions about what I'm really good at, but the downside is that most people hire actors they know because they're proven commodities.  I did get an invitation to go audition for an agent in a couple of weeks so maybe that will help.  Don't know.  Still learning the ropes here.  All part of this adventure!

Tom's Mom

 So this has become our every third weekend trip as we head to New Jersey to help with the care of Eleanor.  She has been at his sister's home since Christmas Eve.  We've worked out a schedule where Karen (a caretaker) comes every weekday while Marie is at work, their brother Joe and his wife Karen take Tuesday and Thursday nights during the week and then we all swap out every third weekend from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon.  It about a 3 1/2 hour drive so we get to listen to some audio books on our way.

Eleanor has a room to herself but is bedridden.  She is 89 and has dementia and needs assistance with all her physical needs.  Hospice comes four times a week for bathing (which just takes place in the bed), sheet changing and checking vitals but we need to help with everything else.  On our Saturdays I do her nails and hair while we watch old musicals on TCM and mostly just sit with her.  She can't really engage in conversation but if you ask her a question she can answer.  The answer isn't necessarily accurate but you can see her thinking.  She doesn't know me anymore but generally knows her own children.  She gets the boys mixed up but they DO look alike.  Her diet consists mostly of baby food.  Rice cereal mixed with fruit flavored Ensure for breakfast, then just fruits and meat & vegetable Gerber varieties.  I baked some mincemeat chocolate chip cookies while we were there from her recipe and slipped her a few bites of those.  We're not supposed to give her solids because of the choking hazard but she's certainly not crazy about the baby food so I just give her tiny pieces.  Same with scrambled eggs and a little bit of buttered toast.  So yeah, I figure she has so little to look forward to if she gets to have a little something with flavor in it....so be it.  We did find that she liked canned tomato soup so we fixed that for her as well.  She has lost weight since our last trip and seemed a little less engaged.  But occasionally she'll say something funny that shows she's still in there somewhere.

Valentine's Day

I got lucky on Valentine's Day and got TWO dates.  Tom AND Taylor!  We headed to the E Street Cinema to see ARGO then had a late dinner across the street at Ollie's Trolley.  Didn't know anything about it but it looked interesting so we stopped in.

 Had a really good veggie burger, however whatever health aspect that covered was completely ruined by the bag-o-fries that accompanied it!  Overall, it was okay.  Kind of weird looking inside and cash only!  We got lucky cause we hardly ever carry cash, but just happened to this night.  But really!  Who does cash only anymore?  It was a good date night though.  Good movie and fun night with the boys.

National Zoo

 So Taylor and I decided to go check out the Zoo.  We had planned it for another day but it was too cold so once the temp kicked up a bit we headed out.  While we were waiting for the metro he got a call from Starbucks saying they want him to come in for a job so that was GREAT news!  He's going to New York next week to visit a friend and will start the day he gets back.

 Apparently, even though the weather was pleasant enough for us, it was not so for the animals.  Too cold, the signs said.  Hardly anyone was out.  We saw the otters......

 a fake bear.....

 an elephant......

 turtles......

 and a fake elephant to get the day started.

 Loved the indoor Amazon exhibit because there were little monkeys just sitting on branches above our heads, it was lush and green, AND it was warm.

 Finally!  The lions were out so we felt like we were at a real zoo!

One tiger as well but he was more interested in hanging out at the feeding door more than anything.  Just stood there growling at it between sips of water.

 Okay, so this was my favorite thing.  The Think Tank!  It's a building that's set aside for studying the orangutans and I'm sure in the summer, this place must be a nightmare with crowds.  But on a cold Feb. day we were able to pull up a chair and just watch these three interact.  So funny!

 Sometimes they were happy to have people watching them but then they'd get tired of being on display and hide under these sheets.  They'd bunch up some of the hay and make a comfy spot before getting all cozy and private.  There was a also a tug of war rope you could compete against them with, but none were interested in playing.  These towers rope connect to another orangutan house so if they get bored with one place they can swing across the zoo over to the other.  Wondered what it would be like to walking across the zoo and suddenly have them swinging over the top of us!  Will definitely come back here!

 It was also Mardi Gras so the restaurants in the neighborhood were getting gussied up!  It's a little jaunt to get to the zoo from the Metro and the zoo itself is very hilly so we were very ready to sit and rest our feet once we headed home.