The Twilight Report

Yesterday I had lunch with Adil, Ed, and pretty much the rest of my old work colleagues in EDA. It was really nice to see everyone and a pleasant surprise that pretty much everyone wanted to see me. After everyone else left Adil and I had a chat and I got to meet his kids, which was quite nice. Adil, don’t forget to send me that picture!

(click to see in Google Earth)

As promised (or threatened) I did the long loop of Breakneck Ridge after lunch. I did it in the afternoon, so it was a lot hotter and a lot harder than last week. I ran into lots of people this time. Most of them asked me for advice or how far it was going to be to the turn off. I suppose I looked like I knew what I was doing. I had this conversation several times: “Are you from around here?” “I used to be. I used to live in Beacon.”

Upwise it is like the last Breakneck Ridge hike except for more up after the saddle where you turn off for the short loop, and a more gradual descent. It is also about a mile longer. I feel like I left this hike as unfinished business when I left Beacon a year and a half ago. I’d hiked it a million times, but I left in a state where I wasn’t really up to hiking it anymore. Now that I’ve come back and hiked it again I feel a lot better about it.

After the hike I met up with my friends at Boscobel for As You Like It. I was disappointed that I missed Richard III, because it is one of my favourites, but As You Like It was really funny and definitely worth it. They presented it using a Western theme that accentuated the humour. Joe said it was his favourite Boscobel Shakespeare yet. I’m not sure that I would go that far, but it was quite good. If you are ever in the Hudson Valley during the summer I highly recommend seeing one of the plays that they are presenting that year. They usually do two plays each summer, they present them outside at Boscobel, where there is a lovely view of the Hudson.

...and with that, my Hudson Valley adventure draws to a close, as I head back to New York City, and prepare for my next big adventure in New Mexico.

Here is to Jenny who said I lacked subtlety.

Saturday I got up early to go down to Rye and visit Chuck. Last week I deployed both Grendel and TWiki on the IdeaBank website, and I was there to walk him through the changes. It is really frustrating showing Chuck how to do anything new because he is highly resistant, possibly even impervious to change.

Then I went to a barbecue at Brian's before we went to see Fantastic Four, which was pretty terrible, and wasn't even saved for me by the fact that Michael Chiklis was in it. People keep telling me that Jessica Alba isn't in movies for her acting skills when I complain, but I still have to say that I am offended that movie makers keep putting her in films. Still it was awfully nice to go to the movies with my friends.

Then Brian was "hey lets go drinking with Nam and Rishi!!!" and I was thinking but we have to get up early for a hike tomorrow. Unfortunately I hadn't driven to the theater so we went to Front Street and met Nam's 19-year-old girlfriend. She didn't say anything hardly notable at all, which puts her on par with Darth Maul. I was actually furious with Brian, but I didn't say anything. I finally got home at midnight and went right to sleep.

Today I got up in time to meet Kathy and the others for the Third Annual Ashokan High Point Catskills Hike. The top was covered with little wild blueberries. I filled an entire Tupperware with blueberries destined to cover ice cream in near future meals. Once I got hiking I had forgiven Brian for his transgressions. Kathy and I talked about the movies coming and going. Apparently super hero movies are big right now.

Then I raced back to see the Tempest at Boscobel, which is another annual tradition. Rishi always organizes a real big group to see one of the two Shakespeare that they play there. The view of the Hudson is breathtaking from there. I like to tell people that it is so pretty that it doesn't seem like the Hudson. This is probably not a good thing to say in retrospect because there might be people who find beauty in the Hudson else wise. Brian, Joe and Cicely were there. Joe was having trouble understanding what was going on which is surprising because the Tempest is actually one of his simplest plays.

There are basically three subplots. One involves Prospero, Miranda and Ferdinand. The second is the king and the pretender Duke of Milan, and the several others who hang around them. The third involves Stephano, the drunken butler, the fool Trinculo and of course the savage Caliban. The latter group being employed primarily for comic relief.

Ariel was brilliantly played and had a very interesting costume design. The spirit was played by a woman using delicate and graceful movements. In the very end when Prospero releases Ariel it causes him much pain, and his back is stained with blood suggesting a darker side to his slavery than I think is usually presented in the play. I thought it was a nice touch.

Then we went to Brian's place for dinner.