Karleen Comes to St.George

 A Visit from Karleen, The Shakespeare Festival, Good Food - What could be better?

"I count myself nothing else so happy 

as in a soul remembering my good friends."

Richard II (1595) Act 2, scene 3, 1.

How cool is that?

I found a quote from the Shakespeare play that we saw this year

- Richard II-

that expresses our feelings of friendship for Karleen,

and, in fact, for all of my good friends in the past.

The Balladier Reunion, 

my 50th high school reunion, 

and Karleen's visit - 

I've been having 

Friendship Fests!

We have made it an annual thing 

for Karleen to come stay with us in St. George,

then go to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City together.

It has worked out for Roger to go to the plays with us, too.

We're kinda The Three Musketeers - 

all for one and one for all.

Our friendship goes back a long way 

to when we were the four of us 

with her good husband, Joe.

We miss him.

She arrived on the shuttle 

about lunchtime on Monday, September 23.

We all headed to Painted Pony for lunch.

After gabbing and catching up all afternoon,

I fixed a pesto lasagna dinner.

Next morning, Roger had business in Panguitch,

so we all departed on a little day trip.

We took two different routes, 

going past Brian Head and through Panguitch Lake on the way, 

then coming through Cedar Mountain past Cedar Breaks,

on the way back.

The scenery was beautiful, 

with the leaves changing and the clear blue skies.

Cedar Breaks overlook

Our fearless navigator and "pilot"on our journey

Kathy and Jim Jensen met us at Rusty's, 

up the canyon, for dinner, then we went to the play together.

We were all friends in Ogden,

and it was fun to all be together again.

After dinner, we attended a little briefing 

before the play started, outside of the theater.

These briefings are so informative,

and none of us previously knew anything about the play

we saw that night, Peter and the Star Catcher.

In the manner that Wicked 

is a back story of The Wizard of Oz, 

Peter and the Star Catcher 

is a back story of Peter in Peter Pan.

We were thoroughly entertained;

it was clever, great acting and very, very funny!

After spending the night in St. George, we returned 

to Cedar City in time for a yummy lunch at the Garden House.

After the briefing, we attended the matinee performance of 

The Marvelous Wonderettes.

Oh, My Goodness!

Set at the Springfield High School Prom in 1958 to ten years later - 

this musical was one of the most entertaining we have seen!

As the promo says, "It's a toe-tappin' trip down Memory Lane."

And it was! 

After another drive out and about Cedar,

we grabbed some dinner at a new restaurant 

that Jim and Kathy told us about,

 Depot Grill.

We'll be going back here.  

We weren't very hungry after our lunch, 

but the French onion soup was tasty.

Understanding Shakespeare 

is one of life's challenges 

for those who are interested in the literary arts.

Though I was an English major 

and took a class of Shakespeare's Histories, 

I am not very far along in this challenge, 

but the interesting briefing that Fred Adams 

(Founder of the Shakespeare Festival) 

gives before each Shakespeare show greatly helps.

The acting is superb, 

and we always manage to  get the gist of things 

and feel that our time is well-spent.  

Scene from Richard II

Karleen and I decided to go see the exhibit 

at the St. George Art Museum on Thursday morning.

It's such a nice museum; 

 I was a docent here for a couple of years, 

soon after we moved to St. George.

Roger met us for lunch for what has become an annual Must Do 

when Karleen comes - a wedge salad at Player's Grill.

Yum!

We dropped Karleen off at the shuttle after lunch 

and said our good-byes until next time.

After my last three adventures into the past,

I am reminded of an old Girl Scout song 

we used to sing:

Make new friends,

but keep the old;

The new ones are silver,

And the old ones, gold.

So true, so true.