Well, dear readers, 2025 is flying by, like a gazelle eating a cranberry scone whilst whistling the Blue Danube waltz whilst doing an impression of Red Buttons and Shecky Green singing Mellow Yellow. Very colorful, that darn gazelle. Meanwhile, the first day of January was very nice and cozy topped off with a nice and cozy intimate gathering of nice and cozy people. I got eight and a half hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, and then spent some time futzing and finessing the new book’s twenty-one pages I’d written in advance. I have to say, they read very well and all I really had to do was fix typos and missing words, but mostly smooth out a few things here and there. So, right off the bat, I was twenty-one pages into the new book. I then began writing new pages and I managed to get ten done, so that was good. I finished chapter one and am well into chapter two. Then I took a break, showered, and somehow it was already time to start making the food for the intimate gathering. I slightly underestimated the time it would take, so it was not quite ready when people began arriving and I hustled to finish it up. First of all, I’ve only ever made the faux chicken stroganoff for me alone – this time I made two POUNDS of chicken. That all had to be cut into little cubes, the onion had to be diced, and then the chicken had to be sauteed and the onions, which I sauteed first and then put on a plate, had to be added back in. Then I made the stroganoff sauce, had already cooked the bow tie pasta, and got the tuna pasta salad ready, whilst the first guests gabbed in the living room. I was a busy little beaver. First to arrive were Adryan Russ and hubby Dale, followed by the Pearls, followed by Alby Potts, followed by Lloyd Pedersen, followed by Robert Yacko. The consensus among the guests was that they loved the faux chicken stroganoff. Barry Pearl, who always has the stroganoff at the Smokehouse, professed he would never eat it there again. And the tuna pasta salad is always a hit. We had so much fun conversing on any number of topics, from people who bug us to the new movies we’d seen, and that sort of thing. Later, the fellow in the back house joined us and I think he had a very good time, and everyone liked him. In addition to my food, there were several excellent sweet treats. All but a couple of bites of the stroganoff were consumed, as well as more than half the tuna pasta salad. I only had a small helping of the stroganoff, but for whatever reasons it really made me full. I had one small helping of tuna pasta salad, too. Not much food, so I was baffled by how full I felt.
I gave Barry and Cindy a Christmas present – a three sheet poster for the first national tour of Bye Bye Birdie that played the East Coast, while the Bill Hayes company played the West Coast. It starred Gretchen Wyler, Dick Patterson, Kay Medford, and the original Birdie, Dick Gautier. Barry had done the show in its final months on Broadway and then did this tour. He loved the poster, which was minty fresh. The partay lasted until seven-thirty, even though I usually break it up at six. All in all, it was a lovely way to start a New Year, with friendly folks being friendly and enjoying each other’s company. Here’s a photo of a few of us – a couple of folks had left already.
That’s Dale on the left, Alby, moi in the back, Robert, Cindy and Barry Pearl. After everyone left, I cleaned up pretty quickly, then went back to the new book and wrote six more pages, for a total of sixteen new pages, plus the twenty-one I’d futzed and finessed. That was a really good first day of writing. I sat on my couch for a few minutes and watched a few YouTube videos, and then had some more tuna pasta salad for a snack. And here we are.
Today, I’ll try to be up by ten, I’ll futz and finesse and write a few new pages, then I’ll do banking, check with the mail place to see if anything arrived, then come home. I’ll either make some food here or order from DoorDash. Then I’ll try to write another ten pages or so – I think my goal on this book will be twelve to fifteen pages a day. After that, I’ll do whatever needs doing, I’ll eat, and then at some point, I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is more of the same and so is the weekend and Monday. Tuesday night, we begin casting Drat! The Cat! with an evening audition. I don’t think the next casting evenings happens for a week after that.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten, futz and finesse, write a few new pages, do banking, check with the mail place, figure out food, write more pages, eat, do whatever else needs doing, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What did you all do on January 1? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have had a lovelier than lovely intimate gathering and to have started writing a new book.