We got to talk to our daughter Mabel tonight! She's been at Girl Scout camp for 13 days. We were able to email her, but she could not send any emails to us. It's nice to know she's home safe and sound. She enjoyed the rock climbing and the kayaking, but there were a bunch of considerably younger girls in her cabin, (one was 9 years old) who woke up all night long, needing a 'buddy' to go with them to the bathroom. Luckily it's years and years before Mabel will need to escort Glenn and me to the loo.
Another day of mild weather here in Edinburgh. I woke up extra early today in order to attend a performance of 'Marvelous Medicine' It's a very amusing children's show at theSpace @ Surgeon's Hall. It's the show that happens right before ours... Anyway, the two talented people who do the show helped me out yesterday, after their performance, by attending 'The Property Known As Garland'. I was desperate for a few 'extra' audience members, since I knew that we might have a reviewer there on Thursday. So, when we brought our props and costumes in to do the show, I asked them nicely and darned if they didn't help me out.
Their kids show is really cute. It's full of medical knowledge in a way that kids can grasp. There's loads of audience participation, so they get the kids on stage battling disease, and forming bacteria walls. I actually learned quite a bit, and had fun. Since our show is directly after 'Marvelous Medicine' I had to attend in my Judy costume and makeup. I put the wig on afterwards though.
The Garland, and the 21A shows went fine and after supper we were even able to see two more shows tonight. We chose 'In A Handbag Darkly', a send-up of "The Importance of Being Earnest' (it was really funny) And a sketch comedy show called 'Into the Darkness' (also funny, but the venue was REALLY stuffy and hot). It's hard to stay involved in the show when it feels like you're in a sauna. The one good thing about our morning time slot, is that our theatre hasn't gotten too heated up, so it's not as stuffy as some.
We walked through the Scottish National Portrait Gallery on Thursday. (Admission free!) What a beautiful building. Stained glass, etched glass, impressive library, beautiful paintings, and nice quiet surroundings. It was a calm environment, away from the hubbub of the sidewalks. In the library there were these fascinating life masks and also some death masks. Quite a few death masks were made of idiots and murderers. The bulk of those were on one side of the library, and on the other side they had life and death masks of famous politicians and writers and whatnot. The murderers didn't look that different from the famous guys. But just knowing they were murderers, their faces seemed a little creepier.
There were two paintings side by side. One was entitled 'The Firth of Forth' and the other one was called 'The Howe of Fife'. (I googled Howe of Fife and it's a low lying area in Fife).
I can recommend a pint called the Haggis Hunter. And lunch upstairs in the John Lewis Department store is really nice. It's cafeteria style, and the help is so friendly and pleasant.
We split a bowl of cream of mushroom soup, and egg salad on a 'seeded bun'. The soup came in a cute ceramic tureen with a lid, and instead of a regular bun, we upgraded to a cheese and onion scone. delicious.
Remember when I was at the BBC tent a while back? The band I like is called 'The Capitals'. They are Scottish, and very good.