Geezer reflections.

I've been away from the computer for two or three days and had a wonderful time celebrating the birthday of my daughter who lives in Columbia SC. We played gently with her dog Roscoe one of the all time cute basset hounds who is a bit under the weather since he swallowed a corn cob last week and spent the week in the hospital having his intestines re-sectioned. He is okay now and having a good time playing with his cat (My daughter claims ownership of the cat, named Meow, but both Roscoe and Meow know the reality of the situation.) Meow, knowing that I am allergic to cats spent most of the time, when she wasn't chewing Roscoe's ears, trying to climb my leg. I have swatted her enough times that she now esteems me an enemy, and can't really understand why Rosco thinks I'm neat. Janet refers to Rosco as "our second grand dog". Our first grand dog is a pit-bull lab mix that belongs to our second son. She has been in the family for enough years that she is gray muzzled.

Among our adventures in Columbia was attendance a one of the nicest restaurants I have been in for years. It is a smallish place called "Motor Supply". I am not sure of the reason for the name unless the previous tenant of their space was a parts house, but trust me, if you go to Columbia SC for any reason, and you really like nice restaurants (and there are many in Columbia), try Motor Supply. It is one of those places where the menu is hand written (and xeroxed) and is different every day. I had broiled shrimp on a creamy rice base that was exceptional, and I have lived on the Georgia coast long enough that I am fussy about my shrimp, though the best part of the meal was probably the asparagus, which was really a garnish. I would so like to be able to make asparagus taste like that. If I could, I might eat nothing else for days.

We began our trip with a stop at the Medical College of Georgia. Janet has been having intense pain in her knee (which was replaced four years ago) and in both hands. Her orthopedist thought the pain might be stroke/neuropathy related, but her neurologist is referring her to rheumatology to be checked for rheumatoid arthritis. It never rains with pouring a little, but the neurologist gave her percocet for the time between appointments, so at least the pain is somewhat relieved. I almost asked him for a little to use on my hip, but thought better of it.

It is a little bit of a pun, but growing old is a -pain-. Today my hip was better and we both made it through water aerobics, so I have visual evidence that we still move a little.

I have been reminiscing a little bit in recent pages, but this evening, I plopped in front of the TV and, while flipping through channels ran across Jayne (Jane?) Seymour dancing in "Dancing with the Stars". She is one of the all time classy ladies. About thirty years ago, the Georgia Theatre Conference (The organization for all of the high school and college teachers of theatre in Georgia) held a convention in Athens, home of the University of Georgia. One of the featured events of the convention was Jane (Jayne) Seymour who had been invited as a guest speaker for one of the sessions. I should mention that, occasionally, one of the featured events is partying and shopping, so once in awhile partying (or other workshops) takes precedence over other sessions.

The session featuring Ms. Seymour was almost unattended. I think that there were about fourteen of us there out of the three hundred or so that were attending the convention. If I were a well known stage actress (she hadn't played her television role as Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman yet) and had taken valuable time to attend like that, I probably would have walked out, but she was class itself. She was brilliant, casual, knowledgeable, and the kind of person I would love to have had my students meet. (I had a chat with those who were at the convention about their absence). I have know many Hollywood types, and have listened to a lot of actors, ranging from Dustin Hoffman to Anthony Quinn talk about acting, but I have never sat in on a better session with more good information. (I think we all wandered out of the room and went in to sit somewhere more casually before we were finished.

As I watched her dance, realizing that she can't be a heck of a lot younger than me, I was reminded of her real class.