The weather forecast today held little promise: slightly warmer but with a chance of snow. We were glad we had a full day scheduled that was mostly indoor activities – especially when the forecast turned out to be optimistic. I don’t care if the official temperature was higher today than yesterday; it was WAY colder and the winds were absolutely cutting. We made it through the bitter cold to brunch at Magnolia – another favorite. Lots of GF options and we enjoyed a fabulous meal. The table across from us held several members of the UVM hockey team which we found interesting since we had tickets for tonight’s game. 

After brunch, we tried to walk downtown and pick up a few more things on Jesse’s list but the cold was too much and we hopped into the car and headed to campus. First to the bookstore for a few UVM Catamount items. Then a sojourn in the coffee shop where Frank proceeded to spank us at cards. After two games of Crazy Eights, it was time for the main attraction of the day: Much Ado About Nothing ala Downton Abbey. Jesse had assisted the set designer and merited mention in the program for it. The show was very well done with some very entertaining moments. My favorite was when one character was asked to read something he had just written down and proceeded with “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man in possession of a fortune…” This tickled many Jane Austen fans in the audience. I was even impressed by the English accents although the broad Yorkshire twang sported by Barrachio convinces me that Downton Abbey has led people to believe all downstairs staff speak thusly. (You can tell I was exposed to Shakespeare today!)

After the matinee, we ventured out to find the chance of snow had materialized and it was pretty white and windy. We headed downtown for an early dinner at Leunigs, a French bistro with an extensive GF menu and fabulous food. I would like to say we behaved with some class as one would at a nice meal in Paris, yet by the end of dinner Frank and Jesse were trying to toss pats of butter into each other’s mouths. Oh well. While we were dining, a parade commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of Burlington marched up Church street, jazz band playing in the snow. 

We finished our lovely meal and then back to campus for the evening event: men’s hockey, UVM vs Merrimack. We were sitting in what was usually the visitor section and the row in front of us was populated by some jovial retired fans of the visiting team. The game was good but ended in a disappointing 0-0 draw even though Vermont out shot their opponent 49-17. Apparently it was the first scoreless draw in UVM history. I did find out that UVM has the second best pep band after Providence according to our neighbors so maybe that’s some consolation. We wandered back out into the wind and accumulating snow and decided to call it a night. 

The Midland Theater is an interesting place to see a show.  We were in the very front rows for Paula Poundstone and Frank was in the second balcony for BB King.  The theater is ornate with baroque style decorations. (I’m totally making that up.  I don’t know anything about architecture but there is a lot of guilt and paint so it seems like it should be baroque to me.)  It was entertaining watching the crowd prior to the start of the show: the majority of the attendees were dressed like they were going to a rock concert – or Farm Aid – and a handful were obviously on a Valentine’s Night out.  There were leather jackets with chains and sequined dresses with 4 inch heels – sometimes they were together.

We had great seats about 24 rows back just off center.  Surrounded by other “see, we aren’t too old to go to a rock concert” aged people like us, we tried to enjoy the opening act.  It’s not the Carlene Carter isn’t talented, it just wasn’t the kind of music I was in the mood for.  I also realized that I really am not a fan of Tennessee accents.  Or at least hers.  There were far too many “y’alls” for my taste and the twangier country music was a harsh contrast to the bluesy music Mellencamp would play for just over 90 minutes.  But apparently they have some project together (a musical he wrote with Stephen King that’s about to open in London?) so she did join him for a couple of songs during his set.  I listened politely and watched the footwear of people walking by.  We had seats on the aisle and there was only floor lighting so as people passed, I could only see their shoes.  I estimate that about 90% of the women in attendance were wearing boots of some sort.  The men were split 50-50 between sneakers and some sort of casual desert boot style. There’s your useless data point for the day.

When the former John Cougar took the stage to great applause, it was to open with 3 songs that I (and apparently most of the crowd) didn’t know.  Very bluesy instead of the bluegrass style on the most recent album of his we bought – “No Better Than This” which came out in 2010.  This was the tour for his “Plain Spoken” CD so I may have to check that on out as it’s much more my style.  His voice wasn’t in top form and he admitted that they considered canceling the concert but the performance was enjoyable nonetheless.  Especially considering that for his biggest hits, he didn’t need to sing at all; the crowd did that for him.

His musicians were excellent.  The violinist (Miriam Sturm) was outstanding and the duet she did with one of the guitarists on the accordion (including strains of “I Need a Lover”) was a highlight of the show. As was the acoustic solo of “Jack and Diane”.  You could tell that the audience was full of fans of the older music:  as soon as familiar notes came from the stage, the entire crowd was on its feet.  If three bars went by with no recognition, everyone was back in their seats.

All in all, an enjoyable show.  Two regrets: that I didn’t listen to the new album first.  I think I’ll like it and I would have appreciated the live performance a bit more. And that he didn’t play “Lonely Ol’ Night” – everybody has that one song they want to see live and I didn’t get to see mine.  I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to see him in the future (he is 63 after all) but I’m glad I got to see him last night.

Set list (from an earlier show but pretty darn close to what he did in KC):

• Lawless Times
• Troubled Man
• Minutes to Memories
• Small Town
• Stones in My Passway (Robert Johnson cover)
• Human Wheels
• The Isolation of Mister
• Check It Out
• Longest Days
• Jack and Diane (solo acoustic)
• The Full Catastrophe
• Away From This World (with Carlene Carter)
• Tear This Cabin Down (with Carlene Carter)
• New Hymn (Miriam Sturm on violin)
• Rain on the Scarecrow
• Paper in Fire
• If I Die Sudden
• Crumblin’ Down
• Authority Song / Land of 1000 Dances
• Pink Houses
• Cherry Bomb

For a brief update from the Heartland. (Also known as “how San looks busy while waiting for the Twitter API to come back online so she can finish mining tweets.”)

February is really the cruelest month – it has the fewest days but they are potentially the hardest to get through.  I have been sitting watching the weather reports over the last few weeks thinking “Thank goodness I didn’t get a job at the Boston Fed!”  What a winter they are having in my childhood home!  And people thought we were crazy for moving to the midwest – “how will you stand the winters?” they asked.  Now we can answer: quite easily actually.  I have run outside in shorts more times (4) than I have shoveled my driveway (0). I have probably doomed the state to massive March ice storms with that statement but there you go.

The other thing that has been occupying my time is trying to budget for all the shows and concerts that are coming to town.  And to think there was some question at some point about what we might do for fun?  Granted, I am an old lady with old lady taste in entertainment but right now we either have (or are planning to purchase) tickets for:

• John Mellencamp
• Rush
• Billy Joel
• Weird Al
• Mark Knopfler
• Carmen (yes, the opera)
• Book of Mormon
• Camelot

Plus a couple of symphony performances. And it’s only February!  Most of the summer concerts haven’t even been announced yet! And then there’s baseball season – could it be that I have finally become a big enough fan to buy tickets to more than one game? Shock! The other wonderful thing is that we live so close to all the venues that it doesn’t require an entire evening to just get to a show.  Now I have to figure out not just how to pay for the tickets but how to make sure that travel doesn’t get in the way.

And not just my work travel – although there has been, and will continue to be, plenty of that.  Another of the joy of being empty nesters is that we can take off whenever we like – or whenever we don’t have tickets to some event!  In fact, the last time Southwest had a fare sale, we decided to go away for my birthday weekend.  We picked the warmest place we could go without changing planes (or spending stupid money) so for my Big Birthday, we’re headed to the Big Easy!  Yup, flying to New Orleans for the weekend.  Because we can.  Of course, as always my birthday is during Lent so I need to be very careful about how I plan my 40 days of “simple living, prayer, and fasting.”  I’m hoping God continues to be understanding when I decide to give up [fill in the blank] “except for my birthday, of course.” 🙂

Even as we are halfway through winter (no matter what some overhyped rodent says), I can’t help but think that time is again ticking more quickly.  In just a few short months, another school year will have passed and although Frank no longer gauges his time by that calendar, the adult kids do.  One will stop doing so upon graduating in May; the other one is trying desperately to not spend the summer in KC with her parents.  (We understand – we know we aren’t that much fun.) And then we will mark one year since our new adventure began.  It seems like it’s far away – as does the end of February for those with 60+ inches of snow – but it’s really right around the corner!

And now, feel free to return to your favorite midwinter activity.  You really don’t have that much longer to do it.