Jason Alexander

Daryl and Jason Alexander

Well, I got to meet Jason Alexander tonight! He was a very entertaining speaker and was fun to visit with. He talked of the change the theatre is experiencing, but he assured me that writers were in demand, they just are not paying them much!

Angela Lansbury

I got to meet Angela Lansbury!!!!!!!
She was the TheatreFest speaker and talked about her childhood and how she started out as an actress in the movies Gaslight and The Portrait of Dorian Gray. She also reminisced about being the first actress to revive Rose in Gypsy. She was so animated it was almost surreal. She told us that she is 83 and is starting rehearsals for Blithe Spirit on Monday. It was so exciting to meet Jessica Fletcher in the flesh!!!!

She signed my Bednobs and Broomsticks video cover

This was the best picture I could get during the talk

King Tut and the Rainforest

Greerson and friends at the Rainforest

King Tut and Greerson and friends at the Dallas Museum of Art

Saturday January 10

Daryl went to a rehearsal at Navarro College and Christa and Greerson headed to see King Tut in Dallas. After viewing the Museum Daryl met them at a group of friends and we headed over to the Rainforest Cafe in Grapevine. It was a lot of fun. After dinner we stopped by the Bass Pro Shop and bought a new dutch oven for our next camping trip.

First Camping Trip 2009

We found this cool fossil in the cliff at the edge of the lake A.J. is there to show how big it was

Christa is the pool shark at the lodge!

Nothing like a rousing game of miniature golf!

Breakfast preparations at the campsite

Mike and Jessica Gill called us January 2 about 1:00 in the afternoon and asked us if we wanted to go camping. We briefly discussed Dinosaur Valley and then we suggested Lake Whitney Thousand Trails. We ended up there since it wouldnt cost anything for the campsites. The only problem was that the camper was still at Daryl's sister's house so he went to get it and we didnt get away until about 5:30. We had the traditional camping meal of pizza from the Whitney Pizza Inn for dinnner and we sat up and played spades until 3am!!! Saturday was a beautiful day and we played miniature golf and went fishing. The kids also enjoyed the clubhouse where they played ping pong and pool. We werent much for cooking on this campout. The Gills cooked breakfast and served sandwiches for lunch and the Worleys proudly drove to town and got Sonic and chicken for dinner. We stayed up until about midnight playing spades. Then after we had been asleep about three hours it happened. Christa heard a noise. So she sent Daryl to check it out. It turned out to be a band of racoons. One was swinging from the trash bag that we had hung on the awning to keep them out of it and two more were on the table cheering the acrobat on. When they saw Daryl they didnt run like normal wild animals they growled and fluffed their fur up! These were not little racoons they were the size of a cocker spaniel and they meant business they wanted those chicken bones in that bag. Daryl retreated and sought the help of Christa. He was concerned, because he knew from watching RV that you really need an umbrella to fight with a racoon. He didnt have anything, but a spatula and that wouldnt get him very far! By the time they got back outside the coons were gone, but they had shredded the bag and strung trash all over the place. Christa helped Daryl clean it up and then went back to bed. The next morning the Gill's didnt know anything about it and none of the kids had heard the commotion. It should be mentioned that a very cold front had come through in the middle of the night and during all of the commotion the heater had tripped the breaker in the camper and no one noticed, so we were all a little cold when we woke up. It was about 35 degrees and windy. We ate waffles in the camper and then went to the lodge to play games. They have a new Wii and we all bowled with it. Then we packed up and came home. It was a fun trip, but ended on a very cold note!

Happy New Year 2009

Greeson shows his attitude!

Sarah, Mindy and Jenny at Cheddars!

We went to Grand Prairie to visit the Phagans. Jenny was home from Los Angeles where she is an actress. We had just watched her in a tv show the day before. Mindy was home from Boston where she and David moved last year and Sarah is still in the area. For those of you that don't know them Daryl taught them when he was at Groesbeck and Jim and Betty (their parents)helped him through many a production. We had a nice visit and did lunch at Cheddars. We got home about 7:30pm and played a game of Risk and were just settling in to wait out the New Year when Christa started feeling ill, so we sent her to bed and Greerson and Daryl watched the New Year come in. New Year's day was fun, Christa went into work in the morning and Daryl prepared lunch, homemade rolls, ham, real mashed potatos, blackeyed peas, cole slaw and green beans. It took him until about 2:00 to get it on the table and afterward we played Monopoly until about 9:30pm when Greerson finally won with over $39,000. He was excited since Daryl won the game of Risk the night before.