Monday Morning Musings

The good news here in Texas is that the storms and relentless rain have let up. This year the total rainfall for the month of May has exceeded any prior year since records started being kept over 100 years ago. The total rainfall as of Saturday was 16.7 inches and there are some interesting facts about just how much water that is HERE. I was shocked to read that the 35 trillion gallons of rain could supply drinking water to the entire world for 10,000 days if everyone drank 8 8oz glasses a day.

That is a LOT of water, folks.

While we are rejoicing in part at the end of the drought that caused so many problems, it is too bad that it cost lives and damage.

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of helping a few of my Young Players celebrate their high school graduation. These are kids who have been in my drama camp and my troupe for a number of years, and it is so wonderful to see what great young men and women they have become.

This first picture is of me and Olivia Pruitt. What a talented and willing actor she has been, and a terrific supporter of every show and everyone in a show. She has played many roles, including that of a dog and a male sheriff. But I liked her best as Emily Webb in “Our Town.”

Hunter Williams, who is going on to college to study theatre, has become such an amazing actor, I just sit back and enjoy his performances. I hardly ever have to direct him anymore. He has such great stage presence and comedic timing. His impression of Charlie Chaplin is priceless.

Another of my special performers is Preston McElyea. His first time in the Youth Drama Camp, he was so shy he would hardly look out at the audience and spoke so very, very softly. Then one year he got it, and became a terrific actor. In high school, he focused on band, playing the Tuba and finishing his final year as Drum Major. I was not able to get a picture with him, but here is his graduation picture.

I am so proud of these special young people. I know they will do well in whatever the future brings.

 

What I’m Reading: Death by Disputation by Anna Castle – Quite an engaging story so far, set in 1500 England in Cambridge. The central character, Tom, is faced with solving a murder that the University leaders have ruled a suicide. I will be reviewing the book next Sunday, then the author will be my Wednesday’s Guest following that.

There are strong women, and then there are strong woman. We tend to focus on women who have used their brains and self-confidence to make a significant impact in a particular field. But there are other strong women, such as Marie-Louise Sirois-Cloutier, who was incredibly strong physically. She could lift 115-kilogram barrels by the time she was 17 years old, and she once lifted a 1,300-kilogram platform on her back. That’s 2,866 pounds. And here I thought I was strong lifting 50 pound bales of hay.

Canadians know all about Louis Cyr — perhaps one of the most famous strongmen in the world. But little is known about the province’s strong women, including the woman who may indeed have been the strongest in the history of the world.