Month: June 2012

just let things be

~ TiffanyCreek

There is nothing like summer theatre and “The Odd Couple”, by Neil Simon, to take our minds off pending summer projects and step into another reality.

In this hilarious comedy, type A personality, Felix Unger, is booted out of the house by his wife Frances.  To his good fortune, Oscar Madison, his slovenly poker playing friend, takes him under his wing. After living together for a short time as divorcees, Oscar and Felix discover they are extreme incompatible opposites.  What happens in the “Odd Couple” is that Felix, a neatnik, can’t stand to see anything out of its place and begins to drive Oscar nuts with all his nitpicking ways.

We soon realize that the result is not more order but chaos when Felix’s compulsive behavior is imposed upon Oscar’s happy go lucky nature. Oscar is virtually going insane and Felix once again finds himself out on the street only to be taken in by the British Pigeon sisters.  Once Felix leaves, peace and harmony are ironically restored to Oscar’s life and “order” becomes a matter of opinion.  

“The Odd Couple” appeals to us in so many ways.  Set in New York City, it perfectly mirrors reality and our own foibles. This wonderfully enjoyable play can teach us to strike a balance and live sanely with others, or at best, just let things be.

Now for the the summer projects…

 

Man of La Mancha…

~ TiffanyCreek

Man of La Mancha

Miguel de Cervantes

“I shall impersonate a man. His name is Alonso Quijana, a country squire no longer young. Being retired, he has much time for books. He studies them from morn till night and often through the night and morn again, and all he reads oppresses him; fills him with indignation at man’s murderous ways toward man. He ponders the problem of how to make better a world where evil brings profit and virtue none at all; where fraud and deceit are mingled with truth and sincerity. He broods and broods and broods and broods and finally his brains dry up. He lays down the melancholy burden of sanity and conceives the strangest project ever imagined – -to become a knight-errant, and sally forth into the world in search of adventures; to mount a crusade; to raise up the weak and those in need. No longer will he be plain Alonso Quijana, but a dauntless knight known as Don Quixote de La Mancha.”

American Battle Monuments: Normandy, Brittany and Pointe du Hoc

~ TiffanyCreek ~ 2 Comments

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These are a few of the photographs I took when we visited the Normandy and Brittany American Cemeteries this summer.  These two cemeteries are on French soil but their maintenance and care are under the American Battle Monuments Commission – http://www.abmc.gov.  Pointe du Hoc is along the coast overlooking cliffs which the Allied Forces climbed, only to be met by fierce German reinforcements on June 6, 1944 or DDay.  Only 90 U.S. Rangers remained from the Pointe du Hoc assault after 2 days of fighting.  The visit to these cemeteries is an emotional experience.  One can’t help but wonder about the pain and suffering of the soldiers and the courage it took to climb those cliffs.  There are maps among the slides, which illustrate the beaches where the Allied attacks by fleets of U.S., British and Canadian divisions took place.  The Allied Forces battled the Germans throughout Normandy, with the help of French and Polish units, for the next 3 months

The Normandy cemetery overlooks the coastline of Omaha Beach.  On our return to Rennes, the capital of the region of Brittany, we happened upon the Brittany cemetery. It is much smaller and quainter than the Normandy cemetery.  The grounds are beautifully kept with gardens, hedges and large trees.  Both cemeteries have nondenominational chapels.  I hope you enjoy the slides.