Happy Birthday, America

Happy Birthday, America! I had the most incredible day today.

The Lagemae and I went and sat in the sunshine and ponied up in the line for the TKTS booth in hopes of getting tickets for The Last Sunday in June, which is closing this coming weekend - so it would have been our last chance to see it.

Alas, Last Sunday didn't appear on the boards, but Big River did, so we snapped up those tickets and then went in search of adventure 'til it was time to go to the show.

For the first time in a coon's age, we hopped a train up to 66th Street and went for a walk in Central Park! I got to hang out in Sheep Meadow! Whoo hoo!

Since the weather was so fine, there were a lot of people there, and the three of us had to pick our way across the meadow, but we did take the time to snap a few photos - and me being me, I also snapped some of the beautiful people to taunt myself with!

After crossing the meadow, we found ourselves over by the volleyball courts, so we idled in the shade there for a while.

Eventually, we made our way over to the Bethesda Fountain - one of my favorite places in the park. There's a wonderful monologue at the end of Angels in America: Millenium Approaches that refers to the view across the park from this fountain. It's just incredibly lovely.

I made the mistake, however, of allowing the Lagamae to insist that they take my picture, to even out the whole shutter bug thing. Lord, someone needs to tell me when I got so fat! No wonder I hate pictures of myself!

Oh, and by the way, guess what I did?!? I had a fit of "I wonder what would happen if..." and shaved my head! Not, perhaps the wisest thing I've ever done, and I'm not sure yet if it's really for me, but boy, it's low maintenance! I half suspect that I'm just going to let it grow out, but it was something I've wondered about for a long time, and as it turns out it was the perfect time to do it - most of the days since the day I did it have been over 90 degrees!

Anyway, after the fountain, we made our way out of the park and walked to midtown for a great dinner at El Azteca on 9th Avenue.

By the time we finished dinner, it was time to high-tail it to the theater.

The show was absolutely great. Fun, moving, and wonderfully sung and acted by a mixed troupe of deaf and hearing actors, all of whom signed their parts.

I shouldn't give anything away, but the most stunning and moving moment is in the middle of a large ensemble number when the music just cuts out and the entire company is left on stage silently signing the song. I was so caught off guard it took my breath away; the fact that by the time they did it we'd seen/heard the phrase repeated enough that we actually understood what we were seeing made it so easy to understand. It's been a while since I've been that caught up in a performance.

All in all it was a really wonderful day. Here's hoping that the remainder of the summer is nice enough allow more sunshine-drenched frollicking!