Starting the garden

Steve and I have a garden that goes all the way around our house. It's mostly a border garden and mostly flowers. I wanted some vegetables, so we're going to clear out some of the old plants and make room for tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers, and who knows what else.

We're starting from seed, and we don't have wide window ledges, so we needed a grow light. As usual, we procrastinated and didn't have time to order one, so Steve drove around the county looking for one, but no luck. So he bought an under the counter fluorescent light and installed it under the shelf of a low bookcase I didn't know what else to do with:



So far, three of the Romas, a pepper or two, and a Big Boy tomato have sprouted. Pretty cool.

Fosse

I realize now that I like Bob Fosse. When I was a kid, I thought his choreography was weird; when I was a teen and in my twenties, I thought it was dumb, passe, and what Kent calls "Entertainment" (air quotes included). But my mom, sister, and I went to see Chicago this Saturday, and seeing Fosse's work live changed my mind.

The moves suit the music (snappy homages to Vaudeville) well and I really like how Fosse uses the dancer's breathing or yelps as punctuation to the dance.

Now starring sexy TV icon John Schneider

John Schneider was good: he has a nice voice and was a believable cad/Ziegfeld headliner. He needs a haircut though; his almost-mullet doesn't suit the character. And Michelle DeJean as Roxie was far superior to Renee Zellweger.

We three were in the front row and most of the actresses made eye contact, especially Mama with the women, and Roxie threw me a rose at the end. Schneider didn't make eye contact at all; he's probably not used to performing on-stage and breaking the fourth wall would probably have made him break character.