This was a long day. I awoke early. Gayle headed home today. She scheduled a flight home from Portland to Kansas. Her son and her family are arriving from Alaska and she is eager to see them. She insisted on scheduling a shuttle to the airport so I didn't have to get ready early. Stubbornness runs in the family. I waved good-bye to her as the shuttle drove off. I was a bit weepy as she left. I love my sister and I am so grateful for this time together.
I went back to the room and got ready for the day. My son Matt and his girlfriend Melissa are in Portland this weekend and they asked me to have brunch with them this morning. I drove over to their AirBnB and we went to Broder's Cafe. It is a Scandanavian restaurant. Matt and Melissa
are vacationing with another couple, who have two children. We ordered Aebleskiver (Danish pancakes) with lemon curd and lingonberry jam for the table. I had a delicious Swedish hash with short ribs. Melissa got to hold the baby.
My drop dead time to leave Portland was noon. I needed to get to Ashland, Oregon in time to use my ticket for tonight's show at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I have wanted to attend this event since I was in college. I had two stops I wanted to make on the way. I wanted to get the best pie in Oregon, according to Food and Wine magazine -- the Williamette Valley Pie Company. The store was a bit off the road in the middle of farmland but I eventually found it. I ordered a piece of peach pie to go. I was still full from the delicious brunch.
The other stop I wanted to make was at the Rogue Creamery. When I was in Seattle, staying with Mike and Carol, she served us some blue cheese from Rogue Creamery. It was so good -- rich and creamy. As I was driving down I realized that they might be closed when I got there. Sure enough they close at 5 p.m. and Google Maps said I would arrive at 5 p.m. I decided to see if I might make it in time. I made no more pit stops.
I arrived at Rogue Creamery and breathlessly ran through the door. They had just started to pull in the sign on the front sidewalk but they let me (triumphantly) buy my Brutal Blue. By the cash register they were selling individually wrapped truffles with Brutal Blue in them. I thought that sounded so awful I had to try it so I grabbed one of them, as well.
I still had about a half hour drive to Ashland. I realized that I had just enough time to check in, change clothes, find dinner and walk to the the theater. But I at least had to sample the goodies from my stops. The peach pie was good but not as good as the peach pie from Sommerset Cafe in Dover, Kansas. A truffle with blue cheese in it is just a bad idea that cost me $2.50. Brutal Blue is damn good!
I hustled out of the hotel in search of dinner. I had tried to look up a nearby restaurant but it appeared that there was not much. I was wrong. The main street of Ashland is teeming with little restaurants. I popped into a chicken restaurant in which you can choose buttermilk, Korean or Japanese Fried Chicken. I went with the least spicy choice. I was well sated as I walked over to the theater. Just as I came up the hill there was a band playing. In the center of the theaters is a grassy hill where people spread blankets to picnic and listen to the music. The music ended promptly at 7:30 p.m. so people would go into their theaters. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) ran two 8 p.m. shows tonight.
I had a ticket for Revenge Song: A Vampire Cowboys Creation. I had been very intrigued by the description. Buckle up for a musical story about Julie d'Aubigny -- a queer 17th century rule-breaking, sword fighting, opera-singing transgressor of boundaries. It'll be loud, it'll be rowdy, and it'll be hilarious! It was all those things.
Revenge Song was performed in the Allen Elizabethan Theater. It is an open-air theater. I had a ticket for the center seat on the second row. When I sat down I discovered that they were filming the performance tonight and the camera was directly in front of me. I wished I was taller but the play was so good I never noticed the obstruction.
They were having technical difficulties with the cameras and so the play started a half hour late. It began with a stage hand opening at window at the top of the set and raising a pride flag.
I entertained myself by reading the Playbill. In the About This Production it said:
Scene: An extremely unrealistic portrayal of late 17th century France.
Notes to the Audience: Revenge Song contains strong profanity, nuns in garters, sexuality and sexual dialogue, alcohol and drug abuse, fisticuffs, ableist language, violence, fake blood, coercion, grooming, discussion of self-harm and scars, misogyny, and perhaps most frighteningly -- cultural appropriation.
Again, that was an accurate description and it was brilliant. When I finished the Playbill I enjoyed the effect of the sunset over the theater.
I have had OSF on by bucket list for over 40 years and I was not disappointed! I walked home in the dark. Ashland is a fascinating combination of shops, restaurants and bars. I didn't realize just how close my hotel is to the action. I am glad I don't have to navigate parking at the theaters. I am staying in Ashland for two days. I will see The Tempest tomorrow night.
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