Putting It Together

The past few days have been busy. My folks came into town on Thursday night, so the couple of days before that we did some minor house cleaning. Thursday evening we did a little running around, and then had dinner at "Best Steak House" -- a place which, though probably not worthy of the name -- does quite nice meals for fairly little money.

On Friday, while Christopher was at work, I took my folks to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. It's an amazing place, with walking paths that take you to themed gardens as well as walking/hiking/driving trails to go through the "showcase" acres of trees, shrubs, hedges, and the like. It was a gorgeous day, and we wandered around for a couple of hours before driving the Three-Mile Drive.

We stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home and picked up pizza crust so that, for dinner, we were able to make "homemade" pepperoni pizza using that crust, some of Christopher's amazing spicy Red Sauce (from last winter -- he only makes it during the cold months), and some fresh mozzarella.

Before Mom and Dad left on Saturday morning, we watched (in about 3 installments), a DVD of Stephen Sondheim's "Putting It Together." (There are some good pictures of the cast, including Carol Burnett and John Barrowman, here.) Oh, we also had some marvellous Buttermilk Pancakes (Christopher cooked), and incerated about three pieces of our favorite bacon (I got distracted).

Later in the afternoon, Christopher and I headed out to Stillwater to celebrate his father's birthday with his sisters and his mom. It was a really nice afternoon. Very congenial and lots of great food. And -- I only mention this as a public service -- we learned that fringe can be hazardous to your health.

Back to the title of this posting, though...

The show "Putting It Together" is a revue of a bunch of Sondheim's music from various shows. And it does include the eponymous song. The song, itself, is all about taking the little pieces and putting them in place to create a whole (originally, it was used in "Sunday In the Park with George" as George Seurat created a pointillist painting). The foci (plural of focus) of the show are two couples -- one older and more experienced, one younger and just getting started. The songs weave together to tell amazing stories of life together.

It's interesting. When the DVD was done, Mom commented that it was kind of sad. But I feel it's hopeful. I guess, maybe, it has something to do with where we each stand in our lives. On the other hand, she commented along the way that John Barrowman was very cute -- so we definitely agree on some things.

And now, on Sunday evening, Christopher and are getting to do a little relaxing. Time for us to settle in, get ready for the week and... well... let our brains put it all together.