...and a conversation about bats...

Okay... Where to begin... Or for that matter, where to end.

This weekend I witnessed garbage trucks being choreographed, sat on a lawn and watched an outstanding Houston Grand Opera performance, checked out a Greek festival, went to the zoo and even had a wonderful conversation about bats in a central american country (if memory serves, it was Costa Rica)...

Trash Dance at 14 Pews

Started Friday night with a movie called "Trash Dance" at 14 Pews.  This was an absolutely charming and funny movie about a choreographer in Austin that spent time with the city solid waste management folks and then created a performance using the trucks and the employees as the dancers.  After the film, the director of the film and one of the cast members of the film held a fun Q&A session and then there was a reception outside.  I, went off to the Down House for a bite and a drink.  Great evening.  This would have made my weekend, but...

Then on Saturday I spent a good part of the day looking for (now, get this...) a lawn chair so I could see the Houston Grand Opera.  Yeah, I know... I was thinking the same thing.  I texted a friend to say "I just feel weird shopping for a lawn chair to go see the opera".  But that I did even though I never could pull the trigger on the purchase.

As I have discussed before, the Houston arts community really embraces everyone.  The Ballet, the Grand Opera, the Houston Symphony, and the Houston Metropolitan Dance Company all have free performances for the public at the Miller Outdoor Theater.  I am not sure you will find that in every city.  Bravo Houston art folks!

Anyway, the performance of La Boheme was phenomenal.  For folks that are new to the opera, La Boheme is a good one to start out watching.  The story line is wonderful (if you have ever seen Rent, that was based on the opera),  Puccini's music is easy to listen to, and my goodness, can these folks sing.

Miller is a wonderful venue.  You can sit on the lawn and there are ticketed seats.  They do not charge for the tickets, but you do have to get tickets for the seated area.  Then they make two announcements before the show.  At ten minutes before, they warn all of the ticketed patrons that they have to take their seats and then at five minutes they release the empty seats to everyone.  So while I did not make it to get a ticket, I did get a seat once they released the tickets.  A great night.

Then on Sunday was a wonderful trip to the Houston Zoo to visit some family members that live in the primate area...  :-)  What a fantastic weekend.  I do love this city.