Photo Catch Up

Photo Catch Up
Wednesday, June 6th

An album of Indianapolis photos (beginning with more from Mitchell's party then on to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with Denise and at Churchill Downs) is here.

Some highlights:

Throw me something, Piper! (Robert, Piper, Paula & Esther at Mitchell's party in Indy.)

JV & Denise in the lobby at the Galt House

W/ my mint julep at Churchill Downs

Graham, Piper, Callie & Darryl trackside.

Between shows on Sunday, a bunch of headed over to a restaurant in Midtown called the Front Porch for a crawfish boil. We sat outside on their deck and dug into big pots of crawfish, corn and potatoes with spicy cajun seasoning. The buckets were filled with crawfish by the pound - $3 for a pound! Piper, being our resident Louisiana girl, instructed us in the fine art of dismembering the river bugs and "suckin' the head". If only we didn't have to go back to work! It was messy fun & I smelled like crawfish for the rest of the day...

For our day off on Monday Tony, Robert and Jeff hosted a barbecue. They rented a townhouse out near the Galleria for the duration of our Houston engagement. Having seen both Angelina and Siobhan's place and now the boys' townhouse, I'm convinced that on some of these longer stays I should investigate other housing options. I really dig the Residence Inn, but the guys' place was amazing AND they're paying way less than I am. That said, we had a blast. There were several grills next to the pool, a big cooler in the garage for the beer, and lots of smiling faces in the Texas sunshine. We lounged by the pool watching some of the guys chase the football around in the water and enjoyed Siobahn & Angelina's chicken fight (highlight: Siobahn giving up and going for Angelina's hair in desperation). Upstairs, lots of people took turns at the keyboard. It was a really wonderful (and relaxing) way to spend the day off. I hope some of my pictures capture the easy vibe of the whole day when I get them back.

Yesterday, we welcomed Ken back to the show & celebrated his birthday with cake at intermission. It was Suzanne's turn to buy the cake (we have a birthday club: whoever's birthday was most recent buys the cake for the next person's birthday and the company reimburses). Just before he left for vacation, Suzanne gave Ken a haircut and nicked his ear. He bled for hours afterward. So, his cake was in the shape of an ear with frosting blood all over the top. Francesca completed the look with a candle for an earring. It was a big hit! The cake was delicious (raspberry filled with buttercream frosting). How often do you get to say: "Have you tried the bloody ear cake?"

JV