I am trying to keep my head still as I type this. Some weird kind of "flu" hit yesterday with a vicious headache and dizziness and hasn't given up on me yet, but I don't have time to be sick! I even had to turn down Steve's offer to go to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Mi Mexico, last night for dinner. No way could I have had one of their yummy margaritas as I was already dizzy! Bummer!!

We finally got rain yesterday!! More than rain - hail and tornado warnings. I watched the hail hit my car in the driveway and wished I had put it in the garage, but the hail didn't get nickle size as the forecast warned it might. Steve called and told me to turn on the TV for the warnings and to head for the bathtub if the wind picked up. He came home earlier than usual, which sure reduced my storm stress. I wondered how one of the guys he works with was doing as the cover for his little convertible isn't working and he has been using a shower curtain instead. First he used rocks, or it might have been bricks, to hold it down, but moved "up" to clothes pins to keep it on. Wonder if it stayed put with the high winds and hail yesterday. The rocks would have been a better idea under the circumstances. I could just see him going out to his car at the end of the day, opening the door and having water pour out! Convertibles are still strange to me. I am startled each time I walk into our garage and see 1/2 of a car! And Sophie decided it is a fun place to curl up and sleep if she can sneak into the garage when we open the door. Steve isn't too keen on that - heaven forbid, she might scratch the leather or paint when she climbs/jumps out.

Sunday evening we went to see The Producers at the little Opera House on Broadway. Yes, on Broadway, but in downtown Lex. :-) There is no bad seat in this little theater. We have our own copy of the movie and love it, but I had not seen the play before and it was delightful. Actually, much funnier. Steve is very good at remembering lines from movies and plays, etc. and he has been channeling Leo Bloom, pointing at my poor cat and sputtering, "Fat, fat, fat, fat...." Sophie has no idea what he is doing but I am cracking up at him and she is looking at us like we are both crazy. He said I sounded like Leo the when I was sputtering, "Won't work, won't work..." at the remote when I couldn't get it to change the channel. Never a dull moment in the Clark household! :-) We may buy seasons passes for next year - 6 shows, including Cats, which I saw in NYC way back in the mid 90s. We had poor seats in that theater so I can't wait to see it here in Lexington.

I love old movies and Broadway shows, especially those based on beloved books. If you haven't read Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, put it on your summer reading list. You will feel totally different about Elphaba (Yes, even witches have names) than how you did after watching the movie. Elphaba was born green due to her mother's clandestine love affair - it's not her fault! She becomes a real person who loves and hurts, just like everyone else in this novel. I also enjoyed Son of a Witch, the sequel. Who figured Elphaba had a child, one she raises but does not acknowledge as her biological son. The other Maguire book I love is Lost, a mystery set in England, with a woman moving into a house that is haunted by the person who Dickens' character Scrooge is based on. And, is it Jack the Ripper's body in the wall? A delicious ghost story. I want to read Mirror, Mirror - it is on my "gotta read" list with a myriad of other great books. I subscribe to Entertainment Weekly and read it from back to front as the book reviews are in the back. I keep starring books I want to read and pull out the pages. I have a stack of those pages! So many books, so little time!!

I don't always realize that Steve actually does listen to me when I chatter on about the books I love. He knows I love Broadway shows and book combinations so my darling husband gave me the soundtrack for Wicked, which I can't wait to listen to, and Wicked: The Grimmerie, A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Hit Broadway Musical by David Cote, with photographs by Joan Marcus. I was curled up with the beautiful book last night. It is gorgeous. Love the picture of little green infant Elphaba. The time line starting with Baum's birth and ending in 2005, when the book was published, is a delight. I knew about the many additional titles Baum wrote about Oz due to the popularity of his first Oz book, but I didn't realize that after his death other authors kept writing them and there are now 40 books in the series. Would love to have first editions of the ones Baum wrote - they have such weird green illustrations, but I love them. I wonder how many people only know about the movie. All these years later there is still a fan club with many members, a newsletter, and conferences where they meet and discuss research on Baum, etc. I am not that much of a fan, but if I had the time I would take the whole set of books Baum wrote and find a nice Caribbean hotel to take them to, and read in a hammock under a palm tree!

Now to get some grading done. My students are writing some fantastic booktalks! :-)