Ed and the Midwest Institute of Opera

Has this ever been an adventure with Ed lamenting he is in much too over his head.  His voice teacher, John Koch asked Ed if he wanted to be in an opera this summer, The Pirates of Penzance. Why not?  When John asked Ed to be the Sargent of the Police --  the same role he played when he was at Deerfield Academy in 1959, this was too much of a coincidence.  The only difference?  Ed was a young man when he played the part in 1959 and now he is not so young.   Rehearsals were for ten days, from 9 - 9 to include two weekends!  

This Midwest Institute of Opera (MIO) is only 2 years old, developed by John and his wife Tracy, a truly unique opportunity for young opera students.  Besides Pirates, MIO also did Don Giovanni.   Three of the Giovanni actors, delightful young men,  stayed with us for the entire ten days.  

The institute is much like a school with everyone in the cast paying tuition.  There was one cast for Pirates but two entirely different casts, the principals, that is, for Giovonni -- four performances of Giovanni! 

Blackberry Lilies

Years ago I learned about the Blackberry Lily when I was active in the Herb Guild of McLean County.  On occasion I would think about digging up just one of the Blackberry Lilies in the large Trail Garden the Guild worked - who would ever know.  Of course I never followed through.  

As part of a Master Gardener project, last summer while helping the children at Metcalf Lab School who belonged to an after-school gardening club, I noticed a huge bank of Blackberry Lilies.  The sponsor of the group saved me seeds and now I have them in our prairie garden as well as the patio garden.  The small blooms last only a day but there have been continuous blooms all month with more are to come.  Someone saw the leaves in our prairie garden earlier in the season and insisted they were iris because of the similarity in texture and shape.  Read on and you will learn the plant genus is iris!  

Draught in the Midwest

How scary this is.  We have not received rain since I can remember, the grass is mostly brown and scorched and even the Japanese Beetles find the weather too oppressing to chow down their usual delights.   The earth is being cooked.  Ed is watering the gardens very minimally as well as parts of the lawn.  To conserve water, however,  Ed positions the sprinkler at night and we turn it on around 3 am when one of us takes a bathroom break.  It bums me out to see people watering during the heat of the day - pure stupidity.  I should add, the prairie garden does well without moisture, quite miraculous.