ladder in a bucket

Captain's log star date Wednesday March 11, 2009

I was so proud of my latest endeavor . An extension ladder in a bucket lift thing.
I was kind of bragging to a friend. They said, " Rebecca, that's what we do in buildings. Why we even pulled someone up holding onto a ladder once. Yeah but , "I said. it's me on an extension ladder in a bucket lift thing ! , isn't that a little bit, kind of cool ??????????????????"
All my hard work and then the par cans got hung so close I can't swing!! I cried before trapeze. My eyelashes came off while I was working. That is why I do this intense(for me) rigging stuff. When it is correct it is amazing .It was almost so great today.
The building guy who drove the lift thing called me something amazing in Spanish like a gladiator or someone really brave.hmm. I am not brave. I am not.

a theaytre

Tuesday March 10, 2009

We are parked on asphault. I manage to get covered in mud running a lot of cable to the "box".

We have dressing rooms. The lighting is fabulous. We drink Guiness Stout in the Green Room after the show and talk about elephants.

I love that every day is another adventure in "aerial artistry". Today I hung off some truss in the front of the stage. Very easy set up .

catwalk

Monday March 9, 2009

Every morning we got a synopsis/route. The directions to the town and specifics about the building i.e. where to load in and most important, most most most important piece of information is hang , yes or hang, no. Today it said hang, no. However upon inspection I discovered two wonderful things 1) a genie lift and 2) a catwalk. I make the most of a good time so the catwalk won. I am off the ground, like a real aerialist. I love walking around up there on planks of wood climbing around making executive decisions and getting totally filthy.

We are at this trippy old building , a community center.

As I was hooking up my lights and water I heard that was an excellent western store with cute boots and it was around the corner. Not that .great fake ostrich, fake croc.
However that was an awesome Mexican eating joint in the back of the amazing Hispanic groceria I ran into the girls and we had a little nosh. Salsa was habanero peppers , I think.Delish and on fire..carne and pollo .Ya gotta eat. you don't eat, you get sick.

monsoon

Sunday March 8, 2009

A little rain, I walked the area I was needing to drive through.I try and walk unknown ground. Looks can be deceiving.There can be things sticking out of the ground or part of the ground can be missing. The water came 4" from the top of my rubber boots.I was looking for eels and dangerous biting swimming things.I decided it was safe to drive through and it never hurts to have 4 wheel drive.However 4 wheel drive can not drive through 3 feet of mud, I learned this last summer. I saw some really deep ruts and I said , whatever I can make it,I can drive through anything. The crew watched me get incredibly stuck and then try and get out using gravel all the while laughing and placing bets. Finally when they were finished with the Kubota "the man" pulled me out.A good time was had by all! someone thought I was calling AAA ..ha ha ha ..very funny
Mud is a very big annoying fact of the tented circus BUT we ain't anywhere near a tent.

My new trapeze is almost 1/2 way done.

true love

Saturday March 7, 2009

hopped out of bed! a day off! hightailed it to bikram !after yoga I got in my truck and saw I had a message from "the man" that we were moving and he didn't want me to get blocked in at the parking lot. I returned to the fairgrounds and saw it was a bird show and an animal show and my trailer, Scythian 2,was in the middle of a parking lot filled with vehicles. I panicked ,got mildly hysterical and Delilah said," don't worry I'll call Mike"( he is a really good driver, he rarely plays bumper cars)
Mike saved the day, he even admitted it was a fun challenge.

The weather turned cold and rainy, after everyone dried off I suggested we drive to the town and go foraging for food and such. Well during my hunting I discovered black spaghetti!!fun or what !! @ super target, there are some pretty funky foods .In the spice section there are packets of seasonings for Tangines, Curry and other yummies, there is a whole Indian food section..There is Vindaloo,olives upon olives,bags and bags of bizarre pancake concoctions.Meats and chicken wrapped and stuffed and sprinkled with delightfulness.There is so much to choose from I was overwhelmed. As I was making my escape I spied some sea salt, black cracked pepper potato chips! Those chips almost had me but they were baked and I have my dignity.

After a couple of hours of hard foraging I returned to the Scythian 2(Airstream trailer)unloaded my booty and sat down to check email, and I tell you this Dear Diary. Let me back up , I looked at my little sample of my Starbucks coffee in an instant and said ,"what the heck, let's see what we got." I was needing a little something.
I boiled my 8 oz of h2o, mixed the coffee with the water and began my investigation.I don't love it, Sense of smell I remember my grandmothers Sanka, sense of sight, no oils and too perfect.I didn't touch it or listen to it. Sense of taste, feh, Cafe Bustello makes a far superior instant coffee.
In conclusion, not very wonderful.Who does Starbucks think they are? Teaching us about coffee, amazing coffee machines and then going instant and trying to get us to buy into instant coffee?
hmph ! the nerve!I am sticking to my stove top espresso ,maybe I'll switch to tea! ha

unbelievable

still Friday..Is the world going crazy? A new invention.. drum roll..Starbucks instant coffee....I am speechless..speechless I tell you!!

The Scythian

Friday March 5 ,2009

In the early 1980's my folks had a Marshall cat/sailboat called the Scythian.Scythian are a band of nomadic wanderers.The boat was big enough for all.It was docked at the Constitution Marina in Boston.It was "the place" for cocktails in the summer, so exclusive!
One day my dad pulled me up to the crows nest to fix something. It was brutal for him, using a single pulley to hoist 115 lbs!!! However it was great fun for me. Maybe that was my first bit of aerial shenanigans,besides excellent tree climbing with Stephanie Welch. Stephanie Welch was really a natural aerialist, I was more of a Latin scholar. We switched roles.Very interesting.

Anyways here I am wandering and having adventures in the air....Maybe I should name my Airstream "Scythian 2".Done, it is named.

Today Delilah and I went to Bikram Yoga !! Her first time, she said she almost puked,but she stuck it out!! So brutal, hot , nothing like a great stretchy mental and physical workout.

The building is 12'-9". There is lattice that I squeezed my hands through and wrapped cables and hung my rigging. Very cute , low and tiny. The people are very close. I am going to shave.