Henry V and Departure

Ashland, Oregon, July 9, 2018, Monday--Yesterday was a day of goodbyes as Andy, Jane, Gee Gee and Ed left for home.  A full five days of theater completed.  Our afternoon performance was a superb way to end the show, Henry V, the Battle of Agincourt and the love scene with Princess Kate of France at the end of the play.  

This was a production unlike any we had seen before.  Very spartan sets, the use of red clothes to indicate the deaths in battle, and the role of the Dauphin of France played to the hilt as a petulant, pushy youth.  

After goodbyes to the others, John, Ben and David spent a couple of hours in the garden.  We had an opportunity to talk at length with Christopher Salazar, one of the Henry V actors, who was enjoying a respite with other cast members before heading off to a dress rehearsal for a new play that opens this week.  

We decided on Mexican food for dinner.  We found a local Main Street place that looked good, La Plancha, and ventured in.  Bottles of water on the table in old Lunazul (Blue Moon) tequila 1.5 liter bottles, spartan decor with Mexican posters on the wall, and a Southern Oregon University student, very pleasant, as our waiter.  We enjoyed lots of chips with an excellent guacamole, molcajetes vegetales (bubbling vegetable stew), with dry heavy wheat tortillas for Ben, a caesar salad and a chicken quesadilla for John and three varied tacos for David.  Well served, and, except for the heavy tortillas, very good.

The mountains near here have been hit by huge fires, which has left the city in a haze at times.  This view of the nearby hills, generally clear, shows the smoke drifting North.

We head today, South into California.  The I-5 is open and we do not expect delays, though it had been closed one night as the firefighters controlled an 8,000 acre (3,300 hectares) fire.