the camera loves me

Or maybe it was the photographer. I went looking through our photos from Scotland (a few blog posts here) to see if I could find some good shots of me. Immediately two issues were resolved: 1, I found a few good everyday sort of looks so I can make prints to put around the house for Pip when I'm out of town in June, and 2, I can be very expressive with my face when I'm playing. That's encouraging, because I sometimes worry about whether I'll be able to put across a dramatic enough emotion for the stage. Then I saw these silly shots of me acting out "the language of the fan" at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath.





The last one is my favorite, and it reminds me of Tito Gobbi as Scarpia.
Here are a few more photos from that trip (October-November 2007, when I was around 1-2 months pregnant). We spent three weeks in Scotland and 1 in England. We left with very little sympathy for reformers, owing to what they did to the old cathedrals. But then, we weren't very very sympathetic to start.

Me in the JAC with one of the gowns used in a film.

The Mr. Darcy tea at the JAC. That evening we had tea a second time for dinner, at Sally Lunn's bun shop.

Me drinking thick hot chocolate at Harrod's.

Andrew and me in the ruins of Dunkeld cathedral.

Andrew caught me looking mournful over the lost Nave (a bit of the church-the choir mostly- was spared by the Protestants to use for their services).

Me at the Beatrix Potter center garden.

Baby Update

Pip has been adding words at a fast pace. We've started writing the new ones on the calendar to keep track. His vocal chords need to develop a bit more, I think, and he needs to practice a lot before he can talk as much as he would like. In the meantime, it's fun to hear him acquiring language so rapidly. Pretty much all the kids in my family talk early, which I didn't notice till I got old enough to have lots of friends with kids. Also, it's probably the Irish gift of gab.

Here are his new words since last time. He associates "Jesus" now with the crosses and icons of Jesus in our house, because he says, "Jesus" when he sees them. He also calls "big brother Michael" icons "bro" now. Another iconic reference: he says Hodegetria for the icons of Mary and baby Jesus. (I thought Andrew was hallucinating when he told me about it, but I've heard the baby say it three separate times now.) He also says, "Mary" and "baby" in reference to same. I took him to the museum yesterday, and he called one of the heads of Jesus, "Jesus," but just once. Other words: glass, lamp, roof, dog (also says "arf! arf!" for dogs), "ah-oi" for "apricot oil," bite, a bite, I want a bite, ball, fern, flag, duck, about, off, on, bed, open, where?, towel rack.

Not surprisingly, the child asks us to read several books to him each day, and has started to finger letters suspiciously, as though he reckons that's where we get the stories. He's cruising and swooping and crawling and jumping and starting to eat a little more solid food. Mostly he still eats bottles, but he's coming along at his own pace.

Okay, since I started this post some of my costume items for the opera workshop came in the mail. Here I am trying on my fake hair and tiara with my fan. I think with the addition of stage makeup and an astounding dress it shall do quite well.