To the Manor Born

Greetings from Stars Hollow... I mean, Cambridge, N.Y. In my critically acclaimed post about Gilmore Girls (seriously, I got more comments on that post than anything I've else I've ever posted) I mentioned that I had searched unsuccessfully around rural Connecticut looking for a Stars Hollow, but I've found it here in this tiny little village ten minutes from the Vermont border. Cambridge is filled with ice cream parlours, antique shops, a hotel that could pass for the Independence Inn, and just outside of the village are dozens of little farmhouses that have hand painted signs advertising "Farm Fresh Brown Eggs!" Good thing I've spend so much time studying Gilmore Girls or I might have had some serious culture shock.

On Saturday morning, less than five days after getting home from Brazil, I headed off on another whirlwind trip. I took a three-hour trip down from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Wooster, Ohio, where I had spent the previous three summers with the Ohio Light Opera. It's this great little town where flags wave and apple pies cool out on windowsills. When I was in the middle of the Amazon on the 4th of July, I was really wishing I could be back in Wooster for our annual 4th of July concert, held in the square next to the building pictured on the left. I hung out with old friends, watched one show from the audience and another from backstage/the green room, had dinner at Spiro's, went to sleep, went to sacrament meeting, and then embarked on the ten-hour trip out to Cambridge.

When I arrived in Cambridge, it was already pretty dark and it was raining quite a bit. I had to take a detour off of the main road through town because a giant old tree had fallen down in the storm and taken out a power transformer along with it. I managed to meet up with Alix Jones, who is both a member of the Hubbard Hall administration and is also playing the role of Despina in our Così fan Tutte. She lead me over to the Manor House where I will be staying for the next week or so until they transfer me to a host family.

So we went into the Manor House, which is the kind of house where it seems like everything should be behind velvet ropes. I say 'seemed,' because the power was out and I couldn't really see much of anything. The house was loaded up with candles everywhere, but Alix and I searched by the faint glow of our cell phones for some matches, but we gave up after about a half an hour. Just then I remembered that about a year ago in New York City my friend Wilson had lost his lighter in my car and I had seen it underneath the seat a few times. I went out to the car and, sure enough, it was still there. So Alix took off and left me all alone in this huge old house to explore with my candles, but it was kind of creepy, so I went to bed.

The next day I woke up and discovered that the house is much more impressive when you can actually see it. I can't believe that I'm living in the master bedroom of this great old house full of hundred-year-old tables and chairs. For a little while, at least.

The sing-through of the opera wasn't nearly the disaster of Hindenburg proportions that I was expecting - it actually went pretty well and everyone is struggling with their recitative, not just me. But I've still got a lot of work to do to be ready and I've got the rest of the day off, so I'd better get back to practicing.

P.S. - I haven't forgotten that I promised some more Brazil pics - I'll get around to it. But isn't it nice to read a post about something other than Brazil for a change?