Beard-Cicles and Texas Christmas Humor

[mrdreamjeans]

We're in Appleton, Wisconsin and it was eight degrees overnight. Finally, an area of the country where it feels like Winter! We arrived yesterday to open farm land and sunny skies. Everyone was in great spirits, mostly because we were anywhere but Detroit!

I walked around downtown Appleton yesterday afternoon after a nice lunch at a Mexican restaurant; even that was an event as I had only eaten at a food court or at a mediocre, expensive restaurant near the theater in Detroit for two weeks. The Mexican Restaurant here has salsa dancing from 10pm to 2am on Tuesday and Friday nights. We're there! Even though I only walked a few blocks in each direction from the Radisson, I had ice-cicles hanging from my beard...which made me chuckle.

The Radisson is a nice facility. The rooms are large, the amenities extensive. We have an indoor pool, sauna and jacuzzi, a fitness room, three restaurants in the hotel (including the Vince Lombardi Steakhouse) and free high speed internet access. I played ping-pong last night, which I love; my record so far is 6-1:)

We open tonight at the Fox Cities Peforming Arts Center which is just two blocks away. This is really nice after the 20-minute drives each way to the theatre in Detroit. The city of Appleton sits on the Fox River and is known for his paper manufacturing facilities. The area is also referred to as Paper Valley and is also near Lake Winnebago.

We have a sound check at 5:30pm, put the local children into the show and hit the ground running at 7:30pm. I'm going to spend the rest of the week finishing up Christmas shopping, getting presents mailed to San Fran, Boston and Little Rock and stay packed for the trip home on Monday:)

I received an email this morning titled Texas Christmas Humor. It made me laugh, so I thought I'd share it:

"In a small Texas town there was a "Nativity Scene" that showed great
skill and talent had gone into creating it. But one small feature
bothered me: the three wise men were wearing firemen's helmets."

"Totally unable to come up with a reason or explanation, I left. At a
"Quik Stop" on the edge of town, I asked the lady behind the counter
about the helmets. She exploded into a rage, yelling at me, "You darn
Yankees never read your Bibles!" I assured her that I did, but simply
couldn't recall anything about firemen in the Bible."

"She jerked her Bible from behind the counter and riffled through some
pages, and finally jabbed her finger at a passage. Sticking it in my
face she said, "See, it says right here, 'The three wise men came from afar.'"

Enjoy! Meanwhile, I'm fixin' to go read me a pome! HA!

Comments

[wonderboynj.livejournal.com]

Hey I offered to take you to a good mexican restaurant here :P

South-speak and mid-south translation

[bruinwi.livejournal.com]

Jeet that chok-lit or didja give it to momonyms?

Did ya eat that chocolate or did ya give it to Mom and thems (Mom and her friends)?

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

And in Georgia my cousins all say "O-l" (oil), which tripped me up the first time I heard it spoken down there. :-)

Yes, I'm of southern heritage, but a NW native by birth.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

*groan*

Which reminds me: Northern real estate agent says, "This house has no flaws!"
Puzzled southern lady customer replies: "But what do y'all folks walk on?"

Appleton friends

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

Hey, Neil, John and I have a friend in the Appleton area named Kim Janken, originally from Denmark... if he hasn't moved in the last few years, he lives in Menasha. I'm going to email him and see whether he is still there. He's a very fine singer; I recall playing some Schubert and Wolf for him. You'd probably enjoy meeting him if you have time.

Also, if you run into a fine lady named Sherry Hudson, she's a gem. My connection with her is through my pal Dave Hendrickson (now in San Fran) -- once upon a time he lived upstairs in her house in Appleton. I got to overnight at her place once while Miss Saigon was playing Green Bay. By all accounts she ought to be at one of your performances, even if you never meet her. Break a leg!

O-l and bo-l

[bearfuz.livejournal.com]

While on tour with Les Miz in Fort Worth I was to my delight invited to the home of a very nice Southern gentleman in the area. He said they were having a "shrimp bowl" -- which I later discovered really meant "shrimp BOIL." It was one of those meals where the boiled shrimp get put in a big pot in the middle of the table and everyone shucks and squeezes his own. Shrimp, that is. I listened and listened for that missing "i" and never heard it. ;-)

[gyvyr.livejournal.com]

Periodically i love the feel of icicles forming in my beard... but that's my Minnesota upbringing that just loves cold weather!

Break a leg in Cheeseland!

Re: O-l and bo-l

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's the south for ya. ;-)

Me love a good shrimp bo-l LOL.

[excessor.livejournal.com]

Cute story. At last, someone who pronounces all the words correctly.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Yes you did! And I appreciate it. Meeting you was one of the few bright spots in a very long two weeks. You're a great guy! Keep creating those goals and complete them. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't be a success! Hugs!

Re: O-l and bo-l

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

When I was in college, the Singing Cadets of Texas A&M University were invited to a crawfish boil. My friend CH's mom and dad boiled a hundred pounds of crawfish with potatoes and onions and spilled them out on a newspaper-covered table in the garage. I was faced with a challenge. I don't like seafood at all. CH's parents had gone to a lot of trouble and I didn't wish to be rude. I carefully, and with a lot of trepidation, ate seven of them. I declared myself full. Everyone laughed at me, as it's not unusual for one person to eat seven pounds of crawfish, let alone just seven of them:) I was really put off when my friends told me the best part is sucking the head....HA! I didn't find that out till years later....LOL!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Will do! I'm about to venture out to eat lunch and finish my Christmas shopping. I'm sure the ice-cicles will be a formin'! Hugs!