This afternoon we saw As You Like It at the Ashland Shakespear festival. Originally set in Italy, it was staged in "depression era-USA". Much of the play takes place in the Arden Forest where the ousted Duke Goodguy and almost everyone else end up. The songs were done in US folk style with melodies that owed a great deal to Woodie Guthrie, one short interlude was either John Fahey, or someone who heard him, and at the end after the married couples broke into a square dance which became a conga line, the audience broke into rhythmic clapping - something that Pete Seeger worked long and hard to get audiences to do. The music was quite effective, and it left the audience roused and ready to give a standing ovation. I wish the series had ended there, it was such an up note.

But the evening show was Romeo and Juliet, the last show of the series, and everyone died. We saw four comedies and one tragedy. What would it be like to see King Lear then MacBeth, then Romeo and Juliet on successive nights. Whew.

Ashland really does Shakespear well. The theaters are good, the acting superb, the staging excellent - and they have infrared wi-fi earphones that allow you to actually hear what the actors are saying - something that makes the plays much easier to follow.

I think we'll be back next year (unless they are doing 3 tragedies in a row).

Oregon is an odd place, if you're from California. For instance, I drive up to a gas station, put my credit card in the machine, and get approved. Before I can lift the hose off the pump however this guy from the gas station does it, asks me what kind of gas I want, does all the pumping, and, get this,, washes the windshield . I'm looking around for candid camera but everyone acts like this is normal. On the down side the gas station does not have a convenience store inside the office - only a coke machine. Luckily a coke is all I want now that the car has gas.

And then there is the Days Inn. They have a "continental breakfast" in the early hours of the morning. This is nothing new, I've stayed at the Days Inn in San Rafael, and in Novato, and they had "continental breakfasts" too. Only theirs were a variety of cereals, a variety of milks, some coffee and tea. Here what they have is some pastry, no milk, no cereal. Why are Americans getting fatter? The desk clerk looked at me really strangely when I asked if there was any milk. Still, we're next to a Dairy Queen ("dq" as they like to say) and surely it would have milk. Yes, it probably would, but we are caught in that unfortunate period between the closure of the continental breakfast feast and the opening of the dq at 10 a.m. So we get into the car, drive across the freeway, and find the Fred Meyer. This is, or was Safeway up north for some complex legal reason I never understood. Now its like Target with a food section. But they open at 7:30 a.m. and they have milk.

Directly across from the Fred Meyer section of the mall is the national headquarters ("hq") of Harry and David's. They offer tours which "begin and end" at the hq, and we're thinking of taking one. But probably not today because we have a 1:30 play time in Ashland for Tartuffe, and Mary Alice noted the Webster near the theater, so the plan is lunch and other fiber before the play.

Mapquest says it takes 5 hours to get from Alderpoint to the motel in Medford where we are staying while attending the Ashland Shakespear Festival. It took about 5.5. We were watching the Asphalt cooking show on the Tivo last night, and thinking of road food. We got road lunch for yuppies instead. Be true to your culture, I always say. We stopped at the Eureka Coop and got Japanese rice rolls, and Kenyan vegetable pies and ate them over the next 40 miles or so. Delicious.

Why Medford, you might ask, since the festival is in Ashland. Go on-line and look at the prices for lodging in Ashland during the festival. We're staying 3 nights in the Days Inn in Medford for $181 including all taxes. We might have stayed 1 night in Ashland within walking distance of the festival. Its a 15 minute drive from here, and for someone living in Sohum a 15 minute drive is nothing. Its 35 minutes just to get to the highway for me and I live closer in than most people.

We left the motel about 6:15 for dinner and an 8 p.m. show (Tempest). By 6:30 we found a parking space ( found a parking space ) about 2 blocks from the theater, and were casing the local restaurants. Pricey. But Pilaf looked good. Its down an enclosed walkway which reminded me of Vienna, always a plus for a restaurant, and up on the second floor by elevator, which reminded me of Hong Kong, also a plus. Then the minuses started. We walked in to an empty room with a service desk, menus, and a lot of tables with no one seated at them. After a couple of minutes a waitress rushed in from the patio and as she ran downstairs she said we could sit anywhere. We sat on the patio which was cool - the day had reached the high 90s - and had a nice view. Ashland is yuppieville. We saw yuppie couples jogging down below, the women thin, the men in shorts. We ordered a great meal: lamb, dolmas, an eggplant dish, and some wine. The wine came quickly, in a generous glass, and it was good. That's a good thing because as the minutes ticked by nothing else came. At 7:15 we had to give it up, so we paid for the wine and left.

Mary Alice was hungry, and we walked several blocks looking for something we could grab and take with us. Found it finally at Pangea. M.A. got the tuna wrap, I got the humus, and by 7:45 we were in the precincts of the Globe Theater, wraps in hand. At the theater they have no food, but they have beer, wine, cookies, and blankets (the theater is not roofed). I had another wine and got cookies for us. Our seats turned out to be among the best in the theater - almost dead center and not too far back. They had been the last tickets available. Go figure.

The play was quite well staged and acted. I've only seen Shakespear in the Benbow productions during the lasts 25 yeaers, and it was a revelation to see what can be done with a permanent theater and a budget. You recall Act 5, Scene 1, line 185 don't you. "Oh brave new world, that has such people in it." That's Miranda's line. There are others, but that's the biggie for this play I think. Now to bed.

Driving back from Ukiah I was struck by the number of burned areas by the highway. None seemed really large, which was good, but there are just a lot of them. I'm under the impression that the number of people smoking in their cars is down, as part of the general reduction in smoking, so what's the source of the fires.

Finally I get to Ukiah when Patrona's is open. I go in just behind another person who is a single. I recognize him from another evening. He goes to the right wall, I go to the left. For dinner its a "Pizza" sausage, onion, in a single sized serving that no one would recognize as a pizza anywhere else in the world. It is round, and served on a thin crust, but that's the end of the similarities. Incredible. Delicious. I have a Pinot with it, and a sparkling wine to finish it and the meal off. No dessert, I'm on a diet. Dinner $34 with tip.

They have a "how can we improve your experience questionaire." I tell them to open Sunday evenings. Otherwise, the food is delicious (should I have gotten the beet salad instead?, or the flank steak, or salmon?), service excellent - friendly and prompt - and the ambience pleasant. They had a 3 piece band playing light jazz standards - girl from Ipanama and all that.

Recommended.