“Everywhere she walked
the color shouted
and sang around her…
In October, any wonderful,
Unexpected thing might
Be expected.”
“The Witch of Blackbird Pond”
By Elizabeth George Spear

Hubby and I saw some beautiful color once again along Route 3 in Weymouth. Even Morrissey Blvd. had some gorgeous trees. The apple and pear trees in our back yard are losing their leaves. The roses along the side of the house are barely surviving. We have one or two buds on each bush. Hubby brought down the glass insert for the storm door from the attic. We should give the screen a good washing and brushing before we put it back in the attic.

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I hope you have seen Venus and Jupiter in the early morning sky. Little Jupiter looks great against a magnificent Venus. Tuesday’s Hunter’s Moon will be causing high tides all this week.

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When Hubby and I received an e-mail from Marty Allen announcing a trip to Newport, Rhode Island, for Sun., Oct. 25, we decided we would go. The Newport Playhouse was offering a dinner/theater show. We would see a show, then we would enjoy a magnificent buffet and a cabaret performance. We drove to the Florian Hall parking area and saw our huge Cavalier bus waiting for 45 travelers. Marty and our bus driver, David, were at the door to greet us. We first saw our friend Nancy Fossa. When Nancy heard that Hubby and I would not be sitting together, she kindly offered her front row seat to us and moved down the bus to sit with a friend. We were delighted to see our pals from the Irish luncheons, Ronnie Stanley and Lucy Loud, in the seat behind us. We had not sat in the front of a vacation bus in many years and it was a treat. We could not have had a more perfect day for our 90-minute trip to Newport. The fall leaves were peaking with color that day. Our eyes just moved from one side of our road to the other to see gorgeous red leaves. The scenery was so beautiful that we all just looked in awe for the ride to the Playhouse.

When we arrived in Newport, David maneuvered his huge bus into the parking lot. There were very few cars, because we were early, so he was able to let us off right at the door. We found our assigned seats, thanks to some helpful employees. Three new friends from St. Brendan Parish sat at the end of our table: Norma Stewart, Joan Walsh, and Mags Admirand. We had a wonderful time chatting with them. Peg O’Connor, another friend from our Irish luncheons, was sitting a few seats from us. We chatted for a little before the theater darkened.
We were supposed to see a play called “Remember Me,” but that was changed to “The Odd Couple.” All of us were delighted. We knew “The Odd Couple,” either from the movie or the TV show. The lights went on and we saw five men playing poker in Oscar’s apartment. They were speaking about Felix, who was now staying with his pal Oscar since his wife had thrown him out. In came Felix, who is extremely neat. He had already straightened up Oscar’s clutter. The men were urging Oscar to get his air conditioner fixed because it was so hot. Sandwiches that Felix had made the previous week were being offered to some of the men, even though the refrigerator was not working.

There were about five scene changes in the play. We all laughed as the men, in the darkness between scenes, tried to get a new tablecloth on the table correctly several times. When Felix tried to cook food for the group, Oscar didn’t move as fast as Felix had timed and the roast was very much overcooked. The finicky Felix’s character was hilarious, with his cleaning cloths and air spray. The low-key, “slobby” Oscar was also terrific. When the pair invited the Pigeon sisters, Cecily and Gwendolyn from upstairs, to dinner, the dialogue became increasingly funny. It was a great show. When the lights went on after “The Odd Couple” finished, we all looked at each other and said how funny it was.

Marty had sent all of us a list of the food included in the buffet: fresh fruit, three-bean salad, cole slaw, beets, a lettuce bowl, rigatoni with meat sauce, home-made meatballs, roasted chicken, oven-roasted potatoes, BBQ chicken, peas and corn blend, glazed ham, baked beans, Italian sausage and peppers, sweet potatoes, baked scrod, green beans, glazed carrots, rice and peas, and an assortments of sweets, including pies, brownies. I even saw pudding. If you didn’t get enough to eat from this grand array in the buffet, it was your own fault. The wait staff asked if people would like drinks, which would be left at the seats after the performance. The cabaret was hilarious. Some of the performers sang and danced. One performer had a group of “cue cards,” which showed how Rhode Islanders spoke in their own local slang. That was positively hilarious. I think Bostonians had many of the slang expressions, also. (I caught myself eliding some of my words, speaking with Hubby and some of our friends.) I could easily adopt most of the “Newportisms.” There were some blackout jokes that were relatively risqué, but evoked loud bursts of laughter.

We had a chance to speak with some of the “Odd Couple” performers. I asked Finicky Felix: “Do you do windows?” He laughed along with me. We saw a great many people from our bus during the afternoon. Our longtime friends Gregory and Sarah Ashe were there. We spotted Bill Shaughnessy. Hubby got a chance to take a great photo of him. I remember the nice time we enjoyed with him at Indianhead in New Hampshire. I saw Joe and Ann Mazzone sitting near us. I knew that Loretta Philbrick and Ginny Biagiotti were on the bus with us and so were their friends Mary McElaney, Janet Lilly, and Pat O’Donnell. Marty told us that there were 45 people on the bus, including the driver. One person did not show up so David was able to enjoy the extra meal.

Before we arrived back in Boston, Marty passed out a flyer for a show,”Christmas on the Air,” at the Stoneham Theater on Nov. 29, at 2 p.m. We will journey back to 1949 when radio was king, as radio hosts Yolanda and Percival B. Frank will present their Christmas show for us, a live studio audience. The performance will be filled with classic Christmas music. It sounds wonderful, so we will put it on our calendar. When we arrived at Floriaan Hall, we all agreed that this was a great way to spend a Sunday.

***
I was saddened by the death of Maureen O’Hara. I loved seeing her in movies. She and John Wayne were the stars of my favorite movie, “The Quiet Man.” Bill Bailey, on WROL’s Irish music program on Saturday, had this trivia question: “What did Barry Fitzgerald/”Michaleen Oge Flynn” say that Mary Kate Danaher’s “occupation” was? I tried to call in several times but no one answered the phone. Since I know most of the dialogue from the movie, I knew right away, that she was a “spinster.” I think that I will watch “The Quiet Man” this weekend. The Turner Classic Movie Channel is going to do a day-long tribute to Maureen but the date was said so quickly that I didn’t get to write it down.

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Here is a lovely thought for this time of year, by Elizabeth Lawrence: “Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.”