The last 6 months...

Brrrrrr! It sure is cold outside! Those of you following the news know that Philadelphia is covered in snow!... 5 months ago. Here's a picture from the all-time seasonal snowfall record for Philadelphia. Businesses and schools were closed for days. Public transportation shut down and flights were cancelled.

During the snow storm the (Rocky) steps of the Art Museum became iced over and the locals used them for sled riding. Since the museum is downtown, no one owned a sled. So the riders used whatever they could find - trash can lids, inflatable mattresses and (in true Philly fashion) stolen cigarette signs.

While Ruby and I were outside playing in a Winter Wonderland, VA was stuck inside copyediting a book about how to crochet your way to happiness or some such thing. Boo. But our friend Beth did manage to weather the storm for a quick dinner hello on her way to NY.

Soon after those winter pictures were taken, VA and I moved out of Center City to a part of Philly called Mt. Airy. This neighborhood couldn't be more different from downtown. Imagine the historic district of Newport but ten times as big and with two commuter trains running through it.

Ruby likes the new neighborhood as well. What it lacks in loose chicken bones and homeless fecal matter, it makes up for in wilderness. The largest in-city park in the whole country is right next to our new place. Here are some pictures of Ruby and her boyfriend Wiley (he's Canadian) going for a swim.

School is going well. I recently directed a one-act by Chekov, am currently assistant directing Measure for Measure by Shakespeare, and in September will be directing a play and radio show by Ray Bradbury called Kaleidoscope. Temple has awarded me a grant to produce the show and I will use the money to incorporate video into my production. This will be my first time ever directing a live show with video, and I'm excited about working in this new way.

In other news, Ruby broke her toe. She was running after a tennis ball in the woods and came back limping. She has to stay off her foot for 4-6 weeks, which is tough on her since she's used to 90 minutes of exercise a day. Now her "walks" consist of sitting outside on the front steps of our apartment watching stray cats.

I am teaching an online course for Temple - Theatre History I. This is the future of teaching! I can meet my students live in a virtual online classroom. We can see and hear one another and I can display PowerPoint presentations for them to view while I lecture. This means that I could (theoretically) teach a course for the University of Hawaii from my Philadelphia living room.