Into the woods, and out of the woods, and home before dark...

Family,

And a good evening to you from across the Pond after another GREAT DAY in the Mother Country! Okay, so I realize that most of you, be it Fizzy drinking her morning coffee, the Hairless Wonder trimming his shins, or Hitman drinking some Fat Tire opened this blog and expected to see the next phase of Croatia. However, given that it's 11:40 and we had a GREAT local activity tonight, the next Croatia post is going to move to Friday night. Trust me - it will be worth the wait.

So today was a good one at work. The Tube is finally back running (nothing like coming home to a strike of TEN THOUSAND Tube workers at 2 in the morning), so today I rolled back to the Wharf and cranked through another day in the office. I also logged 40 minutes on the bike and recorded my second straight AFD! All in all, it was a great day, but there were concerns about the evening plans. Why, you ask? Because the Taylors had their final date to the Open Air Theater, and the sky could only have been darker if IT HAD BEEN A BLACK HOLE.

All the same, I am happy to report that, despite quite rainy weather in the morning, the clouds lifted to reveal a) a rainbow and b) one of THE PRETTIEST sunsets so far this year in London. We saw the sun set near the roses in Regent's Park, which I'm sure added to the image. It's funny, one of my complaints about London is missing "the big skies of Tennessee and America," but in a park you at least have more sky to look at, which made it more spectacular.

The sunset on the walk to the theater signified something else, however, and that was showing HOW QUICK summer is passing into fall (which means WINTER this far north). Seriously, when we saw the Crucible in June, we were WELL into the second act before it got dark. This show, however, practically STARTED in darkness. And if that wasn't enough, check out my attire. That's right - TAYLOR IS IN HIS BLOODY SKI JACKET. Seriously, IT IS SEPTEMBER THE 8TH. And the best part? There were THREE LAYERS under that.

The show tonight was a special one for me, as it marked the first time I'd ever seen a show that I had performed in high school: Into the Woods (insert T-bone shaking his head as he reads this and saying "Gay, Gay, GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY). It is one of my favorite musicals, and I am happy to report that the performance was SPECTACULAR!!!! Seriously, it was one of THE BEST shows that we've seen in London. The actors were brilliant, the set fantastic, the choreography hilarious and VERY well conceived, and the overall experience was, simply put, just perfect. We just LOVED it. Mom - you would have loved the staging for Giants in the Sky - they used green umbrellas along a ladder to make the beanstalk - it was AWESOME. K-Wall - I hate you couldn't make it!

Yazz and Sam Stone (that's right - the Jason Bourne of Clapham North) joined us, and it was a great night of laughing, nibbling on cheese and olives, and seeing a truly WONDERFUL show. I will confess, however, as I walked out of the theater, that the end was officially beginning. We saw 3 shows at the Open Air theater this year, and we loved every single one of them. But as I left the gangway and took a final look back at the stage, I knew that it would be a while before I set foot in this theater again. Knowing that is knowing that the end is rapidly approaching, and the first hint of sadness started to creep in. That being said, there's a TON more to do, so on to the next one!

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print. Chat tomorrow!

Love,

Sam and Jenny