A Weekend By The Shoreside.

It felt so 1800s. Actors on the road! We even brought Steinbeck, who sat in his carrier in the back seat of the rental car and stayed quiet the whole time. Upon arrival, he quickly took over the top floor of our friends' house, on the beach in Delaware on the coldest day of the year. A glamorous life for us.

Our friends are Rich and Sue Bloch. He has just built, almost as a hobby, but really out of passion, a 50-seat "magic parlour," complete with Dickensian motif.

Rich is a very successful lawyer, but he's primarily known for his magic, having worked with Orson Welles and won multiple awards for his illusions, which he creates and builds. Our audience would be, primarily, locals, of course. The hotels are mostly shut down. Restaurants closed.

Jimmy was unaware that he would be doing a magic show, but I suppose theater is magic. Turning into another person and bringing them into the room is a kind of magic. I forgot to make the suggestion that he start Zero Hour off with a seance.

From the road, you can see the main house. It's going to become a restaurant.
The house on the right is a guest cottage/green room.

The theater, itself, is a converted garage, sitting behind the main house.

There's something kind of mysterious and spooky about a magic parlour in the woods.

This is on the door.

Sign over guest cottage.

Rosie the fortune teller sits next to the stage.

It's a perfect room for the viewer. Every seat is close and comfortable.

Rosie has awfully nice skin for an old lady.

Posters of magicians decorate the walls.

Sunrise.

Rich has a bird. He's teaching it to do tricks.
It kept looking at me.

Rich Bloch and friend.

Magnificent blue feathers.

It's always great to see friends and to see a part of the country we hadn't seen before.

On the way back, we kept turning the radio dial, as we passed from town to town, trying to follow the football play-offs.  Weirdly, the Jets game cut off just as we were hitting Newark.

That night, we sang a few songs down at Etc. Etc. at the Mark Janas Salon. Football and the freezing cold kept a lot of people away, but got to meet the very talented, and nice, composer Jimmy Roberts, whose "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" has been a smash hit in theaters all across the country.

But it's so good to be home. We love our friends. We love traveling. We love doing the show. But we love, most of all, being home. And Steinbeck had a blast.