So I’m singing chorus in a small production of Pagliacci (with an amazing conductor!).

I rented it from Netflix. I was watching it with English subtitles while folding clothes the other day while the kids were playing with the Coadys. Erin comes in to pick up the kids so I put it on pause. Erin reads the subtitle and exclaims, ” ‘You cheap slut!!!’ … What are you watching!?!”

A little while later, at the end of the opera, the main character and his wife are acting in a play about a man and his unfaithful wife. The main character plays the cuckolded husband in the commedia - he has found out in the first act that he is indeed a cuckold in real life (see subtitle above) and he freaks out and kills his wife and her lover in the audience. Ethan and Jared were so captivated by this last scene - I mean, he kills them with a knife, it’s intense.

But I was surprised. I mean, it’s opera. It’s in italian with subtitles. They only saw the last scene. But they totally understood that it was a play within a play, even coming in at the last minute. And they were very excited and interested in that: “Did he kill her in real life or in the play? Was the guy he killed in the play or in the audience?”

Anyway, maybe it’s a good opera to introduce to OLDER children. We liked the Placido Domingo/Teresa Strata version performed with the La Scala Theatre Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of conductor Georges Prêtre. Released 2004. Recorded 1983 (I think).

Another time recently Ethan and I were watching a TV series in which the entire episode played on Alice in Wonderland symbolism. Ethan totally got it. He made the leap from the obvious visual symbols to the literary work and then started taking it further and seeing connections in the actions and words that I hadn’t picked up on. They are really paying attention around here! Glen and I have to be careful what we say!!!

Lately Matthew keeps opening up the refrigerator and pulling out the ketchup. I don’t even know why we have ketchup - probably for a brisket recipe I tried last year. The only time Matthew eats ketchup is when we go out to eat and he has french fries.

So he pulls out the ketchup bottle the other day:

Matthew: “Mama, can I have this?”

Mommy: “No.”

Matthew: “Mama, can I have this ketchup?”

Mommy: “No, we don’t have anything for you to eat it on.”

Matthew: “Pleeeeeeease.”

Mommy: “Matthew, there’s nothing to eat it on. You can’t eat it by itself!”

Matthew: “Toast! I want it on toast!”

Mmmmmmm! Ketchup sandwich!

The other day in the car Ethan, Matthew and I were listening to the part in the Magic Flute where Papageno has his mouth sealed shut by the Three Ladies. Ethan and I were laughing at how hilarious it is that it’s an opera and a main character can’t open his mouth to sing! Matthew asks why Papgeno can’t sing, and I explain that it was because he lied to Tamino - he told Tamino that he had saved him from the dragon, when really it was the Three Ladies.

Matthew: “Did the dragon want to FIRE Tamino Mommy?”

Mommy: “Ummm, the dragon was chasing Tamino.”

Matthew: “Did the dragon want to FIRE Tamino Mommy?”

Mommy: “Well, the dragon was going to GET him and he was scared.”

Matthew: “But the dragon was going to FIRE Tamino Mommy.”

Mommy: “Yes, the dragon was going to get him with his fire.”

Matthew: “And the dragon was going to FIRE him and EAT him!”

Mommy: “Yes, he was going to eat him up if the Three Ladies didn’t save him!”

Matthew: “The dragon was going to FIRE him and eat him with MARSHMELLOWS!”

Mmmmmm. Tamino S’mores!