A Night on the Town

Well I had a wonderful weekend. You've been in suspense long enough. I won't torture you any more.

My birthday surprise was a little trip to nearby seaside town where we attended a dinner and a play at the village theatre called "The Lady in Black".

We left early in the day on Saturday so we could take our time driving there and stop by all the little nifty shops along the way. I did manage to buy myself a few small things like a adorable little tea bag holder, three adorable little soap snowmen, a cute little piggy nail cleaner and even a wooden snowman ornament. Sigh, it makes me wish for Christmas already.

I knew once we had arrived there what the surprise was. This seaside community was once a struggling little town about to close down completely when the villagers started painting murals all over the buildings in town to entice tourists to their town. Well, they persevered and gradually they made a come back until they are a bustling little town now indeed. The town is so charming it almost doesn't seem like a "real" place. If you know what I mean. The main street is lined with all sorts of gift, crafts and antique shops and wonderful variety of ice cream stores, cafes and restaurants.

In the middle of this they built a lovely theatre, also adorned with murals, whereby they entice the surrounding communities to come by putting on a lovely buffet dinner and a quality production. This is no mere local production. Actual professionals from all over come to put on plays in this small town. It doesn't seat thousands, perhaps only a 100 or so. But it has made it's mark. I know people personally who buy season tickets every year.

The play itself was very well done. It had only two main actors, aside from the Lady in black who had no lines. It was a story about an older gentleman seeking help from an actor to be able to tell the story of an event his past that he had written to his family with some ability and confidence. Throughout the course of the play they take us back into the past life of this gentleman using only a few props and some sound effects.

This is meant to be a somewhat sinister and scary play and considering the small means at their hands, they did actually manage to create suspense and make us jump. It was a rather sad and tragic story. The man as a young solicitor was sent to take care of the affairs of a rather elderly lady who had died. He has to stay in her house which no other would dare step foot in. He has several rather alarming encounters with a Lady in Black who has a wasted away, almost skeleton like face. He's terrified beyond his senses. It eventually comes out that the Lady in Black ghost is the sister of the old lady who died. In her youth she had a child out of wedlock and was forced to give him up to his sister and husband. They would not let her see her child but sparingly and she loved him desperately. There was an accident in which the child died and the mother grieved so much and was stricken with a strange disease that caused her to waste away like a skeleton. She eventually died but she was always angry and swore she'd get her revenge.

The legend of the village was that whenever the Lady in Black appeared a child would soon die. They lived with it for 60 years or so. The solicitor after his experiences was more than happy to get home to his wife. A year later he was married and had a small child. When suddenly he was startled by the appearance of the Lady in Black. Not long after his child died immediately from a tragic accident. His wife, injured, died some time later.

Creepy, no? Of course the best part is that at the end when the actor and the gentleman have finished up acting out the past, the actor congratulates the old gentleman on what a fine job he's done and how did he find some an amazing actress to play the Lady in Black. The old gentleman is visibly affected and says he hired no one and never saw the Lady in Black once while they were acting. dum dum dum...... lights out.

Adapted from a novel written by Canadian author Susan Hill.

We stayed the night in a local hotel that was very nice and then the next day we just stopped off at a fabric store, bought some material to make the girls scarf's etc and then slowly made our way back home.

At my parent's my family was waiting for us and we had small bonfire and roasted hot dogs etc and had cake and fed the kids a ton of candy.

It was a very nice weekend and I didn't worry once about the kids because I knew K had them and I didn't have to stress about who was looking after them and how long I could get away with staying out.

The best part was that I had lots of laughs and giggles with my mom that I haven't had in a long time. It was really, really nice. Quite spoiled me actually cause now I'm back to the regular grind.

Would you think me horrible if I say I didn't miss my kids and husband? ;)