Saturday - October 15, 2011

 Master of Kadosh Shane and wife Pamela.  Shane put a lot of time and effort into yesterday's meeting which was for the conferral of the 33rd Degree This is called a Coronation.  The 33rd Degree is the last and highest degree of Scottish Rite Masonry.  It is a very high honor and cannot be asked for but must be earned by service.  Service, not necessarily to the Rite but perhaps to the public in some manner.

 Dan received his 33rd degree as one of the three from the Des Moines Valley.  The degree is awarded once every two years and is awarded by  the Supreme Council which meets in Washington, D. C.

 The Baquet which followed the Degree was an elegant affair and was decorated by these beautiful centerpieces.

 Senator Chuck Grassley (R) Iowa, Knight Grand Cross and Ill. Gary Sissel. Sovereign Grand Inspector in Iowa and Grand Orator of the Supreme Council posed for a photo in front of the Tapestry which gives the Tapestry Lounge its name.  Senator Grassley is a member of the Des Moines Valley and gave the talk at the banquet.

 This is Marge.  Marge is one of my favorite Masonic people and is the mother of one of our Past Grand Worthy Advisors for the Order of Rainbow for Girls.  Marge told us that she, herself, is a Majority Rainbow Girl.  She is a gracious lady and I am always glad to see her at a meeting.

One more picture of the Master of Kadosh and his wife. Another successful event.  You can see all of the photos from the day over at the Consistory Blog.

I was working in the office and was playing around with my camera. My somewhat sleepy eyed picture on the left and my other persona (Mr Phrog) on the right.

 After the banquet it was off to the Civic Center to see La Cage Aux Folles 

I used the Valet parking and it was wonderful.  I will use it in the future.

I took this during Intermission.  You can see how close I was.  As a theatrical experience the evening was almost perfect.  I will admit to being a little tired after having worked all day and my legs ached some but once the show started I forgot all about that.  I don't usually worry about where I sit in the theater but for this show I wanted to be close.  I was glad.. I was surprised at what a great singing voice George Hamilton has. Even if he looked "a little fragile" as the lady behind me remarked he did a magnificent job.  I was surprised at how much shorter he was than the drag queens but I will have to admit that they were tall.  Very tall.

I love the music from this show and have had first the record and then the CD ever since it came out. It was difficult not to sing along with them.. I will admit to moving my lips, however.  When Christopher Seiber sang "I Am What I Am" at the end of the first act I teared up and was absolutely amazed at his voice and his theatrical presence.  It was probably more difficult for him to switch back and forth between the female and male roles and he did it flawlessly.  A strong performance by Broadway Royalty. One more thing...The Tony Award was on display in the Lobby (You can see it in the picture above showing the sales booth it is on the left side.)

All in all it was a fun show and I laughed a lot and I also cried some as the song "Look Over There" is one of my all time favorites.  The music of this show got me through a very rough time in my life and I am grateful for having finally seen it.