Sunday June 30, 2013

Summer is here.  It's here in the weather forecast.  Warm!  Warm here, hot everywhere else.  90 for a high here today, Reno 104, Vegas - Wow! and Death Valley _ Oh My Goodness!!!!!

   Summer got here in a hurry.  Monday and Tuesday were cool and rainy.  I felt like we were back in Oregon again.  I did not go to swimming because the pooldoes not have a top during the summer and it would not have been comfortable.  By Wednesday the sun was back and 70 degrees and it warmed up everyday after.

   Tallac is finally on the summer schedule.  Three tours of the Pope House everyday except Wednesday.  Wednesday the house gets a thorough cleaning, so other programs are run.  Here was our week.  Wednesday R was the maid at an event called "Afternoon with Anita".  One the volunteers, dressed in period costume and portrays Anita Baldwin, one of the "characters" of the site.  I, dressed as the butler, led two "Servants Tours"  in which I led "prospective domestic employees" on a tours of the Pope estate telling them about what to espect if they would become part of the staff of 35 (maid, butler, cook, etc.) that once worked for the Pope family.

  Thursday and Friday I led two tours of the Pope House along with normal day to day operations such as cleaning the museum, or emptying the trash, etc.  Yesterday was super busy.  I did the trash run in the morning while R drove into town to get groceries for an afternoon event.  Then I mopped and cleaned the Pope kitchen.  R was in the museum for several hours after opening gretting and talking with visitors.  At noon we drove home to have lunch and let Mollie out.  From 1:45 until 7pm we were in costume as maid (R) and butler (J) preparing for an event called "Vintage Vatican".  16 guests are drived to the front of the Pope house in a 1928 GMC vehicle, greeted by the butler, who escourts the ladies up unto the front porch. Two maids are there to help them find name tags, ( the name tags are of celebrities of the 20's, Tom Mix, Thomas Edison , Greta Garbo, Coco Chanel, etc.
Mrs Pope greets them and shows them her house, followed by bubbly and food on the front porch served by, you guessed it, a butler and two maids.
   The guests had a great time. The conversation was brisk and full of laughter.  The food was consumed and the evening ended with another ride back to their cars.

   After clean-up we came back to the trailer and gathered up our neighbors for snacks ( a little of the remaining canapes, plus chips, etc.) for a hour or two of jokes and stories before heading inside.

  Today, relaxation will be the order of the day.