Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

My mother is very involved in Opera on the James, the Lynchburg opera company.  And when I say “very involved” what I really should say is, “this is a strictly voluntary position, but if she were paid a nickel an hour she would be a billionaire several times over at this point,” or something to that effect.  But to plug her tireless efforts just a bit, if you are ever in or near Lynchburg during one of their operas, please go—you will never regret it.

In fact, the opera was the real catalyst for our most recent Lynchburg visit.  The young artists of the company put on a 30-minute children’s opera called, what else, “The Three Little Pigs.”  I know; it was almost cosmic considering my children’s current obsession with the old Disney musical.

And now they are obsessed with the Mozart version.

Can you blame them?

The show was fantastic.  Where else can you hear a baritone big bad wolf singing his version of the Queen of the Night from “The Magic Flute?”

The younger kids were genuinely scared of this wolf, although I’m fairly certain it was the whole I’m going to eat you, three little pigs idea and not the purple coat tails and furry-eared top hat (can you see the little girl in the green dress escaping for the safety of her mother’s arms?  She did that at least three times and all of the adults suppressed our chuckles as best we could.  She was adorable).

With the exception of the opera, we spent most of our other waking hours in Lynchburg outside.  The weather was incredible.

And in case anyone is wondering, Pop was also present this weekend I just completely failed to get a single picture with him.  Thankfully (especially for F&G), we’ll be back in just a few short weeks.  Until then, maybe this picture will last us:

Pop playing dress up in one of Frances's many costumes.  This picture makes me laugh every single time I look at it (and just may have spent some time as my computer desktop background.  Sorry, Frank).

Is anyone else picturing Pop as the big bad wolf right now?


Happy Good Friday, everyone!