Make that Livingston. After hassles and unlevel too tight campsites we decided to head for a known place with friendly people – SKPs (that’s Escapees for those who don;t get it).  We paid for a week just to do very little and catch up from our whirlwind start and breakdown. Still some residuals to deal with but no show stoppers so we are sitting. 

Carol started looking into things to do in Houston, a mere 70 minutes away in light traffic and came across a performance of Handel’s Saul. Saul? It’s an oratorio intended to be presented in concert format. To understand why check out British Blasphemy Law from 1605. In 2015 it was first presented as an operatic performance. This performance was being done by Houston Grand Opera with Christopher Purves as Saul and Samuel (interesting since they are singing to each other when on stage).  David is Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen in a contralto role. His vocal range is between alto and soprano! The piece covers the biblical time period from David’s defeat of Goliath to the death of Saul, some 30 ish years with no real dividers. It runs about 3 hours. When it was over we wanted more. Opera in Handel’s day did not use a chorus, oratorios do. This was staged with a large chorus and a  7 member dance corp as well as the principals. 

We started with a lovely lunch at BirraPoretti’s. I found a parking place at the curb for FREE, it was Sunday, next to the restaurant and across the street from the opera house. We arrived in time for the preperformance talk and stayed to hear Purves give a post performance talk with Q&A. The drive back to GeeWhiz was uneventful and swift. It was quite a wonderful day. 

Next stop Austin, Wednesday and Thursday, then Las Cruces with a stop at Monahans Sandhills State Park on route. Here we go again making plans and reservations.