And we have seen six marvelous ones
in four days—
we Came From Away to see Emma
finagle relationships, including,
unknowingly, hers,
were swept back to 2001 with
the plane people and their gracious
hosts in Gander,
saw a shrew tamed (and watched
her tame a husband, too),
were Cordially Invited to the End of the World
and wept watching it almost as much
as we laughed,
awoke from A Midsummer Night’s Dream
with perhaps the best rude mechanicals,
fairies and donkey we’ve ever seen,
and found ourselves drawn in by
the complexity of Yellow Face, only
to drive back to our temporary home
and learn that our host is an understudy
for the female lead.
We stood in her back yard under a smoky
night sky, marveling at it all, as we took
turns bending to pet Coconut, our actress
host’s cute white dog,
grateful for all these plays that are,
indeed, the wondrous things that
transport us to so many places
we would otherwise never, happily, go.
•••
With thanks to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
for their amazing plays this season, along with our
gratitude to our generous Air B&B host Julie Oda
and her family.
Güd wrtr 
So glad you got to experience the truly wonderful city of Ashland and that you shared it with us!
I have a connection to a city only five miles north in Talent, Oregon. I sent some American chestnuts harvested from my grandparents’ heritage farm to another farm there that is dedicated to restarting the nearly-extinct forests of that noble species. Nineteen trees resulted from the efforts and they have been planted throughout the Rogue River Valley.
I think you might say there is something Shakespearean about that: an epic struggle filled with high hopes, deep sorrow, and generational sacrifice. It is a grand noble quest, seemingly doomed by a tragic flaw, pitting human ambition against an unstoppable natural force. It is the mighty king of the eastern American forest, the fatal flaw of the vulnerability to a foreign blight, and the fall of the great stands of the ancients.
We tree lovers seem to be the star-crossed healers.
What a marvelous (and yes, Shakespearean!) story, Terry! Here’s to the continued surviival of those young American chestnut trees in the Rogue River Valley. Long may they live!