Frankly Remarkable Balancing Act

My frankly remarkable balancing act began in late January when I got a call offering me a part in a play. I wasn’t even driving yet, after the injury I sustained on Schweitzer Mountain on Christmas Eve. In fact, I was spending days mostly just getting showered and dressed, which took forever, fed (a very generous neighbor, Hazel, rang my bell each evening with a tray of homemade food for a month) and managing pain (see my comfrey video). You will recall from my videos, one of Schweitzer’s ski lift chairs knocked me down and caused a comminuted fracture of my right arm and dislocated my bicep tendon, which generally ruined our first family Christmas vacation to Idaho. (Do you know how hard it is to organize a family getaway when your sons are over 20?) By the way, I have yet to hear anything from the mountain, and they are well aware of the injury. In fact, they announced a week later in the press that they were replacing that old lift, which the ambulance attendant told me had quite a reputation.

The Play’s the Thing

Sierra Madre Playhouse photo compilation

Back to the play. I missed the first audition because I wasn’t faithfully checking email, being in pain 24/7. Even sitting at the computer with my bad arm on a pillow, using my left hand on the mouse and keyboard, was painful. After they had seen the other ladies called in, the artistic director sent me another email, which I did happen to see. Would I please come in for the last day of auditions, that he hadn’t seen anyone they liked as much as me when I did the staged reading last year. I took Uber’s to and from the valley to ride to Sierra Madre with a colleague, also auditioning. I walked in with my arm in a sling and could barely gesture, but I felt confident that I would be modestly operational by the opening April 20th. The next day, I got the phone call. As a producer friend who came to a recent performance said, “You were born to play this role.” I felt that way last year when the theatre was considering producing the play, and I vowed that I would give it my full attention if I did manage to get the part.

But, wait! There’s all that garden outside to manage, and working on it one day a week, granted, with Erick doing most, if not all, of the work just doesn’t cut it.

Front yard garden

In addition, I’m still trying to grow my YouTube channel, and, injured or not, must film, edit and upload videos. I haven’t reached any sort of sustainable level, meaning a level where I’m at least not spending my own money. I’ve never made one penny for myself in six years of trying to inspire people to garden and grow food. Some people would say that’s crazy, but when I get comments from 13 year-olds, as I did last week, who have been inspired to garden because of my videos, it compels me to soldier on.

The Review

So, after about a week of driving back and forth to rehearsals (34 miles, about 2.5 hours in the car because of L.A. traffic), I found a tiny cabin, very reasonable, one mile from the theatre and I’ve been spending the weekends up there. Performances are Friday, Saturday and Sunday matinee. This has been a Godsend, just like the part in the play. It’s nearly impossible for a small theatre to get reviewed in the LA Times, especially one outside of Los Angeles proper, but we have gotten a few glowing reviews from online magazines, and one this past week singled me out. “Kaye Kittrell is frankly remarkable as his compassionate wife; she steals your heart in every scene.” I mean, who doesn’t like to steal hearts? I told my son who flew down from Minneapolis for Mother’s Day, and to see the play, I’d like to be thought of from now on as “frankly remarkable.”

Kaye Kittrell with son Walker Kehrer

The balancing act continues. My latest video, “Mix it Up!” is proving to be quite popular, so be sure to watch and thumb up that one. I’ve been managing to film, edit and upload a video between Monday and Thursday. There are two more weekends of the play and I will be sad to say goodbye to my cast mates, the theatre and most especially the character, which I would love to play for a year, if I could. But, my garden and my cat, Linden, will be happy to have me here. 

What is that old adage?

Finally, “if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.” I’ve managed to keep the balancing act going, though my nasturtium got decimated by aphids and that comes out tomorrow!

Aphids got the nasturtium

On the final night of performance, a major fan of Late Bloomer is driving from Las Vegas with her adult daughter to see me in the play. We are coming back here the following day and hope to get our hands dirty in the garden and film a video, so look forward to that. She has watched every one of my videos and this will be the first time we meet in person. Connections like this would be impossible without the effort I’ve made to upload content. My frankly remarkable balancing act has had an emphasis on the “act” for the last four months, but I’m always pushing myself in a myriad of ways to inspire. It’s what I live for. If you appreciate the work that I do, here are a few ways you can support the effort to keep Late Bloomer blooming!

HOW YOU CAN HELP support Late Bloomer channel and website: 

1) Make a direct PayPal donation!

2) Become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/latebloomershow

3) Order a Growing Heirloom Tomatoes DVD from any page on this website.

4) Order the Late Bloomer Bracelet Collection and LB will receive a $5 donation.

5) Order Botanical Interests seeds through my affiliate link! I receive a small commission for promoting products I’ve used and believe in. Click the button to go to their website.

Help me inspire people to grow their own food and take control over their food security. Your donation of any amount makes “Late Bloomer” possible and available for anyone. CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!

Thanks for your support! – Kaye

Tags: acting, biodiversity, curbside gardening, DIY, do-it-yourself, Frankly Remarkable, gardening, gardening web series, growing your own vegetables, Late Bloomer Episodes, nasturtium, organic, Schweitzer Mountain, Sierra Madre Playhouse, ski lift injury, theatre, urban gardening, Walker Kehrer

Category: Late Bloomer Episodes, Urban Gardening