The Colony House has this amazing side porch, which we lovingly call the lanai. We like to sit out there in the evenings and drink, or smoke, or chat a bit, enjoying each others company. We've gotten a few noise complaints from our neighbors and our artistic director was not happy. Our image in the neighborhood is incredibly important to the theatre. If the locals don't like us here, the chances of us coming back are slim.

We had a little discussion about it and someone thought it would be a good idea to make cookies for the neighbors as an apology. We would also include our phone number in a note with the cookies, so that they could call us directly if we were ever being disturbing and we would go inside or at least quiet down immediately.

Amanda and I went out to deliver these cookies a few days ago. Everyone we talked to said that they loved hearing us outside, or that they never heard us. They also loved the fact that we had made the effort to be good neighbors. Several of them called the theatre to tell Carl how much they loved us coming by. I would say that it was a great idea, except there was some confusion about who had been complaining in the first place and we somehow missed their house. Oops.

One of the people we did deliver to invited us into her house, which she helped design and loved to show off. I get the feeling that if she wasn't about to run out the door she would have made tea. When she asked us what we did at the theatre Amanda said she was the costuming assistant and I explained that I was an electrician. The woman just stared at me as if I had said something in a foreign language. I told her it was for lighting. She replied, "I know what an electrician is, I'm just surprised a female would chose that line of work." I didn't want to be rude, so I laughed it off and said "Hm, I'm not the only one." She was again shocked and then decided to let it go.

Vermonters...