Taking Down the Christmas Tree on Presidents' Day Weekend

Yeah, you read that right. I did not put away our mid-size artifical Christmas tree until this weekend. So sue me, to quote Nathan Detroit. I got better things to do, like stay in bed and complain, to quote Judy Tenuta. (Whatever happened to her?) I have not been to our upstate place in a while so we just left the tree standing. Removing the ornaments brings back memories because so many of them are from trips we've taken: a lobster from Provincetown on Cape Cod; a pineapple from Honolulu; a stuffed doll figure of Henry VIII from the Tower of London; Spongebob Squarepants and Capt. America from Universal Islands of Adventures and a Mickey Mouse from Disney World; a crayfish and some Mardi Gras beads from Santa's Quarters on Decatur Street in New Orleans. There are also a set of portaits of Batman, Robin, Catwoman, and the Joker, as well as Sylvester carrying a load of presents with Tweetie on top. There are also figures of Spiderman and several different Santa Clauses as well as Renaissance-type archangels. On top is a Father Christmas figure. I remember a Presidents' Day weekend about three years ago, I should have been working on my book about George C. Scott, but I goofed off and watched a Project Runway marathon. It was from season two, before I was obsessed with it. I watched several episodes I hadn't seen before.

Presidents' Day also had me thinking about Richard Nixon. Jerry went to see the Met HD broadcast of Nixon in China and I had seen the premiere live just before we went to Florida. From age 9 to 16, Richard Nixon was president and how I hated him. I remember my sister saying if he were elected in 1968 he would make us go to school on Saturdays. During the Watergate scandal, I yearned for his impeachment and we wathced the hearings avidly all during that summer of 1974. He was the boogey man, the evil villain taking advantage of his power and betraying the trust of the American people. I remember several years after he resigned--I was so angry that he stepped down rather than allowing us the magnificent spectacle of a trial in the senate--he showed up on Nightline with Ted Koppel. I screamed as if I had seen a ghost and I had. His hair was white and he was noticably older.

Now John Adams' opera shows a more human figure, pathetically singing of his days in the navy running a snack bar and selling the guys hamburgers and beer, desperately wanting them to like him. In 100 years, is this how Nixon will be remembered? Yes there is Oliver Stone's movie with Anthony Hopkins as a troll-like co-conspirator, but the opera may survive it and be performed around the world. How will this era be seen?

Nixon in China got me interested in hearing more modern opera and I looked up Einstein on the Beach on YouTube. It is hauntingly beautiful, but I doubt if I could take five hours of it. Robert Wilson's productions look fascinating, but I think his main esthetic is visual since he is also a designer, and not dramatic, so his productions look good but don't move you.

Finding the Fantastic Four in Florida

A little vacation is better than none, so my partner Jerry and I took a five-day trip to Florida in the midst of one of the worst winters in recent memory. We were scheduled to leave on a 7 AM flight on thurs. morning Feb. 3. I made the mistake of covering the opening night of Nixon in China at the Met the night before. The John Adams modern opera was three hours and 45 minutes. I got home by 12 which only left me about five hours of sleep. Fortunately, I was able to sleep on the plane; it was Spirit Airlines where they pack you in like sardines and the seats don't recline. Plus you have to pay extra for your seats and each piece of luggage is another $15, even your carry-on. I dozed in an upright position for most of the three hours.

The weather was lovely. We visited friends who have a condo in Hillsboro Beach which is near Fort Lauderdale. The best part was walking on the beach thinking of our car under a foot of ice and snow. While having lunch on Los Olas in Ft. Lauderdale, our young waiter, a transplant from New York, asked if there was anyting we were looking to see. Jerry asked if there were any used CD stores for himself and comic book stores for me. The waiter said he would call his friend who was a comic book fan. He recommended a store called CJ's Comics which wasn't far. What the hell, we thought, and drove there. It was a little place in a tiny strip mall. It appeared closed but there was a handwritten sign in the window reading "Back in 5 mins." We waited until CJ showed up and I bought five issues of the Fantastic Four from the 1990s. I finally found the one where it's revealed the Human Torch's wife Alicia--who was previously in love with The Thing--is really a Skrull. That's a whole story line I thought was a bit farfethced even for a comic book. But it turned out to be a pretty good issue with unexpected twists. I'll have to find the rest of the story arc.

Our hosts were wonderful, especially considering that on our second day, they had gotten a phone call informing them the roof over their inside pool at their home in Massachusetts had collapsed from the weight of the snow.

We spent the rest of the time with Jerry's sister and brother-in-law who have a home in Lake Worth. While we were there, we swam in the pool and soaked in a hot tub. We also saw Capitol Steps, a touring musical political revue.

Our next big trip will be a cruise to Alaska with my parents and brothers, then we stay over in Vancouver where Jerry has a conference to attend.