The Democrats need a good dose of John Belushi, the John Belushi who was Bluto in Animal House who excoriated his suddenly morose fraternity brothers because they were all being kicked out of school. All the polls and pundits act like the midterm election's over and nobody, including the President, has been willing to get out there and tell the people what's really at stake. Boy, do we need a Harry Truman to cut through the Fox fraudsters and all the other mouthpieces for the wealthiest 2% who are fighting to the death to make sure their taxes stay rock-bottom.
Yes, it's piling on, but I do fault Obama for praising Ronald Reagan: the advocate of trickle-down economics that doesn't do squat for anyone but the rich--where all the trickling stops. Reagan was the smooth-talking con man who convinced many of the gullible public that government was the enemy. I haven't seen the private sector doing anything for the mass of unemployed and hard up folks lately.
Instead, just like FDR, Obama helped save capitalism from itself. He went ahead and for better or worse, saved the auto companies. Wall Street must believe that it deserves always to be bailed out, like the banks, because now it acts like Obama, the guy who bailed them out (and Bush II did start TARP with Democratic cooperation) is the devil incarnate. I guess it's ok to bail out Wall Street but not ordinary people.
FDR couldn't solve the Depression all by himself but his administration did do something for people--first, it started putting them to work and then it tried to protect them from the ravages that capitalism had wrought: there was a moratorium on farm foreclosures, for example. Too radical today where balanced budgets are recommended only for the middle and working classes. Securities regulation was limited to disclosure--another great policy mistake that we have paid for over and over with every Wall Street crook.
H. L. Mencken was often offputting in his show of contempt for so much of America, but he may have been right with regard to how easily ordinary people can be conned by bigots and religioso fakers. And even as Obama has been studiously bipartisan (to a fault) and very middle of the road, all these tea party phoneys are at times letting their lightly-hidden racism emerge: who ever thought that a huge part of the public really would accept a black President?
We all have to open our mouths and shout out the crying need to vote for and elect any Democrat who's on our ballot. I just wonder about all those people out there who seem to be struck dumb by all that has befallen them--their jobs outsourced, their security net wiped out. It's the fault of we Democrats for not standing up for what we believe in and making everyone else aware of who got us into this mess.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Un Ballo at the Ballpark
The local opera company, which is experiencing hard times despite the continuing marketing of its general director, Placido Domingo, once again presented a delightful occasion at Nationals Park Sunday afternoon: a simulcast on the ballpark jumbotron of the season's opening performance, Verdi's Un Ballo en Maschera ("A Masked Ball" in English). And to those who may think that a ballpark is an inappropriate venue for opera, consider the precedent of the scene in the movie, A Night at the Opera, where Groucho and Chico have inserted the music for "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in the musician's scores of the opera being performed (which I think was Verdi's Il Trovatore). When they get to the place where that music is played, the boys pull out gloves and start having a catch in the front of the pit orchestra.
The opera is delightful mostly because it is classic middle-period Verdi--this means lots of melody. As with a favorite of mine, La Forza del Destino, there also is a continuing theme which we hear at the start of the overture and which repeats itself over and over throughout the opera. The overture, by the way, is fairly brief and not often performed on its own as the wonderful La Forza overture is. Although it is not sung, the theme is persistent and in addition to resembling the destiny motif in La Forza, it also makes me think of Hoffman's repeated singing about his disastrous loves in Les Contes d'Hoffman. This use of motifs is another interesting Verdian practice that leads us straight to the Wagner leitmotifs, most notably, of course, in The Ring.
The plot and libretto of Un Ballo is even wilder and crazier than most opera libretti, which is saying a lot. But there is a reason for the madness. Verdi decided to write an opera about a real historical event that had occurred half a century earlier--the murder of the King of Sweden at a masked ball. The censors in still-Austrian-controlled Italy did not like theatrical presentations about murders of kings. So Verdi and his librettist, Somma, had to shift the story to Puritan Boston--hardly a likely spot for masked balls and other such entertainments. Gustavus the king became Mayor Riccardo of Warwick--the names in Boston were also left in Italian, although I don't think Verdi was familiar with the North End, Boston's still-vibrant Italian section. So the baritone Count Ankarstrom is Renato and Mam'zelle Arvidson, listed on the cast list here as a fortune-teller, became Ulrica the witch in the Boston setting. The conspirators, Count Horn and Count van Wartung, became Samuele and Tommaso, two rather low-grade Sicilian characters (reminiscent of Sparafucile in Rigoletto's introducing himself as "an assassin").
This all confused things quite a lot, although the music and what there is of the triangle plot remain fine. There's a wonderful article called "Death of a Libretto" by Henry W. Simon that explains the whole sorry history. This Washington National Opera production, shared with three other houses, like most today, restores the Swedish court setting. However, the characters still refer to each other as Renato and Ulrica (for some reason, Riccardo is referred to as Gustavo, maybe because he's the king) and the soprano Amelia remains just that, Amelia. The music is lovely--I always enjoy the conspirators' "laughing"chorus, filled by "ha-ha-ha"s much as the courtiers' similarly evil-minded song in Rigoletto is--no wonder Rigoletto then sings the aria "O Vile Race of Courtiers".
The concession stands were open--for once, the Italian sausage seemed an appropriate item to snack on, although vendors did not circulate through the stands, fortunately. But the picture was good, as was the sound, and it was nice to see families picnicking in the outfield--the whole day is called "Opera in the Outfield." The ending, tragic of course, especially since the murderer immediately regrets what he has done, is also silly in the way the Rigoletto ending is: the murdered king manages to sing for quite a while after presumably having been terminated with extreme prejudice.
This struck me as the likely high point of the season, which is filled with rather unusual items such as Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride, not performed all that often, and Richard Strauss's Salome, which is, and Donizetti's Don Pasquale, a comedy that has tended to elude me, although Donizetti's music is almost always worth hearing. This is a big year in opera for Wagner's Ring. The Met opens next Monday with Das Rheingold, first shot in a new Ring production that promises to be more fun and less literal than the Otto Schenck one that has lasted 25 years there. The Met will also have Die Walkure at the end of the season and San Francisco will have a whole Ring at the end of its season, both next spring.
We were supposed to have a Ring here in Washington too, but the economic stringency has postponed that indefinitely. More's the pity. Last year's concert presentation by WNO 0f Wagner's Goetterdaemerung, done twice, was absolutely magnificent, and the critics agreed, including the estimable and demanding Anne Midgette, whom the Washington Post picked up a while back from the New York Times. This Ballo got mediocre reviews, with the writer asking whether WNO will continue to be a first-rank company. I don't think it ever has been, even though Domingo has until now been able to sign up anyone he wanted and has brought good talent in. Now I think even he can't get great singers to show up for the meagre amounts offered.
Salvatore Licitra, the tenor who filled in for Pavarotti's final two Toscas at the Met after Luciano was forced to cancel, was the king and he is a fine tenor who sang beautifully. I liked the baritone and the soprano and everyone else for that matter, although Ulrica the mezzo (really alto) was a bit off-key. Oscar the page--a famous show-off trouser role for a light soprano, that is, a woman playing a man's part because of how the music is set--was fine although some thought his facial contortions made him seem crazed.
A good time was had by all--and in view of their latest losing streak, nobody seemed to miss the Nats.
The opera is delightful mostly because it is classic middle-period Verdi--this means lots of melody. As with a favorite of mine, La Forza del Destino, there also is a continuing theme which we hear at the start of the overture and which repeats itself over and over throughout the opera. The overture, by the way, is fairly brief and not often performed on its own as the wonderful La Forza overture is. Although it is not sung, the theme is persistent and in addition to resembling the destiny motif in La Forza, it also makes me think of Hoffman's repeated singing about his disastrous loves in Les Contes d'Hoffman. This use of motifs is another interesting Verdian practice that leads us straight to the Wagner leitmotifs, most notably, of course, in The Ring.
The plot and libretto of Un Ballo is even wilder and crazier than most opera libretti, which is saying a lot. But there is a reason for the madness. Verdi decided to write an opera about a real historical event that had occurred half a century earlier--the murder of the King of Sweden at a masked ball. The censors in still-Austrian-controlled Italy did not like theatrical presentations about murders of kings. So Verdi and his librettist, Somma, had to shift the story to Puritan Boston--hardly a likely spot for masked balls and other such entertainments. Gustavus the king became Mayor Riccardo of Warwick--the names in Boston were also left in Italian, although I don't think Verdi was familiar with the North End, Boston's still-vibrant Italian section. So the baritone Count Ankarstrom is Renato and Mam'zelle Arvidson, listed on the cast list here as a fortune-teller, became Ulrica the witch in the Boston setting. The conspirators, Count Horn and Count van Wartung, became Samuele and Tommaso, two rather low-grade Sicilian characters (reminiscent of Sparafucile in Rigoletto's introducing himself as "an assassin").
This all confused things quite a lot, although the music and what there is of the triangle plot remain fine. There's a wonderful article called "Death of a Libretto" by Henry W. Simon that explains the whole sorry history. This Washington National Opera production, shared with three other houses, like most today, restores the Swedish court setting. However, the characters still refer to each other as Renato and Ulrica (for some reason, Riccardo is referred to as Gustavo, maybe because he's the king) and the soprano Amelia remains just that, Amelia. The music is lovely--I always enjoy the conspirators' "laughing"chorus, filled by "ha-ha-ha"s much as the courtiers' similarly evil-minded song in Rigoletto is--no wonder Rigoletto then sings the aria "O Vile Race of Courtiers".
The concession stands were open--for once, the Italian sausage seemed an appropriate item to snack on, although vendors did not circulate through the stands, fortunately. But the picture was good, as was the sound, and it was nice to see families picnicking in the outfield--the whole day is called "Opera in the Outfield." The ending, tragic of course, especially since the murderer immediately regrets what he has done, is also silly in the way the Rigoletto ending is: the murdered king manages to sing for quite a while after presumably having been terminated with extreme prejudice.
This struck me as the likely high point of the season, which is filled with rather unusual items such as Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride, not performed all that often, and Richard Strauss's Salome, which is, and Donizetti's Don Pasquale, a comedy that has tended to elude me, although Donizetti's music is almost always worth hearing. This is a big year in opera for Wagner's Ring. The Met opens next Monday with Das Rheingold, first shot in a new Ring production that promises to be more fun and less literal than the Otto Schenck one that has lasted 25 years there. The Met will also have Die Walkure at the end of the season and San Francisco will have a whole Ring at the end of its season, both next spring.
We were supposed to have a Ring here in Washington too, but the economic stringency has postponed that indefinitely. More's the pity. Last year's concert presentation by WNO 0f Wagner's Goetterdaemerung, done twice, was absolutely magnificent, and the critics agreed, including the estimable and demanding Anne Midgette, whom the Washington Post picked up a while back from the New York Times. This Ballo got mediocre reviews, with the writer asking whether WNO will continue to be a first-rank company. I don't think it ever has been, even though Domingo has until now been able to sign up anyone he wanted and has brought good talent in. Now I think even he can't get great singers to show up for the meagre amounts offered.
Salvatore Licitra, the tenor who filled in for Pavarotti's final two Toscas at the Met after Luciano was forced to cancel, was the king and he is a fine tenor who sang beautifully. I liked the baritone and the soprano and everyone else for that matter, although Ulrica the mezzo (really alto) was a bit off-key. Oscar the page--a famous show-off trouser role for a light soprano, that is, a woman playing a man's part because of how the music is set--was fine although some thought his facial contortions made him seem crazed.
A good time was had by all--and in view of their latest losing streak, nobody seemed to miss the Nats.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Parents and Teachers
We just had an election--well, a primary--here in D.C. that had education as one major issue, aside from the usual issue which was whether the incumbent mayor was perceived as black enough for the majority black city. Mayor Fenty was serious about reforming the wildly unperforming and expensive city school system; he named a young woman in her late 30s, Michelle Rhee, as chancellor. Her only real experience was in an administrative post at Teach for America.
She's not been perfect. But she has done a lot and stepped on a lot of toes. Some of them were those of the teachers union here. Nevertheless, she also managed to reach a contract with the union this year. Randi Weingarten, the national AFT president, got involved and probably made Ms. Rhee realize what she still needed to learn about negotiating as Ms. Weingarten is a real pro. She is not a union hack. She is for improved schools and protecting good teachers. As for the local leaders, they seem all right but a few years ago the union leadership went to jail for stealing hundreds of thousands in member funds.
Michelle Rhee definitely did not bother to touch base with some of the local power brokers. She built up good credibility with foundations, secured much grant funding for the DC schools, and has been showing progress in school performance. The Washington Post supports her but did her no favors in reporting on this year's scores. The paper emphasized the increased variance between scores of black and white students. The paper did not bother to note that this occurred as all scores went up, black and white. Yes, white students' scores went up more, but everyone's rose.
Now Fenty has lost the primary and Rhee has become involved more than she should have in politics. It remains to be seen whether the presumptive mayor-elect, Vincent Gray, will follow through on his promises to keep school reform going. He says Fenty and Rhee failed to involve parents and the community.
In my view, parents have the job of providing a good home atmosphere, inculcating a receptivity if not a love of learning, and making sure that students get to school on time every day. Professional educators have not distinguished themselves in running school systems, but what makes anyone think that parents should have a major say? Most parents do not know much about what works in education. But involving parents in major school decisions--more by way of show than for real--has become a totem of our modern school systems, and it is stupid.
The community knows even less. I always liked the iron control the New York Board of Regents had on curricula in the state's schools because you knew that every school system was not going to force its own weird ideas of what was important on students. True, in some states in the South you get creationists and other yo-yos determining curricula, but in New York, the state kept many districts on the mark.
Good school systems make sure that both those who need extra help and those who are gifted and need extra challenges are well served. Rhee made some mistakes. She once goofed bigtime by accusing some of the teachers she was firing of being sex abusers. It turned out she had no basis for this irresponsible and hurtful comment. She is not yet 40. She made mistakes. But on the whole she tried to do what was right and what was needed. In one sense she resembles Rudy Giuliani, who in general is an unpleasant type who deserves little credit just for acting sensibly most of the time after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack. But Giuliani was needed in New York City to clean up the mess that other politicians had been afraid or reluctant to touch. No one needs him now but he was needed when he arrived as mayor.
In the end, D.C. will get the schools it deserves. I do hope Gray isn't just blowing smoke by claiming he's for reform. I saw legions of hacks come and go from the school headquarters over the years. My daughter was in the system for a few years and her school had good teachers and a good principal. They only succeeded by fending off the central headquarters. It would be good if whoever follows Rhee is willing to continue the hard work she began here.
She's not been perfect. But she has done a lot and stepped on a lot of toes. Some of them were those of the teachers union here. Nevertheless, she also managed to reach a contract with the union this year. Randi Weingarten, the national AFT president, got involved and probably made Ms. Rhee realize what she still needed to learn about negotiating as Ms. Weingarten is a real pro. She is not a union hack. She is for improved schools and protecting good teachers. As for the local leaders, they seem all right but a few years ago the union leadership went to jail for stealing hundreds of thousands in member funds.
Michelle Rhee definitely did not bother to touch base with some of the local power brokers. She built up good credibility with foundations, secured much grant funding for the DC schools, and has been showing progress in school performance. The Washington Post supports her but did her no favors in reporting on this year's scores. The paper emphasized the increased variance between scores of black and white students. The paper did not bother to note that this occurred as all scores went up, black and white. Yes, white students' scores went up more, but everyone's rose.
Now Fenty has lost the primary and Rhee has become involved more than she should have in politics. It remains to be seen whether the presumptive mayor-elect, Vincent Gray, will follow through on his promises to keep school reform going. He says Fenty and Rhee failed to involve parents and the community.
In my view, parents have the job of providing a good home atmosphere, inculcating a receptivity if not a love of learning, and making sure that students get to school on time every day. Professional educators have not distinguished themselves in running school systems, but what makes anyone think that parents should have a major say? Most parents do not know much about what works in education. But involving parents in major school decisions--more by way of show than for real--has become a totem of our modern school systems, and it is stupid.
The community knows even less. I always liked the iron control the New York Board of Regents had on curricula in the state's schools because you knew that every school system was not going to force its own weird ideas of what was important on students. True, in some states in the South you get creationists and other yo-yos determining curricula, but in New York, the state kept many districts on the mark.
Good school systems make sure that both those who need extra help and those who are gifted and need extra challenges are well served. Rhee made some mistakes. She once goofed bigtime by accusing some of the teachers she was firing of being sex abusers. It turned out she had no basis for this irresponsible and hurtful comment. She is not yet 40. She made mistakes. But on the whole she tried to do what was right and what was needed. In one sense she resembles Rudy Giuliani, who in general is an unpleasant type who deserves little credit just for acting sensibly most of the time after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack. But Giuliani was needed in New York City to clean up the mess that other politicians had been afraid or reluctant to touch. No one needs him now but he was needed when he arrived as mayor.
In the end, D.C. will get the schools it deserves. I do hope Gray isn't just blowing smoke by claiming he's for reform. I saw legions of hacks come and go from the school headquarters over the years. My daughter was in the system for a few years and her school had good teachers and a good principal. They only succeeded by fending off the central headquarters. It would be good if whoever follows Rhee is willing to continue the hard work she began here.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Elephants at Aida
I saw a very enjoyable performance of Aida here in San Francisco earlier this evening. It of course is the opera most performed by the Met and the "A" opera of the Aida-Boheme-Carmen A-B-Cs, but to me, every production of Verdi's Egyptian fantasy is an experience. First, it's the only real grand opera in the standard repertory--the others that fit that label are relatively rarely performed, such as Meyerbeer's L'Africaine or Les Huguenots. Second, most of the opera moves smoothly from melody to melody, in the finest Verdi tradition. Third, singers can sound good without making you think they are the best you ever heard in the role. As it happens I heard and saw Leontyne Price in the title role, and Corelli and I think Domingo as Radames.
The baritone, Marco Vratogna, was a good Amonasro, but I'm a sucker for good Verdi baritones, even though I did see Leonard Warren onstage in his prime, and not the night he died (for real) on the Met stage. This Italian baritone has sung at a lot of major places, like La Fenice, Scala, and Vienna, and yes, for the Opera Company of Philadelphia, but not yet at the Met or Washington. I'm not sure what they're waiting for--he has a beautiful tone.
I've not yet mentioned the highlight of the evening, however, which was Zandra Rhodes's costumes and sets. They were almost extreme--or as my friend Noah put it, "very San Francisco." Lots of turquoise and interesting non-geometric shapes and a wonderful "repesentation" of an elephant during the triumphal march. Did you know that in the 30s, the Met used to bring in elephants from the zoo for the march. My mother said she was in the audience once when they did that.
The production was directed by a British director, Jo Davies, who also had a few tricks up her sleeve. She ran the march in fits and starts--a switch from the steady progression in most productions where sometimes the small complement of extras moves so fast that you see them coming around a second or third time. And at one point, she has the King and Amneris facing the back of the stage from the front so everyone else approaches their review facing front. I said that the Aida, Micaela Carosi, and the Radames, Marcello Giordani, were excellent, but although her voice was all right, I couldn't get over regarding Dolores Zajick, the well-traveled Amneris, as a top-like looking figure in her massive headgear and short stature. She was hard to take seriously and that apparently mattered a lot to Verdi, who was once quoted as saying that the Amneris role is key to the whole opera. The priests all wore conical skirts or cassocks or whatever but she was the one you felt like spinning.
Not that I'm taking on the Maestro of Maestros, but I beg to differ. She moves around the stage a lot but has no great singing to do. Even the King--a classic comprimaro role--has more, I think. Some friends of my family used to know a Met comprimaro named Edmund Karlsrud whose biggest role there was the King in Aida, and he made a big deal about being a Met regular. A Chinese bass sang the role of Ramfis, the High Priest, and he was quite good, nice strong sound.
Carosi and Vratogna--Aida and her father, Amonasro--were convincing in those always difficult Verdian father-daughter duos--such as Rigoletto and Gilda. Their Nile Scene duet wasn't as stirring as the one that ends Act 3 (or more often, it's done as Act 2 these days) of Rigoletto, which may be my favorite duet in opera (the classic recording has Sutherland and Sherrill Milnes). I wasn't surprised to learn that with Davies and Rhodes putting it together, the production debuted at the English National Opera in London and then was at Houston, where the San Fran general director, David Gockley, previously ran things.
This was opening night and since your reporter nabbed what seemed (online) to be the last seat in the lovely War Memorial Opera House, I didn't bring my black tie, of which there were plenty in attendance, even a few white ties. San Francisco is that kind of place. I never went to the Met on Monday nights, which was once society night. In Washington, Monday is the opposite, with an early curtain for those who needed to get home sooner to care for their families. There were also a lot of private parties and the inevitable white stretch limos waiting outside on Van Ness Avenue across from City Hall. And the nice lady sitting next to me way upstairs struck up a conversation by saying how much she liked the figurative elephant. I couldn't have agreed more, and said so.
The baritone, Marco Vratogna, was a good Amonasro, but I'm a sucker for good Verdi baritones, even though I did see Leonard Warren onstage in his prime, and not the night he died (for real) on the Met stage. This Italian baritone has sung at a lot of major places, like La Fenice, Scala, and Vienna, and yes, for the Opera Company of Philadelphia, but not yet at the Met or Washington. I'm not sure what they're waiting for--he has a beautiful tone.
I've not yet mentioned the highlight of the evening, however, which was Zandra Rhodes's costumes and sets. They were almost extreme--or as my friend Noah put it, "very San Francisco." Lots of turquoise and interesting non-geometric shapes and a wonderful "repesentation" of an elephant during the triumphal march. Did you know that in the 30s, the Met used to bring in elephants from the zoo for the march. My mother said she was in the audience once when they did that.
The production was directed by a British director, Jo Davies, who also had a few tricks up her sleeve. She ran the march in fits and starts--a switch from the steady progression in most productions where sometimes the small complement of extras moves so fast that you see them coming around a second or third time. And at one point, she has the King and Amneris facing the back of the stage from the front so everyone else approaches their review facing front. I said that the Aida, Micaela Carosi, and the Radames, Marcello Giordani, were excellent, but although her voice was all right, I couldn't get over regarding Dolores Zajick, the well-traveled Amneris, as a top-like looking figure in her massive headgear and short stature. She was hard to take seriously and that apparently mattered a lot to Verdi, who was once quoted as saying that the Amneris role is key to the whole opera. The priests all wore conical skirts or cassocks or whatever but she was the one you felt like spinning.
Not that I'm taking on the Maestro of Maestros, but I beg to differ. She moves around the stage a lot but has no great singing to do. Even the King--a classic comprimaro role--has more, I think. Some friends of my family used to know a Met comprimaro named Edmund Karlsrud whose biggest role there was the King in Aida, and he made a big deal about being a Met regular. A Chinese bass sang the role of Ramfis, the High Priest, and he was quite good, nice strong sound.
Carosi and Vratogna--Aida and her father, Amonasro--were convincing in those always difficult Verdian father-daughter duos--such as Rigoletto and Gilda. Their Nile Scene duet wasn't as stirring as the one that ends Act 3 (or more often, it's done as Act 2 these days) of Rigoletto, which may be my favorite duet in opera (the classic recording has Sutherland and Sherrill Milnes). I wasn't surprised to learn that with Davies and Rhodes putting it together, the production debuted at the English National Opera in London and then was at Houston, where the San Fran general director, David Gockley, previously ran things.
This was opening night and since your reporter nabbed what seemed (online) to be the last seat in the lovely War Memorial Opera House, I didn't bring my black tie, of which there were plenty in attendance, even a few white ties. San Francisco is that kind of place. I never went to the Met on Monday nights, which was once society night. In Washington, Monday is the opposite, with an early curtain for those who needed to get home sooner to care for their families. There were also a lot of private parties and the inevitable white stretch limos waiting outside on Van Ness Avenue across from City Hall. And the nice lady sitting next to me way upstairs struck up a conversation by saying how much she liked the figurative elephant. I couldn't have agreed more, and said so.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Almost at Labor Day
Where did the summer go? Here I am in the upper Hudson Valley, having enjoyed driving through Cold Spring and Fishkill and Rhinebeck and Red Hook yesterday and perhaps venturing over to the Columbia County Fair today (Dutchess County Fair ended Sunday). Not quite the desire to press upstate to the great NY State Fair at Syracuse or even the last day or two of flat racing at the Spa. Somehow managed to get on the beach this week at Quogue, which was terrific despite the powerful undertow generated by one incipient hurricane or another.
Friends have been nice enough to host us on these stops and we observe Poor Richard's limit of three days. There have also been a succession of weddings, family and friends both, and a quick trip or two for each of us--even a three-dayer last week to Huntsville, Alabama, which was a court assessment.
There's a wonderful feeling of late August, just before the start of what the late Alistair Cooke called the real American New Year. Wildflowers are still in full bloom but there's a tree or two already turning on the Taconic. I've managed to not lose control totally, thanks in part to all the seafood that still dominates menus in coastal places this time of year. And last week we made it down to Cantler's near Annapolis for crabs for the first time this season.
My rhapsody gets going in foolish directions, such as my continuing enchantment with driving two-lane New York country roads, marked or unmarked. Little things bring me out of the reverie -- like seeing the profile picture of FDR as you enter Hyde Park and notice that the outline shot includes the cigarette holder censored at the FDR Memorial in DC.
As always, it somehow remains an effort for the two of us to break away for a few days. There's always something hanging over our heads to be finished. Yet if I didn't get back to some of these favorite places--the ocean, the crab joints on the rivers or creeks or inlets near Annapolis, the New York countryside--I'd feel that I'd missed the whole summer.
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