DIARY2

May 28. Back from the Prague-Berlin boat tour. Very enjoyable except for the security delays at the airports. They took away Marian's nail file. I told her that they recognized her homicidal maniacial tendencies. Was rewarded with a nasty look. Highpoints of the trip: the new Berlin, with its glass-topped Reichstag, rebuilt East Berlin, and a host of new museums; Luther's town, Wittenberg, where he taught and nailed 39 theses on the door of the church. The church and the living quarters have been meticulously preserved.
June 6. Senior Recital of Nanette O'Brien at the Princeton Day School in Princeton. Beautiful rendition of the Mendelssohn's First Concerto by Nanette, violinist, and Izumi Fujimori, on the piano. A great performance by a girl just graduating from high school. Something to remember long after forgetting polished performances by professionals. The school, in a wooded area of northwest Princeton township, is a gorgeous, beautifully preserved campus. What it must cost to attend this ideal private school!
June 16. MADAME BUTTERFLY at the Sheep Meadow in Central Park. Poor sound system (we couldn't hear parts of the orchestra; the tenor sounded strangled) and noisy neighbors drove us away at the intermission. So different from last year. Must remember next year to park in front of one of the loudspeakers.
Aug 1. Back from the Moscow-St Pete run. Good points: This Princeton trip was the mateyist tour ever. The Princeton grads got along well with everybody. Little groaning and griping. Great lectures from Marian on Russian Art and from Jack Matlock on Russo-American politics in the last days of the Soviet Union; the fantastic architecture of the wooden structures on the Island of Kizhy. The most bizarre church had 22 cupolas, as shown on the tour page. Astonished and surprised by the development of Moscow. It is now a gleaming, shining western city, complete with horrendous traffic jams. The bad points: very little space in the cabins; some of our items had to be stowed under the bed.
Aug 5. Down to see Dave Colon at Lawrenceville Car Care to replace the right front headlamp and the hood of the Honda, damaged by M. Came to $630, which is about half what Honda would charge. At the moment the hood is black. Should I have it painted red? Breakfast at the diner across the road, scrambled eggs and toast for only $1.90, even cheaper than Minersville.
AUG 13-15. SHOSTAKOVICH at Bard. Delightful weekend of music by S. and the composers around him at Bard, a beautiful college in Annandale, about 90 miles north of NYC along the Hudson. Accomodations were sparse, so we stayed in the Golden Manor Motel in Hyde Park, across the street from the FDR house. Motel, run by a Chinese family, was 25 miles south of Bard, but was clean, comfortable, and had a working pool. The festival music, principally from the Soviet period was not especially gripping until the last evening, when we heard the Trio by Khachaturian and the Cello Sonata by S., both of which awakened us from our stupor. The works brought the house (half empty by this time) down.
Oct 2. Marian gave a slide lecture on Irish Art at the home of Lavina Hall and Charles Heckscher (grandson of the man who owned the Heckscherville Colliery) on Elm Rd as part of a fund raiser for the Princeton Arts Council. A Malaysan dinner followed by an auction at the Princeton Airport, with music, flashing lights, chatter, desert and champagne -- in the hangar!
Oct. 23. Ready to set out for Newark Airport to meet my old student John C, who is applying for a job in finance in Morristown, but he cancelled out. So I hurried into NY to attend the Antique Dealers Show at the Armory. A fun place. Scads of toys for wealthy adults. Met Michael W, who was operating his show of beauties from the past, including an elegant Cycladic figure, a Corinthian helmet, and an alabaster vase. Their daughter has just published a book, Outside Valentine, a semi-fictional account of the murder of her grandmother and grandfather in Kansas.
Nov 3. Finished painting the garage, with a Zinsser Primer Sealer undercoat from Ace Hardware and a 15-year (hah!) Weatherbeater semi-gloss House and Trim overcoat from Sears. #35015. Suspect that this is the last time I do this. Found that the best paint stripper is a screwdriver! Best way to strip paint? I asked friends. (use high pressure spray, use a belt sander, use chemicals) All have their downsides: you can easily ruin the wood or your lungs, according to the Sears paint label, which also warns of cancer). The screwdriver looks better and better!
Dec 22. The Honda started throwing oil at the Princeton Shopping Center. Took it to the Amoco station there. Final diagnosis: blown oil seals. Final costs: $985! New seals, new waterpump, new timing belt and $595 in labor. Probably what Honda charges. Hope they knew what they were doing.