1) Mercy goodness, it’s almost 1 PM! We stayed up late last night to watch SNL after an evening that started with al fresco cocktails around a bonfire followed by The Damned Don’t Cry and then pork tenderloin and stuffed mushrooms over rice. I must say I slept fitfully, but could not stay in bed past 8 AM. This morning included the tradition of the house, CBS Sunday Morning, and early episodes of a series from 1999 called The Aristocrats (fabulous) while I worked on my column (which I just published, thank God).
2) Yesterday saw the perhaps ironic alignment of the death of President George H.W. Bush on World AIDS Day. Probably the most poignant observation came from Twitter, where someone tweeted that prominent AIDS activist Larry Kramer had survived both Ronald Reagan and George Bush. Reading his obituary in the Times, I observed how much one can forget about a person. I had not at all remembered that Bush 41 had signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law. Nor had I remembered, as a friend pointed out, that he had also signed the order banning HIV+ people from entering the United States.
3) The week to come is going to be an intensely busy one, and I am trying not to dread it as I enjoy the second half of this gray day at the lake. In the words of the late Belle Poitrine, famous star of stage, screen and television, “The answer to the challenge is always ‘Yes!’”
The beginning of our cocktail bonfire.