Christmas 2020
Barb: We’re running late but finally got our exterior Christmas decorating done. We had a string of lighted snowflakes that I loved but they died. Actually, they were so tacky even Walmart doesn’t carry them, so we bought some icicle type thingies. More tasteful but less fun. Also had to find a replacement for the Santa on a Ladder. I thought it would be amusing but Santa looked like we lynched him over the porch. Not a good idea for this PC age. I finally found a copy of our old Santa light on Amazon. Cost too much but at least our house doesn’t look like Klan headquarters.
The pandemic stopped our usual activities. No theater, no symphony, can’t go out to eat, can’t travel. Our May Baltic cruise got postponed, all the family and class reunions were cancelled, so we have airfare credits up the wazoo. We’ll use them eventually, but we’re bored. And twitchy. The guvmint tried shutting down the parks so Angeleno’s would be well and truly trapped but we know all the back trails; we took our hikes anyway. We went on a trip in September just to get out of the house—and California. We flew into Denver and stayed at the Brown Palace which is situated in the middle of the city. It was strange going from the 19th century grandeur of the Palace to the surrounding skyscrapers. After dinner and a tour to read about the history of the hotel we went to bed early because there wasn’t anything else to do.
Next day we started early for Wyoming. We had to schlep our suitcases to the parking garage a block away. We thought we’d gotten such a good deal on the hotel, but management made up for that by charging $50 to park. Also got dinged for Wi-Fi. Hampton Inn lets you have it for free. I guess rich people don’t think about this stuff but a schlub like me notices. Anyway, back to Wyoming. I’d forgotten about wide open spaces. It was refreshing after being cooped up in Los Angeles. We stopped to look at the dinosaur exhibits and get info. A lovely little old lady—I should be careful; she was probably my age—told us the best place to eat was at an historic hotel in Cheyenne. I’d been to Cheyenne once 45 years ago during the Frontier Days rodeo. My only memory was getting into a brawl at the Mayflower Bar when a drunk cowboy grabbed me. I went screeching up one side of him and down the other. I think I scared him. Turns out it’s a lovely little town. The referred restaurant was crappy but picturesque. We toured the train depot which houses a museum, a portion of which is dedicated to frontier women. They’re proud that Wyoming was the first state to grant women suffrage. Must have been a bunch of tough women. You’ d have to be to be a pioneer. Gordon found a park with a HUGE train engine, so he was in hog heaven. Then we drove four hours to Devil’s Tower. It’s impressive but we reacted the same way we did to the Grand Canyon. We gazed in awe for five minutes then looked at each other and said, “That was nice. What’s next?” We have short attention spans. We got to Spearfish in two hours, had dinner, and died. It had been a long day.
Next day we relived my youth. We toured Mt. Rushmore and I showed Gordon the back ways where the employee dorms were. We visited the Crazy Horse Monument, and I confessed how we’d sneak up the back way and drink beer in Crazy Horse’s armpit. The Park Rangers would chase us off, and we’d giggle at the “Tree Pigs” as we ran. I’m surprised I got through my youth without an arrest record. Chalk it up to SoDak forbearance. I was delighted at all the wildlife we saw from Needles Highway; buffalo, antelope, deer, big-horn sheep, chipmunks…all the critters I didn’t see in Alaska last year. I was surprised at the traffic. I thought everybody would be home because school was in session. Oh, that’s right—no school. And South Dakota was one of the few places still open for business, so tourists flocked. We wore our masks when requested but other than that we weren’t inconvenienced. And the businesses weren’t going broke.
We visited an old friend in Rapid City (band buddy of Gordon’s, theater buddy of mine) then drove across the state enjoying the public art. We stopped at Chamberlin to get a picture of Dignity and tour the Lewis & Clark museum, then drove to Mitchell to see the Corn Palace. We finally ended up in Brookings where we relived our college days and did a tombstone tour to say “hi” to the relatives. We spent a day in Sioux Falls looking at art and visiting old friends before flying out of Omaha. And we’ve been trapped in our house ever since. We managed to enjoy outdoor dining at favorite restaurants for our anniversary and birthdays, but it’s been quiet. Baseball season is over (the Dodgers won! Yay!) and there’s nothing I like on TV except Masterpiece Theater. I hate most of what I’ve seen on Spectrum and Amazon Prime. I’m ready for this pandemic to be over.
One good thing: I won a National Indie Excellence Award for my second novel, Marianne Moves On. That’ll be great for advertising if I can ever figure out how to do that. I took a class but it’s a discouraging process. Lots of books out there—but I’ve got a gold star! Hope that’s worth something.
The cats are fine. George is fat and 15 but he still manages to keep the critters out of the house. He stopped a coyote who was sniffing at the cat door last night. Good George! He’s like Horatio at the bridge. Grace is 4 and as slim as George is fat. She was brave after the fight. She fluffed up and snarled even though the coyote was gone. She brings in birds, mice, and lizards then lets them go. It’s Gordon’s job to evict the critters. We have an oven mitt dedicated for that purpose.
As usual, I’m in Gordon’s space so I’ll close and have a glass of wine. Maybe that’ll cheer me up. Couldn’t hoit. Have a Happy and a Merry and a ho ho ho.
Gordon: The holidays have been coming and going almost unnoticed, except for all the wonderful things coming out of Barb’s kitchen. With no gotta-do jobs in the pipeline, my LA Conservancy tours shut down and LA on lockdown (again, again – make up your minds, folks), the days tend to blend into one another. Hope I haven’t missed too many Zoom meetings because I forgot to check my calendar in the morning.
I’ve discovered that I’m not an 8-hour sleeper – my circadian rhythms knock me for a loop at about 2 pm for an hour or so, and I’m missing lots of prime-time shows as I go out from 9- 11 pm. Then I’m up for a few hours, sleep about 4, and wake up in time to do my daily walks in the dark around 4 am. Which means I have Elysian Park to myself, aside from the assorted skunk or coyote, and I can carry a mask in case I see anyone within 100 feet. Most mornings, I don’t need it.
Barb’s already covered our one trip, and aside from that, we haven’t done much except look at each other and complain about being bored. We did do a couple of whale watching trips on days when it hit 100 degrees, just to get out of the heat. So far, we’ve seen lots of dolphins and sea lions, but after four trips we still haven’t seen a real whale.
Christmas is looking a lot like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and our birthdays – we’ll eat too much, most of it cooked by Barb or picked up and eaten here. We’re old enough that it’s hard to buy presents that surprise the other, so aside from decorating the tree with all the souvenir ornaments we’ve picked up on our travels and hanging the lights on the house to cheer the neighbors up, we just put the Amazon booty under the tree and don’t bother to wrap it. Not wasting all that wrapping paper sort of offsets the recycling needed for the Amazon boxes, I think…
Our Ocean Cruise is now scheduled for May 2021, and various other reunions/family get-togethers and other functions will probably surface next year, so we can look forward to a vaccinated and (hopefully) reopened year. We hope your year has been healthy, and remind you that this too shall pass. Best wishes for 2021, and keep the faith.
