Recent Weekends

Two recent weekend fragments.

Labor Day Weekend: Stayed with friends in upstate NY finger lake district near Syracuse. The last time we were there, lots of things were closed because of COVID. So to make up for it, I wanted to see what we had missed. 

Harriet Tubman's house
in Auburn, NY

Auburn, NY: Harriet Tubman's House. Our guide spoke for an hour on Harriet's life, explaining the movie was 75 percent accurate. Then we saw the actual house, but did not go inside because there was nothing in it. However, a second house on the property where Harriet ran a home for elderly people was resorted with furnishings of the era so we could go in.

The next day, I drove to Seneca Falls and visited the It's a Wonderful Life Museum. I loved all the artifacts from the film and bought a Clarence the Angel Christmas tree ornament. As noted in a previous blog, Seneca Falls is thought to be the inspiration for the beloved holiday classic. Frank Capra spent time there and may have heard the true story of an immigrant who jumped off the town bridge to save a woman from suicide by drowning--just as George Bailey saves Clarence the Angel. 

At the It's a Wonderful Life Museum
in Seneca Falls, NY

Seneca Falls is also home to the Women's Rights National Park where the first Women's Rights Convention took place in 1848. There is also the new Women's Hall of Fame and several statues of leading figures in the fight for women's suffrage including Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Tubman.

Amelia Bloomer (center) introduces
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
in Seneca Falls, NY.

The beautiful County Theater
in Doylestown, PA

Yom Kippur Weekend: Stayed at the Holiday Inn while visiting friends in Quakertown, PA. Almost didn't come because of Tropical Storm Ophelia, but we had a nice time. Since it was raining all day Saturday, we drove to nearby Doylestown and went to a 1PM screening of Golda with Helen Mirren, a prime Oscar candidate for Best Actress because of the heavy make-up job plus she was intense and moving. (Ironic that the film chronicles the Yom Kippur War of 1973 and we saw it on the eve of Yom Kippur.) The theater was a gorgeously refurbished gem called the County Theater with five intimate screening rooms. They show old movies as well as National Theater simulcasts. We had time to kill before our dinner reservations so we strolled the rainy streets of Doylestown, a quaint place I barely remember from my childhood in nearby Norristown. As in all these little villages, there was a used book store. I knew I would find one if I looked hard enough. There was not only one--but two in the same old building, existing side by side--The Bucks County Bookstore and Central Books. Between the two, I bought four hardbacks for less than $25. A show-biz tome on the romance between Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh, two books on the Trump administration so I can wallow in his evilness, and yet another Vonnegut collection. (Reviews will be posted as I read them.)

We also drove through Dublin, PA, where the Pearl Buck House is located. I will have to visit there next time. When we got back to our friends' house all the power was out due to the storm. We sat in the dark and talked and read until it was time for our dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant.

2023 Potential Oscar Nominated Films Seen So Far

Oppenheimer (34th Street AMC)

Barbie (Regal Union Square)

Asteroid City (Angelika)

Golda (County Theater, Doylestown, PA)

Camille Cotton and Helen Mirren in Golda
Credit: Sean Gleason/Bleecker Street