A Fabulous Wonderful Day with Nancy Holzner

I took a rare day off for fun yesterday, and went to see Madame Butterfly at the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown with writer pal Nancy Holzner (a fellow Berkley writer, and author of the terrific Deadtown series). Nancy lives in Ithaca, almost two hours away, so we only get together a couple of times a year. You might remember that earlier this year we went to the Butterfly Conservatory...so I guess we have a butterfly theme going this year!

Nancy is a huge opera buff, and we went to the renowned Glimmerglass Opera near me a couple of years ago. We had such a good time, we decided to repeat the experience. And I am so glad we did.

Yesterday was one of those fabulous wonderful days that don't come along very often, and shine in your memory like a star. The weather was pretty much perfect,  a tad warm, but hey, it's summer. We enjoyed a lovely meal at Glimmerglass before our matinee, and then the opera itself was really terrific. And we got to catch up, and also spend lots of time talking writing, which is always a treat all by itself.

I didn't get any writing done yesterday (or anything else, really), but I did recharge my batteries by taking the break, and the fabulous wonderful day was a joy beyond measuring in hours. Thanks, Nancy!

The view from our lunch table

The view from our seats

The opera house

We're already making plans to go back next year, when they will be presenting Verdi's MacBeth.

Did you do anything fabulous and wonderful this summer?

A Day at the Opera

I went to the opera today.

It was pretty damned cool.

Mind you, I have very wide and eclectic tastes in music, thanks primarily to my parents who also had wide and eclectic tastes in music, and went out of their way to expose their children to everything from classical, to jazz, to folk, to rock and roll. [Side note: Dad, you still have my Santana album...] But I don't really go out of my way to listen to opera much these days.

Still, a few months ago, when my writer pal Nancy Holzner (who is a huge opera fan) suggested that we go to see Aida at the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, I responded with an enthusiastic, YOU BET! For one thing, I really enjoy Nancy's company, and since we live about 2 hours away from each other, I rarely get to see her. For another, I am working hard at getting out of my work/write/garden/chores rinse and repeat rut, and this seemed like a perfect excuse for a day out.

And you know what? It was! We had a lovely day; the weather cooperated (which was questionable), the food was good, the company was great--we got to catch up on each other's lives and talk writing, writing, and a little more writing--and the opera itself was just fantastic. The singers who played Aida (Michelle Johnson) and Amonasro, Aida's father (Eric Owens) were simply stellar, and overall the production was terrific, although we both agreed that a few of the modern touches were a little jarring.

Still, a terrific day out, as you can clearly see:

It helps that the setting is so lovely. The elephants, a nod to the occasionally over-the-top productions of Aida, are the work of a local artist and being used as a fundraiser.

Big thanks to Nancy for coming up with such a great idea, and for spending such a great day with me! (And signing my copy of her latest book while she was here...)

What have you all done recently to get out of your usual "same old same old" rut?

And did you notice that the blog is almost at 40 THOUSAND PAGE VIEWS??? Holy crap! I'll have to do something to celebrate when we hit the big 40K!