John and I met Carol at 7:30 at the Athenaeum Hotel. It’s too early for the bus and a bit of a hike for John, particularly given the gray and dripy weather, so I drove down and valet parked the car. It’s Carol’s 67th birthday and we’re having the buffet breakfast here. As you’ve probably figured out, I’m 3 days older than her. We really haven’t had a chance to visit during our stay, so we thought eating crème brulee oatmeal at the Athenaeum would be a good thing to do together. Last year when we stayed at the Athenaeum for a week, I took her a take-out carton of the oatmeal every morning and left it in the refrigerator at the Cambridge for her. It’s a wonderful dish. They hand out the recipe and I received a camping cooking award from John’s family when I made it for breakfast on one of our week-end campouts.
We parted ways at 9:00. She is working the rest of the week and heads home (St. Paul, Minnesota) on Saturday so we probably won’t have any more time together this year.
I drove John home, picked up my computer and walked back to the library to do a bit of blogging before the 10:45 lecture in the amp. It was pouring about 10 a.m. and John decided it was too cold for him to come down. He’s staying home with the heat.
The theme this week is “The Supreme Court.” I’ve saw Sandra Day O’Connor twice this past week-end. She is speaking on Wednesday night. Her husband was a waiter at the Athenaeum when he was in college so she is very familiar with Chautauqua. I saw her last summer when Justice Kennedy came to speak. But, back to this morning. The speaker was Elizabeth Magill, a professor at the University of Virginia Law School and a former clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Her topic was “An introduction to the U.S. Supreme Court.” Her talk focused on the origins and history of the court. She traced how it has changed over the centuries, both in numbers (it originally was 6) and responsibilities (for 100 years they had to do circuit riding across the U.S.).
The speaker in the Hall of Philosophy at 2 p.m. was supposed to be Michael Klarman, a Harvard Law School professor who specializes in the relationship between racial equality and the Supreme Court. The theme of these afternoon lecture is “The Supreme Court: Issues of Justice and Personal Rights.” Unfortunately, his flight last night was canceled, he drove to Hartford, Connecticut to get a morning flight and it was canceled, too. What to do? Elizabeth Magill, who was a student of Mr. Klarman’s, volunteered to step in with an hour’s notice. She did a fine job chronicling how by compromise, slavery was permitted under the original Constitution through the recent affirmative action decisions by the Court.
John came to the 2 p.m., but sat in the Hall of Christ to watch it on closed circuit TV. It was warm and dry in there. I sat outside, under the roof, in the Hall of Philosophy with lots of layers of clothing. I had tried to save him a seat when I got there at 1:15. There were so many people coming we were reminded that saving seats was a “no no” so I gave his seat up. It worked out better for him anyway. When the Q and A was finished, we walked to Tasty Acre and had beef on weck again. The cook must have heard my complaint about the lack of bite in the horseradish the last time. This time my eyes were watering and I was trying to catch my breath. We were the only people in there and he must have heard me since he came out of the kitchen with a tall glass of ice water for me.
It’s still gray and cold so we decided to stay inside until we go to the movies at 6:15. John spent some time making reservations at campgrounds for the rest of the trip home. I picked a route, he found the campgrounds. We’ll visit friends, one Civil War battlefield, one Presidential Library and two state capitols on the way home.
Movie was “Solitary Man” with Michael Douglas. Pretty good.
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