Ronnie

El and I spent yesterday at the Ronald Reagan Library in nearby Simi Valley.  I've been there before, but had forgotten how incredibly weird and truly bizarre it is.  You'd swear you were in some cockamamie cathedral dedicated the epitome of moral rectitude, the source of all life, the Savior, the King of Kings--in other words, God.
Here are words, pictures, and videos designed with great care to record even the mundane doings of the greatest personage who ever strode the earth.  At the same time, the shrine emphasizes the joys of the conservative--oh, and by the way, Republican--way of life, and, by misdirection, demonizes those anti-American losers, liberals and Democrats. Visitors are made to understand that the U.S. of A. was an over-taxed, poverty-ridden, crime-plagued cesspool of the modern world until Ronnie was elected and waved his magic wand to raise up the downtrodden billionaires and create Paradise. 
I understand that Nancy Reagan (the second wife, don't forget that) helped design, or at least, had final say on the museum.  It's amusing that in all those thousands of words and pictures, one small photo--placed below waist level in an easily overlooked glass-fronted alcove--shows the first Mr. and Mrs. Reagan.  Yes, the Anointed One had goofed early in his movie career by falling for a cute little brunette named Jane Wyman, a star in her own right.  In fact, he was married to her for eight years and they had two children. 
But what saintly personage hasn't sinned, then been made whole by divine intervention--or something?  A year after Ronnie's divorce--well, we're told he wasn't still hitched--Nancy and he made contact and the rest is heart-warming history.  There's a section here dedicated to the Second, Forever In His Heart, Wife, which includes some of her ball gowns and formal portraits, as well as gushing, worshipful praise that challenges even the God-King's.
There was a temporary exhibit on Lincoln, though.  We enjoyed it, but I was taken aback to realize it included a fair number of artifacts from the recent movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis, as well as clips of him as Abe.  Hey, this is Hollyfroth, and the fact that a dress displayed was warn by Sally Field, not Mary Lincoln, should be of no concern.
Notwithstanding all of the above, we had a neat time, as we always do on our excursions.  The weather was perfect, the company congenial, and the "library" (I didn't see any books and nowhere was it mentioned that Ronnie could read) was in one of those gorgeous, high-in-the-hills settings that only California seems able to pull off.
Stopped at Applebee's for dinner and we both enjoyed a Margarita beforehand.  Home, El went over to the pool (at nine o'clock at night!), while I vegged out and watched a LPBW re-run.