Stagecoach Inn And Venus

A fun day. After the usual Kimball, breakfast, and crossword, Suzanne stopped over to ask if I'd like to go to Newbury Park (about twenty miles away). At the Stagecoach Museum, they were having a "living history" performance. Local residents were to portray historic figures, including the actor Joel McCrae, who had once owned a home here. Absolutely, I responded, and we left about 12:30. However, when we got there--Newbury Park is lovely and I surmise is a very affluent area--we were told the performance wasn't until 4:30. Damn, Suzanne had sent me a newspaper article on it, then she had looked on the web site, and neither had listed the time. Since the museum opened at 1:00, we assumed we should go then.
So we missed the performance, but we took the tour and that was absorbing. It seems the inn was first a stagecoach stop, then a hotel, then a private residence. We were taken aback to learn it had burnt to the ground in 1970 and that this was a replica (luckily, the construction plans were available). Anyway, it was a good tour and the artifacts were great. One room was devoted to Victrolas, of which there were at least fifty; they had been in the possession of a collector, who left them to the museum. Another room was devoted to "hair art" and displayed a great number of such strange works, including a picture frame made of beard hair--aagh!
This Is just the kind of thing I like. There's lots of California history in this area, although it's much more recent than what you see on the east coast. We were taken on the tour by a docent who had been doing this for fourteen years. Driving home, we had a good talk about books. Suzanne is reading The Birth of Venus, which is an "historical novel" and not my preference. I was surprised to learn she had never heard of the painting by that name (Botticelli); sent her it later.
We were home by 3:30 and I immediately changed and took off for town for my usual. Took John Hersey's Hiroshima out and will steel myself to read it again.