"A Christmas Carol"

December 13, 2014 — If you've become jaded by Christmas as I have (I think it's age-related), I recommend finding a performance of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" somewhere nearby. It's not hard to find at this time of year. One such performance is being staged by the Northern Essex Community College Department of Performing Arts at the college's Haverhill, Massachusetts campus. Directed by Jim Murphy, who also plays the part of Ebenezer Scrooge, this timeless, heart-warming story revived my Christmas spirit, at least for an afternoon.

Along with Murphy, who plays a great Scrooge, are John Budzyna as Jacob Marley, sufficiently frightening in his grave-clothes and rattling chains, and J. Mark Morrison as Bob Cratchitt. The large supporting cast of college faculty and students, along with several children, were all excellent. Designer Susan Sanders' set was simple and effective, facilitating frequent changes in furnishings for the many different settings the play requires. Music director Alisa Bucchiere's carolers moved the play along with their renditions of carols and madrigals from the 19th Century.

It was an afternoon well-spent. I congratulate all who participated in this well-done, audience-pleasing presentation.

Thanksgiving

November 27, 2014 — It was touch and go as to whether I'd be able to make the 90-mile drive to spend Thanksgiving day with my South Shore relatives. An early snowstorm covered everything with heavy wet snow on Wednesday, continuing overnight until the early hours of Thanksgiving morning. With the temperature hovering around the freezing mark, the snow had a high water content. I shoveled out once Wednesday evening and felt like I was picking up shovels full of wet cement. Thursday morning I had to shovel again when a few additional inches fell overnight. We ended up with a total of eight inches.

I headed out around noontime in a true winter wonderland. Trees were thickly coated with snow, beautiful but treacherous. Limbs were down everywhere. I later learned 200,000 in New Hampshire had lost power. Fortunately, I was not among them this time. As I drove south, the snow disappeared, and from Boston southward there was no snow at all.

We had a great get-together and mountains of food at Sean's first Thanksgiving dinner in his new house. I quickly forgot the cold and snow of the north in the warmth of family, friends and food. It was a memorable day, chaotic but it was organized chaos.

When I returned home Thanksgiving evening, light snow was falling again. A couple more inches fell overnight. On this, the evening after Thanksgiving, the temperature is falling rapidly, currently in the teens, and the forecast is for single numbers in some areas. Power has been restored to about half of those who lost it, but 100,000 are still waiting. Crews from several states and Canada are joining the restoration effort. Is this an indication of how the entire winter is going to be? I sure hope not!

Photos and a couple of videos of our Thanksgiving at this link:

http://www.linwoodstreet.com/thanksgiving14/

"Family Secrets"

July 1, 2014 — My first trip to the Peterborough Players in Peterborough, New Hampshire this season will be hard to top. "Family Secrets," a comedy by Sherry Glaser and Greg Howells, directed by Howard J. Millman, features Carolyn Michel in a one-woman performance that reminded me of Lisa Bostnar's one-woman show in 2010, "The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead," where Bostnar portrayed seven very different characters, including two males, in a tour de force performance. Michel's offering is every bit the equal of Bostnar's.

Michel plays five members of a dysfunctional Jewish family, one of them male. She does her costume changes at a dresser and clothes rack on the left side of the stage in full view of the audience. What she does with her hair is remarkable, some of the changes accomplished with wigs but some with her natural hair. Costume designer Nicole Wee and hair and wig designer Michelle Hart deserve special mention for their contribution.

Michel's character transformations are complete, not only in appearance but personality and mannerisms. She goes through the five roles in the fast-moving hour and 15-minute play with no intermission. As the pregnant Fern, she does a cringe-inducing but hilarious take on child-birth. That's just one highlight. The entire performance was a laugh-a-minute audience pleaser, and a great start to Peterborough Players' 2014 season. Next Players production on my must-see agenda, "Last of the Red Hot Lovers," July 9-20.

Trivia note: Greg Howells, one of the authors of "Family Secrets," disappeared from a golf course in 1997. Never found, he was declared dead five years later and the case was closed. "They just stopped looking," said his wife and co-author, Sherry Glaser.

2014 Lexus ES300h

March 29, 2014 — It's Day 3 with my new 2014 Lexus ES300h, my fourth Lexus, and I'm getting to know it, but I have some issues. More about that later. I traded in my 2006 Lexus ES330 after living with it almost eight years, during which time it had become as comfortable as an old shoe.

The 300h is a gasoline/electric hybrid. Its silence is a little eerie until you get used to it. It's a bit unnerving when you stop at a red light and notice the engine isn't running. But no, it hasn't stalled. When the light turns green, just step on the gas and it will go. If you've been driving for sixty years as I have, a car that moves when the engine isn't running flies in the face of everything you thought you understood about how automobiles work. It has a 4-cylinder engine as opposed to the 6-cylinder of my previous Lexus. I was a little concerned about performance before I bought it. but I really can't tell the difference. The engine is quiet, smooth and, supplemented by electric power, has more than adequate high-speed performance.

The 300h is rated by the manufacturer for 40 mpg city, 39 mpg highway. The city mileage is higher because at low speeds it spends most of the time running on electric power alone. Consumer Reports gave it a rating of 36 mpg overall in their tests. I find I'm becoming very light-footed around the city, trying to keep the gasoline engine from kicking in. Today I took it out on the interstate for the first time. It's steady, smooth and as quiet as you'd expect a Lexus to be at 65 mph. No Lexus has the sporty handling of an Audi or BMW, but my days of pushing a car to its limits are long gone, and I appreciate the serene ride and quietness of the Lexus. Power steering and brakes take almost too light a touch, but you soon learn to modulate them.

Now for the disappointments. Lexus has engaged in some obvious cost-cutting, especially in the interior. The dash is made of cheaper material than my old Lexus and lacks that elegant feel you expect in a car in the Lexus class. Even the outside paint doesn't have that expensive-looking glow that sets it apart from lower-priced cars. Storage space has been greatly reduced. The glove compartment is smaller than my previous Lexus, and center console storage is half that of the old car. I've had to leave out some things I used to carry around with me. The CD player will take only one CD at a time rather than the five I could load into my old car's player. Everything seems diminished.

It takes a 916-page owner's manual to explain all the car's intricacies. Much of it is dedicated to the frustratingly complicated audio system. Before I drove the car away from the dealer's, the sales rep sat in it with me for over an hour explaining and demonstrating many of the car's features and use of the controls. That shouldn't be necessary, and no car should need an operating manual that rivals War and Peace in length. Someone needs to explain to Lexus engineers that this is not a PC or home entertainment system you use in your living room. It's an automobile which, when used as intended, is in motion, sharing streets and highways with other vehicles, and your attention should be constantly on the road, not changing channels on a stunningly convoluted radio/CD player. I could do that with a few finger-pokes on my old Lexus without taking my eyes off the road. I almost need to pull over and stop to change stations in this car!

The 2006 Lexus was a better car, in design as well as quality of materials. Am I sorry I bought this one? No. I have a brand new car with a generous warranty, not an eight-year-old one, and if this Lexus has the same reliability and durability that have always been Lexus hallmarks, I should have quite a few years with no worries about repairs or parts replacement. Not only that, but the car is supported by the best dealer service of any brand. I'm hard to please by nature, but I'm confident I'll get comfortable with this car and be happy with it over the long haul. And I really like the prospect of 36 mpg overall. It's just unfortunate Lexus found it necessary to lower their standards in the selection of some materials, and driver and audio controls need a complete redesign.