Monday Afternoon Musings

Whoops, sorry once again to have been away so long. We were in Austin for several days, to pick up Madi, who was coming in from Phoenix so we could whoosh her back to Maryland.

For my airplane reading, I picked up Eric Clapton's autobiography, which turned out to be a surprisingly good read. I mean, where else are you going to see someone so casually toss off a line like, "Backstage, John [Lennon] and I did so much blow that he threw up, and I had to lie down for a while." Killer.

Hammers are still flying here at home as our Trusty HVAC Team continues its work to bring modrun conveniences to our Old School home. Next up is running water and flushing toilets. Ha ha! I keed! But only slightly.

Know what bugs me? Professionals in the Olympics. I saw a photo in the Washington Post of the Williams sisters celebrating their gold medal in women's tennis, and my heart failed to swell with cries of USA! USA! Instead, I just thought, "meh." They're professionals, after all -- of course they're beating everyone. Same goes for the men's and women's basketball teams. I know, I know -- being competitive and all that. But I still don't like it.

Lately I've been corresponding with Michael Black, one of our premiere Irving scholars, and having a a generally terrific time. We've got our differences of opinion on Irving, his works, and biographies in general, but what a pleasure it is to converse with a true giant in the field of Irvingiana. We've each extended mutual invitations for dinner and discussion, and I'm truly hoping we'll have an opportunity continue our conversations either in New York or Maryland one of these days.

Back tomorrow, I promise.