Nina Lewis

Saturday night, my husband and I had a cultural date with another couple.  A night at the philharmonic symphony.  Lots of violins.  Lots of cellos.  Even one lonely tuba.

Somehow, we just couldn’t conceive going to the symphony without first going out to supper.  Of course.  Isn’t that what our culture is geared around: eating, eating, and more eating.  I like that.

We went to a local steak house.  We were there at 5:00 p.m. — and there was a line!  I was surprised.  Like, why are there so many people at such an early time??  Go home, I wanted to yell.  But I didn’t.  I knew my husband wouldn’t be happy if I did.  He’s like that.

So we waited.

I’m glad we did.

To die for prime rib.  (I guess some poor cow did die for it . . .)  Succulent spices, tender, juicy, slow-roasted.  Makes me glad I’m a carnivore.

We ordered the dessert sampler: chocolate thunder from down under (clever name!), nutter butter peanut butter pie (another clever name), and classic cheesecake (not so clever name).

Yummy, delicious, heavenly, scrumptious, gratifying, savory, delectable and a host of others appropriate words in Roget’s Thesaurus that mean the same thing.

But, let’s not talk about the weight I gained from this eating extravaganza.  I’m as big as the bovine that I ate.  My husband had to rent a crane to get me out of the restaurant booth.  Do you know how expensive those babies are?

My brain had a battle with my bulge.

Brain: You shouldn’t have eaten so much.  Just look at all the weight you’ve gained.

Bulge: But it tasted sooooooo good!  It was far better than the dried crust of bread and tepid water that you fix all of the time.

Brain:  But it isn’t healthy, now, is it?  Do you want to get overweight and have a plethora of health problems associated with obesity?

Bulge:  Na, na, na, na — I’m not listening to you.  I don’t care.

Brain:  You don’t care right now while I’m swaddled in this caloric stupor.  Just wait until the light of morning when you step on your scales. You’ll be mad.  You’ll hate yourself for this indulgence.

Bulge: Leave me alone.  I’m enjoying this satiated euphoria.

- - - - - - -

My brain shut up like it always does.

But the morning after, my brain was right.

Dear Mr. Weather,

I am hereby lodging a formal complaint against you.  Let it be known that I do not like it AT ALL when you try to be something you really aren’t.  You are fraudulent and fallacious.  You are deceitful and deceptive.  You are bogus, Janus-faced, disingenuous, duplicitous, mendacious, and a host of other adjectives that I can’t think of at the moment because you’ve got me in such a tizzy!  Phew!

A few days ago, you had warmed up to the mid-40s.  I reveled in the warmth.  (Disclaimer:  warmth here is relative.  As in 40 degree weather is warmer than the six degree weather it used to be.  Much.)

Buds are forming on the trees.  Methinks my tulips and daffodils are gussying themselves up for their spring appearance in my yard.

Then, you lead me on. You cozen me. You delude me.  Your trickery of ‘it-will-soon-be-spring’ one moment and then ‘hah-fooled-you-it’s-snowing-again’ is unacceptable.  Such flimflam.  I just won’t stand for it any more!

One minute you act like spring.  The next, your temperature plummets to fifteen degrees.  And you are snowing this very moment!  Snowing as we speak!  Snow is in the forecast for today, tomorrow, the next day, and the next.  What do you think this is?  Winter?

If you are in winter mode, then act like winter.  All out. All the way.  Why this recent teasing of spring-like weather?  Such a temptress you are!  If you want to be spring, quit sallying forth in your coat of snow!

All I can say is that you are driving me into the arms of another climate.  I hope you’re happy with the consequence of your behavior!  Into the arms of one that is ALWAYS warm.  One that is paradisaical.  One with palm trees swaying in the breeze.  One with crystal clear turquoise ocean water and white sparkling sand.

Fiji, here I come.

Sincerely,
One who is disgruntled with you

I am reading a book about the constitution of the United States. So interesting!

It discusses the commonality of the founding fathers — their education and their beliefs. It mentioned that these men came from widely disparate walks of life — farmers and wilderness pioneers to presidents of universities.  However, they were all remarkably well read.

Care to take a guess at the names of the folks that they read?   Was it a popular author of pulp fiction of their day?  Their version of Stephen King, Clive Cussler, John Grisham, Danielle Steele, or Nora Roberts?  Did they read a National Enquirer, or a People’s Magazine, Newsweek, or Times?  Possibly.  But those weren’t the things mentioned in this book.

Our mighty founding fathers read folks like Polybius, Cicero, Thomas Hooker, Coke (isn’t that a soda pop???), Montesquieu, Blackstone, and John Locke.  (Ever heard of these guys?)  Our founding fathers had great breadth and depth in their reading — even the farmers and the wilderness pioneers!

Amazing, isn’t it?

I would be surprised if more than five percent of our elected officials in Washington have read (let alone even heard of) these men.  (They probably have at least heard of Cicero and possibly John Locke . . .)  I have even less faith that our state officials have read the writings of any of these people.  I know I haven’t.  And I have a Master’s degree — which means according to today’s academic standards, I should be fairly well educated . . .  I guess I’m a rube and not as well educated as the farmers in the late 1700s in the United States . . .

The second intriguing thing was that one of the principles they based the constitution on was that of developing a spirit of public virtue by having elected leaders with strong private virtue.  Boy have we strayed far away from that!  I don’t think that virtue and the name of many of our congressmen, previous presidents, and some governors could be used in the same sentence.

Another item of interest was that they felt that high-salaried public officials was repugnant.  Benjamin Franklin warned that high salaries for government offices was the best way to attract scoundrels and drive away from office men who possessed true virtue.  This describes the US perfectly!  It would be nice to go back to that belief today.  But I don’t think it would happen.  Would the elected officials do away with their high salaries and their fabulous pension for life?  No way!

My reading has humbled me.  (And that is a HUGE miracle!)  Not only do I not know much about the constitution, I feel that I’m poorly educated when it comes to the foundational reading that our founding fathers had.

Guess I’d better get on the stick and change my reading habits. . . .

I guess I’m in good company.

I’ve found out that this is SO true!

Such good advice.

Last Saturday, my husband and I decided that our fun with a vengeance activity would be to visit the local used book store.  We will be going to Fiji next month and need a little bit of reading material for the 8+ hours in the air (and all the time spent at the airport).

When we walked into the store, we were greeted by a squabby* red-headed lady.  When she asked if she could help us, I asked here where the business books were.  And books on economics.  I was also interested in biographies and possibly a history book like Team of Rivals by Doris Goodwin.

She led me to a little nook.  The shelf was three feet wide and six feet tall.  Books were in random order, in piles hither and yon.  It didn’t take me very long to look at all of them and decide that those books (dating from the 1960s) weren’t quite what I had in mind.

Then, I asked her where the Newbery Award books were.  She took me to another spot.  “They are mixed in with the classics,” she said.  More piles.  More stacks.  More lack of order.  Before she left me to browse, she said, “I think that you would really like books by this author.”  She mentioned a name that I was not familiar with.  “He has written a series of 12 books all about a baptist preacher.”

Hmmmm. . .

I was surprised (to say the least) by her suggestion to me.  I was seeking books on business, economics, biographies, history — and award winning children’s books.  What synapse in her mind connected these topics to the series about a Baptist preacher???

It was interesting to note that there was one whole room for romance novels.  You know the kind . . . heaving breasts, breathy whipsers of desire.  That room was very well organized.  No piles there.  Each series was arranged alphabetically so it was easy to find a book.  And, the clerk could tell you all about every single book and every single author.

What does this tell you about the used bookstore and its clientelle?  If the romance novels take up a whole room and is very well organized, that must be where the heavy traffic is.  Are economic books important?  Are business books a priority?  Do they care about history or biographies? Me thinks not.

There was a section in the back for the political intrigue, action-packed books.  They were alphabetically organized.  I was pleasantly surprised.

I don’t think this used bookstore is for me.  Somehow, I don’t think that I’ll ever find very many books that interests me there . . .

*squabby:  short and stout.  (This lady was almost wider than she was tall.)