Wow, was it cold during our morning walk. Went to exercise, then to the bank for some financial business. Didn't sit down to breakfast until 10:30, and started doing the daily cryptogram after. Glanced up to see it was 11:30 and I was due at Mary Ann's in ten minutes.
Yoicks! I rushed into the bedroom, changed in record time, slapped some makeup on, and grabbed my Scrabble game (it's the anniversary edition) and rushed down the street. Mary Ann and I then walked to Rosemary D.'s for the game.
Rosemary and her husband live in the largest Sunrise Bay model and it has the additions of a sun room and screened-in porch on the back. It's decorated so-o-o beautifully; in a kind of English manor house (or something) style and it instantly became my favorite.
Rosemary's husband, "Spanky" (real name, Ron, and it's a long story) is very seriously ill with diabetes and was at dialysis while we were there. He has to have a leg amputated soon, I gather because of wounds not healing. He was a jazz trumpeter--actually earned a living at it--and we were thrilled to see an original painting by Tony Bennett with a note and signature by the artist. Rosemary herself majored in voice (opera) in college and is a gracious hostess.
Mary S. soon joined us and we played two games; I came in last at both. I'm not sure why, but although I love words and enjoy crossword puzzles, word jumbles, and cryptograms, I'm a poor Scrabble player. Well, I'll leave that to the shrinks to decide.
Rosemary served a luscious lunch of a kind of delicate homemade pizza--but with sliced tomatoes and mozzarella instead of oily sauce--and two salads, one of mixed fruit, the other vegetable. It was great. We probably spent more time talking and laughing than playing, and didn't leave until after 4:00.
Changed back to casual clothes and drove to Manahawkin to pick up pretzels (my downfall) and a few other items. Called Ellen V. when I got back and we talked for--get this--one hour and twenty minutes. She has a very small role in Our Town, and is also wardrobe mistress and stage manager (the real one, not the character in the play). When we finally hung up--we're going to see each other today--I had dinner. Ate a lot of the veggies I had cooked up yesterday for dinner, went to bed at 9:00, and as ever, slept well.
WIDER: Adam Garfinkle in The American Interest, starts his essay with:
"To all appearances, U.S. foreign policy in the Obama Administration has now definitively gone down the rabbit hole. It is intoxicated with an advanced form of Wilsonian madness, one shorn of all sensitivity to the consequences of the U.S. government’s behavior. Like Alice with her pills, some things are getting or will soon get bigger—risks, mission definition and casualty figures on the ground in Libya—while others are getting smaller—our reservoir of good options, our stock of common sense and our peace of mind...."
Yep, that about sums up the new little misadventure in Libya. But the rest of the piece needs to be read:
http://www.the-american-interest.com/