Antonetta's and the Fall of the Empire

Assembled the ingredients for a certain cereal mixture I traditionally make at Christmastime and my mother made before me. Hmm...I thought the first batch seemed somewhat over-buttered. I then realized I had somehow mis-read the recipe (which I've had for at least twenty years) and used about half again as much as it directed.  Immediately, I made another batch and now I don't know whether to keep the first or not.  Actually, it's not half bad.
Packed up the "good" stuff and took it to the post office--ouch! Postage was more than twenty bucks; however, considering that a certain someone had put a goodly sum in my BOA account to cover postage for the various items I send him, I paid it without a peep.
Showered, dressed, and Loretta and Bob B. picked me up at 5:00 for dinner at Antoinetta's.  This is a good (read "pricey") restaurant that's three miles down from route 9 in Eagleswood.  Practically in the bay, it can easily be reached by boat.  The only road--running straight down the middle of miles of swamp--must be underwater a lot of the time.  Don't know how it fared during the hurricanes.
It turned out, however, to be a very pleasant evening.  This is the one gathering a year of "the sparklers" (whoever came up with that name should be shot at dawn) to which husbands are allowed to attend, and those who still had 'em brought 'em. There were maybe twenty attendees all together--and we were served in a kind of enclosed porch with lovely views all around of LBI and the mainland all around.  I brought the seventeen-dollar Chardonnay I bought at Terhune Orchards during the van tour and boy, was it terrific.  I usually drink the cheap stuff and the difference is striking.
I had chicken and other stuff; food was okay, but not wonderful. We chatted and, of course, conversations got around (as they always do with this age group) to What's Wrong With The World Today.  
It's depressing to realize that, seemingly without exception, my table mates agreed that the problem was with the slugs on welfare, Obama's "socialism" (for 160-degree obtuseness, that takes the cake), and the turning away from religion and patriotism.  Here we are, besieged by idlers who "don't want to work," and with ISIS behind every hedge and fence, alone and afraid in a world we never made...
Nobody, of course, made the connection between the whores in government rolling in dough from their corporate patrons, and the sorry state of affairs we're witnessing now.  But to be fair: These are people who worked hard all their lives, raised families, paid taxes, and bought into the American dream with pride.  Now they're on their way out and they see their most fervent beliefs shaking and shattered.  They have no clue about the cynical manipulation from government and the media that sets class against class and ensures the downward spiral of the empire.
But hey, it is what it is, and it was an enjoyable evening.  Got home before 8:00 and settled in to finish my wine and contemplate today's activities.