Feb. 18, 1857 - The bluebird does not come until the air consents, and his wedge will enter easily. -- Henry D. Thoreau

Journal of a Sabbatical

February 18, 1999

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Title supplied by Wilbur.

Wilbur and I both like to stay in bed on rainy days. I was dozing through the news on WBUR and petting Wilbur who was stretched out to his full length - man is he ever long - by my side. The phone rang. It was Kate with a cold - her voice about an octave lower than usual and barely recognizable - on her way to Starbucks. Did I want to meet for coffee? Umm, yeah. Just as soon as Wilbur gives up his insatiable need for petting and I put on some clothes suitable for outside the bedroom - so far as I know there's no fad for wearing flannel pajamas in public yet - I'll be right there.

Conversation topics ranged from my quest for Persuasion to read Zsolt's files to the kids' table manners. Kate advocates taking kids to fancy restaurants one on one, which she did with her boyfriend's daughters. I could just visualize Andrea at the Ritz taking the bacon from her sandwich, rolling it into a ball, and threatening me with it before she crams the whole thing into her mouth. That would go over really well in a white-gloved fine dining atmosphere.

The rest of the rainy day was devoted to errands and chores (meaning of life) like paying bills and getting prescriptions refilled and stuff when I wasn't poring over the list of foundations or trying in vain to read those files created in Persuasion. I finished reading Timothy Dexter Revisited, which I highly recommend. Marquand weaves in memoirs of his own childhood in Newburyport with history and speculation on what it was like in Timothy Dexter's time. The illustrations by ^^ Kappel are wonderfully evocative. I'll do another Timothy Dexter entry at some point, cause I took some pictures of the Chain Bridge and various points of interest yesterday and as soon as the weather clears I'll get some pictures of the Dexter house to finish off the roll of film. Stay tuned to this same station for an all Timothy Dexter extravaganza.