The Little Words Mean the Most

Kind of "the queen's ginger ale"

2 oz. St.-Germain elderflower liqueur

1 oz. red vermouth

a few drops bitters

fill the rest of your 6 oz. tumbler with club soda

the art is in the garnish; I go bare, wth ice

Drink Yourself Sober

Title of my new book.

She's having a birthday, a tropical birthday

The temperature's rising, it isn't surprising ... and look what her thoughtful students did for her out at St. Mary's:

Boehner has left the building

July 22 is the practical deadline for figuring out the debt-ceiling crisis and doing something to fix it. Otherwise, on August 2 the US government will start defaulting on its bills.

Now, you pay your bills. And I pay my bills. It's what we're supposed to do, as citizens in good standing of a vibrant modern economy.

But Republican moron-acrats in Congress are willing to let our nation's — MY nation's — bills go unpaid, while sacrificing the world's best credit rating and threatening more disembowling of retirement portfolios (Wall St. meltdown ahead), just so they can loudly kiss the ass of a minority electorate that flunked 8th-grade civics.

Yeah, I'm real pleased with (1) government, (2) elected officials, (3) Democrats and Republicans. Republicans because they're sick bastards. Democrats because they're "reasonable." Dear White House: stop trying to win the opposition over. They're ambulatory but technically insane; accept it.

July 23: Simone's birthday

Since I believe in evolution (and since the people who DON'T believe in evolution are "interesting"), I can see where the convergence of Simone and me began way back in the primordial days. Just two crazy lizard brains without a clue, finding each other by dumb luck and (fast forward a few millenia) meeting in Rhode Island. She changed my life. I made her life difficult. The usual solid partnership. On July 23 each year, I honor the groping moment when Simone's parents decided to throw caution to the winds and shoot DNA at each other. Happy birthday, my little pirate.

Come

Upper left: kids play pirates! Name tags. Drake, arts. Bill: ex-ambassador to Nigeria. Audubon Society and spouse. Women's Fund of RI. The party. The incomparable Joel.

On her coattails

Simone changed my life. On average, once a week. For the better, rest assured. I'm primitive. She's not. TODAY: While Simone works with a local board, I have time to drive over to the Norman Rockwell Museum, one of my global favorites. Rockwell was a consummate craftsperson. He played to his audience, in complex and HUGELY gratifying ways. I want to be one-tenth that good at donor communications. L-r: his house, front and back; his studio, with modern scarecrow; a "robot" exhibit on the grounds [artist: Steve Heller]. The fog effect at Jacob's Pillow that night, before the show begins.

My beloved has become a pirate

Chapter 1 of the tale: Captured!!! Chapter 2: She introduces strategic planning. Chapter 3: She takes over and gets to wear the best hat afloat. The evidence, sent from her iPhone (she's still working on the "don't rock the boat" part of being the leader of a scurvy crew):

I gotta crow

Me? A Yank? #19 "most influential" amongst UK fundraisers? This year, apparently so.

Nancy: I'm laughing

[Nancy is deeply ill, but recovering, from a poisonous spider bite] Apparently, you live in the country, too. City folk have no idea how ridiculously dangerous it is in nature. An insect so small you can hardly see it can give you a neuro-disorder (Lyme disease) so savage you spend the rest of your shortened life in bed with just the remnants of your mind. Then there's the poisonous spider you encountered; they're common and they like to hide. Or mosquito-borne liver killers. And that's just the short list. I've been chased by a snapping turtle. Had buzzards tear baby animals apart on my front lawn. Every raccoon is rabid and shot on sight by the police. Foxes, same story. And the Allegheny Mound Ant infestation behind our house? Think movie where a cowboy has been staked out to die on a biting ant hill. They are that species of ant. Get well soon.