Craig, Daniel Craig.

Best. Bond. Ever.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bettmann/Corbis photo, via the NY Times.

and speaking of clothes...

...three different people have complimented me on my elegance today. Three ! That's almost upsetting, because I'm OK, but not particularly well dressed today* - I must really look like a bag of potatoes the rest of the time.

*Black shift dress with 3/4 length sleeves, loosely tied at the waist, just below knee length, sheer black hose, classic black pumps.

A major difference.

S desperately needs new clothes, but doesn't want them, whereas I really, really, want them but can't say that I need them.

Falling out of love

... with a favorite author is very sad.

I've been a big fan of Laurie Colwin since first reading her columns in Gourmet magazine as a kid quite a long time ago (my parents were subscribers, ceci explique celà). Since then I've read almost all her work, and loved every paragraph of it - the essays on food and cooking that first got me hooked, collected in Home Cooking and More Home Cooking - her novels about impossibly bright and charming and just quirky enough to be endearing New Yorkers...

Well, I've read 3 of her books again very recently and am disappointed. The thrill is gone. The quirkiness is no longer endearing, it's pretentious affectation. I'm sad. I've never fallen out of love with an author before, and I don't like change. It would be one thing to consider that I've outgrown her, in a spurt of intellectual growth, but frankly I doubt that's the case - and I didn't think Colwin was the sort of author who could or should be outgrown.

Oh well. Back on the shelf they go, and perhaps in a few years I'll fall for them all over again.

small indulgences...

...are the best. Big ones leave me feeling guilty - and broke. But small ones just brighten up your day. Today, a supper of smoked Irish salmon, perked up with lemon juice and freshly ground pepper. (Of course now that so much salmon is farm-raised and perfectly affordable - albeit "flabby" as per Nigella Lawson - it's not so much of an indulgence, but for me it still has that connotation of luxurious, special food).

Follow up with a nice bottle of Côtes du Rhone and cigarettes. Tom Waits on the stereo. Some idle tidying up and cleaning, but nothing too strenuous. Two good books on the go, and the knowledge that the budget for the rest of the month is in fine shape, therefore I can contemplate making an Amazon order in the next few days. Life is good.

So, among other things

... I have CNN.com's headlines on my personalized Google homepage. Today the top line reads "Parties make their final push" - obviously an article about the U.S. midterm elections.

Except that I misread that as "Panties make their final push" and thought it might have something to do with increased lingerie sales, or a surge in Victoria's Secret stock price.

This is exactly how I feel...

...when S talks to me about cricket. blah blah blah wicket blah blah blah silly mid-off blah blah blah England batsman blah blah blah... It really is like a foreign, no, an alien language.

* cartoon by Gary Larson, of course.