- pièce de résistance -

Want to stay young?  Keep that youthful feeling?  Get rid of that pesky self-confidence?  Just follow this simple recipe:

- In the house of my childhood, spend one night.

- Add two parents marinated in wine.

- Whip until froth peaks.

- Present cold on a bed of denial.

Recipe serves no one.  Doubles well.

It's a holiday meal fit for a king.  Here King!  Here boy!  Good dog.

I'm going to be laying off those events for a while.  Not healthy.

*****

We've been pretty scruffy around here the last few days.  This cold has left me thick-headed and tired.  Amy's been home from school all week, mostly in her bed or near it.  I've tried to keep her from having too much fun during our illnesses and that's been difficult.  She's a fun kid who likes to have fun and do fun and make fun, even through clogged nostrils.  The compromise between lying in bed and running around outside in pajamas has been to read or watch videos while resting in bed, with breaks for things like lunch or homework.  I told her she can save the vacuuming and the mopping and the mowing until after she's feeling better.

A couple of weeks ago she rediscovered her video of The Music Man and began an intense study of it.  With each viewing she plunges heart-first into the emotions of the characters and when she finds a section that tickles her she turns into a rewinding fiend.

Her mom was in a community theater production of that show many moons ago, playing the part of Zaneeta, the mayor's daughter (appropriate because she actually is a mayor's daughter).  The character is giggly and cute and has a habit of saying "Yee-gods" in that teenager's new-phrase-of-the-week way.  Now Amy has come to identify with that character as she imagines herself living right there in River City.  I checked in on her just a few minutes ago to make sure she was resting and not tunneling out to her swing, and all I got was "I'm resting, okay? Yee-gods."

That's just what I need: the onset of her sassy stage.  Great honk.

*****

With this newest freshest cold virus now about three-fifths over I'll be able to get right on that toilet repair any day now.  I know.  I can't wait either.

____________________________

"Pick-A-Little, Talk-A-Little" -- Hermione Gingold & The Biddies -- THE MUSIC MAN/ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK RECORDING

today's wisdom:

"A fool is so unreasonably raised by his hopes that he is half dead by disappointment."

- Marquis of Halifax (1633-1695)