domesticity

When I start to prepare for bed – a lengthy process, as I have certain medical conditions that must be catered to – my oldest dog, Harry, comes into the bedroom and lies on the blue-and-gold rug, eyes closed, quietly aware in that way dogs are as I move in and out of the bathroom. […]

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Lord Peter Wimsey and the Golden Age

“I may say his views on women and the stage were such as I should have expected of a man who would smoke with your lordship’s port.” – Mervyn Bunter This essay will be as heavy with spoilers as a scone is with raisins, jam, and clotted cream. Many consider the 1920s and 1930s as […]

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visit to a small country

I have returned from a visit to the country of pain, a place where all of us stop from time to time, and some of us live. It is a small country, to hold so many of us; small enough to crawl over, to learn each stone and shard of glass in the road with […]

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the artifice of eternity (Sherlock spoilers)

Well, Sherlock’s second season has with maddening desultoriness finally wended its way across the ocean. Could it have taken longer? I’ve been pacing like Penelope waiting for Odysseus to get off his ass and show up to set things right. And what did we get for our patient waiting? Before all else, “A Scandal in […]

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the end

Just back from the House series wrap party at one of my favorite places in Los Angeles, the art deco Cicada Club and Restaurant. Built by a wealthy haberdasher (!) in 1928, the building’s a gem of deco splendor, and once a week you can enjoy dinner and dancing to a vintage jazz band. Tonight, […]

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