Thursday, May 7, 2015

Three Beautiful Things 05/06/15: Lewis Lifts My Spirits, Rigatoni Lifts the Deke's Spirits, Hathaway Visits His Past

1.  This afternoon, I turned to Inspector Lewis and his fascinating assistant Hathaway for some company.  It's rare, but sometimes I fall into a funk of loneliness in this new place where I now live. That happened today and Lewis and Hathaway lifted my spirits as they unfolded the deceit and greed that motivated three murders, all related to a defunct rock/blues band, Midnight Addiction (ha! what a name!) -- a band that Lewis all but worshiped in his youth.  I first took notice of the actor Simon Callow about twenty years ago.  He played the skinny dipping Rev. Mr. Beebe and, now, here was, fully clothed, in an episode of Inspector Lewis, playing the band's longtime and flamboyant manager, delighting me in the present and triggering wonderful memories of his performances in the past.

2.  By the time I picked up the Deke from school, my minor funk had lifted and I was in good shape to help lift her spirits after a difficult day at work by fixing a simple comfort meal of rigatoni topped with whole tomatoes from the can along with butter, crushed garlic, fresh basil, red pepper flakes, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese -- one of Deke's reliably favorite meals, both for how it tastes and how it lifts her spirits -- the power of nostalgia.

3.  Lewis and Hathaway had been so good to me in the afternoon, that I gave them another go in the evening and they came through again as they worked out the details of dark truths hiding in the aristocratic lives of the Mortmaigne family at Crevecoeur Hall, where Hathaway's father had been estate manager until Hathaway turned twelve.  The murder mystery was compelling enough, but at the heart of this episode was deepening of Lewis and Hathaway's relationship, with help from the ever shrewd, Dr. Laura Hobson -- my favorite forensic investigator ever -- hmmm, or is Ducky? -- it's close, but I tilt toward Dr. Laura Hobson....

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