1. We've had nice things come into our house lately -- some curtains, bedspreads, kitchenware, and a few other things. Most of these nice things came in boxes. Debbie and I decided which of the boxes she might use to continue mailing out items she's been knitting and other gifts she'll send out. I like to keep empty boxes moving along, so, once we decided which boxes to keep, I took a quick trip to the transfer station and dumped a load of cardboard boxes and a bunch of plastic bottles into the proper bins.
I also made a quick stop at Ace Hardware and bought a couple furnace filters and replaced the used one when I got home.
Is it a sign of getting old that I find such satisfaction in keeping the garage uncluttered with cardboard boxes and am so happy to have a clean filter in the furnace?
2. Debbie took that vegetable chowder on Tuesday to a third level this afternoon. She took it to a second level on Wednesday by adding a can of diced tomatoes to it. Today, she added in leftover eggplant tomato sauce that we ate over pasta one night and over quinoa another. So, tonight we enjoyed a eggplant vegetable tomato chowder with quinoa. It was awesome. This chowder just got better with each new permutation.
3. Debbie and I had a good party tonight. I mixed and poured sidecars -- gin, triple sec, and lemon juice -- and we revisited the Nixon presidency by watching the movie, Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House. I enjoyed watching the events of 1972-74 unfold from the point of view of Mark Felt and to see him as more than the guy in the Roslyn, Virginia parking garage dropping bread crumbs to Bob Woodward. I left the movie wanting to read the book the movie was based on. I enjoyed this movie as historical fiction (much like All the President's Men is historical fiction), but I'd also like to read more about Mark Felt's story in the book he and John D. O'Connor wrote. It has the same title as this movie.
The movie ended. Debbie and I talked about it for a bit and then Debbie wondered out loud if there were a documentary available about Gerald Ford.
Turns out we found one. It is a National Geographic production, Gerald R. Ford: A Test of Character.
We thoroughly enjoyed it. I think we both knew from the outset that this treatment of Gerald R. Ford was going to be a favorable one, not a critical treatment of his life and his governmental service. Once I realized this, I gave myself completely over to the movie's positive portrayal. I actually imagined I was in the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, MI and that this was the film they played for visitors. I had seen the LBJ film at his library in Austin, TX and it was similar as a positive portrayal of LBJ.
As much as anything, I enjoyed reliving the years of the Ford presidency and his unsuccessful run for the presidency in 1976. Ford's presidency and my two years as a student at Whitworth occurred at the same time. I especially enjoyed reliving memories of the 20th Century History Theme Dorm I lived in during the spring semester of '76, under the guidance of Prof. Jim Hunt, and how our class, which was our dorm, gathered to watch the evening news together on a TV in the dorm's common room and we discussed the Reagan vs Ford GOP primary and tried to make sense out of the emergence of Jimmy Carter. It was one of the most stimulating experiences I had in college. I loved the other students. I loved working with Jim Hunt. I loved our discussions and how they poured over into hallway conversations. I did not want that spring semester at Whitworth to ever end.
After the Ford documentary ended, Debbie wondered what we could find on our Smarty Pants TV about George H. W. Bush. We discovered with a little looking around that he was featured in an episode of PBS's American Experience series. We watched it for a little while, surrendered to our sleepiness, and vowed to pick up Bush's story later, probably during our next party.
Here's a limerick by Stu:
It's a shame in so many ways.
As the virus requires home stays.
Missing out on Spring school.
Is particularly cruel.
And they'll never get back those lost days.
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