1. I spent a couple of hours over at The Bulwark today listening to Tim Miller interview David Frum and to Sarah Longwell converse with Robert Draper. I enjoy listening to journalists, writers, and thinkers who have what I'd call flexible points of view, who have been and are still willing to adjust their outlook as warranted. I thought both Frum and Draper looked at what's been happening in the world over the last several months with an aerial view, able to see shifts (e.g. Marjorie Taylor Greene), conflicts (e.g. in the leadership space left by the assassination of Charlie Kirk and in the tensions that have arisen since Tucker Carlson's interview of Nick Fuentes), and what we might see in the future with a wide lens, with a mostly dispassionate tone and a keen sense of how complex and complicated things in our world always are and always have been.
2. As I've written before, sometimes I think it's best for our neighborhood to bring Gibbs in the house when he goes on a barking jag in the back yard.
For months now, he's been very good about coming to the back porch when I say his name in a quiet voice. I never yell at Gibbs.
I lure him into the house and reward his obedience with shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
Well, Gibbs got wise to this obey/reward strategy of mine and has created one of his own.
Now, from time to time, he'll ask to go outside, not because he needs to, but because he wants cheese.
Within a minute or so of going out, he'll bark at the back door. I open it to let him in and he looks at me, his eyes saying:
"Uh, cheese?"
I laugh, give him some cheese, and surrender to the reality of how both of us have a degree of control over the other -- and, I have to admit, I think Gibbs might have the upper paw!
3. Writing, listening to interviews, racking up 3000 steps, solving puzzles, including the Sunday NYTimes crossword puzzle, being bossed around by Gibbs -- well, I just didn't feel like leaving the house today (not unusual for me). I knew I needed some groceries, but I figured I could make due with what I had on hand to fix a satisfying dinner.
I was right.
I drained the water out of a block of tofu. I popped open a can of Trader Joe's Greek Chickpeas, and pulled vegetables out of the fridge. I sorted out the last of my garden salad mix and put it in a bowl with carrots, red pepper, celery, yellow squash, some Greek chickpeas, and a handful of tofu cubes.
It worked.
I enjoyed the salad and I left room inside myself for a nice bowl of popcorn about ninety minutes later.
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