I just awoke from the most wonderful dream in which my sister and I were talking with a stranger who, upon learning my name, told me that he knew someone who had nursed a crush on me for years. He gave me the man’s name as Joe Kingston, which didn’t ring any bells—other than the fact that I once had a husband named Joe and that Mum and Jack had lived in Kingston when I moved there to care for them. Interesting how marvelous that dream made me feel though. I awoke smiling and full of hope because you never know what you may have meant to someone else.
Of course, reading Dr. Ruth’s last book, The Power of Connections, before dropping off last night may have had something to do with this dream because so far her main message is that you can get through just about anything with the right attitude. She describes losing her entire family to the Holocaust; but she gives us hope by telling how her Dad left the house when the Gestapo came for him when Ruth was ten years old. Her last memory of her Dad is of him smiling broadly from the truck which transported him away. Dr. Ruth was saved because many children were sent on a train to Switzerland, and I wept openly as I read about her leading the other children in song and then giving her dolly to another child who was crying. That hit very close to home for me as a child in postwar Britain who also once gave away her dolly to another child who was crying outside a shop. I knew Dr. Ruth and I had a lot in common besides loving sex.
I’m glad to be getting my Sunday Stack done early because I want to get out to the supermarket first thing. I find it most pleasurable to wander the aisles at will while many would-be shoppers are attending religious services instead. While I now require at least a short list of essentials, I still like the hunting/gathering style of seeking provisions. It’s always fun to find a sale item I might never have tried before.
So I’ll finish up with a confession (even though I usually do those on Thursdays). I’m still reading the Jonathan Blitzer book and will finish it soon. But I couldn’t resist a peek at Kim Wehle’s Pardon Power. The foreword by John W. Dean is riveting. And I would add quite a few exclamation points except I am trying to wean myself from them. For those of us old enough to have been scandalized by Watergate, the latest drama in politics has a familiar stench. But talk about someone who knows what happened then. The foreword is worth the price of the book and it is a few pages long signed May 2024 by John W. Dean, Counsel to the President of the United States (1970-1973), The Nixon White House. I’m eager to learn the history behind this awesome power as detailed by the author, with the subhead of the title being “How The Pardon System Works—And Why.”
Meanwhile, I’m glad I also have as lighter reading Richard Barr’s book The Savage Poodle to give me the fun side of legal practice. He writes here on Substack as Richard B. (Norfolk) and I particularly like the British take on being a solicitor. This paperback was published in 2017 but covers his more than 40 years of practice. And I understand that the Kindle edition has even more stories, so I may get that as well once I run out of the fun here.
Off to the shops, as we say. TTFN.
Interesting point, Jim. I remember years ago my daughter wondering why on earth I was enjoying a very thick book about the origins of AIDS. My Mum was a voracious reader and I have fond memories of her being so engrossed that it would take her ages to realize I had asked her something.
Remembering the phrase “you are what you eat,” after reading this post I wondered if some, not all, are what they read.