In the puzzle today, the clue at 3D was “Ascetic breakfast selection” and the answer was PLAIN TOAST. It gave me the chance to share one of my favorite psychiatrist jokes with the Commentariat.
So Abe had been seeing his psychiatrist for years and one day the doc says “Abe, you’re doing very well. We’ve made as much progress as we can make. I’m recommending that we end our sessions.” And Abe says “Doc, no! I can’t possibly live without you.” The doc says “Don’t be silly. You’ll be fine. I’m not abandoning you — here’s my private number. If you need me any time of the day or night, just call me.” Abe grudgingly says okay.
For several weeks everything seemed fine, but then very early one morning the doctor’s phone rang. It was Abe.
Abe: Doc! I had to call. I just had a very disturbing dream.
Doc: What was it?
Abe: In the dream, you were my mother.
Doc: Oh, my! What did you do?
Abe: Well, I wrote it all down, like you taught me.
Doc: Good. Then what?
Abe: I had some breakfast.
Doc: Okay. What did you have?
Abe: Some coffee and a piece of toast.
Doc: You call that breakfast??
Speaking of food, I must tell you about Luigi’s. After a wonderful morning strolling around the sculpture garden at the Baltimore Museum of Art, we had to choose between Jewish and Italian for sandwiches for lunch. Luigi’s wasn’t far away and seemed interesting. We loved it! It’s in a neat artsy but not phony neighborhood with a whole bunch of interesting restaurants. It was hard to find Luigi’s — I had to check the address on my phone. But there it was — you had to walk up a short flight of steps to a small porch. I started opening the door — you know, to walk in — but a voice sort of barked at me out of a window — “We’re only doing take-out today, but you can eat on the porch.” There were only four seats along a counter facing the street. “This is the only area?” I asked. “Yes.” They were empty so I assigned Linda to guard two of them as I placed the order. One meatball “chub,” a specialty of theirs, akin to a meatball sub, and the Italian cold cut hero. One hot, one cold. $12.75 each — just about $30 total with tax and tip.
The vibe was very good. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed watching the street life while we waited for our order. When it came — ecstasy! An enormous half-loaf of Italian bread stuffed with sauce, m-balls, and cheese. We couldn’t even think of unwrapping the cold one. Had to push dinner off too. Great stuff. And the stream of customers for the small hard-to-find spot never abated.
From Frank Bruni’s newsletter this week:
On Trump’s observation that Americans can get by with just 2 dolls rather than 30, Drew Goins wrote in WAPO: “One supposes that President Donald Trump is correct that Americans technically could scrape by with ‘two dolls’ instead of ‘30 dolls.’ The problem is that Americans like having 30 dolls, or 30 pairs of Nikes, or — perhaps not 30 TVs, but at least more than one, because sometimes you and all your dolls want to watch different programs.”
Trump pulled his nominee for Sturgeon General a day before confirmation hearings were to start, perhaps because right-wing lunatic Laura Loomer questioned her anti-vax creds. So Casey Means is the new nominee. She’s in the RFK, Jr., boat with impeccable MAHA standing: Make America Hot Again, oops, I mean Healthy.
Small follow-up point on the movie Bad Shabbos. Delighted to see Josh Mostel in a small role. He looked good! Brandeis grad, of course.
Here’s a work by Alexander Calder that’s in the sculpture garden in the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Rodin’s statute of Balzac is there too.
How often do we get to end this nonsense with works of fine art? See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 