Working on getting back into the groove after being a little under the weather. (I fought the cold and the / cold won.) Perfect for a sick day -- the episode of Columbo now airing on Bravo is "Try and Catch Me", with guest star murderer Ruth Gordon, who plays a brilliant mystery writer who matches wits with the good lieutenant. Her hapless victim is played by Charles Frank, who will always be Dr. Jeff Martin to us who watched All My Children during the Ford and Carter administrations. (There's no Jeff Martin bloodline extant in Pine Valley at this point, but we'll always fondly remember him as the first of Erica Kane's ten marriages; or applying the Elizabeth Taylor conversion factor for repeated weddings to the same fella, the first of eight husbands.) Ruth Gordon is fabulous in this intricately plotted and wonderfully acted episode. Also notable is Mariette Hartley as the mystery writer's shrewd, belly-dancing personal assistant named Veronica (one of my favorite names, so much so that my youngest bears it...although her name wasn't inspired by the Columbo character, but by this song and its singer). Once I extricate myself from the land of mixed metaphors and nonsequiturs, I hope to resume regular, relevant posting. Thanks for your patience.
So I'm not the only one who combines a love for books and gardening with a love for Elvis Costello? Who knew? You're way a head of me, though, I've yet to christen a child after an E.C. song! (of course, um...I have no children, sooo...)
Posted by: Barry | November 18, 2003 at 01:10 PM
I'm sure it's a very small club! : D
Along those lines, though, I've been waiting for for just the right piece of English garden writing to give me the excuse to say: "There's a rule book in Britannia that no one ever waives."
On the name front, I know that my daughter's going to breathe a big sigh of relief that she wasn't a boy...not sure the world is yet ready for a Black/Korean/Ohio-farmcountry-WASP named Declan.
Posted by: Bookish Gardener | November 18, 2003 at 02:30 PM
Oh, you needn't an excuse to employ that lovely phrase: just use it! ;) E.C.'s a genius, but no picker of nits!
World ready or no, Declan's a fine name. (But then, I'm partial to Celtic names.)
Posted by: Barry | November 18, 2003 at 03:07 PM