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<\/a><\/p>\nHere’s the latest: the cupboard and drawer pull handles are installed, the fridge and ovens have been installed and connected, and the new microwave is in its special cubby. We laid plywood down to make working surfaces\u00a0until the granite countertops are installed next week, along with the new cooktop, pulls for the small cabinets like the ones above the fridge, top trim for the cupboards on the left, the new sink, and the splash tiling. I didn’t photograph it, but the replacement floor tiles are in as well.<\/p>\n
So to a degree we can now cook, but we still have to carry dirty dishes and utensils back to the deep sink in the laundry room to clean up.\u00a0Our old countertop microwave will go with\u00a0Polly\u00a0when she saves up enough money to move into a place of her own (part of our concurrent daughter remodeling project).<\/p>\n
I’ve missed the last two or three monthly book club meetings,\u00a0and I’m\u00a0determined to go today even though I gave up on the assigned reading, Night Film<\/a> by Marisha Pessi. The category for\u00a0November\u00a0was horror, but I didn’t find\u00a0the novel\u00a0even slightly scary,\u00a0and\u00a0there were more appealing selections\u00a0in my to-read queue. Not to worry, I won’t bad-mouth it at the meeting if\u00a0others liked it.<\/p>\n But hey, today we’re doing a book exchange, and that’s really why I’m going. We’re each supposed to bring two favorites: the ones I’ve picked are\u00a0The Plot Against America<\/a> by Philip Roth and King of the Badgers<\/a> by Philip Hensher. Two Philips, and I’m tempted to bring a\u00a0third,\u00a0Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass<\/a>, but suspect everyone’s already read it.<\/p>\n I know from Facebook that\u00a0many of my friends are also members of local and neighborhood book clubs, and it gives me hope. We are smarter and more intellectually curious than you\u00a0might assume from the crap we normally post on social media. Now if we can just get\u00a0off our asses and vote, eh?<\/p>\n I’ve been meaning to\u00a0share\u00a0some thoughts about the corrosive effects of bad leadership.\u00a0Trump’s had nearly three years to replace cabinet secretaries and agency heads with yes men and toadies who share his petty vindictiveness and lack of values. The rot’s so deep now I wonder\u00a0if we’ll ever fully recover.<\/p>\n Just the other day I\u00a0read\u00a0an article about\u00a0a smear campaign conducted against a career State Department employee by top-level Trump appointees<\/a>\u00a0who\u00a0openly bragged about demoting her after falsely\u00a0branding her of being a\u00a0disloyal Obama appointee (she was hired under the George W. Bush administration) and an Iranian national (she was born and raised in America). This was my reaction, which I posted\u00a0on Facebook and Twitter:<\/p>\n This is the sort of behavior you’d expect from a couple of low-level Beavis & Butthead wage-scalers in the mail room. Not senior leadership. But\u00a0#<\/span>Trump<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0has brought the playing field down to his level.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n But this guy, last night, said it better, and far more forcefully:<\/p>\n
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