3 Ring Binder

The Hound Group went first and it was a little disappointing. For the second, or third year in a row, I liked Chanel, the Whippet (who took third), and the PBGV (who took second), and much to my surprise, I really liked the longhaired dachshund !   She was very alert and peppy and walked so beautifully which are some things that I never say about the stunted little dogs!   I was most impressed with the Plott , a relative newcomer on my radar with a – dare I say – f’ugly breed name, unless you name her Plan and so can introduce her as “my Plott, Plan.” (A little civil engineering humor for you there.) Everyone in the house agreed that the Rhodesian Ridgeback was a stunning dog. (Hey – I used to know a civil engineer who owned a Rhodie!) Alas, my picks were not to be for the wire-haired dachshund took first place in this group! That’s right, the squatty little professor of English Lit-ra-chur looking beast won.   Harumph. Then came the Toy Group which was my chance to...

I love Sunday afternoons in the fall. I know it's not officially fall, but the cooler weather is here, the local apples are prime for picking, and the Patriots are on the TV while Stephen does food prep for the week. Over the past few years I have really come to enjoy watching football (great play Guyton!), and I enjoy analyzing the commercials as well.  Mostly, the beer commercials are so dumb, they're not even fun to watch, but they seem to be getting slightly better. And I've always enjoyed a good play on words. Hope you're appreciating your Sunday afternoon, too.

I often wonder about the structure of language and how standard usage expands and contracts. But this post is about how I transformed myself into a cartoon MadMen character. I’m the one in red. Sure, I look like a cross between my grandmother and Anne Bancroft in The Graduate , but I’m good with that. I dislike the hair, but it came with the hat – and you know I had to have that hat! On the plus side, I have a fabulous furry dead thing around my neck, my legs are spectacular, and Don Draper seems to like me. Who could ask for anything more - you know- in a cartoon world? If you’re a MadMen fan, you should go to MadMenYourself right now and get your own MadMen icon! If you’re not, I can completely understand. There are no heroes in the show (with the possible exception of Joan Holloway, the curvy office manager in the blue, and perhaps once Bertram Cooper who is now more doddering than dazzling), but it is compelling to watch nonetheless. The ubiquitous smoking, incessant drinking, ...

NOW, I'm done.

Art historian Lee Sandstead has his own show on the Travel Channel called Art Attack . You can see bits of the upcoming shows there as well. Its season starts tomorrow morning, Sunday, November 30 at 9am. Here is an interview with Lee, not about the show, but about his passion about art and artists. In the show, he's more like the Billy Mays of the art world, but I guess he can't help himself. Art is cool.

It even says so on the tote bag my husband bought me for Christmas. Read an interesting interview with him in yesterday's Washington Post celebrity blog. If you don’t know Mike Rowe , or his Discovery Channel show Dirty Jobs , check them out. He’s funny, smart, respectful, and incredibly charismatic – and, oh – he can sing!

Have a good night!