the mellow tigger's musings

"I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but if I were, I'd be thinking how absolutely convenient it is for Trump that Virginia Giuffre 'suicided,' you know?" I said.

I was talking to Richard, a sharp-as-a-tack vintner-cum-political scientist in his late eighties. We were at Adrienne-&-Joey's Victory Party—a party that in my opinion, was absolutely justified: Adrienne only lost by 43 votes & will be running again next year because they're switching all local elections in New York State to even years.

"John LeCarré fan, are you?" Richard chuckled. "Well, I don't think you're wrong."

"Plus, I mean, 'the dog that hasn't barked?'"

"Sherlock Holmes reference," Richard said. "The curious incident of the dog in the night time."

"That didn't bark because he knew the culprit," I agreed. "I kinda think that's the weirdest thing of all—that the juvenile Jeffrey Epstein was once a Sherlock Holmes fanboy."

###

The party took place at an old biker bar, the Owl, which has been repurposed as a farm-to-table restaurant called One With Land (so they could keep the OWL signage.) Owner is a Michelin star chef who relocated a couple of years ago from Brooklyn, & I gotta say, the menu was beyond fabulous, course after course of the most amazing food. Standouts were: crostino with whipped ricotta, charred brussels sprouts with a maple syrup glaze, an amazing fusilli that I don't even know what was in it, and fresh doughnuts, still warm, with a Nutella drizzle. There were tons of other dishes, too. Really, really good restaurant. There were about 35 of us packed around two long, family-style tables, oh so Southern Mediterreanean.

###

Other conversational standouts:

Nancy (my old canvassing partner): Take lots of photographs! You're such a good photographer!

Me: :::demurring sounds meant to convey modesty:::

Nancy: No, really! I was just telling my husband yesterday—I want that photo you took of me at the tea party to be used in my obituary!

The photo in question:



Nancy, by the way, is 78 and runs four miles a day, so it doesn't take much to make her look good.

###

At the end of the party when pretty much everyone but me & Adrienne (with whom I'd hitched a ride since I don't drive at night) had departed.

Joey: This is my favorite part of any party. When it's winding down.

Me: You must be an introvert!

Joey: I am an introvert!

Me: That makes the fact that you rose to the call and actually ran for office all the more impressive!

Joey is actually one of the few Shawangunk Dems who's under the age of 40, so you know. We need more of him & fewer of us!

Here's Joey & the engaging Richard with whom I bantered in Paragraph 1:



All in all, quite the delightful evening, and it completely broke my mood of the past few days, which had been very peevish and borderline-y indeed—-like I wanted to track down people from my past & just randomly spew insults at them, never a good thing to do or even spend much time fantasizing about.