Entertaining

Kristin Nord: How I loved my white skates with the turquoise pompoms, and in later years as an adult, the black skates with the Matisse-inspired orange rubber guards for my sharpened blades. There is in my mind’s eye, even now, maybe nothing so nice as tightening up my laces, and setting off for a spin on fresh ice on a pond or a lake. I thought of this recently, listening to Sierra Eagleton’s heartbreaking rendering of the Joni Mitchell classic. I wonder how many of us now, when faced with what we’re expected to believe is a season of good cheer, would, in our heart of hearts, like to skate away? more »

Julia Sneden wrote: My only previous experience with goose occurred before we were married, in 1960. I was in Denmark, visiting with friends, and was invited to share the goose-liver stew that was made up of leftovers from their Christmas dinner of a few days before. It was absolutely delicious, but no one thought to enlighten me about the digestive effects of over-indulgence in such a rich dish. I wondered why I was the only one who took second helpings. I soon found out. more »

A few years ago as I was strolling through the china department of a local department store, I came across a dining table display that set me to giggling. The linens, china, crystal and silver were all quite elegant and carefully coordinated. The flower arrangement was a stunner. What set me off was the sight of twelve perfectly matched napkin rings, each correctly placed on the napkin to the left of the forks. The fad for matched napkin rings has grown since then, and nowadays even the catalogues feature such sets. Excuse me, but doesn't anybody in this modern generation realize why we had napkin rings in the old days?   more »

Q: And will the decisions that are being made in this transition period — like the vaccine distribution plan — in any way limit the options of a new administration? Fauci: No, I don’t think so. I think a new administration will have the choice of doing what they feel. But I can tell you what’s going to happen, regardless of the transition or not, is that we have people totally committed to doing it right that are going to be involved in this. So I have confidence in that. Q: When do you think we’ll all be able to throw our masks away? Fauci: I think that we’re going to have some degree of public health measures together with the vaccine for a considerable period of time. But we’ll start approaching normal — if the overwhelming majority of people take the vaccine — as we get into the third or fourth quarter [of 2021]. more »