Dry, cool days at home

In an odd development this week chez nous, the furnace and the water heater, which stand next to each other in the basement, ended their lives in an apparent suicide pact. On successive days -- what were the odds? This led to a few days in which we take showers at the house of our friends Sara and Martha. Last night while we took turns in the bathroom, our hosts screened for us an obscure documentary of the 1960 Democratic primary in Wisconsin, Primary -- not because they wanted us to quickly leave, but because they know we share their odd fascination with obscure documentaries.

Speaking of the 60s, lately the NYT has gone nuts for Rat Pack-related stuff. Last Wednesday Caryn James wrote about a new film, Where the Truth Lies, which fictionalizes the Dean Martin-Jerry Lewis partnership. Today there's a prominent interview with Jerry Lewis. And on the same page of the newspaper, in a completely unrelated article about NBC newser Brian Williams and his coverage of Hurricane Katrina, the writer uses the name of Joey Bishop -- a fictionalized version of whom is the main character of my as-yet-unpublished novel Make Nice. I take these persistent mentions as a sign that the time is ripe for my book. Editors, shake a leg!

Rat Pack, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin