440 million in Flash

A month or so ago PowerBall was up to $440 million (or maybe it was $140 million - I realize there is a big difference but if you're not going to win and I'm not going to win, it matters less) and I bought a ticket. I never, never, never buy lottery tickets. The reason I bought one this time was because Amanada at work had said that day that the Powerball number was going to be 12 and I figured I should test her guess. Plus I just happened to be at Casey's that night picking up a pizza, and the woman at the counter was a friend of mine from my old, old job. She had time and was willing to walk me through the purchase of a Powerball ticket. To choose the 12 for Powerball I had to pick the other numbers too so it took a while. Luckily (ha ha ha) the place was not busy and there was time for me to hem and haw.

I ended up walking out with my pizza and my three dollar lottery ticket. I of course got to eat the pizza - the top only - Gracie gets the crust - and I of course did not win the lottery.

But still..... $440 or $140 million would be a nice sum. The US takes taxes out of course, unlike our friends to the north, and the take is generally spread out over a period of years, so it's not really the sticker price... but still...

I would fix my house.

• new wood floors on entire first floor
• new effective lighting
• authentic siding and windows and doors (outside)
• insulation and a propane fueled furnace - maybe a duel fuel wood/propane furnace for old time's sake
• prop up deck and part of house without basement
• wainscoting base cupboards, and shelves above, painted white
• fixed bathroom
• paint interior off white, with walls fixed as needed
• guest suite upstairs with bathroom in northeast room, trundle bed and book shelves in middle room
• book shelves downstairs
• oh and someone needs to peel the loose wallpaper off the kitchen ceiling and paint it

I would move out while it was getting fixed. Deb says I could stay with them - I'd be especially welcome if I won the $440 (or $140) million.

I'd have to hire a curator to handle my books and papers while I was gone. I could hardly let the remodelers just pick and chose what to keep and what to save. And since I am incapable of doing any of this myself I'd need expert help.

Ok having settled that I will move on.

Today's chicken breasts were good. Fareway's meat guys had wrapped them so lovingly. We do not know how lucky we are to have Fareway with its excellent meat counter. I put them in the frying pan with a little olive oil and later some cider vinegar and coarse ground mustard.

I have a wonderful new book from Good Will. It's about the Wyeth painting dynasty and it has a lot of illustrations - both high quality color 'plates' and black and white pictures in with the text. N.C. Wyeth was the famous illustrator - murals in the Missouir state capitol and all over, famous for illustrating Treasure Island and other books and other murals. He had five children most of whom were artists. Henriette was oldest and married New Mexico artist Peter Hurd.

Andrew was the baby of the family and became famous at an early age. He did those kind of dry looking pictures, "Christina's World" is the best known. He was famous for a series of pictures of one model - Helga - that he made over a 15 yr period, many of the nudes, secretly. He kept making his regular paintings too, keeping the more than two hundred Helga pictures hidden, until they weren't hidden anymore.

Andrew's son Jamie is famous too, for Kennedy portraits among other pictures.

None of the Wyeths were educated. They all learned in the family workshops. Their art was not trendy - they were all accused of being illustrators. They all made their living doing it which of course means you cannot be a great artist. Great artists suffer and starve.

Andrew Wyeth lived and painted in Chadd's Ford, Pennsylvania and Cushing, Maine. Both places have his studios and homes open to the public. Has anyone visited either place?

Here's what wiki has to say

The book from Good Will is Andrew Wyeth - A Secret Life by Richard Meryman.

Oh someone's asked about work.... I'm still employed. I'm a couple weeks past my probationary period.

The job that was so much fun when I started is a little less fun now. I thought they were going to throw me out for a while. Now I think they'll keep me, but I'm not totally sure There is a lot of detail and room for error and my talents are not quite a match for their requirements. My ego has slipped down a few notches and I find my goal not to be really good at anything, just good enough to survive. In other words, I'm trying to be careful.

The job is still good in many ways. I like the drive. It's four days a week - no overtime lately - but that's ok. I enjoy the work basically. I want to do a good job. I've been walking noons with a woman I know from my old, old job. And we have a good time.

I want to keep an oar out in case the job disappears. I don't think I'll look very hard for another job is this one does end.

Oh well bridges to be crossed when I get to them, and all that.

I've been reading Tales of Manhattan on breaks. This is the second of Louis Auchincloss's books I've read, and at some point in both books I realize he had a reputation for being hard on the Jews. (I tried anti-semeticism as many ways as I could and I'm too lazy to google it.) He's a brilliant writer though and I find myself laughing out loud at a phrase almost every time I read him.

I marked a few:

"His flattery was confined strictly to the individual with whom he was talking and not wasted on the individuals about whom he talked."

"By driving up prices and destroying old values he could make the wealth of the whole community change hands. And in the turnover, of course, (he) would come out on top."

"... she chattered away without the least regard for any of my murmured responses."

"a brief marriage and a longer lasting bankruptcy"

Ok friends, that's it for now.

Have a good week, everybody.