The Writer's Life 6/8 - Lucky 13

In his business column in yesterday's NY Post, John Crudele dampened enthusiasm about the economy by citing a few stats. In 2008 there were 79.4 million non-workers in America. By 2015 the number had increased to 93.2 million. And the Labor Participation Rate is currently 62.8%, hardly changed over the past decade. I don't cite this as criticism of President Trump's economic policies, which I support. I want to be as objective as possible. While I hope the economy is as rosy as many are stating, I'm not sure it's in a good place yet.

Congratulations to the Washington Capitals, who won their first championship in their 43-year history. Team captain and future Hall of Famer Alex Ovechkin scored 15 goals in the post season, and was named MVP of the finals. His 13th year in the NHL has proved lucky. Now certain yahoos in the sports press will say his greatness is verified, as if having scored more than 600 goals hadn't been enough. There's one down note to this. DC's pols are likely to demand photo-ops. It's easy to imagine career hack Chuck Schumer elbowing his way into pictures with players.

There had been a spate of mailbox thefts in the neighborhood recently. Slimes would squeeze glue into them and fish out parcels. I don't know for sure, but it may have affected my dealings with Netflix. A couple of DVDs I returned went MIA. After a couple of months without a problem, it happened again this week. There may be a solution to the larceny in the works. This week I reached for the flap of a brand new mailbox and it wasn't there. There was only a slot. Let's see how the criminals adjust to that.

Now that my rain jacket has arrived from Ebay, I expect there won't be much precipitation for a while. Today's weather was spectacular, energizing. I wasn't that far from feeling 100%, which is rare now that I'm in my 68th year.

My thanks to the two gentlemen who between them bought four books in Russian, and to Mira, who purchased The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier; and to the gentleman who selected a thriller, Fragment by Warren Fahy; and to the other who took home a book on business and The Rival Queens: Catherine de' Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal That Ignited a Kingdom by Nancy Goldstone.
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