My step-great-grandmother Zillah used to say that we entertain in order to attend to our homes, and we travel in order to attend to our wardrobes.
We prepare for the gaze of others and discover what no longer fits.
There is a story about Denis Diderot that haunts me any time I consider buying something for my home.
In a 1769 essay titled “Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown” (French: Regrets sur ma vieille robe de chambre), Diderot reflects upon the ways his life is upended by a gift.
He receives a beautiful new dressing gown, elegant and finely made, and suddenly everything else in his home looks shabby by comparison. The chair where he was once satisfied to sit and read? It no longer belongs. The desk where he writes his essays and his 28-volume Encyclopédie? It feels wrong. The humble room itself begins to accuse him. So he replaces one thing, then another, then another, until everything matches the robe. In doing so, he ruins himself. The gift did not elevate him. Instead, it rearranged his sense of what belonged.
When our friend Evan recently came for a visit, my wife Kate began to see the house as he might see it, rather than as we see it from within, accustomed to its compromises. She looked at the fraying dining room rug the dog had started chewing a few years ago, drawn to its thick weave. She looked at the ottoman we’d bought as a placeholder twenty years ago and never gotten around to replacing. She looked at the back yard recliners, worn down by weather and time and our indifference to both.
We bought much of this furniture twenty-two years ago, when we first moved into our Davis home, when pine and pressboard sufficed. Now, those pieces have become static artifacts of a household we’ve outgrown, though we hadn’t noticed the growth until the afternoon light hit the dust just right.
One replacement leads to another: the rug, then the end table, then the chairs. The house begins to shift.
I find myself looking forward to living in a slightly finer version of our home. Unlike Diderot, I will not be replacing my 34-year-old robe, a favorite wedding present from one of my first babysitters, the late novelist John Davenport, a gift I still use every day.
Of all the gifts I received on my wedding day, the only gift that gets more use than my terrycloth robe is the golden band that I haven’t removed since.
For me, the robe stays. The band stays. That is enough.
The city is empty because of spring break, so surely you will find a table this evening! Please join me tonight for an outdoor pub quiz (or you could sit inside), also known as the social event of the week. Expect 31 questions on a variety of topics you should know something about, this week with questions on waterways. Today’s pub quiz comes in at a svelte 839 words.
In addition to topics raised above and below, expect questions tonight on the following: AI tools, arsonists, capital cities, civil liberties, college basketball, college teams, debt scares, dental concerns, drainage systems, eavesdroppers, film reviews, helpers, inlets, interstate raiders, lubricants, metals, morning programs, mountainous Latin roots, novel heroines, numbers that are divisible by seven, nutrition comparisons, odds, pop artists, pop star birthplaces, powerhouses, progressive organization founders, reality shows, retail chains, roses, seed, state leadership categories, TV crimes, viewership scales, waterways, whips pop charts, U.S. states, geography, current events, and Shakespeare.
For more Pub Quiz fun, please subscribe via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/yourquizmaster.
Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Certain friends have upgraded their memberships recently, which I really appreciate.
We are almost to 100 Patreon members now, including people who have upgraded their paid memberships! You know who you are, and I salute you! I also incidentally salute Cathy, Christine, Bobby, Esther, James, Damian, Jim, and Meebles! Thanks also to new subscribers Prescott, Bill and Diane, Tamara, Megan, Michael, Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, The X-Ennial Falcons, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank. Maybe next week it will be you! I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, Still Here for the Shakesbeer, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining dinner companions and bakers of marvelous and healthy treats, The Mavens. Hello to Bill and to Jude’s dad. Thanks in particular to my paid subscribers on Substack. Thanks to everyone who supports the Pub Quiz on Patreon. I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of pub quiz boosters. Also, I sometimes remember to add an extra hint on Patreon. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
I also want to recognize those who visit my Substack the most often, including Michael (thanks Michael!), Luna, Jean, Ron, Myrna, Maria, to whom I send sustained compassion.
Best,
Dr. Andy
Three questions from last week:
Books and Authors and Plays and Movies. Was Little Shop of Horrors originally a 1990 children’s picture book by William Steig, a film by Roger Corman, or an off-Broadway show with music by Alan Menken and lyrics and a book by Howard Ashman? Hint: Your guess is probably wrong.
Film. One Battle After Another won six Oscars; Sinners won four. What 2025 film came in third with three Oscars?
Youth Culture. To be released December 18th of 2026, what cinematic space opera with a $200 million budget and five Oscar-nominees in its cast is likely to be one of the top-grossing films released in 2026?