“Kindly do not attempt to cloud the issue with facts.”

The Movie: Mary Poppins, 1964 (Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi, screenwriters, from the book by P. L. Travers; Robert Stevenson, dir.)
Who says it: David Tomlinson as Mr. George W. Banks
The context: Mr. Banks says this to Mrs. Banks (Glynis Johns) as she tells him all the good things that have happened in the household since Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) came.
How to use it: On a Sunday morning news program, or at your next press conference.

Thanks to Tom, Lucy and Hayley Ehrenfeld for today's quotation.

My cable server shut down while I was drafting the first version of this post, and I don't feel like writing it all again... it was something about the Sunday morning shows, and how I used to watch them compulsively in Washington, but gave them up in L.A., and now can take or leave them. Although I do want to say that I miss Cokie Roberts, the most beautiful woman in television. (Seriously -- if you ever see her in person, you'll be stunned. TV does not do her justice.) Also, if Tim Russert ever needs a personal assistant or a second wife, I volunteer.

I woke up this morning to an unfamiliar sound that I soon recognized as the drip of melting snow. It's all the way up to 30 degrees this afternoon, and it feels like spring. Dizzy and I took our longest walk in weeks yesterday, and we're on our way out the door again this afternoon.