Exhausting day shopping with nearly unlimited funds (thanks to my insurance settlement):

I see, I think, why frivolous beings take it so seriously.  After purchase of clothes and computer gauds and musical instruments, what lies heaviest on my spirit is a pair of Italian shoes that I didn't buy because I wasn't sure they'd fit me, and the price of which ($200) was ridiculous, but which transcended mere shoeness in their perfect Italian elegance and beauty.  Anyway, I'm nearly set for Thanksgiving in Spokane--and for the next couple of years here in Honolulu.  What special fun it was  consulting with the vintner and the liquor people in Spokane; settling on a case (a case!) of the best  local Washington State Riesling ("Poet's Leap" from Walla Walla), four bottles of Taittinger's (blanc de blancs) champagne (half-price at $60 a bottle) to go with caviar for apéritifs, and one bottle of Calvados ($60) for after dinner with coffee.  Silly, silly fun.