My wife is wonderful, but she is definitely a little strange, and her brain ought to be saved and studied one day, it is definitely not a normal brain (like the one Frankenstein wanted but never got to use). This morning, she came storming into my study and announce,d “My brain is bad!,” Doesn’t everyone say this every morning?

it keeps going to a bad place, she said. Hmmm, I said, really? She wasn’t sure what to do about it. I suggested she stop complaining about her brain – which is, I said, quite obviously damaged and warped, and put it to good use. So she stormed out of the house in a huff, went to her studio and disappeared there for awhile. A few minutes ago, she returned with a design for a potholder, which is think is both accurate and quite wonderful.

Lots of us have bad brains, I think. Most of us don’t go admitting it.

Two things always make Maria happy. Making something and selling it. Here, I thought, is the chance for her to do both. She’ll finish this right after lunch, I suspect, unless her brain deteriorates further and she goes rushing naked off into the woods with Lenore. I imagine this piece will be for sale this afternoon on her website.