What better way to ring in the New Year than by celebrating Sherlock's birthday with the Wisteria Lodgers! We all got together for a wonderful dinner at Barb & John’s home where we indulged in roast beef au jus, mushy peas, roasted potatoes, and tomato cucumber salad. As the evening progressed, we sipped on wine, sangria and sparkling apple juice over a very heated discussion about “The Final Solution” **ahem** I mean, “The Final Problem.”
One of the fascinating things about this story for me is that we see Sherlock Holmes at his most vulnerable (and perhaps for good reason). He basically sees a spitting image of himself--well that is, without the domed forehead and the deeply sunken in set of eyes--but one who uses his genius to run an organized crime network. The cat-and-mouse game between Holmes and Moriarty, which takes them across Europe is perhaps another highlight of the story that adds to its suspense, though,some of us interpreted it as a sign that Doyle was planning his vacation (and, perhaps, rightly so since this WAS supposed to be the last Sherlock Holmes story). The night ended with a series of toasts. I wrote one for the Woman, which went a little something like this:
To the Woman who was always two steps ahead,
That it scared Watson, and he wrote her off as dead.
But in the popular imagination she continues to live,
As an equal to the Great detective.
She’s an American!
She’s an Adventuress!
She’s an Adversary!
Some will say…
She’s a AAA threat disguised as a gentle lady.
So let us raise our glass to Ms. Irene Adler,
The woman of the past, present and generations hereafter!
