Before leaving the apartment to visit the Ferguson House located near the Nebraska State Capital, I cuddled all up on the sunny side of my balcony to enjoy the first authentic spring day, a cup of café noir and last few pages of Zoë Heller’s novel Notes on a Scandal. Random scenes from Richard Eyre’s film adaptation, staring Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, and Tom Georgeson, slowly invaded my own ephemeral world assembled around Heller’s writing and mutated my own brand of Sheba and Barbara. I closed the book and, all of a sudden, was grippingly dogged by Philip Glass’s music composed for the film.

The Ferguson House, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1909-11 by Lincoln businessman William Henry Ferguson. The house, a fine example of the Second Renaissance Revival architectural style, was designed by Searles, Hirsh, and Gavin of Cleveland, Ohio and built by Olson Construction of Lincoln. In 1963, the State of Nebraska purchased the house and the property is currently administered by the Nebraska State Historical Society.