Fixation on fingernails

People in all known branches of the family are, almost without exception, vain about their hands. They notice hands in photographs. They wear gloves. Those who work with their hands are scrupulous about using Lava soap and about keeping fingernails clean and neat, even if their nails have suffered traumatic injury from work (luckily nobody has lost any digits or parts of them). Nobody of the female persuasion has ever indulged in nail varnish or excessively long fingernails. In fact, many have kept their fingernails short, for the sake of keyboards of various kinds, including those of pianos, and for playing the violin and other stringed instruments. All around us, though, are ever-proliferating nail salons; and many are those who spend outrageous amounts of money to indulge in gaudy paint jobs and even false, glued-on nails. Cubra Libre has inaugurated a Thursday happy hour called "Martini andManicures" (one of each for ten bucks). This is a trend around the nation, but may be new to Austin. This is a bar with "beauty" service; many are the haircut joints that keep a bottle of wine going, along with the water, coffee, and tea offerings.