Happy 2013!
Over the holidays, I indulged myself (and found some solace) so I thought I’d share.
My favorite present–homemade caramels– came to me Saturday, December 22. I have received them for some years now, and they never disappoint. I have four left and I am guarding them.
We got snow here Christmas and then a couple days later. I was inspired to take some photographs. Snow-covered trees are so pretty. And, I tried to get artistic.
After the holiday we went back to a tradition we skipped for a few years, i.e., we did a jigsaw puzzle. I ordered it from Elster Photography. It took us a couple of days. I do puzzles on the computer but this was definitely more satisfying and more fun.
I also read lots over the holidays. First, I revisited the wonderful book of poems by Wally Swist called Huang Po and the Dimensions of Love, which recently came out from Southern Illinois University Press. I feel about Wally’s poetry the same way Billy Collins does: “Complete with walking stick, a sharp eye for birds and botany, and yearning for passions, Wally Swist makes his way through the world and takes the lucky reader with him.” “March Wind,” which is in Solace in So Many Words is in this book. There are too many great lines from too many great poems to quote them all here, so I will cite two couplets from “Accompaniment” because they are beautiful and seem to go well with my arty photography above.
“You don’t know this. And you don’t need me / to tell you, but I need you to know that / you accompany me into the world / like a rose opening.”
One of my guilty pleasures is mystery books. The Chief Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny had been recommended to me so when my Secret Santa asked what I wanted, I suggested these books. I finished the first one, Still Life, and haven’t started the second one. These mysteries are well written and they transport me to Montreal and its surrounding areas. Almost 30 years ago I vacationed in Montreal and in Val David in the Laurentian Mountains (at Hotel La Sapinière) and Still Life made me recall that time.
We did a jigsaw, too! A very challenging one, not yet finished. Lincoln’s beautiful melancholy face as one of those portraits in mosaic. A jillion photographs from the Civil War!
Forgot how fun they are . . .