It’s cold, but beautifully sunny. I’ll take it. Don has gone off to recycle and I’m writing this post now so that I can share a second cup of coffee with him when he comes back. We got our groceries yesterday and everything has been cleaned and put away, and after the recycling, we should be done with going-out-in-public chores.

I’m deeply saddened by the passing of the great Christopher Plummer. I’ve been a fan since I first saw The Sound of Music  as a young girl. So many people know him from that and his excellent film work. But he was first and foremost a theater actor and he returned to the theater throughout his life. Rest in Peace. Thank you.

We’ve lost four greats, all in their nineties, during the past two weeks: Cloris Leachman, Cicely Tyson, Hal Holbrook, and Christopher Plummer. Each of them was astounding, brilliant, and never-to-be replaced. And all of them started out in theater and returned to the stage repeatedly. What an incalculable loss for the world. I can barely take it in. The contributions they made to the Arts can never be quantified. When I contemplate a world without these extraordinary artists, I am left bereft. Bless them all.

Puzzle finished.

Such a lot of fun!

Some closeups of favorite titles/artwork:

Madeline. And Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel.

Babar. Curious George. Ferdinand. All beloved books read over and over.

Eloise. Charlotte’s Web. Alice. Tom Sawyer. Black Beauty. Make Way for Ducklings.

Olivia – a new series that I am enchanted by.

I’m deeply into Winter Solstice. I am struck by the realization that, like the citizens of Three Pines, I want to hang out with these good people. They have become friends. I will be sad to leave them when I finish the book; you know, that feeling of wanting to slow up the reading process because you know you’ll be finished all too soon. And then they’ll be gone.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

Closer to the finish.

I finished up the rivers and the shorelines, added Central Park and St. Patrick’s Cathedral  – now I have to fill in the neighborhoods, as well as Union Square and a couple of other parks. I find this kind of thing so absorbing and stimulating, while at the same time, very calming. There’s nothing I love more at the moment than working on this puzzle with Don playing music and singing at the other end of the room.

I’m about a hundred and twenty pages into Winter Solstice  and I’m really enjoying it. Pilcher is a master of describing time and place. Her characters are complex and beautifully written. Someone suggested in a comment here that this book was like a Hallmark movie. To me? With all due respect, not one bit. Hallmark movies are meant to be superficial and surface level, with impossibly pretty actors and shallow plot devices, because they’re a form of visual escape, just like Harlequin romances were a form of escape for me when I was younger. I get it. I’m not at all into those movies now, but I understand their appeal.

Pilcher, on the other hand, is an excellent writer and her books have far, far more depth. There’s no comparison. There are elements of romance of course, but they’re character driven and beautifully written. I hadn’t read one of her novels in several years and I forgot what a pleasure it is to be in her hands. All this is to say, I love her books. This is just what I need at the moment – interesting, complicated characters, beautiful descriptions of the English and Scottish countrysides, cottages, houses, the streets of London, and characters who are forced to face heartbreak and change and move on in the hopes of something better. Characters, I might add, who have weaknesses, regrets, and resilience in the face of the unknown.

The forecast for Monday and Tuesday keeps changing. Yesterday: 1-3 inches of snow with 1-3 inches overnight. This morning: 1-3 inches of snow with 3-5 inches overnight. Apparently, the forecast models keep changing. So, we won’t really know anything definite until sometime tomorrow.

We’ve been looking through a book of Jeff Bridges’ photographs, all taken on movie sets with his Widelux camera. Some of them are from Crazy Heart, which we saw when it first came out. Bridges won the Oscar for his role. So we rented it from Amazon Prime last night and I’m so glad we watched it again. He’s brilliant in his role; heartbreaking, touching, dissolute, sad and, in the end, inspiring. Also wonderful – Maggie Gyllenhaall, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duvall. It’s so damn good.

Don will pick up groceries today. I’m forcing myself to clean the bathroom. Then we’ll do all the disinfecting, etc. Then, I hope to hear some music from my husband. I sang to him last night. I don’t sing a lot these days but I sang onstage, in church, and professionally for years. When Don catches me singing while working in the kitchen, he asks for more. What a good guy he is!

Really, really cold out there. But sunny.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.