Still up! And, in spite of getting it on December 2nd, it’s still very moist with no discernible dryness. So it will stay up into the New Year. That’s the way my parents did it and it’s a tradition I gladly continue.

I finished Moonflower Murders  last night, staying up a bit later than usual in order to find out who the murderer was. Anthony Horowitz, the incredibly skilled author, has once again used the device of writing a book within a book. By the end of this novel, you will have read two books. He is so good at playing with the genre. I’m a big fan.

Next up: one of my Christmas presents, The Law of Innocence  by Michael Connelly. I’ve been reading at a slower pace lately. I’ve been distracted by other things. So last night’s big chunk of reading was extremely satisfying.

I haven’t read as many books this year as in years past. I was consumed by the election and by text banking for Biden and by lots of outdoor projects. But I did read a lot of great books, starting the year off with Jane Eyre. I was about to work on my one and only job of the year, coaching a production of Jane Eyre  at Hartford Stage. I’ll be ending it with The Law of Innocence.

My favorite book of the year was, without a doubt, Hamnet  by Maggie O’Farrell. I’ve never read anything like it. Profound, heartbreaking, glorious, and lyrical. I could come up with 20 more adjectives for it. Don read it, as well, and we spent large chunks of time talking about it. It got me in my very core.

It’s time to share what you are reading at the moment with the addition of your favorite book of the year (if you can pick one.) Feel free to share your thoughts.

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

The paperwhites in the den will be opening soon. The beauties in the kitchen are open and fragrant and lovely. I even got a whiff of their scent while sitting in my chair here in the den.

I love when I hear bird song on these wintry days. I heard some this morning so I turned around and looked out on the porch and there were two chickadees, one of which which was singing. He/she spent a short time on the porch railing and then took off in search of food.

It really makes my day.

Speaking of the porch railing, I looked out there the other day and there was a big, fat cat sitting and relaxing on the railing.

That’s a first.

I’m sure it’s one of my neighbor’s cats because I’ve seen him before.

I’ve been falling asleep early in the evening lately. The moment we sit down together on the sofa after dinner to watch television, I can’t keep my eyes open – even when the movie we’re going to watch is one of my favorites. Last night, we were debating what to watch and I pushed for Casablanca, which was on TCM. So we watched that and I swear I missed half of the movie!

Is it a letting go? Is it the cocooning of winter, which is like a hibernation of sorts? I’ve had this happen before and it’s usually in the winter. Maybe I’m finally relaxing? I don’t know.

We’re taking it easy today.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.

For those of you who get the post via email who might be wondering why there are two posts titled Day Two Hundred Eighty-Five? Well, I mistakenly wrote the wrong number on yesterday’s post. Reader Petra kindly pointed that out to me. Unfortunately I was sitting in the car waiting for Don to come out of his eye doctor appointment at the time and had no way of correcting it until I got home – which I did, but it was too late to change the email version of the post. A big thank you to Petra! We’re back on track.

The morning sun was hitting the paperwhites with a sort of spotlight this morning. I took a series of photos and every one of them has this orb of light that you can see on the right. Magical!

We’re pooped. Don’s appointment with the eye specialist is always stressful…no one wants a shot in the eye. The side effects vary every time. Sometimes there’s no pain and it’s as if it never happened. This time there was more soreness afterward and a lot of blood on the eyeball. It’s slowly getting better. I’ve encouraged him to lay low today. We are officially starting our ‘no chores-listening to music-reading-relaxing’ days leading up to Christmas. Of course, I’m cleaning the bathroom today but that’s because I like things clean before Christmas. And since we’re getting lots and lots of rain tomorrow on top of a snow pack and temperatures in the 50s  for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with a 20 degree drop on Saturday, we’ll probably be out there salting as the melted snow turns to ice.

Our Christmas – at least the outdoors portion of it – is not going to be pretty. Indoors? Pretty.

Today, however, is sunny and quite beautiful.

This arrived at nearly 10 pm last night:

A big thank you to UPS drivers who are clearly working long, long hours. (By the way, we’re still missing our USPS packages – not their fault, of course, just annoying.)

Anyway, this is the Beacon Hill dollhouse kit. We haven’t unboxed it yet, but it weighs about 40 pounds and we’re going to have to drag it upstairs later this morning. I’ve been reading lots of posts about constructing this huge house and they’re very helpful. But I had to stop reading them for the time being. If I kept on reading, I would never start the project!

By the way, this is for Jeanie, who mentioned she’d like a photo of the den in Hummingbird Cottage all dressed up for Christmas.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.