We were in the kitchen this morning and Don looked at these masks that just happened to be drying on the kitchen table:

He said, “If that doesn’t sum up 2020, I don’t know what does.”

What a year. Mostly horrendous, heartbreaking, enraging, maddening, lonely, bewildering – I could go on but you get the picture. It’s been like nothing we’ve ever been through before.

In the midst of it, however, was goodness and kindness and heroism. Front line workers risking their lives to help others. Good deeds. People reaching out to each other in new ways. People standing in long lines and risking their health in the time of COVID in order to vote. We turned out in record numbers in order to vote a monster out of office.

Too many lives lost and many of those deaths never had to happen. Willful ignorance and selfishness on display as people refused to wear masks, stay isolated, or take one moment to think about someone other than themselves.

This has been a terrible year, one I  cannot wait to say goodbye to.

I could spend paragraphs speaking to the nightmare that is the Orange Man and his administration but I’ve done that. You know how I feel.

But we’re getting through it, thank goodness.

I thank you all so much for your daily presence here. You’ve made an enormous difference in my life, especially this year. More than ever, our little community has been a source of solace and commiseration, of joy and laughter.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

May we move forward into 2021, knowing that change is coming, knowing that at some point we will all be vaccinated, that goodness will triumph. I only wish January 1st was also Inauguration Day.

Stay safe. Stay vigilant. Don’t relax your guard, my friends, as the next few months will be hard.

But do celebrate the end of this year and a better year ahead.

I may or may not post tomorrow. We’ll see.

Happy Thursday.

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.