One of my many housekeeping assignments this weekend is “sort and shred papers,” which really means collecting all the piles of paper in every room into one enormous pile in the gray room, going through it all, shredding what’s no longer needed and creating a smaller pile of what needs to be kept. This type of exercise always brings up surprises and memories, along with thank-you notes and Christmas cards.
1) A program and ticket stub from Carnival de Venise, a Baroque opera I saw last June with a friend.
2) A card sent me by a friend in 2016, a friend who is now - how shall I say this? - having professional difficulties. I was watching Julie and Julia while shredding, and consider it a good omen that I found that card just as Julia Child got the letter from Knopf offering to publish her cookbook.
3) Another program, this from a private recital last April to benefit the Chorale.