1) I read the news today, oh boy: Trump shutdown, Mattis resignation, Ginsburg surgery. No matter what I did today, all this news (and fears for the entire country) went with me.
2) Mother and I had a late breakfast around 10 AM. I was simply not in a space to write Christmas cards, so around noon I headed out to the mall for some shopping. I managed some victories and got nice presents for everyone remaining on my list! The saleslady in houseware at the Anchor Department Store has only lived in lovely Lago di Carlo for four months. I’m always astonished that people choose to move here, but apparently she’s had family here for the last 15 years and “was just tired of winter” where she used to live. So, bravo!
3) The traffic down here is reaching impossible gridlock, approaching Bostonian levels of backup.
4) Today was the 25th birthday of Younger Nephew Who Must Not Be Tagged, and as it happened he was free for me to take him and Mother to dinner. He chose a country-style steakhouse near Mother’s, and they gave us a good dinner. Younger Nephew Who Must Not Be Tagged is not always the most talkative person, but I was able to learn more from him about his new job, plans and renovations for the house he and his wife bought earlier this year, and what they’ve been doing with the produce on their little property: lemons and other fruit from trees already on the property, peppers from their hanging plants, and an eggplant that, after careful tending, a squirrel looted from them.
4a) It make me think of my own 25th birthday, when two friends took me out to Dyrgin-Park during the period they had an outpost at Costly Space, and they gave me a Swatch watch (which was then the must-have accessory). Even though the strap’s broken, I think I still have it.
5) Scrabble after dinner! Mother and I faced off and I ended up victorious 337 to 271.
6) This being the solstice, we went out to look at the moon, small and such a pure white, a white that only the moon can achieve. I took this portrait of Mother before we went in. Isn’t she adorable?!
7) Now I am listening to the score of Giselle, fearful for the morrow. A friend posted on ye Fycebykke “My feeling? It’s all gonna blow like a boil, and soon.” Trying not to feel too fin du monde, and not really succeeding. Halley’s Comet brought down the Marcos and Duvalier regimes in 1986. What regimes might this solstice cast down . . . or elevate?