1) Candlelight coffee and devotional (First Timothy 1, C.S. Lewis, and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up).
1a) The writer whose habits I read about in How Artists Work (always my last devotional reading) was someone who could only write when he was angry. This had a bad effect on his health. (I can’t remember who it was, I just know I couldn’t work like that.)
2) Domesticity! Scrubbing all the porcelain in the bathroom and polishing large bits of silver to prepare for Tea and Tarot. The latter made me reflect on how I neglect the “good stuff” from my grandmother. What I really need is a bolt of Pacific cloth to make bags for all these bits of plate that don’t get used.
3) All year I say I want to do an Etiquetteer “Year in Review” column on good and bad manners of the Old Year, and every year it comes down to December 31 and I haven’t started it. So for a few hours I’ll be compiling that.
4) My God, I’m leaving for NYC later this week and I’ve hardly scheduled anything!
5) New Year’s Eve is my favorite night of the entire year, and this year is no exception.
New Year’s Eve, 1999.