Monday, December 15, 2025

     This Sunday NYT paper is over whelming. They list this year’s ten best books, movies, TV shows. gifts, etc. I haven’t even opened the section and already I am filled with desire and greed. I want the best now and at the same time I want to know my choices during the year turn out to be listed as the best. There is no winning in this game of bests.

     There are piles of stuff in the living room waiting for a new home. Just looking at the piles makes me tired.  I need my office cleared to make room for my daughter to be my roommate. 

     We watch WAKE UP DEAD MAN, a Knives Out Mystery. I wasn’t sure about movie watching, my brain is attuned to long endless TV stories. But this movie is lively and satisfying. There will be more movies in my future.

     I am continuing to read Mick Herron novel, SPOOK STREET. A long spy series.  SLOW HORSES, the TV series is based on these books. So satisfying. My roommate brings in the live Christmas tree from two years ago. She finds the boxes of decorations in the basement.

 

Sunday, December 14, 2025

     Cold damp morning.  My bedroom window is difficult to close and to open. So now it is always a bit open. The tall man helps opening it but now I can’t completely close it. Just an old house problem. The new heater works well.

      A deer ambles close by another window at dusk. I am reminded that that I don’t have sole custody of my yard. I share this property with birds and deer and others creatures. I just have exclusive human occupancy rights because of a piece of paper in the county office and the presence of the local police force to enforce these paper rights.

     My roommate brings home fancy goodies from her friend’s party. I pick one for desert but it is a glamorous tiny turkey sandwich, not a sweet.  I was so disappointed. I am tired and take a long nap in the afternoon.

        While alone in the evening I watch another episode of BLUE LIGHTS, a police procedural set in Belfast. So good.  Later we watch the animated series called COMMON SIDE EFFECTS.   And of course, the latest dropped episode of PLURIBUS.  So much is happening in the national news shows about ICE activities and also Epstein files.

 

 Saturday, December 13, 2025  

     The new Rachel Maddow and Timothy Snyder special, WE THE PEOPLE focuses on what to learn from Chicago when faced with Trumps military and ICE attempts to takeover.  Yes, we can survive, we can be courageous and kind at the same time. Local protests are powerful. So many lessons here.

     The charming student poet visits for a night and then she is off to Boston for a week. She will be back. She still has a room in my home.

      I continue to read Patti Smith’s memoir BREAD OF ANGELS.  Also reading SNOW by john Banville, a detective story set in Ireland. The plot is familiar. I think I have read it before.  

     This morning as I am waking up, I am entertained by memories of my childhood, triggered by Patti Smiths memoir. My childhood still lives in my body and sometimes I am aware of these hidden parts of me