It's December 21st
... and Christmas is only four days away
The cold has pulled in a little more over the last day or two, though it is still an uncharacteristically mild winter—for now. It’s been a week for chicken soup and finally using the heater regularly and snuggling with a black cat. It’s also been a week of being extra preoccupied with work.
Suddenly, almost inexplicably it seems, it’s almost the end of the year, nearly four months of writing these every Wednesday, and while some have had more substance than others, I appreciate the way the process has made me see things with new eyes. And of course, has helped me write more.
This is going to sound corny, but I want to say how much I appreciate that each of you cares and is interested enough to read what I write. It’s a gift and I don’t take it lightly. I hope to continue to write things worth reading.
If you’re celebrating this week, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas surrounded by those you love.
And if you’re wondering why the header pic is a monkey, it’s because this week one finally got close enough and yet far enough for me to take his picture as he sat on the corner of the building catty-corner to me across the alley. He was minding his business and honestly that’s as close as I’d ever like to get. I have not forgotten the time, when, not too long after moving here, I encountered a monkey as I walked up the little spiral stairs that connect balcony and roof and came face to face with one sitting at the top. I screamed a little and fell a little, and then screamed a second time as I tripped over myself to get away. A highly amused woman several roofs away made helpful long-distance shooing motions—I think she was trying to instruct me on how to deal with what seemed a semi-regular occurrence—and I ran. Marv dashed inside with me, tail puffed like a raccoon. No pictures were taken of monkeys that day.
