Monday, December 03, 2012


There has been a great leap forward in the number of Followers since Franklin’s recommendation. I fear I will fail your expectations, but you are all most welcome.

Today is my sister’s 76th birthday. She’s catching up with me fast. Happy Birthday, Helen. Our mother always said it was her best Christmas ever – she had to get everything done well in advance, and she did. A healthy baby under the Christmas tree was a welcome plus.

Romulus Linney: I didn’t know it was lung cancer, Shandy. I did know, Beverly and Catmum, that Laura is his daughter. “The Truman Show” is one of my favourite movies.

I think we overlapped at Oberlin only by a year, Rommy Linney and I – he was a towering figure when I was a freshman. He was on stage at a welcome session in my first few days. He told us, at one point, to turn around and shake hands with the person behind us. We all tried to do it, and then all laughed. I think of that moment often, in relation to Christmas. It’s fun giving people things, and imagining in advance how their faces will light up when they unwrap our present and discover the very thing they wanted. Less easy to bear in mind that one will, oneself, be on the other end of such exchanges and that one’s own reaction will be equally necessary to the jollity of the moment.

Knitting: the brioche scarf has about five inches to go. This evening might polish it off.

Kate Davies’ book went on sale at 8 a.m. this morning. Now, at 9:10, she says she’s sold out!

Christmas: once when my mother was moving house, she grumbled to a neighbour over the garden fence about all she had to do. Start with the job that bugs you most, he said. It was good advice. So yesterday I wrapped my sister’s present, as well as polishing off the rest of the USA-bound Christmas cards. Will I get to a post office with them today? The local one closed some years ago. I think they explained at the time that they were doing it for my greater convenience. Or will I be required to devote all available time and energy to getting my husband to a routine diabetic retinopathy examination at the Eye Pavillion this afternoon?

5 comments:

  1. My husband points out that Laura Linney played that very nice American girl who has to choose her brother over Karl in "Love, Actually." That's the sort of thing he knows.

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  2. Jean, Kate's book is still available. There was a computer glitch, now fixed.

    Dawn

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  3. Humility will get you nowhere here, Jean. You are an excellent writer and delightful read. My weekday routine begins with fetching breakfast at the cafe and settling down to read you before starting work. I miss you when you fly off to Strathardle or other locales but comfort myself with the thought of the stories that will follow. Your knitting woes are woes we all share at one point or another. Will there be enough yarn? Will the pattern be appropriate? Will it fit? When will the endless stockinette end?

    Hugs!

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  5. Jean- I've been reading since Franklin's post. I love your writing. It's nice to see little peaks into another's day, that they are having the same wants, needs and meet the same challenges.

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