1) I forget which writer it was who used the phrase "as though the crystal beads of speech were strung on a black thread" or something like, but that's kind of how yesterday went. Everything was influenced by a headache that started at the base of my skull and certainly involved my neck and shoulders. It wasn't until dinner that I realized it was likely due to having to tote my collection of anvils through airports more than expected on Tuesday.
1a) The weather was like summer all day long - hot and softly humid.
2) One of the sybaritic pleasures of staying at home is Daddy's large sit-in bathtub with the door. I soaked in there a good long time in the morning.
3) "When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but the entrance of . . . Oldest Nephew Who Must Not Be Tagged!" A welcome and unexpected visitor, he had come to drop off Christmas presents. He and I went off to the mall for lunch at Pizza Artista, some Christmas shopping, and a good general catch-up.
4) Pizza Artista is a new pizza place, really good. Remembering the cheddary goodness of Ruggles Cheddar Cheese Pizza from college, I created a pepperoni/mushroom/black olive pizza with only cheddar cheese - and it was savory and delicious, if a bit busy.
4a) Oldest Nephew Who Must Not Be Tagged has inherited a particular talent from both his father and my father: grabbing the check. #sneaky
5) The mall . . . well, I'm old enough that I still remember when the mall was a small baseball diamond with a gas station at one corner. Now it (and its parking lot) lap up against all possible streets. The retail landscape has changed, inevitably. In spite of D******'s as one of the anchor stores, I think any time you add Sp***** Gifts to the mix, you're going decidedly downmarket.
5a) On the plus side, Perf****** is now there, and I was able to find one Christmas gift there at a significant savings.
6) Then we had to go across town to get something for Mother, and my goodness, traffic in Lake Charles is as bad as or worse than Boston.
7) Oldest Nephew Who Must Not Be Tagged also had to pick up some craft supplies, and said he was going to go to H**** L****. I encouraged him to consider another place, since their politics were so bad. The traffic situation helped me out, as M******'s was closer to where we were going for Mother. Despite Oldest Nephew Who Must Not Be Tagged's misgivings that they wouldn't have what he needed, they did. And the bonus for me was finding two blank books that were buy-one-get-one-free!
8) We took back roads home for speed, listening to Postmodern Jukebox (fabulous).
9) A quiet evening at home, dining on leftovers and discussing Christmas menus and junk mail. We have been eating at one corner of the dining room table, as all the other tables are covered with papers.