1) Yesterday, Boxing Day, was the sleepiest day ever, as though I was competing in a Boston Lethargathon. The only useful things I did were bathe, go out to buy milk, and continue reading a wonderful Christmas present, John Waters’ new memoir Mr. Know-It-All.
2) Today promises to be more productive, thank goodness. Parlor coffee and devotional included this beautiful reading from my beloved The Art of Worldly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracian. It’s number 111: “Have friends. They are a second being. To a friend, all friends are good and wise. when you are with them, all turns out well. You are worht as much as others want you to be and say you are, and the way to their mouths likes through their hearts. Nothing bewitches like service to others, and the best way to win friends is to act like one. The most and best we have depends on others. You must live iether with friends or with enemies. Win one each day, if not as a confidant, at least as a follower. Choose well and some will remain whom you can trust.”
3) The most enduring practical lesson of Christmas 2019 is that poinsettias need sunlight even more than they need water. Earlier in December I bought a perfect poinsettia with almost a dozen small to medium white flowers, only to have it start going bald from the bottom up at home. Moral: open the blesséd drapes! Leaf loss has stopped since I started parking it in the windowsill during the sunniest parts of the day.