Rays of sunshine

I have to admit that I contained, for the sake of poetic cohesiveness, the depressing complaining stuff in the last entry. There are bits of niceness, too:

We continue to celebrate the Mister's promotion. Although it's now not likely to take place until late March/early April, he's already having strategic meetings and listening to those who are clamoring to be his future assistant.

One must not forget the aforementioned baked goods. A little bit of chocolate, coconut, or almond can go a long way as a balm to one's spirits.

And good books! Among the Christmas goodies this year were two new cookbooks, 1008 Recipes, the Spanish classic with fabulous hand drawings, and The Moosewood Cookbook, which I have never owned yet used over the years with friends. It was high time to have my own copy. Over break I read Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore and am tempted to read it again right away, it was so good. And now I'm reading another Christmas present, Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's an eye-opener regarding food and agriculture policy in our country, and quite depressing even when it comes to eating organic. But so well-written that I look forward to reading it almost as much as a novel. Which is saying a lot.

Oh, and one must not forget post-Christmas sales as another holiday-withdrawal boon. Even though I usually end up buying little things, socks and hairclips and picture frames and whatnot, the sales satisfy both my cheapo and trinkety tendencies.

Another thing that combats the blues is getting off my rear end and going swimming at our neighborhood art-deco public pool. The pool is lined with galleries of individual cubbies, which at first is weird (you can look through the slats right into the pool as you change) but I've come to love them for their warm womb-like feel. Unlit from within, and each with its own heater, the air is so warm and moist, filtered with slatted light, that I sometimes think I could just curl up and fall asleep right there in my own cubby.

There. Now I feel better.