rats

It is 15 degrees outside. It was snowing this morning. The last time I saw snow falling from the sky was Christmas, 2004 in New Orleans. It was aberrant but delightful. We had a friend visiting from out of town and a local couple who came over for dinner. I cooked a massive Beef Wellington, and prepared both duxelles and brioche from scratch. Should you endeavor such a project, make individual pods. It's near impossible to cook such a slab of meat properly. (Though there were no complaints that evening. Not even about the brussel sprouts - which were, let the record show and the tasters attest, FABULOUS!)

But still, it's been a long time - almost five years - since I've been exposed to such frigid weather. I am grateful that this apartment is better insulated than the FunHouse and my outside exposure is rather limited right now. Such is one joy of unemployment: no reason to leave.

I did travel this morning, to have breakfast with Dad (bacon and poached eggs on english muffins, mine lathered with Crystal hot sauce). It's been one month, exactly, since Mom's passing, and we were both feeling blue and unmotivated today. I returned home to read the NY Times, have a late lunch, and take a nap. He had plans for the grocery store and then to make a meatloaf. Food for the week.

It is, now, a New Year. In recent years, I've held more affinity for the turning of the New in accordance with the Chinese calendar, mostly because the turning is in close proximity to Mardi Gras, and if you're planning on any resolutions and live in New Orleans, you might as well wait for Ash Wednesday. That's when penitence and good habits might have ground to hold. It's futile to diet when King Cakes are plentiful and who has time for exercise when there are costumes to sew. Priorities, along with calendars, shift when there are parties to attend.

This is the Year of the Rat. As the first of the signs, it is a year of beginnings. Okay. I get that. This is certainly another beginning, even if it's coming back to where I started from. According to this website I found while searching for information:

A Rat Year is a time of hard work, activity, and renewal. This is a good year to begin a new job, get married, launch a product or make a fresh start. Ventures begun now may not yield fast returns, but opportunities will come for people who are well prepared and resourceful. The best way for you to succeed is to be patient, let things develop slowly, and make the most of every opening you can find.

Even if you don't believe in this stuff, this is good advice. Personally, I take good advice wherever I find it. Which is why I stop in here each Thursday.

But my latest solace comes not from the stars, but from literature. From the world of theater, a world I once inhabitied, albeit all-too-briefly, and one from which I continue to draw inspiration:

Sometimes a person has to go a very long distance
out of his way to come back a short distance correctly.
Edward Albee, "The Zoo Story"