With a head full of coppers like a beggar's bowl

So the nice thing we did for our anniversary on Sunday was dinner at Smith & Wollensky in the former armory at Park Plaza. It was very fancy and we dressed accordingly. We took pictures of one another across the table with derspatchel's phone. I have a lot of trouble with all of my expressions these days, because the changes caused by the braces since January have altered the relationship of my teeth and jaw and I can no longer smile without feeling that my face stretches unnaturally, it is agonizing and it feels like another essential part of myself lost, but I am telling myself it will change back and I am letting people take pictures of me anyway.

( She lived in the spaces with the dark in her eyes. )

I am wearing the 1950's dress I bought from Raspberry Beret in the spring, because it is decorated with glass beads and artificial pearls. Rob is wearing the black velvet jacket he was married in, because it looks good on him. We walked almost all the way home afterward, because one of the things we do together is walk around our city at night. It was a very fine evening.

Yesterday I was tired enough to fall asleep whenever I stopped moving, but I ran errands in Brookline in the afternoon with my mother and in the evening celebrated the first night of Hanukkah with her and Rob; we lit candles and ate bagels and lox and watched The Twelve Chairs (1970) on TCM. It was also very nice.

This morning I have an orthodontist's appointment. We'll see how the rest of the day goes. I have new books.

The guy in the dress is a beauty

The orthodontist's appointment was a difficult one, so in the afternoon I ran some more errands, including a purchase of dried fruit for Christmas plum pudding, and then I went straight to the address where derspatchel is currently staying and crashed with my cats. It was just getting dark; I lay in bed for nearly three hours and dozed more than I slept, because desireearmfeldt was cooking dinner in the adjoining kitchen, but Hestia circled me several times before returning to her sovereign box and Autolycus, after a few investigative bouts of gently gnawing my wrist and trying to burrow between my arms and the pillow, finally draped himself across my shoulder and nestled his head into my collarbone and fell asleep purring. I had not slept under a cat blanket in months and months. He was a warm soft weight and very comforting. Every now and then he would wake and purr a little and I would reach over and stroke his head and the very soft fur under his chin and he would purr himself into sleep again. He launched himself off my shoulder like a trebuchet when Rob opened the door. I came home and gave rushthatspeaks their Hanukkah penguin.

I know I slept at least a little because I dreamed that Rush and gaudior had come over and we were watching, on an old cathode ray television that doesn't exist in that room, either a TV show or a movie that opened with two detectives and a ritual-looking crime scene of which I remember none of the details, except that everything was shot in an odd, dingy green light like an Edward Hopper painting. The door was open behind them, with more light spilling in from the hallway; the figure standing in it was a slight, dark young man with a shoulder-length hair and a beard, very beautifully made up, tight skirt and heels like a girl going clubbing; he was Dionysos and all I remember after that was the dawning oh, shit look on the detectives' faces as he smiled. One of them was a woman, but I didn't think it was going to help. handful_ofdust, I am pretty sure this one was for you.