When it comes to pretty girls, I can see as well as you

[sovay]

It is snowing outside, brisk and dustily, for real. I hope it sticks through tonight: I want whiteness under the moon for the solstice. Fingers crossed, too, for the lunar eclipse.

Last night we decorated the tree by firelight, as is traditional. My brother stuck a sparkler in among the logs; it fizzed like the fourth of July. I can't quite figure out how I wound up with this many ornaments, considering Christmas isn't even a holiday I observe outside of my family's two or three chosen traditions. The heavy golden pressed-glass star of David always goes on the tree first.

My brother's best friend, who is really family, is home from Afghanistan. He crashed into the house like Alkibiades at the end of the Symposium a little after two in the morning on Saturday; everyone's schedule went to hell after that (even mine), but he was worth it. He's served two tours of duty. He was blown up quite impressively, more than once. Just in the last few months, he was finally awarded one of his Purple Hearts. We don't believe they can send him back anymore. I hope not. I don't want to keep sending poetry to war zones.

I would like not to have been late for lunch with Athena Andreadis at the Classic Café in Arlington, but it was lovely conversation all the same. I use her name as a shameless segue to the second issue of Stone Telling, in which I have no work, but a great many terrific people do.

The King's Speech (2010) actually was as good as I'd hoped. There will be a post about it. Just not this instant, because there are these papers I've promised to bang my head against.

It has not yet stopped snowing. Keep on.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

You have some lovely family traditions. Do you have special solstice traditions, too?

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

Yay snow! Yay mostly-brother back!
Here still waiting on snow. Wondering what Sigerson will do for the back-to-back eclipse and solstice. (Suspect Eclipse may be invisible due to clouds, but if they're dropping snow, it'll be worth it.)
Banging my head against the $#@%^&* papers too.

[rosefox]

I envy your snow! None for us until next weekend, looks like.

I'm so so glad your brother's best friend is home.

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

Yay for happy homecomings.
I was out in the snow doing the last bit of my Christmas shopping. It was lovely. Now I am home with tea, looking out at the snow. I will be sick of the snow come February, but for now, it's wonderful.

[helivoy.livejournal.com]

Lovely conversation, indeed, and (I hope) the first of many.

Athena

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Happy Solstice! Happy Eclipse-watching!

I'm very glad your brother's best friend is safely home. I hope they indeed can't send him back again.

Glad you had a lovely lunch, and enjoyed the film. Good luck with all the snow, and the papers, and all the rest.

[ericmvan.livejournal.com]

If you have some way of redirecting snow from off of my car (and from underneath its tires) to your lawn, please let me know ASAP. I went shopping for twenty minutes and had to re-scrape the windows when I got back. It's been a long time since I've regarded it as other than a nuisance, I'm afraid.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Your expectations must have been different from mine, I thought it was almost a very good movie, but so unhistorical as to make it unbearably annoying. Baldwin... gack.

However, we just saw The Horse's Mouth, which really was amazing.