Still on the Uptick



Jim continues to feel better every day. This morning he bundled up in layers and set to sweeping up several days' worth of leaves. His periods of activity are a bit longer every day. He tried to eat something this morning but couldn't get it down; of course he tried oatmeal instead of caviar, so are you suprised?

We had a trip to the supermarket where we browsed the baby food section and came away with mashed bananas and pulverized pears, several cans of bland soup, and a can of apricot nectar. Well, it's a start.

There is much activity in the neighborhood as houses get festooned with lights and other decorations in the spirit of the season. Since all of our decorations are down at the beach house in Cuyutlán, it looked as though we would be the only dark house on the street. But my neighbor Gina has enough lights and other goodies to decorate the entire block herself so she has come to the rescue. I put up the beautiful wreath from Erin on the outside of the front gate door. On the inside is yet another wreath that arrived in the mail, but without any note or card. So if you, the donor, are reading this, many thanks for such a festive gift. (I tried to trace the origin of the package by the return address but Google came up with a blank.) We can see one wreath through the sliders in the den. The other will be enjoyed by passers-by.

We don't hang a wreath at the beach house. Instead we string out luminarias along the stairways and landings, hang twinkle lights over the big ficus tree downstairs and around the palapa on the 3rd floor terrace, set out candles along the balconies and balustrades and buy dozens of poinsettias and put them all over the house. From the malecon beach walk our house looks like a very happening night club! I will miss being there this year. However, our Christmas will be joyous no matter where we spend it!

Although he is feeling better Jim still goes to bed very early. Tonight it was about 7 PM, while I stayed up to watch "Capote." Excellent. I remember when In Cold Blood was serialized in the New Yorker, about 1963. We waited by the mail box to get the net installment. That series, and Silent Spring changed non-fiction.