Loose Leaf Notes

1. After a two-day visit to see a doctor at UVA hospital in Charlottsville, and after doing a poetry reading in Blacksburg on Sunday, I stayed in my bathrobe till 2:00 on Monday, reading and blogging, while books, bags and clothes were strewn all over my bedroom.

2. In Charlottsville, Joe and I listened to Christmas carolers.  We saw lots of lit up trees, swam in an indigo lighted pool, walked a campus full of light installations and had gourmet desserts and cocktails at the Omni Hotel. But the best part of the two-day trip, was having brunch with my sons’ brother (on their father’s side), who lives in Charlottsville and who we don’t get to see nearly enough.

3. We also crashed a Christmas Party at the hotel. That was a first.

4. While walking in the snow on Monday afternoon, I had a fantasy of replicating the pictures in the storybook The Snowy Day, but then settled on one selfie when the caption came to me: You’re never too old for a snowsuit. 

5. I feel that Donald Trump is like Scrooge and we are all just a paycheck away from being thrown in the poor house.

6. At the poetry reading, I read poems from Packing a Suitcase for the Afterlife, told secrets about wanting the royal flush and not the bluff of being loved.  In a dream about a journey to the afterlife, I rode the Hull to Hingham bus into the sunset, leaving my unsorted collection of baggage behind. – More photos and clips from A Poet Pairing HERE.

7. Believe it or not, not far from the lure of the Nocturnal Garden was a witch in an oven.  She gave away cookies to those who were brave enough to get close. – More from Let There Be Light, a photo journal blog post about an annual light installation in Charlottsville HERE.

8. An alternate title for this post: X(mas) Marks the Spot.

9. After seeing an ice skating rink in downtown mall in Charlottsville, I thought maybe – considering the warmer winters, a sketchy ankle and my age –  it was finally time to give my skates away. I used to love to ice skate and still remember the feeling of taking off my skates after skating and feeling like I was walking for the first time.

10. No Moore.  Please. And Thank You.

11. Spots or Dots? Yesterday I posted “Got Dots?” and someone commented “Not.” Someone else said, “Now I’m seeing Spots.”  See HERE.

12. Is exit the opposite of exist?

13. I don’t do emojis but still use xo.

______Thirteen Thursday