The year begins in March, apparently
Back in action...
Ahhh… a blank Word document. A blank page. Past time to get back into it.
My apologies, kind readers. It’s been a while – mostly, I would like to say, because of flarings of my various chronic illnesses and the (I think understandable) lassitude and lack of focus the flareups engender.
That said, the holidays were lovely – low key, easy, and happy. We once again did not celebrate Valentine’s Day because we’re not good at it. It became - years ago now - too important, expectations silly. So we skip it. Hell, we just had all the holidays and our anniversary, which I feel is a more romantic day anyway.
In any case, we’re on track for St. Paddy’s, preceded by the Ides, a day I always remember because I am a classical history nerd and Caesar – love him or hate him – was important. I recently re-read a couple historical fiction Alexander the Great books; even with several novels extremely sympathetic to him, I still say Caesar, outnumbered, could’ve kicked his ass.
Some updates:
1. I’m re-reading the Mayfair Witches because the show was pretty awful and missed the mark entirely. When it comes to Anne Rice, the books have, so far, always been better.
2. We’re watching Picard, Season 3; Perry Mason, Season 2 (Which is winning the ‘talented daughters of actors I love’ contest with Rylance and Waterson!); and ROME. Because it makes me happy, though – again – the books are better. 😊 I do always like to note that in his dispatches from Gaul, Caesar only ever mentioned two soldiers by name, heroes of a terrible seige: Pullo and Vorenus. If you’ve seen the show, you know how significant that is. Servillia wasn’t a nice woman; Atia was Caesar’s grand niece and she and her family lived well and, as far as I know, without scandal, in the country; Pompey and Cato are well-portrayed, though Cato was a little younger than that actor from Hot Fuzz. Cicero could be a little prissier and more delicate. Octavian is an interesting take and it highlights some of the disadvantages he had to overcome, physically, while already having a mind that could eventually take over and create the Roman Empire. Marc Antony could definitely be less pretty, but hey, it’s always good to see James Purefoy. And it’s really lovely to have a pretty Octavia, my favorite of the era.
3. The Christmas tree is still up. Lighting the living room right now. It’ll come down soon, as the chance of cold dark days ends. I need the cheer in the winter; that February freeze had a lasting effect on me.
4. I am working on Valentine novel #3. It’s got about a 100 pages, give or take, but the plot is still swirling so there’s aways to go. It occupies my down moments and subconscious and I’ve vague goals of where to go and what to fill out. And new romance of course. Erasmus has been alone too long.
So I hope this finds all of you happy, well, and that you have a very merry St. Patrick’s Day. I have only once had even one drink on St. Pat’s. Instead I intend to enjoy some Rice Crispie Treats, a little tradition within our little family. And I know Willy remembers it well.
Love to you all, and welcome back to The View from Here!