Tuesday, January 03, 2006

last day of vacation

I'm home today but everyone else is back at work/school. It's a little luxury that I will enjoy very much.

I got a few more things done from my list yesterday. All of the Christmas ornaments are put away. The living room looks big and empty without the tree, but we can walk all the way around the coffee table again, which is nice. The thank you packages for festival volunteers are ready to go in the mail when I return to civilization tomorrow. I still have a messy kitchen cupboard and the dog still has long toenails, but that's life. Today I lounge.

I finished listening to Handel's Messiah yesterday and I'm partway through a second listen today. It is glorious. I had previously listened only to an abridged version, in German. The recording that my parents loaned me is in English, and full length, with the words in a book so I can read along. It moved me to tears in more than one place. So very, very beautiful and familiar, and brought to life by the orchestra, choir and soloists. I love the parts based on Isaiah - my favourite verses about the birth of Jesus, and the sad and grim parts are astonishing to listen to.

I am halfway through the gigantic Diana Gabaldon novel, and will continue reading it today. The heroine, Claire, just experimented with home-made ether, putting two young volunteers to sleep to find out how much is needed and how long they stay under, in preparation for a time when she might need to do major surgery. Besides the sex and fighting, the novel is full of detailed descriptions of medical procedures done in primitive conditions. It's very interesting.

I also have a poem bubbling, so now I will go and see if some of it is ready to splash onto the paper.

question: what do you do when you have a day all to yourself?

mompoet - savouring solitude

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