Damp cold

 It’s warming up slowly, but will be above freezing around midnight… more snow through today, and some extra wind… I’m surprisingly tired today, starting with being sluggish this morning.  Jerry is being hyper, jumping from lap to floor to lap and then curling up for hugs, then throwing his toy for us to play with… he’s being all snuggly now, but he just went through a zoomy phase, so I expect an eruption again soon.  Don has been shopping on Amazon, so I’m a little worried about what he’s been up to because I have trauma from the last time he went shopping and bought a steam cleaner.  Not to mention the giant toaster and the latest smart phone.  I mean, I could go check our Amazon account, but he has so much fun doing this so I won’t spoil it for him… but I will save up loads of teasing for later.

My tummy continues to settle, so happy dance.  I’m still not able to eat lots, but I managed a small bowl of cereal and some chicken broth.  I’ll try another small meal tonight, but I can’t guarantee anything massive.  Happily I don’t have any Jell-O, because I got very tired of it.  I’m also not a lover of things like chocolate or vanilla pudding, or rice pudding, so there’s none here, but perhaps I can manage to persuade someone to drop off some ice cream 🍨😬

So the last time I went home, I brought back an old cookbook that I absolutely loved growing up.  It’s full of all sorts of recipes that I learnt as a child, not least the cakes and scones.  It belonged to my aunt Margaret, who died when I was 12, but who’d taught me how to cook and started my love of reading — she used to buy me a new book every week, and took me to the library until she got sick.  For years, when I got home, I’d look through the book and revive my memories — there are notations in it of dishes that I’d planned to try, and I remember using it to develop a party menu.  Most little girls daydream of their weddings, I used to fantasize about hosting dinner parties where we’d have themed meals and discuss books.  I bring this up because I’d considered leaving the book for my niece to enjoy, while I planned to replace it.  So I went hunting.  It’s an edition from the late 1950s, and was apparently part of her wedding trousseau, and had many full colour photos — a rarity from that period.  So I went to all the classic booksellers, second hand book dealers, digging through a number of websites.  I had a lot of difficulty finding it, although I found several others by the same author, none of which was under $600.  😮  I’m a massive bibliophile but I have my limits.  Before you start (I’m looking at you, PB!) no, I can’t “just find them on the Internet” and while I’ve got many of them memorized or partly written out (I’ll need some time dedicated to do that) the whole book is full of wonderful memories, but not $600+ worth, and not without my assorted notes in the book.

Books are wonderful, aren’t they?  Both as a repository of information and a treasure trove of memories.  I’ve got so many of them both here and at home, and I have read them all more than once.  On a recent trip home, I’d gone through one 12’ bookcase to look for a particular book (didn’t find it) and I spent a pleasant, although dusty, few days reminiscing through the stacks of “old friends.”  There’s a running, old, joke that I’ve got enough books both bought and waiting to be read to keep me occupied until I’m at least 259, and more time if I were to reread old favourites, which I tend to do.  Auntie Ming used to say that if I wasn’t reading then she knew that I was quite sick.  I’m reading through 5 books and ebooks now, with a stack of 8 more waiting for me.  Plus a couple of other projects, so I’m not likely to be too bored any time soon.  I’m happy to be reunited with my cookbook, and I’m trying to work out how to get the others here; Don’s made some threat about “no more bookcases” but he’s not serious, right?

It’s apparently my turn to be a dog bed, so off I go to carry out my duties.  Have a good night!