Could Jeremy Pope be a future member of the EGOT club? My money’s on yes, as he has been nabbing nominations right and left, including one for his recent Golden Globes win. Having been nominated for Emmy, Grammy and Tony Awards, he’s well on his way to EGOT status – an upcoming turn in the film version of ‘The Collaboration’ in which he plays Jean-Michel Basquiat. Today he can add Dazzler of the Day to that impressive resume.
These orchids seemed to wink at me as I made my weekly pilgrimage to the nearby greenhouse – a reminder of the sort of paradise that feels far away in mid-January. They provided a bit of escapism, like this Shirley Horn song that is so gorgeously transportive. Close your eyes, give it a listen, and let your own ideas of paradise parade before the mind’s eye. We can fly…
It’s not a bad song to see us through a Saturday in winter.
My godson is turning into quite the charmer, with those eyelashes and that giddy smile. He also has an intuitive timer to keep such charms to himself and away from the prying eye of the camera phone: as soon as I lift my phone to capture one of his poses, he pauses his smile, only to instantly resume once I put the silly phone down. Oh what lessons this boy is going to teach us!
I was quick and persistent enough to catch this one quick smile, and then I pocketed the phone to enjoy the rest in person. He seems to be a happy baby, and he’s just starting to bounce around and become more active. I’ll be documenting his progress in spite of his camera-dodging efforts.
When all else fails, a new baby can make believers out of the most jaded of us.
Andy always waits at least until the Epiphany (or as he puts it ‘Little Christmas’) before taking our Christmas tree down, and it’s a tradition I’ve come to appreciate and embrace. As long as it’s out before all the needles drop, and as long as I don’t have to take part in its sad deconstruction, I’m fine with this timetable. It extends the light of the season, which this year I needed a bit as I was not feeling particularly Christmas-like until it was practically over. At that point I paused beneath the tree as I began my daily meditation, inhaling its delicious pine scent, and marveling at the way the lights and ornaments cast their enchanting spell. Anyone can get excited about the tree when it first goes up, when the season is fresh and new – it takes a different kind of person to embrace it during its last days. And it takes a very special kind of person to take it down with the honor and care that Andy uses every year. I sense that it’s a ritual for him.
He removes each fragile ornament, wrapping every single one with a single tissue, and carefully places them back in their container. Then he unwinds the lights from the branches, before adroitly rolling them back up so they can be unfurled with ease the next year. He goes about the process slowly, with purpose and deliberation, and I see how it is how own meditative practice – a way of putting another year to bed, a way to remember his own childhood and youth, a way to bring back memories of those he has loved and lost.
For my part, I will miss the greenery, and the soft light that the tree provided to our living room. To make up for it, I will seek out greenery – such as this bouquet of eucalyptus branches, or a vase of silvery-green junipers from the yard – to take the place of the missing tree. It’s a little effort that makes a difference in these dim days of January, when so much of what the heart yearns for now – green, verdant warmth – is in such short supply.
Isabella Stewart Gardner knows how to create an inviting environment, and as such she has been a muse of mine for years, having assembled a museum where she lived and shared beauty with the world. One of the sayings she was reportedly quite fond of using was ‘C’est mon plaisir’ – it’s my pleasure – which is surely one of the most pleasing things a person can say or hear. Whenever I thank anyone for something and they reply ‘My pleasure’ instead of ‘You’re welcome’ I instantly adore them all the more – it’s simply a lovelier response.
On this Friday the 13th, as Mercury continues wreaking its retrograde havoc, let us be as lovely as we can be to one another.
When the doldrums of January stretch out before us, when we are knee-deep in the weeds of winter, I find solace in any greenhouse within reach. That means weekly trips to Faddegon’s or some place similar where I can get lost in the lush, tropical environment of a greenhouse, surrounded by plants and flowers and beauty as a balm for the winter-ravaged heart. Last weekend I brought the twins here, and though they seemed quizzical as to what we were doing, they merrily went with the flow as if they had a choice.
If I teach them anything, I hope it will be an appreciation and love for nature and plants, and the peace found from immersing yourself in their presence, even in the endless landscape of a winter that finds us all bundled up and itching to get out.
When it doesn’t rock us too much, winter makes a good moment for reflection. Keeping that lesson in mind, I sit at the dining room table before the night of day arrive and type out these words. The light from the computer screen and a dim overhead lamp guide me, and I add the light of a candle for something soft and flickering. Before COVID alerted the world to the fact that most of us could successfully work at home, these early morning hours used to be the only time I was alone in the house. There was always a sort of solace I found in solitude, provided I could hear Andy’s occasional rustling in the bedroom. Present but distant, the way I’ve operated, the only way I knew.
The click and gentle hum of the heater as it kicks on alerts me to the wakening of the world, and soon it will be time to shower and face the day. For now, however, there is only darkness, and the endless expansive possibilities of a winter’s day.
The Dazzler of the Day feature was tailor-made for artists and entertainers like Nathan Lee Graham, who can instantly seduce and render an audience rapt with wonder and adoration. Currently setting the path to hell alight in a stunning turn in ‘Hadestown’ (which we will finally get to see when it winds its way to Proctors in a couple of months) Graham brings an impressive history of show-stopping performances to whatever stage is lucky enough to host his talents, such as his turns in ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, both ‘Zoolander’ films, and ‘Hitch’, in addition to his stage work in ‘The Wild Party’ and ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’. Check out his website here.
My feet are in piss-poor shape. Rough and chapped, the heels cry out for moisture and care that I just don’t have to give. The toenails are even worse – ragged and shredded, because instead of properly clipping them I tend to just tear off the ends in idle moments of barefoot daydreaming. Even in the summer, when sandals and poolside lounging might put them on semi-public display, they don’t get much more pampering than that, and it shows.
Last year, however, with the happy advent of my first manicure, I was also told to concentrate on my feet as well, and while I’m not quite ready for my first pedicure, it’s on the distant horizon, so I need to get my soles in order. To that end, I’m starting with the heels and moving outward, beginning with some basic moisturizing lotion before sliding into my socks. It’s a little moment of self-care and indulgence that I’m simply going to embrace in my middle-age. Life affords a few more comforts in consolation for growing older and dealing with other discomforts.
As for the foot fetishists out there, I see you, I hear you, and I honor your prayer. Bottoms up for the unabashedly kinky: to thy own sole be true. (And if your hidden proclivity is getting off on feet, I’d say that’s one of the more harmless kinks in this day and age; I will not be volunteering more extreme examples..)
{This blog post has been brought to you by Shameless Clickbait, FeetFinder, and Thirst-Trap (Feet-Don’t-Fail-Me-Now remix).} Now everybody cut footloose!
From the shriveled to the delectable, this blog day is all about the balls. Here we have a thoughtful and much-appreciated gift from our friends Lorie and Cal, who brought back these mint malt balls from our favorite candy shop in Ogunquit, Maine. It was an unexpected delight on a day when it was badly-needed, and it instantly brought Andy and I back to happy memories of that Beautiful Place By the Sea.
While we have found similar treats at our local market, the original ones have a decidedly different, and much better, taste and texture to them, so it was with gleeful excitement that I tore into the bag, savoring each ball like it might be the last. The memories returned in giddy and wild form – fall visits and spring stops, cozy meals and romantic moments, peaceful times and breathtaking vistas – it was like a little pill of Ogunquit that suddenly exploded in my brain.
Thank you Lorie and Cal!
Winter has hit these ornamental fruit trees like a shot to the nuts, taking the smooth youthful blush of their hanging balls and shriveling it up with the advance of the season. Everyone knows Mother Nature doesn’t mess around, and when it’s time, it’s time. In this case, these berries had an extended season – usually their perfect form has shriveled long ago. The past few months have found a gentler rush of weather in these parts, though the rest of the country may beg to differ.
This is the sort of winter scene that goes mostly unheralded and unnoticed in our hurry to get through the darker season. It’s also the sort of beauty that I find most arresting, perhaps because it comes at such a bleak time, when we are starved for color or excitement, when the barren land is mostly bereft of this bravado.
Without a Speaker for a week, the House of Representative had only one gavel-wielding person in charge of keeping some sort of order over all the clowns (and adults) in the room: the Honorable Cheryl L. Johnson, who mightily earns her first Dazzler of the Day thanks to grace under great pressure. Johnson was recently sworn in once again as the Clerk of the House of Representatives, and she will likely need that grace in the days to come.
With the full moon last Friday, and both Mars and Mercury in retrograde motion, the universe is rocking us all for a loop these past few days. At such tumultuous times, I tend to lay low, keep to myself, and stay as quiet as possible. There’s even a hushed tone to these posts, in the hope of making it through this with some bit of tranquility. On with the weekly recap…
Drinking the blood of a virgin.
Cheese and apples for the kids.
Adventure in the turquoise night.
Every Sunday can be Christmas if you cook this.
Vamping with the twins before Plan B.
Dazzlers of the Day included Luke Evans and Hakeem Jeffries.
Plan B is the code name for our next trip to Boston – named as much for the city as for my second attempt at a getaway-weekend with the twins. The first time we were scheduled to do this, plans were derailed due to a storm. That weekend had to move forward without Emi and Noah, but not without my promise to make it happen again at a later date.
In anticipation of that, we had them over for a New Year’s Day sleepover, and in the morning-after we posed and vamped for a few photos before and after a run to Starbucks. Everyone says they are growing up so quickly, and I see it now and then when I’ve been away from them for a while.
It’s only a matter of time before I lose them to their phones, if it hasn’t already happened. But they seem to have a good balance so far of turning them off and entering real life – and there are moments when I will be all too happy to have them distracted by something other than my incessant attempts at being entertaining. (This majesty doesn’t just happen without great effort.)
There are worse ways to spend a winter weekend, and until we can burst onto the patio and into the pool, we will have to find coziness and fun in the attic, which is happily outfitted with a treasure trove of hats and wraps and costumes to rival anything of Miss Havisham. Uncle Al’s wardrobe runs wide and deep, like the brocade carpet bag of Mary Poppins, and is just as magical.
At this point, there is a stark difference between Democrats and Republicans. If you watched any of the 14 times that Kevin McCarthy lost his vote for House Speaker, you saw that difference. Throughout it all, one party stood above the Republican clown-show circus, and one person led them in absolute unity and certainty: Hakeem Jeffries. If he is the future of the Democratic Party, we are in good hands. He easily earns this Dazzler of the Day, not least because I love a man who knows his way around alliteration. Check out his plans here and let’s work to make this country better than what the Republican House leadership have in the works.
