Dark Thunder and Foul Murder

Dark clouds loom over the Sound, the sea gulls are circling very low. The rain will soon be here - in torrents, I think. But! It's Friday! It's a long weekend! What shall I do? Tommorow is K's birthday, so perhaps I should get my act together and wrap his presents. Unfortunately, brother-in-law R can't make it or else we could all have gone for a lo-ong drive to Mystic, take the kids to the Aquarium, etc. M. is out for a walk, so I took the opportunity to finish reading Agatha Christie's Body in the Library. I've read it many times. Read it, put the book away for a few years, then when I return to it, I find that I have often forgotten whodunnit, so the thrill is new the next time. I find this happens often to me with Christie murder mysteries. I don't find this happening with any other writer. Do I really forget or is it a forced forgetting so that I will enjoy the book again the second, third, fourth, fifth time? Also, I enjoy reading about stuffy British society from the forties and fifties and thanking my good fortune that I escaped being born into that dismal milieu. So, I bring to my enjoyment of Christies books a horrified fascination with the overbearing vicar's wife and the Conservative Colonel Bantry and the faceless parlormaids and cooks. Good heavens! Could such a world actually exist and flourish? I suppose it did. I am so glad that it passed by me, or before me.

Sunshine

Sun's out today. Yay! Games are on, construction moves forward and the day looks good. We went to eat at La Colline Verte, an upscale French restaurant in Fairfield yesterday. It was disconcerting to walk into a French country dining room overlooking the parking lot of a strip mall. But the food was great and they closed the blinds so I could maintain the illusion of la douce France. Oh, how I miss my Paris, [stuff about Paris deleted - too gushing] but it is time to plan another visit to the land of the friendly croissants.

Rain, rain go away

So things are still pretty damp around these parts, although the sun finally came out weakly just before the day ended. Games and playdates were cancelled. We did a brief visit to the construction site. Things are happening but things are still very raw. I hope we can get in before the lease here runs out. Sigh!

Literally blank

So, of the best American fiction published in the last 25 years, I am sorry to say that I have read - drumroll....none! So much for writing about books. Oh well, more rain threatens, I'll just go finish off Rattled, the new novel about New Jersey suburbs, rattlesnakes and competitive stay-at-home moms.

Why do I write?

Yes, why do I write this blog? After all, my posts are just about - my non-working life here in Southwestern Connecticut. And unlike work where my mind is fully engaged (I wish my salary reflected that but alas, I only work part-time), my home life is just plain vanilla bourgeois. There, I said it! That used to be such a term of contempt back in my twenties before the burdens of mortgage and credit cards and car payments descended on my shoulders. And now there are other - very cute - monkeys on my back. My kids. But I hesitate to write about very personal things. What the hell business is it of anybody else's how much I love my kids or my husband or my parents or my brother or my niece or my....they know how loved they are and don't need a blog to tell them that, anyway. And I don't want to write about my neighbors, friends and other acquaintances either. They are decent people who do deserve better than to end up as unwitting supporting actors in somebody else's play.

So what shall I write about? Well, there is the house of course. What an education it has been to go through this remodeling process. I can now talk with aplomb about tiles and hardwood floors and siding and dormers. But is that really my passion? No, I loved putting my stamp on this house that hopefully will be our retirement too (in any case, I cannot see myself going through this process again). But I cannot talk endlessly about Toto versus Kohler versus Jado. So instead, I will write about the two things that I do have a passion for: books and food. I'll write about restaurants, recipes, novels and non-fiction and sometimes all of them together. With some music and movies thrown in. That will spare my family and friends and acquaintances from having to read unmentionable things about themselves in public and will also give me an opportunity to explore my extended neighborhood a bit.