The "Thank You" stationery we ordered has arrived and it's time to express thanks to our family and friends for the toaster and the cash and the gift certificates and the dinnerware and a myriad of other wonderfully thoughtful gifts we received on our September wedding celebration.
It's also the time of year to take a look back, nostalgically, at another 365 days gone by and remember the best of them. For me these were primarily moments that included books, music, food, and of course, family, friends and other good people.
I've been "Hammersteined" which is to say that an artist I already loved is now even more deeply entrenched in my heart and soul because of a beautiful autumn morning at "Highland Farm" and the incomparable Doreen Taylor's live performance of Oscar's inspired words. The loveliness, also, of the Hammerstein family. The desire to save the sacred creative ground and home and not see it go the way of ticky-tacky subdivision madness. . .
There were the books that I fell in love with: The Old-World charm of A Gentleman in Moscow, a "gentleman" anywhere in the world right now is greatly appreciated. Amor Towles has a gift for bringing illuminating civility, manners, refinement. And oh, boy, could America use that right now! The amazing Isabel Allende, prolific and publishing for decades, had somehow escaped my reading radar. I'm almost finished with her newest novel In the Midst of Winter, an immediately engaging book exemplary of her gifted storytelling.
Camila Cabello. Red hot. "Havana". . ."ohh na-na (ay ay). The trumpet reminiscent of the latin sound of the 70's by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Yes, of course, we dance to this in Zumba class!
A year of reflecting on favorites wouldn't be complete without including the food. This one is easy: Curiosity Donuts, LiLLiPies everything (but especially the Chocolate Chess pie), and my mother's famous Rum Cake which she just revealed, is actually made with Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix! Sorry Mom, now it's only a secret to anybody not reading this blog!
Television? If you lived through the 80's and aren't watching Netflix's Stranger Things, you're culturally depriving yourself. Heart-racing, nostalgic to the core, fun, witty, AMAZING. I'm not a Sci-Fi fan and I LOVE this show. Enough said. Duffer Brothers, wherever you are, you have captured the essence of the 80's superbly. This is an homage and anthem to the music the look, the ethos of an entire decade!
PLUS, lines like this one: Nancy to Will, attempting to invite him to a Halloween party. “You’re going to be home by 8, listening to the Talking Heads and reading Vonnegut or something.” Sounds like the perfect night to me. . .