On the 9th day of Christmas

Snow-and-lights tree

Lovely snow falling all night and day... As a Southerner, I can never grow weary of watching snow fall, or of seeing twilight transfigure the landscape and make it glow.

Before dawn tomorrow, my husband leaves for the airport in NYC, stopover in Istanbul, and then his goal, the Kyrgyzstan Himalayas. Snow leopards! Ibex! Nights sleeping in a yurt.

All this means I shall be quite busy. No doubt I shall be a.) worrying about my man, who has entirely too many interests and hobbies that he pursues with great and sometimes distant vigor and b.) being a temporary single mom.

And I shall be c.) working on books and more. Soon I must finish up details on several manuscripts and write some essays and also read some books for promised blurbing... Winter in the North is a good time and place for a Southerner to get a lot of work done, with the snow snuggled up to the door and the fire snapping on the hearth.