Darling, I didn't even know he had dabbled in ceramics -- thank you so much for that oblique hit, that I had to search a bit to uncover -- and it made me just laugh uproariously when I did, and then throughout the day, when I happened to think of it - on my walk, standing at the sink peeling sweet potatoes - but fortunately not at church - I laughed deliriously again.

Oh sweetheart, big hug & kiss for you. How are you doing? Where are you, I wonder? Wherever you are, I hope you are well & happy, and have time to yourself, because I know that there's a lot on your plate, a lot of demands put on you. Are you into the SuperBowl at all? I'm not. To the extent that I'm not sure if it's one word or two -- though the annoying red squiggly line alerting me to a possible grammatical or spelling error has just appeared. What time is it on? Is it over yet? Who's playing? We're not having falafels or buffalo wings. No, dinner is roasting in the oven now - the second half of a turkey, bought on sale after Thanksgiving. A whole turkey, however small, is too much for us, so D carves the raw birds in half, and into the freezer they go. It smells good - that, and a pan of roasting root vegetables. Do you know that dish at all? If you don't, I highly recommend it. Make it next time you, say, roast a chicken. It's a melange of root vegetable chunks: a nice mix is carrot, butternut squash, sweet potato, and red onion, seasoned with minced garlic, a little sea salt and lots of fresh ground pepper, all tossed with a bit of EVOO. Peel and chunk the vegetables, spread them on a baking sheet, and bake at 425 for about 40 minutes. Ideally the vegetables shouldn't be too crowded, otherwise they steam rather than roast & caramelize. But even if they end up a bit more steamed - it's all delicious. But if there's a large crowd for a meal - then you might want to have two baking sheets of all the veg, so they cook properly. Ours tonight, too, have a bit of green in them -- halved brussel sprouts.

Darling, I am in much better spirits than I have been in all the last week. I am so glad that week is over - and I can't even imagine how painful & difficult it must have been for those much more directly involved. But I was very glad to see a fresh new Sunday, that held the promise of hopefully much more lighthearted impressions, thoughts, observations, than last week's had ended up holding for me.

You know, I never in my entire life (except maybe in young girlhood) was a regular churchgoer, but these days I'm beginning to be, because of the chance encounter & resulting developments. I attended today, in such a different frame of mind from last week. I don't know -- I guess it's going to be a journey for me there, from week to week. I'm definitely not ever going to "get all religious on you." But I did ask for help & guidance. And I want to say too, that I really like the Reverend, and enjoy her sermons. I'm being too vague and sideways I know -- but she pitched her ball to the congregation and I caught it sideways -- let's say that I do my best to - to quote Rick at KZE - "help people - don't hurt people" - but well, I suppose my mode of expression isn't exactly orthodox. That's okay, I know it is.

Anyway, I'm so grateful for your clever loving hit (as ever!!), and hope you are doing well, and I can report that I'm doing well -- for a Sunday, got in a trifecta. Never on Sunday? Usually not a workout anyway... but there was a good haunting Nicole Kidman movie on TV, that I'd seen at the movies, and I was glad to be able to do leglifts and squats and this & that to something other than Charlie, Anderson, or Oz.

Sweetheart, oh darling. You mean the world to me. You are so very very very good. I really appreciate that about you, in very many ways.

I'm fading a bit now, darling - I should proof this before launching, but I'm just not up for it at the moment. So just take this as a heartfelt impromptu fly by conversation that you & I had in person... and I smell lovely, with the lingering spritz of this morning's Miss Dior

many kisses