January is when winter really starts to feel like winter. Josh has called it "the doldrums of winter" because Christmas has passed, and the cold is really settling in. It's true we've had some dark days and some heavy rain, but we've also had crisp, sunny days. I don't dislike the cold as much as I used to. I enjoy the fresh breeze on my face as I step out of Barnes. I like needing to wear a sweater.
I still end up using the AC in the car most days. Yes, I'm driving a lot more, and that will continue as classes begin. I will drive Josh to work, pick up Oliver from school, and pick up Josh almost every day, as I've done for the last couple of weeks. What makes it bearable? Audio books. Since I'm out so much anyway, I have decided not to have set, on-campus office hours this semester. I'm not required to have them, so I've just listed by appointment on my syllabi.
I've read three books in the last two weeks, so I'm a little behind on my reading goal of 100. My real goal is 117, as I'd like to surpass my best reading year (2022). I came close to doing so last year, ending at 112. I just couldn't quite swallow those last five books. But I did finish a journal the night of New Year's Eve, starting a fresh one on the 1st. On the 1st, I finished Megan Hess's book Audrey, an illustrated biography of Audrey Hepburn, focusing on her style (Megan Hess is a fashion artist, which sounds really cool. She's one of my favorite artists...I gather more and more!). It was a charming Tiffany-blue book that I'm sure I'll revisit. I have two other Megan Hess books to read (Christian Dior and Coco Chanel); I read several last year. While my style rarely reflects trends, I am quite interested in fashion design and evolution: the art of it, the influence of it. I may reread Paris through a Fashion Eye (also Hess) this year. Oh! I also need to read Iconic, which is on Italian fashion. I read about twenty books on art, fashion, and interior design last year. I have many reading themes and goals for this year, but that's for another post.
I finished listening to Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi. I read her book of short stories, What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours, last year. Her writing is bewildering and bewitching...I think I love it. I plan to read all of her books. A few are available on Libby (that's where I got Gingerbread), and I was able to find a couple more as used hard copies or cheap Kindle books. I believe I bought Boy Snow Bird years ago, but I haven't seen it lately. Her work is dipped in and dusted with fairy tales, but the core of her stories are purely Oyeyemi.
And I finished rereading Happiness for Two by Alexandra Stoddard just last night. This one I read with Josh. He finished reading the Kindle book before I finished flagging the hardcover that I've had since 2007 when it came out. I was working at Borders at the time, so I got to see all the new books coming in. Stoddard is an interior designer, who at some point became something of a philosopher. Her books were extremely influential for me in my teens and twenties. Last year, Josh read Living a Beautiful Life, the first and most impactful book of hers I've read. While Josh notes Stoddard's privileged perspective in his reviews, he does seem to see some value in her ideas. It's another book we've read together. Next up? The Hidden Writer by Alexandra Johnson, another reread for me but probably one I haven't read in a good twenty years. It goes along with my primary reading theme for this year: journals and diaries.
On January 3, Bruce and Corey took me to see The Color Purple. Bruce and I saw the musical some years ago, but I didn't remember much about it. It seemed like a likely bummer, though. However, I was surprised and delighted to watch one of the best movies I've ever seen. I quickly added songs to my January playlist. Josh and I make playlists each month to share with each other.
I wanted to mark the occasion of Twelfth Night, about which I knew little to nothing. Josh and I read about it together and made note of it on January 5. We did end up putting away one of our Christmas trees that night as that is part of the tradition. We did not exchange gifts, but we drove Oliver to Rockingham to meet my mom and go home with her for the weekend. I'd made a Twelfth Night playlist, primarily with winter songs that aren't exclusively Christmas related. I included a lot of Tchaikovsky. We listened to that on the way. On the way back, we listened to The Wintering Sessions, Katherine May's podcast. We listened to one episode about a carer (the British version of caregiver...I actually like carer better) who guarded her mentally-ill mother and now cares for her autistic son. This seemed quite relevant, so I looked up her book, Tender. We also listened to about half of the second episode, which was a discussion with a midwife. I want us to listen to all of the Wintering Sessions and to the newer iteration of the podcast How We Live Now. This reminds me of one of my favorite books, How I Live Now, which I discovered in a adolescent literature class at ASU (that class changed my reading life, by the way).
The next day, the 6th, we had an excursion. We normally spend our weekends alone almost exclusively at home in bed, snuggling, napping, and soaking up each other's presence. But that Saturday, we had tickets to see Girl from the North Country. Neither of us knew anything about the musical except that the songs are by Bob Dylan (and we didn't know much about him, either). Since DPAC is about an hour and a half from home, I wanted to make a whole day of it. I asked Josh to find independent bookstores in Durham and plan our day, as he's good at that sort of task.
The first bookstore we sought no longer exists; come on, Google. We went to The Regulator Bookshop, which sold new books. We found a couple of major bargains. I want to start collecting T-shirts for indie bookstores, and all the bookstores we visited had T-shirts, but I'll have to wait for a time when we have more money. Inexpensive books seemed more important anyway. The Regulator had a great children's section where I found books I want to read eventually, including one about the various natural occasions of the year (solstices, equinoxes, etc.) and one full of tales specifically for winter.
We didn't want to spend money on lunch, so I had packed a protein bar and Bel Vita cookies for Josh. I ate an orange, and the car filled with the scent. Next, we went to Letters Bookshop. By this time, the rain was really coming down. I was wearing a gray sweater dress with sequins and beading on the sleeves, fleece-lined tights, gray fuggs, and my star coatigan. Luckily, I had grabbed the Ariel umbrella. Josh paralleled parked beautifully one street over, and we huddled together as we splashed our way to the shop. Letters sold both new and used books, some of the new books at used prices. We took advantage. The shop must be full of light on a sunny day. A three-part staircase led to a loft with poetry, journals, art books, and YA lit. We took our time.
By then, it was time to go to the theatre. We arrived, parked in the parking deck, and waited a while before walking in the rain again. We sat at a high-top table inside and ate soft pretzels and mini chocolate-covered pretzels. The show itself was rather a downer, but I was glad we went together. Normally, I share my season tickets with Bruce, but he was in Hawaii for the week. I was grateful that my mom and Shane had been able to keep Oliver so we could go to the show. Afterward, we went to a bitsy bookshop called Golden Fig Books. It primarily sold used books, and we found a few. It was a lovely time despite the weather. On Sunday, we relaxed, Josh opting to skip his in-person meeting and go to an online meeting that night instead. We were together until 3, when he left to pick up Oliver and I got ready for tutoring.
Yesterday, I went back to Barnes for my second artist's date of the year. I read magazines, lit up over the one little Valentine's Day display, and brought home an iced peppermint mocha and a slice of cheesecake. I've been to bookstores five times this year!
What else have we done these two weeks? We rearranged a lot of art in the house. The living room is still a work in progress, but the study, where we spend most of our waking hours, is wonderful. I wrote a detailed description of it in my journal; I may post that some time. We both got our classes ready for the start on January 16. While I haven't attained or surpassed those 32 rhinestones from January 1, I did earn 28 yesterday! I've been reading Down Spooky, a book of poems, and Linotte, Anais Nin's first diary. I've also stickered a couple of journals including my Christmas journal for next year and the journal I plan to write in after I finish my current Papier star journal: a Peter Pauper Press Gilded Tree journal with a golden tree before a massive full moon. I'm lighting candles every day, currently Holiday, 'Tis the Season, and the maple butter candle my brother gave us for Christmas. I turn on more lights now. The little birch trees glow.
