Vacuumability

I know every book of mine by its smell, and I have but to put my nose between the pages to be reminded of all sorts of things.
-- George Gissing

Sunday, November 26, 2000
One year ago: Toy Story 2
Two years ago: Thanksgiving
Three years ago: Dine and Dance

Two years ago was a wonderful day! That first trip that Jack took me on, to visit his family for the first time, was such a special time for me!

I went over to my sister's house for "brunch" today. This wasn't actually any fancy meal, but she'd baked a quiche in honor of a visiting cousin. M---- is part of the family of cousins who lived near us in Northern Virginia when we were growing up. My mother's sister and and her husband and kids had moved to the DC area in the early sixties and we saw them often.

M---- had lived in Northern Virginia most of his adult life, except for a year when he was out here in Seattle during the nineties. During the eighties, I first shared a house with him, then lived on the same street. But now he's in San Diego (which made me think of Gus). He's done some traveling in the Napa valley, where my maternal grandparents had lived, so he had pictures of the graveyard there in St. Helena with many family graves, and news from all the relatives that are still in California. My mother was the oldest of five sisters. Three are still alive, but one aunt went into a nursing home this year.

My nephew J--- was interested in all this adult talk, and stayed around for a surprisingly long time.

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In the afternoon I got back to work on my living room. One of the nice things about the rattan sofa -- it's sectional, so I could move one section at a time and vacuum underneath it. Things are looking good in there, I think. There was a guy on the decluttr email list that used to talk about "achieving vacuumability" and that's what I've done in that room.

I walked up to Kidd Valley for dinner, and began reading a romance by Charlotte Louise Dolan, called Fallen Angel. It was really good! The hero and heroine were very unexpected, and she did a good job of having their interior monologues show their characters. Dolan seems to have stopped writing now, which is a shame. I'll just have to look for the ones she did write.

My enjoyment of the Dolan book was in contrast to the bad book I'd been reading for the past few nights. I should have just quit that one, but I persisted till the end. I'd picked it up because of the unusual plot -- the hero was obsessed with the heroine because he wanted to paint her. But the language was inaccurate and awkward throughout.