So I have this orchid. Actually, I had two. One was a ladyslip orchid, one a bright pink phalenopsis. The ladyslip died immediately. Just shriveled up and died, bam, like that. The phaleonopsis (sp?) bloomed beautifully for about a month, and then all the flowers fell off. But suddenly it grew a new leaf. Mind you, I used to collect orchids. Had a ton of them. This was back when I lived in San Francisco, in this gorgeous tiny sun-drenched apartment with huge bay windows up on a hill. I took the collection of orchids very seriously. I had books. I put them in the right windows and on the right tables so they'd get just the right amount and quality and kind of sun--south sun, east sun, etc. Orchids are finicky and like a very particular sort of sun. I bought one orchid at a time. They are also very expensive, and gradually I had invested a really ridiculous amount of money in a variety of flower that basically exists to drive its owners insane. You are supposed to water some of them and not others; some prefer to be misted very occasionally. Some like to be fed, others not. So I had this houseful of orchids, which was totally gorgeous and tropical; I also had two towering tree-like plants, and the whole place was lovely. But then, one by one, the orchids started to drop flowers. There were papery dried-out blooms everywhere, all over the floor. So I threw them all out. It was several years later that someone informed me that orchids always do that. They go through cycles of dropping flowers. And I'd thrown out a fortune in live orchids because somehow in all my orchid-related research I had failed to learn that they do that. This made me very dejected. Hence, ten years later, with my improved orchid knowledge, I know that a) the ladyslip orchid has for sure died, and b) the phaelonopsis has a brand new leaf and therefore is not dead, though it is a really ugly tall bare stalk sticking out of its leaves. So. It sits on my desk. And since it is winter, and there's no damn light in Minnesota, and this office gets no sun of any kind (south, east, or any other), I turn on my lightbox and bask in its flourescent (sp) glow and hope the orchid blooms again soon.

That's all I have to say on the matter of orchids today.

Other than that--on the matter of light--I am sloggish for lack of it. I nap. It isn't smart; when I nap late in the day, I wake up when it's already dark, and then I am disoriented, and it's hard to go back to work. Some of you live in Alaska, I believe--how do you manage the all-winter dark? I am like a parrot, which thinks it's night whenever you throw a towel over its cage. Hence, the lightbox, which my friend Kristen calls Ra. God of Sun. It makes the room very hot, and is deeply unattractive, and ruins the look of the room, but it should keep me from the situation where I wind up napping through February. Yoga is also helpful. I strongly recommend yoga. Someone wrote me the other day and asked me, not for the first time, why I don't move to Palm Springs. It is because I like the snow. And finally there is some snow. Mark my words: in February, I will be complaining about the snow. Ignore me.

Much afoot with regard to work. It's poetry season--I wonder if everyone writes seasonally?--and I have two new ones I'm tinkering with. They should take me as long as the two I wrote last December, which was approx. forever. I am more prolific with poetry in the summer; I do the long ones in winter, and they pretty much consume me. I am also working on the novel, which is great fun. I have a big long list of novels I want for Christmas. They should get me through February, if I can stay awake.

My annual Christmas party is approaching. It is the world's tiniest cocktail party: there are nine of us, and we dress up. Trockman has joked, badly, that he will wear his Trocktail dress. People should be shot for jokes like that. I really only cook twice a year, at the Christmas party and the February Depression Party (though last year Jeff cooked for that, and may have to do so again this coming year). So this year's party is Mexican Christmas, and I am going all-out. I do love to cook. I'm really just very lazy, and rarely do it. I was thinking about this at Thanksgiving, which I spent with my dad's side of the family & various friends. It was warm and lovely and someone else cooked. I hope all of you had an equally lovely Thanksgiving, and that your holiday season, whatever holiday happens to be yours, is going beautifully. Many things to be thankful for, and much to celebrate. I wish the very best to you and yours.

Peace,
M