Happy

Yesterday I had a craving for kitsch. I went to the craft store and bought a paint-by-
number kit, a picture of pink roses framed in green toile. Paint-by-number became popular in the 1950s and, like that decade, is inescapably kitchy. Popular themes include horses, kittens, landscapes, bouquets of flowers, Jesus, and patriotic scenes, like a bald eagle framed by the U.S. flag. After the craft store I went next door to the grocery and bought the ingredients for rice crispy treats. I'm munching on them now.

The Samhain decorations are up, and the house is cozy. We lit the first fire of the season in our fireplace on Saturday evening and had friends over for wine and cider. Lugh enjoyed all the attention. He went into the bedroom at 10:30, the usual time he and Adonis get in bed, then got back up when he saw the party wasn't over and we weren't coming to bed. He took to snuggling people on the couch. People brought snacks and baked goods and more wine, and we resolved to host such gatherings once a month through the winter.

Now that I'm working normal Monday-Friday hours, I feel like the weekends ought to be one day longer: one day to clean and run errands and two days to relax and read, see movies and friends. I'm having a hard time committing to a book. I'm browsing my way through Gerald Gardner's Witchcraft Today, Cunningham's book on stone and crystal magic, and Gerina Dunwich's book on spell craft. I've also started rereading Little, Big by John Crowley. It seems the right time of year for it. I leave you with the words that Smoky Barnable sees in a crossstitch sampler at the Junipers' house on his way to Edgewood:

The things that make us Happy
make us Wise.