Monday, December 31, 2012

A Welcome Interlude

 Photo via here

The last week has been a wonderful time for relaxing with family and friends.  Thank you for all your holiday wishes.  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.  Don't you love the week between Christmas and the New Year?  It's a welcome break from the holiday frenzy, a hiatus when our normal routines are put on hold.  All the build-up and most of the work that lead up to Christmas is over and there is a glorious peace and quiet that seems to exist all around us. The tree is still up but there are no presents to wrap.  The house still looks festive -- the garland is on the mantle, the wreath is on the door, and bowls of pine cones are all around.  But it is refreshingly quiet and there are many hours to putter, rearrange, reconnect and get recharged.  Last week I spent time with my family and friends, saw movies, ran errands, cleaned up and read.  I hope you did also.

Memories of Christmas


I have been catching up on some reading from the stack of books on my night stand. One of my favorites is the engrossing memoir and love story Must You Go by Antonia Fraser.  It is about the life she shared with the playwright Harold Pinter.  I feel as if I have been transported to the vibrant literary and theater scene of London in the seventies and eighties when Fraser and Pinter were hanging out with celebrated writers such as Anthony Powell, Phillip Roth, Iris Murdoch and V.S. Naipaul.  Dinners with playwrights, directors, and actors such as Samuel Beckett and Alan Bates were normal, as was attendance at the premieres of all the major new plays on the London stage.  Fraser writes of "Supper with the two knights (Gielgud and Richardson)."  The book is written in diary entries which gives the narrative an immediacy and compels us to read on.  Pinter was at the height of his career, writing plays such as "Betrayal" and the screenplay for the film "The French Lieutenant's Woman." Their love story is a fascinating literary romance and takes us back to an era when many exciting things were happening in literature and theater.  It was an amazing time.


Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters is another book I have been enjoying.  This one is about Hollywood via two settings in Italy --  a rustic inn on the Italian cliffs above the Mediterranean and the glamorous city of Rome where the epic film "Cleopatra" is being filmed.  It moves from 1962 in Italy to Hollywood of today.  The main characters include an Italian innkeeper and his long-lost love, a Hollywood producer and his idealistic assistant, an army veteran turned aspiring novelist and Richard Burton himself, who plays an integral role in the plot.  It's a delicious escapist kind of a book. Perfect for right now.

  Image via here

Visions of sugar-plums are still dancing in my head.  Christmas dinner is a recent memory and I can't stop thinking about the Lumberjack Cake that my daughter made us for dessert.  Have you ever made it?  My daughter tells me that it is served at an excellent restaurant in San Francisco called Frances.  This is not a fancy dessert, but a homey cake made with pears, dates and coconut flakes.  It was a hit and everyone agreed that it tastes just like Christmas.  We served it with vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce.  This cake is so good and easy to make that it just may become part of your holiday traditions.  The recipe is here.

 Matthew and Lady Mary in the final scene of Season Two of "Downton Abbey"

This has also been a great time to catch up on some delicious television and I have been riveted to one of my favorite shows.  I have been rewatching the first two seasons of Downton Abbey in preparation for the new season, which starts January 6.  Can't get enough of this wonderful show!  Will you be watching?



Photo via here

It is exciting to think about a new year when everything seems possible.  January always feels like a new beginning, a blank slate, the refreshing start of a new period of time.  It is a month of reflection and renewal.  Here's hoping that there are many inspiring adventures in store for all of us!

Happy New Year
May all your dreams come true in 2013!

13 comments:

  1. I don't remember having such a lazy and relaxing week in a very long time - it's been heavenly. That lumberjack cake looks amazing. Not a butterscotch fan, so probably will try it with caramel. A very Happy, Healthy, and Peaceful New Year to you and your family.

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  2. Happy New Year Sunday, to you and your family. I've loved reading your blog in 2012, and look forward to reading more in 2013. Joanne

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  3. Happy New Year to you! I've a few more days of lazy holidays left & I shall eek out all the festive spirit I can in them.

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  4. I, too, love the interval between Christmas and the New Year only I'm making it last two weeks instead of one. I'm on holiday until school starts back again on Jan. 7. By then I'll be ready to jump back into my regular life.

    I can't wait for Downton Abbey to begin. I had thought about watching seasons 1 and 2 again before starting 3, but I think I'll wait until it's all over and watch them all at the same time. Or maybe I'll do both! Happy New Year!

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  5. Happy New Year to you and your family. I will be watching January 6 and what a terrific idea to rewatch season 1 and 2 in preparation.

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  6. Happy New Year Sunday! I agree that January offers such a sense of renewal. It's always a time when I like to jump in and begin something new. I love your book selections and will add them to my ever growing list! Cheers to 2013!

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  7. Happy New Year Sunday! Thank you for another year of beautiful heartwarming posts. What a treat it has been to savor your blogs! Looking forward to Downton Abbey, too! Enjoyed seeing Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) in Anna Karenina.

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  8. Happy New Year, Sunday. Waiting, not patiently, I am sorry to say, for January 6!

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  9. I do pop over often to see what books you are reading....I have just finished the biography of Frances Partridge.....she was the last surviving link with the Bloomsbury group she was 103 when she died.,a very a frank and absorbing read.Have you read it?

    Have just started Elizabeth George's 'Believing the Lie'....she writes about the British life so well,and Inspector Lynley I am totally in love with....sadly the TV series do not live up to her books.

    Happy,Healthy,and Prosperous New Year 2013.Ida

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  10. Ida, these books sound perfect for me. I am going to get the Frances Partridge biography, I am very interested in that as I love Bloomsbury and have many books about it. Also would love to read an Elizabeth George. I am a fan of the television series. Thanks so much for the recommendations!

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  11. Sunday, I have thought of you often this last week as I've opened "House of Mirth". It is my books group's February selection. I enjoyed "Beautiful Ruins" during a trip this past year. It was a perfect read for a long airplane trip.

    I am anxiously awaiting the third season of Downtown Abby as well. The perfect beginning to the new year. Now I just need to get my home back in order.

    Happy New Year! Bonnie

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  12. Can't wait for Sunday night. As the sign says, "Keep Calm. Downton Abbey Is On."
    Happy new year.
    b

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  13. Happy New Year Sunday! Glad you are enjoying "Beautiful Ruins". I really liked it for the reasons you mention. A fun read I encouraged my book club to read next month. This week I moved on to Ian McEwans' new book, Sweet Tooth (which is an entirely different matter from "Beautiful Ruins" , being it is the clever and often dark McEwan) - but enjoying it very much. I too look forward to more of Downton Abby this year!

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