weather withdrawal

January 28, 2002

Today's Reading
Sleeping with Cats by Marge Piercy

This Year's Reading
2002 Book List

Weather: Well so far this January is nothing like January in Boston weather history. My search for weather history led to some cool stuff, including the Channel 7 weather almanac , which doesn't list the 1997 April Fool's Day blizzard in the top 7 storms, though they rightly place the hurricane of '38 number 1, I'm surprised the Worcester tornado edged out the Blizzard of '78 for number 2 though. Interestingly, my first clear memory is of Hurricane Carol in 1954 or at least that's the earliest memory I can actually pin to a date. I must be in weather withdrawal.

Traffic: None to speak of.

Coffee: Perfecto's has raised their price for the travel cup refill to $1.65 from $1.55. At least they didn't go up as high or by as much as Middle Street Foods.

Birds: Birds? I sort of remember what they look like.

Books: Books. I remember what they look like too. Why just last night I finished The Cat Who Went Up the Creek and plunged back in to Sleeping with Cats. Oh, no a cat theme! Well, Sleeping with Cats isn't really a cat book. In fact I think it may be a mistake to review it for the MRFRS newsletter (the real one, which goes out quarterly to about 3000 people, not the one I edit, which goes out to about 170 volunteers). It's just that I suddenly realized that I don't exactly have main stream tastes and if a bunch of contributors read it based on my recommendation and hate it I don't want to be responsible for a drop in contributions. What, have I become insecure in my opinions? I'm being ridiculous. It should be OK as long as I make clear that it's not a cat book though the entire memoir is structured around Marge Piercy's relationships with the cats she's known throughout her life much like Vivian Gornick's wonderful memoir Fierce Attachments is structured around walks with her mother.

Cats: Wilbur sits on my shoulder when I type at the computer. He thumps his tail on the keyboard constantly. I constantly have to go back and delete what he typed or type what he deleted. Sometimes I miss things. Sometimes I miss things the spellchecker doesn't catch. Sometimes I just don't type very well, which has nothing to do with Wilbur.