Hello,

It was one of those nights when the sins of the city seemed to have blacked out the sun, reminding us that we humans really were brothers, with more in common than is often remembered. The low, warm lights of the club soaked over us as we drank at the bar, but they weren't able to penetrate the smoke that drifted from the ladies long cigarettes, or discover the color of eyes from behind allusive black veils. So the lights glistened off the brass instruments of the band as it played on undaunted by the gloomy faces of it's listeners, or the deadness of the world outside. Caroming off the piano, and glancing off the sax, the lights threw their dying beams on the soft, yellow equipment behind the bar. The enamel surfaces seemed to be beckoning alluringly as they caught the light on their curves, throwing blemish into shadow and adding mystery to an otherwise clear cut form. As the bar maid turned away from one such appliance, bearing once more a round of drinks to keep the night at bay, the band struck up another tune to mingle with our sighs and so turn misery into music.

I have wanted to post this for a long time, but then I was busy with a work that was too delicious to complain about, and then – after a crazy three weeks of Fielding's Tom Jones, Mansfield Park, Richard II, and Hamlet – when I finally got a break – nothing. I took part in Perfect, Peaceful, Blissful Nothing. And now, Tom Jones finished, break over, and new book begun, it is finally time to let you see the beauty that has come into my life.

It makes me think of sunshine, or butter, or jazz music. I could fill this whole page with pictures of it, but sadly, even here, I have business. First up, and it's been bugging me for a while, when I mentioned Pamela I had forgotten the word for a book written as a series of letters. That words is, of course, epistle. But that's old news, you want updates, you want story. Well, how's this?

They're my second pair of Jaywalkers, the first being still in progress. I finished them during The Return of the King, which I watched, marathon style, last Friday. Like I said, on my break I did nothing. These sock were fun to knit, very cheerful, very full of whimsy, and giggles, and precious things. I had fun trying out different kinds of edgings for the cuffs. Which one do you like better?

Another great reason for finally posting is Saturday. On Saturday I'm going to be taking part in a parade. It's a small parade, but it is still something completely out of my sphere of experience, so I'm hoping to cement it into fact by describing the event to you later. Preparations for it started Monday, and are on going. I'm in charge of decorating the cardboard Teacups and I'm having so much fun with them I'm starting to wonder if I could make a living just decorating cardboard shapes. I think that would pretty much be heaven.

In other, actual news, I have started learning the deep mysteries of Dreamweaver. I love to think that, one day, it will be useful to know, but until then I'm just having tons of fun. Photoshop is more entertaining, I could sit and play in it all day long, but Dreamweaver provides a goal, a point, a frame to paint within. My friends are probably tired of me sending them random "postcards" inspired by the default images on my classes' PCs, but one day, when I'm using those same skill to put together a website of my own, they will understand that all has not been in vain.

At least, that's what I'd like to think.