I keep plugging along

I have written the Dan-Mary conversation and that has told me what must happen next ... so things do not feel quite as out of context as they have recently.

I have also made a second cozy and am almost finished the first of a new pair of socks ... so that should tell you how slowly the writing is progressing.

It is bloody cold out here and the wood stove is doing the brunt of work keeping the place warm, I think. Last night I was up at 1 re-starting the fire ... and then stayed up because it was burning with such ferocity I thought I might have a chimney fire if it were unattended. By three I was back in my bed. feeling that all was safe.

Today I have been keeping the fire stoked, knitting, thinking and doing a bit of writing. Tomorrow Tamarak is coming to do some work on my computer. We will have a late lunch and the dogs will frolic outdoors.

I watched Farewell, My Concubine this afternoon while knitting. What a violent movie that is. Such senseless cruelty to everyone. A strange culture that accepts that kind of cruelty. I wonder if the old culture with its binding of women's feet and murder of female children is at the root of other things I associate with modern China ... human rights abuses ... blatant disregard for the welfare of people by manufacturers ... and yet it is also a culture that limits families and pours affection onto its children ... and a culture that values its old people. So many strange dichotomies.