Clowning Around

Fete had a great write up in the San Francisco Chronical this week and hearty thanks to Laura Thomas for reaching out to me to "get the story."

The response to the article was tremendous: not only did we sell out of those fabulous linen pillows, and have a run on the amaryllis bulbs, but I also heard from a former colleague at The Santa Fe Opera and now feel well caught up on the goings-on of that very special opera company.

If any of your are opera lovers, I recommend a visit to Santa Fe. The Company's Opening Weekend (generally the last week in June or first weekend in July) is sure to enchant with the incomparable Opera Ball. For those of you who are the type that think nothing of traveling to Seattle to catch The Ring, then the time to visit The Santa Fe Opera is during the latter half of the season when the Company presents its American premiere. Go. You won't regret it.

And don't forget to indulge with a visit to Ten Thousand Waves when you're there.

Wishes....

We Wish You a Merry Wishmas
There seems to be a fallow period, a lull, a lacunae (isn't that a great word? I hope I spelled it correctly) that falls somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas. For me, it seems to be a period where I reflect on the year that is rapidly coming to a close and the new one that is gathering speed and will land upon one's doorstep in a matter of weeks. Which brings me to all those things I wish for, my own bundle of hope for starting the year anew.

I was going to list here some of the things I wish for, but realized there are so many and yet only one wish I make to myself year-after-year it almost seems ludicrous to admit to it. Or admit to failing at it, is perhaps more accurate. Year-after-year I have wished to write more letters to people I care about. Yep, that's the simple goal. Nothing as demanding as training to run a marathon, learning to speak French, losing 10, 15, 20 pounds. My humble goal was and is simply to write letters.
To fail so miserably at this task required some revised goal-setting as in setting the bar lower, much lower. So the goal was then revised to writing one letter a month, and that was then revised the following year to joting a note, sending a greeting card which was then further revised to initialling a post-it-note and sticking it on an clever article or cartoon and sending THAT in place of said letter. I simply wanted to let people know I was thinking of them in some way that didn't involve email or the telephone. And truth be told, I fail pretty miserably at that, too. The biggest irony is that I set goals for myself and then work away at them like a dog with a bone until I achieve the goal -- and yet this simple one, perhaps the simplest of all, is my personal bete noire.

So hear I sit once again on the boundry of a new year wondering if I should just admit defeat and think of a new wish. Or hope against all evidence to the contrary that this year will be different.

How about you? Any unfulfilled wishes that might come true for you? Jot a note, send a card, write a letter, post to the blog -- and let me know.

Jackie