Vignettes

So. It's been more than two weeks since I last posted, despite a flood of bakeriesque attempts, some of which very successful (notably the much anticipated Tarte Tatin and this charmingly bright and heart-warming Very Orange coffee-cake.)
I apologize for this prolonged silence and promise to expound about how I was feeling too shitty to blog - despite said attempts and because of the not-so-successful ones among them - soon. But so as to not welcome you back to my virtual life with a full fledged Elegy of Shitty Life, aka the Life is So Shitty when Your Sister Dies Dirge, with guest performance of Reading Cicero Won't Make you Feel Better When You're Blue, Baby - yes, dear readers, I promise to leave all that to an upcoming super-duper extra-chipper post! - but in the meantime, here's some little things to make you…

go AWWWWHHH…..
Last Saturday morning, DH and myself were having a little self-indulgent, uncharacteristically guilt-free sleeping-in time. We were both already awake, and somehow had the exact same thought even before we started talking about it. I'm pretty sure it's DH that brought it up, the idea of a little child squiggling into our bed. Technically, he might have been reminiscing of when he was a child crawling into his parents' bed, but there was a non-explicit agreement that such a squiggling presence of a young humanoid could work just fine for us at the moment.
My cynical self, however, made it explicitly clear that "the moment", if such toddlery cold-footed presence were to join us, would likely be 5 am, and not the comfortable 9 am we were now luxuriating in.

- shake your head at me.
But you promised not to talk about your sister! you say. Well, fine, but I just wanted to share this uplifting song with you. Somehow, in the mess that is my itunes folders, the only songs or artists I can easily find and readily play are those that N introduced me to, among them the lovely Feist. Yes, there are objective technophobic reasons to this - Computers have Ruined My Life! Somebody Give me Back my ACTUAL CDs so I can find my MUSIC! - but, eh well, still, what a coincidence. I guess this is my way of missing and mourning you, dear N. Sing along, everybody. Or at least hum. It's catchy.

- nod knowingly.
While we are on the subject of my life in vignettes - and add to that a completely arbitrary sonic association to Anna Karenina, which I have resumed reading yesterday, truly a sign of mental stability - I am mildly obsessed with the breathtaking Anna Karina, particularly after watching Godard's Vivre Sa Vie. Don't take it from me, though: Susan Sontag described it as "a perfect film" and "one of the most extraordinary, beautiful, and original works of art that I know of." Just go watch it already.
*Incidentally, I was very pleased with myself for recognizing the young Antonin Artaud, who plays in the silent film our heroine watches. It seems I am evolving out of my cinematic boorishness, and quite enjoying it! Much to DH's relief, it is probable I shall some day grow out of my habit of proclaiming things like "I don't really like Fellini", nor, for that matter, "Argghh! I hate Socrates!". But really, Socrates deserves more than a *. So that's another post I owe you.