Post-Christmas Blahs

Decorations are all down and mostly put away with one last inspection of my great-grandma's old Victorian ornaments, my granddaughter's great-great-great grandma, a tiny little Mennonite lady who bore nine children, the last one younger than her oldest grandchild, my mother.  But that's another story. 

 We used a holiday table cloth from Marshall Field in Chicago that I bought when the kids were little.  Many ornaments from when they were little, including some decorated jars that are candle holders.  For once, there is real continuity with the past, in Kansas and Illinois stretching to New England. We also had a new Christmas tablecloth purchased last year at the Crate an Barrel post-holiday sale.  

Although I had much trepidation, having a half-grown kitten with one of the guests was a lot of fun, The older cats, even set-in-her-ways Thisbe  acted energized.  Thisbe even played with my bathrobe  belt.   We got out the little grey toy mice and the young cat enjoyed hours of play, and of course when the real mice came out of the basement ceiling the cats had a cooperative enterprise going with Thisbe finding them and the other two catching them.   The two house cats taught the kitten to use the sharpening post, a major coup.     

So why do I say blahs?  Everyone is gone, the holidays are over, the house is drab after being festooned for the holidays.  Rhododendrons are shriveled.  It's way too quiet.  Even the cats have noticed.  Two loads of towel, two loads of sheets, x more loads of laundry.  Larder is bare.  Christmas bills to pay.  Really blah.  Have to start writing.  Not blah, but  intimidating.

The past week I read Jane Smiley's One Thousand Acres, a novel I cannot recommend highly enough, but  it made my latest efforts seem paltry and I resolved to dig way deeper into my characters psyches.   The home office looks like hell, needs a few days, days not hours of cleaning, then the file drawers cleaned out.  Double blah.

We have an upcoming Handel & Haydn concert to look forward to, and I have a groupon thingy for a great meal at a cheap price.  Well, we hope it will be great.  Lunch with a friend next week.  None of these events are blah, just the dirt and the mess and the need to do some serious cleaning.  In Smiley's book, the women were always cleaning and it reminded me of my mom and my grandma, wonderful housekeepers, and even my friends and I am totally appalled at how the place looks.  By the time one cleans up the mess, it will be hard to find energy to clean.  I will feel virtuous, albeit exhausted.  Ugggh.

Dogwood gets a cat tower. 

Blah.  Blah.  Blah.    Tonight we have a new Chinese recipe to try.  Beef and snow peas.   Lots of spices and basmati rice.   I'll make a salad of lettuce and fresh orange slices.   Will that cure the blahs?  We'll see.