mallorys_camera | The Enemies of Patrizia List

When Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, is warmer than New York, you know you’re in the grips of a real live meteorological phenomenon.

Temps here never even reached 20° F yesterday. And they stayed in the “feels like 7°” range all day because wind.

I ventured out anyway—to the movies!

And even though I was suitably coated, hatted, & gloved, it felt like Jack London should have been doing the voiceover narration for the two-block hike from municipal parking lot to Upstate Films.

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I saw American Fiction. Which I loved. Just the right combo of trenchant social commentary and warm fuzzy dysfunctional family makeover.

I do so love going to real live movie theaters to watch real live films!

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When I got back to the casa, Neighbor Ed was there again doing jigsaw puzzles.

And I realized: Neighbor Ed likes doing jigsaw puzzles! This is not some abstract do-gooder service he performs to earn his crown in heaven.

And I immediately felt ashamed of all the negative vituperative thoughts I’d entertained about him a few days back.

One of the traits I dislike most about myself is these irrational… Well. They’re not rages, exactly. Fits… in which my heart turns suddenly against somebody I basically like.

Anyway, Neighbor Ed didn’t know about his brief tenure on the Enemies of Patrizia list, and we bantered companionably.

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I’ve been thinking some more about what it might take for me to feel happier.

No winter! heads the list.

But in upstate New York, that’s not possible.

More friends! is the second item.

My ideal would be to live in a fabulous house with a bunch of sympatico people with whom I would alternately banter and have Meaningful Conversations. One long, fabulous house party, in other words! Where everybody was very scrupulous about washing their own dishes and took turns vacuuming.

That might be possible.

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Today, I must take the IRS certification exam. So, it’s a good thing Neighbor Ed is in my good graces again: He’s already taken and passed it, so I will doubtless be toddling across the road to ask him questions about Schedule D and Form 8949, which even though I’ve been TaxBwana-ing for well-nigh a decade now are still very difficult for me to wrap my head around.