TOMORROW THERE WILL BE APRICOTS

Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots by Jessica Soffer - I'd been waiting for that best book in ages to come along, and here it is.  Get it and read it next.  This is a beautifully written story about lives crossing in unlikely and circumstantial ways - both the young and old characters are compelling and deep.  Everything about this is good and unusual and loving and frustrating.  (Although it was so good that I really wasn't frustrated.)  I have a little beef about this story, something that I've noticed in a few other stories recently, and that is when there is a mystery, or occurrence that isn't fully explained, and the author decides to provide the answer, it's provided as hearsay through another source or character, rather than with firsthand storytelling by the character who had the experience.  That's me being picky about authoring and editing, though, and has no bearing on the excellence of this beautiful story about a girl named Lorca, a couple named Victoria and Joseph, a boy named Blot, and a woman who falls into the awful mother category.  However, the depth and beauty of this story saves it from being in that awful mother genre. 

We have been in the midst of a cold spell this winter, and last week I woke up one day and said to myself that the day was going to end, and I would either have started painting my dining room or not.  So, I did!  And yesterday I painted the powder room - took it from that dark dramatic gorgeous deep purple to my lovely and light Mirage Gray.  It's simply wonderful.  I'm camera/photo challenged lately, but I'll try to post some pictures soon.  There are pics in previous entries showing the purple when it was "After".  Now it's "Before" and I'm so so happy!  Maybe I'll put some pictures on Pinterest.  It feels clean and light and bright.  I'm going to continue with the Mirage Gray into the master bedroom and downstairs sunroom, and maybe even the guestroom.  Not sure when all this is going to happen, but I am motivated.  Every morning when I go downstairs, the first thing I do is open all of the dining room blinds (for many years now, I've been only opening the blind next to Pretty Bird's cage).  With the new furniture arrangement, the room is more open, and the other day when I was showing it to Helmut, he asked why I was leaving my blinds pulled and my room so dark all the time?  Lightbulb!  I opened them right up and will continue to do so forever.  It's such a happy room now, and the prettiest it's ever been.