be loyal to what you love, be true to the earth, fight your enemies with passion and laughter

January 2: popinjay, meaning "a strutting supercilious person".

February 2: vade mecum, meaning "a book for ready reference; manual" or "something regularly carried about by a person."

I do have a vade mecum of sorts: a small notebook, in my purse. It serves the usual purpose for practical things, but has also come to represent something more meaningful to those who know me well. Finding that one is 'in the notebook' is a sort of badge of honor, I believe: it means that I listen to you closely enough to have read double-meanings into what you say, or (in the best case) found you unforgettably clever. I alone wield the power over what is entered into the notebook, which has led to some strange negotiations and pleas about what constitutes wit.

All this, for a notebook; it makes me a bit of a popinjay, doesn't it?

 

The very dear daughter of a very dear friend made this diorama for me at Christmas with one of her good friends. As soon as I returned from the Great White North, it found a special place beneath Bob's [decorated] stool.
Thanks, P-Nut!

To know why this gift means so much to me...well, you'd have to know me pretty damned well. It's a German Christmas ornament, fragile glass, and hanging with pride from my dining room light fixture - where it will remain, because I absolutely love it, and the person who gave it.
Happy birthday just a little early, Sparky. ♥

[the title quotation is by Edward Abbey]