It is a good thing that a fire is comforting and relaxing because carrying the darn wood in is not hard, but time-consuming, especially when you’re carrying it to a basement fireplace. You can only tote so many logs at once so it’s up and down and up and down and better do it again or you’ll have to stumble around in the dark because you’ve wanted to think, Oh, that will be enough.

I have been digging out old VHS movies and watching them. Some are better than I remember them being. I think when not so many movies were made and we watched the old ones on TV over and over again, we didn’t realize that it was a good thing. You really got to appreciate the aspects of the film. Now, for the most part, I watch a new movie and that’s it.

The complication of watching these older tapes is the previews before the movie; I think Oh, yeah, I’d like to see that one again or, I missed that one. Easier said than done.

Of course, I don’t know if I’d be able to watch any new movie as many times as I’ve watched Casablanca. Actually, I’m not sure that was a movie; I think it is a phenomenon that makes us feel deja vu when we stand in a fog or see a trench coat or hear a piano in a cafe or fold some important papers in our hand – our letters of transit, dontcha know. Whatever, it’s been a beautiful friendship.