I love my back room!

I spent last evening swaddled in a blanket, lying on the couch in the room of my house that we have never quite decided what to call. We built this about 17 years ago - it is a large (25x14 feet) room, surrounded on three sides by glass, with skylights and a pitched roof. Sometimes we call it a sun room, more often, just "the back room." It is a wonderful room in all seasons - in the summer it's my beach house; in the spring I can watch the trees burst into green; in the fall I see those leaves turn; it's just about perfect for watching the snow fall. At Christmas, it's especially fun. I have the three large windows surrounded with strings of white lights (originally used on the outside of the house) and the tree is up and lighted. Last night, the weather outside was truly frightful, and not in the fun way - cold, driving rain, relentless wind. I was supposed to go into Philadelphia with a friend to listen to music, but the combination of the weather and a persistent cold and laryngitis led me to beg off. Instead, I took a hot bath, wrapped myself in a blanket, and hunkered down with a glass of Shiraz, a bag of pistachios, and the newspaper and listened to the radio. It was lovely. Tonight, after a pretty long day - an away basketball game this afternoon followed by a productive shopping foray - I'm doing about the same thing. It's a bittersweet time - I probably won't be sitting in this room next Christmas - but right now my old cat, Max, and I are enjoying the lights and the music.

Just two more school days until vacation - and I'm watching two great films - Rashomon and Wuthering Heights! Good times!