for 1. 1. 2020
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It was such places as this, such moments that he loved above all else in life; she knew that, and she also knew that he loved them more if she could be there to experience them with him. And although he was aware that the very silences and emptinesses that touched his soul terrified her, he could not bear to be reminded of that. It was as if always he held the fresh hope that she, too, would be touched in the same way as he by solitude and the proximity to infinite things. He had often told her: ‘It is your only hope,’ and she was never sure what he meant. Sometimes she thought he meant that it was his only hope, that only if she were able to become as he was, could he find his way back to love.
— Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky
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H A P P Y N E W Y E A R
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post-Gutenberg 
Happy New Year, Cheryll.
(Once, when Deb was visiting here, it was late, we were tired, the TV was on, time to sleep…but then the film version of The Sheltering Sky came on, with John Malkovich, Debra Winger. I could see/feel Deb get fascinated by it immediately, so we watched it to the end, no matter how tired. Quality story would grip her)
And now, it seems to be 2020…
Debra Winger can be very good, but I can’t watch anything with that actor in it, or the film version of almost any book I admire. Too confusing, and the images usually conflict with the ones in my own head. … It is shocking to think of Deb no longer being here to tell us what she thinks — not to mention excruciating. Proof of how there can be no effective difference between bonds made in the ether and on solid earth. Certainly for me.
I’ve been looking at pictures of your mountains looking as enticing as ever, but frighteningly parched.