We EST-ers have a little under an hour left of November. I just read the first 31 chapters of Tess of the D'Urbervilles and now I am in bed, drinking an Anchor Steam Christmas Ale and trying to mentally prepare myself for December.

First of all, it is really important that I don't fail out of grad school this semester. By 'fail' I mean 'receive any A minuses.' I think. I think that's what I mean. Anyway, though, I'll strike you a deal: if you don't ask me in the next two weeks how my program is going (please don't), I won't tell you. Fair is fair.

As if completing the semester weren't enough, our South Philly house fell through! The inspector found a few things that need to be fixed immediately, but the ladies who own the house refused to fix them or bring the price down. Now we are scrambling to find a new place! We are looking at a few properties on Thursday. I will be channeling Annette Bening- "I will sell this find a house today."

IN ADDITION, I'll be spending the entirety of next Monday in court for that mugging trial. What a pain in the badonkadonk.

All that being said, I am in good spirits. I am excited about the papers I am writing, excited to decorate our new mystery house (ha), excited for Christmas break, and excited for my trip to Denver! I also had a really wonderful Thanksgiving in the Poconos. It is so peaceful and happy in my parents' home in the mountains, and my whole family was there, and I saw some of my oldest and dearest friends. To top it all off, Max came back to Philadelphia earlier than I did and he cleaned the apartment so I would have a nice space to do my work when I got home. Thanksgiving got a little silly. Tea cozies were worn, Scotch was consumed, we started up a little ragtime band.







I, for one, had no alcohol on Turkey day proper... you'd never know it from the photos.

I grew up in a pretty small town on the Appalachian Trail (this is not the backwoods moonshine Appalachia you imagine). I believe there are eight hundred something citizens now but when I was in high school it was closer to seven hundred. There is a one-room schoolhouse museum and art gallery that operated as a school until 1969, the local church hosts weekly town picnics for the hikers, the local jazz club is world-renowned and has been operating since the end of WWII. It is a haven for aging hippies, artists, and musicians and it is the closest thing to a perfect town that I can imagine. Just ask Teddy Roosevelt:




(Now the Deer Head Inn)

Have I mentioned that all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all of the children are above average?

Seriously, though, it is pretty good there. I like to tell the story of when Krysta and I watched the (volunteer) firefighters help a cat out of a tree. It's always reminded me a bit of Pleasantville, without all the negative connotations. I mean really. What other town would dispatch the fire department to help a feline in a precarious position?



GOOD MORNING PINE STREET! A neighbor's cat escaped out the window to the roof, somehow, and both animal control and the fire department helped kitty get home safely.

Philadelphia, I am really glad that you did this today. Firefighters, I hope you still have a job at the end of the year. You too, librarians.

Max came home from work yesterday and said he'd spoken to a woman who has lived in Philadelphia for a few decades.

"This has happened before," she told him. "The last time there was a budget debacle the city didn't maintain Rittenhouse Square for a year. It was really overgrown, people stopped going there. It was one of the best things that ever happened to Center City. It was this beautiful wilderness. It became more like a neighborhood, and less like Center City.

"But the problem when a library closes is that another library doesn't open up in its place."