Written November 23, 4:00 AM

Hi Mom,

Yesterday I finally went to the laundromat, for first time for quite a while, because of not having a car.

I also went to Michaels (a craft and hobby and home decor chain) to get some picture frames for the two fishing photos which Dale Sr. has been wanting to put on the wall in his garage over on 5th. Ave.

I also took three or four other photos and/or drawings with me, which I wanted to get frames for.

I got all the frames picked out, only to get up to the cash register and realize that the "wood" frames I'd picked out were actually plastic.

For some reason this infuriated me. I went back to the picture frame area, and it took quite a while to first find where I'd gotten the first frames and put them back, and then search for the  few which were actually made of wood. By the time I got back to the cash registers the lines were quite long. 

Here's one of the fishing photos, framed:

The entire huge store was so crammed with holiday decorations and ornaments that it was enough to put one off the idea of Christmas all together! (Actually, I'm as bad as anyone at getting sentimental over holiday stuff, but when it's all in your way as you're trying to get through a crowded store, it takes away some of the magic.)

A young Hispanic woman was buying a huge sheaf of golden branches and some gold ornaments, with her little daughter. I told her how pretty they were and her eyes shone.

"Yes, aren't they! Our tree has always been just red and white, but I just wanted to add a little something different this year," she said.

I barely had time to get up to Laure's house by the time she and I had arranged.

She really liked the gifts I brought her.  The tiny opal dragonfly pendant I got her for her birthday, and the Frida Kahlo card, and the art nouveau magnets I brought back from Brussels for her.

It was nice to be able to cheer her up, because is having a difficult time. She is still teaching full-time, and on top of that, each day, is also driving all the way into Phoenix to do hours of interning as a counselor, plus extra hours of internship on Saturdays. 
She said she has dozed off at work, which can get one in huge trouble of course. It worries me because her daily schedule includes an hour and a half or so of freeway driving!

She loves the counseling she does during the interning hours, and is convinced that she is making the right career change for her, in spite of all of the difficulty.

I didn't say so, but her obesity must add tremendously to how tired she gets from such a punishing schedule. And she hasn't lightened up on her social life either; she was fitting me in between finishing a long homework assignment and going to a gathering of her pagan group.

She really liked the idea of the "business cards" I had ordered, she got hers through Vistaprint also. She hadn't seen the drawing I did for the home page of my personal website, the one which is like a mandala with sketches representing all of my different interests fanning out from the center. I brought up the website and showed it to her. She got very excited about the drawing, and the whole idea of the personal non-business website, which of course made me feel good.

Here's a photo of the sunrise this morning:

Love,
Lennie