02 January 2004 - 7:48 p.m.

At yesterday's service for little Elijah, after the family's reflections, the music director played Joanne Hamill's "Dreams of Harmony" over the sound system - a beautiful, layered lullaby, with the word "goodnight" sung in different languages. And the postlude was "All Through the Night."

I'm still addressing cards. It is, after all, only the ninth day of Christmas.

My laptop is out of order. I was planning to spend less time online in 2004 anyhow, but nevertheless, it's vexing. If I haven't responded to your email by Purim, you might consider resending. If my note contains scrambled gibberish (as opposed to the usual random nonsense), let me know and I'll resend the garbled section from another machine (I'm using my old iMac for the nonce, and it has gremlins in the modem).

On the bright side, I just received word that my poem in KidVisions, "The Granddaughter's Song," has been nominated for a James Award (best poem published by Sam's Dot in 2003). A pleasant, unexpected start to the writing year.

That, and mulling over what might become a new story while walking outside yesterday. The weather was so mild - more like a day in early fall than bitter winter. And then I got home and poured myself a glass of wine and watched the end of the Purdue-Georgia game and the start of the Michigan-USC game (sigh).