Another cosmic event has just taken place about a minute ago as I write, at 2:48 AM EST. That was perihelion, the moment when the Earth is closest to the sun. As it's the depth of winter here, it has minimal effect on us in the northern hemisphere, but it's undoubtedly contributing to the horrendous heat that is aggravating the wildfires in Australia. Up here we will get aphelion, the moment when Earth is most distant from the sun, on July 4th. The difference in distance between sun and Earth during the two events is over three million miles.
This afternoon I checked the Goodwill store for books, and was both surprised and delighted to find a copy of Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust. These are both books I lost copies of in the fire, and both are significant landmarks of American literature, so I'm very glad to have them again. West only managed to write four novels before he was killed in an automobile crash in 1940, at the age of 37. His wife, the former Eileen McKenney, also died. She was probably better known than he was, as his novels, though critically acclaimed, did not achieve great popular success, while Mrs. West was the central character of her sister Ruth McKenney's very popular book My Sister Eileen, which had been adapted into a much-anticipated Broadway play which was set to open four days after the crash.
The book had a blue tag, which means I got it for half the usual price, so I splurged on another book, Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown's Claws and Effect a Mrs. Murphy mystery. Sneaky Pie is Ms. Brown's cat, and Mrs.Murphy is a feline detective. I've never read anything from this series before, so I don't know if I'll like it or not, but I do like both cats and mysteries, so it could be okay.
After that I went to CVS for a six pack of beer, and impulsively bought a bottle of brandy they had on sale. I still have a piece of apple pie to heat up, and as the rum sauce I've been making for it is merely adequate, I wanted to try making a brandy sauce. The brandy itself (Christian Brothers) is a bit harsh, but I think the cooking should take care of that. Of course it's a big bottle of brandy, so I'll need to buy more pies so I can use it up. I don't fancy drinking a cheap brandy straight, and I'd have no idea what to mix it with. I'm going to need a whole lot of pies.
Sunday Verse
My Favorite Poets
by Adam Zagajewski
My favorite poets
never met
They lived in different countries
and different ages
surrounded by ordinariness
by good people and bad
they lived modestly
like an apple in an orchard
They loved clouds
they lifted their heads
a great armada
of light and shade
sailed above them
a film was playing
that still hasn’t ended
Moments of bitterness
passed swiftly
likewise moments of joy
Sometimes they knew
what the world was
and wrote hard words
on soft paper
Sometimes they knew nothing
and were like children
on a school playground
when the first drop
of warm rain
descends