Starling of Trill

The tulips I bought on Tuesday are in the last stage of their beautiful changes. They're so cool because they are very simple and elegant, but all of the phases they go through before they fade are lovely. They start out demurely closed into a perfect bud shape, and upright on their deliciously round, firm, green stems. Slowly, they begin to relax, to open, showing their striped interiors, and assuming poses of delicate grace, like swans or dancers at rest. And now, they are fully extended, stretched out horizontally at an impossible angle, and shouting their colors from their bells of red and gold, like a silent peal of horns. It's a lot of joy for 12 dollars.

We were up too late again for the same reasons. The Sparrowhawk got an invitation for us to come and have dinner tomorrow, from a neighbor who is in his book club. He said yes, and I wasn't comfortable with it at all. We had a discussion about what social distancing actually means. I realized I'm terrified of catching this, or of having anyone I love catch it. I know I'm paranoid, but I also feel that other people aren't taking it seriously enough. I've had episodes of the flu that were very frightening, and if coronavirus is worse than that, it's worth sacrificing any number of social opportunities to fend it off. We are going to have dinner with the neighbors, but we're not going anywhere else.

I slept very late, dreaming pleasantly enough that I was taking care of Seamus Heaney's horses for him while he was on a book tour. 1) I don't know Seamus Heaney and never met him in real life! 2) I don't think he had any horses. But in the dream he had a stable full of very nice horses. I enjoyed spending time with them. Perhaps they were horses of Parnassus, their wings hidden for a time. When I woke up, I didn't do much of anything. I cleaned half the bathroom, and the Sparrowhawk surprised me by Tilexing the tub and shower while I was busy elsewhere. I really appreciated that, because cleaning agents make me cough miserably. We celebrated pi day by thawing out a meat pie we had in the freezer and eating some of it for dinner. It was pretty good if I do say so myself, and full of good things like vegetables as well as chunks of tender meat. The Sparrowhawk had a longing for some oatmeal raisin cookies like the ones you can buy in coffee shops, so I made some with the recipe found in Afternoon Delights. I did something wrong, and they kind of melted out flat, almost like Florentines, and got brown around the edges. However, they were still crunchy and chewy, and oddly addictive, so I guess the wrong thing, whatever it was, was all right.