Come Darkness, Come Light (Mary Chapin Carpenter)

My horoscope for yesterday:

Bureaucracy and paperwork are your worst enemies today, but that doesn't mean you should avoid them! Just try to make sure you don't get stuck within the system for long -- or you might crack.

and today's:

It's hard to figure out what to do next -- there are so many options to choose from! Try not to worry about it too much, because things should be a lot clearer for you in a few more days.

I'm thinking that three plumbing posts are already two too many... but figured I'd give an update before I moved on - Al did indeed show up yesterday morning... and, after taking out the toilet in the master bathroom, jackhammered exactly where the Leak Detector Guy said the leak was... and... nothing. Al now thinks the leak is a bit to the right... which would mean under the vanity, requiring more demolition... but he really can't do anything until the LDG comes back out to re-survey - I of course called the LDG (Kenny) to see if that could be yesterday afternoon.

Heard back from him a few hours later that he was at his father's funeral (you just can't make this sh*t up) - after sincerely telling him he was in my thoughts and prayers, I gave it up for the weekend, knowing we will resume Monday morning. Yes, I have metaphorically passed the plumbing problem baton on to my was-on-a-business-trip-last-week-to-Mexico husband - he got home late last night, saw the sheer exhaustion and frustration in my face and body language (even after I'd soaked in the jacuzzi last night)... and suggested we check into a hotel for the weekend. Loved the idea... but, of course with all this going on, my immune system seems to be down and I've caught a cold... so it felt like a waste of money - I made it clear I'd love to take a raincheck... :-)

However, I had a few obligations on the calendar that I have since erased, making it an event-free weekend (take a picture!) - I do not plan to go anywhere for 48 hours. When the going gets tough, the tough make soup... a sh*tpot, as we call it in the South (me having grown up and lived in the Atlanta area, until I moved to South Florida 16 years ago) - I spent the last few hours in my kitchen, chopping up all varieties of my food co-op organic vegetables for inclusion in a chicken broth stock: green beans, carrots, zucchini, corn off the cob, onions... and adding brown rice and sauteed chicken and the right amount/type of spices. I am sitting here at the keyboard with a steaming cup, stopping every few sentences to take a spoonful, inhale the aroma and appreciate the fresh taste, feeling my sinuses open and my cold symptoms dissipate - I already feel better... but I'm still not leaving the house!

Of course, the first item on the Soup-Making To Do List is which CD to put on to accompany - I bought Mary Chapin Carpenter's new holiday CD, Come Darkness, Come Light a few weeks ago on the September 30 release date and have listened to it in my car quite a few times. It's absolutely stunning, very mellow and instrospective, a good balance of originals and not, but even the covers are obscure - this recording may end up tied with The Roches' We Three Kings as my favorite for the season.

More from MCC's website here (make sure you click Next to read all 4 pages)...

SONG(S): Come Darkness, Come Light by Mary Chapin Carpenter (lyrics as yet unavailable, but song samples can be heard here)...

Times Three by Christine Kane (for Catherine: I watched back-to-back-to-back episodes of What Not to Wear last night - does that count?... :-)

BOOK: Peace Soup : The Recipe for a Peaceful Life in the New Millennium by Chef Jerry Bartholow

POEM: The Way In by Linda Hogan

Sometimes the way to milk and honey is through the body.
Sometimes the way in is a song.
But there are three ways in the world: dangerous, wounding,
and beauty.
To enter stone, be water.
To rise through hard earth, be plant
desiring sunlight, believing in water.
To enter fire, be dry.
To enter life, be food.

QUOTE: "Soup and fish explain half the emotions of human life." ~ Sydney Smith