Decided to go outside despite my sniffles and set off for downtown, steering via the library to return some books, thus forcing me to go into Doubletake on the way. And there … well, you know I am a shallow person, so I hope you won’t mind a muffled scream. Occasionally, in my secondhand adventures, something extremely desirable comes along; yesterday, hanging upon the handbag rack, was a Coach bag. A geniune Coach handbag in all its thick beautifully crafted leather glory, in perfect condition, all zippers working, nothing ripped or stained – who, who, who gave this bag worth hundreds of dollars away? Perhaps the colour is not in fashion; it’s beigey-white, not the exciting colour of today’s vivid bags, but still gorgeous.

It cost $7.

I was happy.

I transferred everything to my new bag and rode on – I’d been waiting for a cloudy day to go and see Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.” I expected to love it, and I did – it’s a confection, delicious. Of course, it features Paris in the most glorious light – the characters are often ALONE as they wander – you are never alone in Paris! There’s some clumsy writing that I’m surprised was left in, characters informing each other of things they’d obviously know but we the audience don’t, the problem of exposition that we talk about in writing class, carelessly effected by Mr. Allen. It’s too bad the glorious Rachel McAdams has to play such a cliché, without a redeeming feature except incredible beauty, and the ending is soppy and predictable. But he has so much fun with his Republican characters, so much fun with Hemingway and Zelda and Gertrude Stein – oh, it’s a joy.

Occasionally, as I watched, I patted my new handbag, to make sure she was still there. And then – more consumption. Yes, much as I’d like to leave this out, I am going to tell you the truth – as I left the movie theatre, I saw a sale at Ron White Shoes and could not help going in to look at his big foot section. In fact, I recognized Mr. White, shook his hand and thanked him for being a friend to the big-footed woman. And yes, there was a pair of wonderful comfortable yet elegant teacherly shoes, 70% off, fitted me perfectly. 70% off. Fitted me perfectly. Bore them away in the new handbag.

Then to yoga class at the Y, a wonderful class. Home stretched and serene to the quiet house – my son is away for the weekend and the upstairs tenant has gone back to Berlin, so for the first time in a year I have my house to myself – and to have a long chat with my mother, who was lively and cheerful and told me lots of stories. Another great gift.

And then I put on my new shoes and worked all evening, in the quiet. The greatest gift of all.