This week, the commedia della Peg has included rancid croutons, clogged drains, and work-that-needs-to-get-done defying doneness. But you're expecting the measures of pleasures, yes? Alors:

* Pomegranate yogurt ("Greek Gods" brand)

* Georg Forster and Caspar Othmayr's setting of "Vom himmel hoch, da komm ich her" ("From heaven on high I come to you")

* Incredibly cute eggplants from the co-op

* Fresh basil

* Starting a handful of hay(na)ku chains. (If you want to play, drop me a note.)

* Getting to bed before midnight every night this week (except this one)

* Ursula Nordstrom's tribute to May Massee (both of them children's book editors): "One of the things I liked about her was that she did beautiful books but she also knew right down to the last decimal point exactly how much the binding costs would be per unit."

* Looking at Hertha Pauli's America's First Christmas (1962) and The First Easter Rabbit (1961). It's totally understandable why they're out of print, and I suspect they'll be deaccessioned soon (the copy of Rabbit has a tiny "Last Copy" slip tucked into the date-card pocket, and it had been in storage when I requested it); the irony is, I wouldn't have liked these books as a kid, but the illustrations now evoke a faux nostalgia that's rather pleasant to indulge in for a few minutes... (Also, it turns out Christmas was illustrated by Fritz Kredel...)


Today's subject line was plucked from a Howard Nemerov quote:
"When in still air and still in summertime
A leaf has had enough of this, it seems
To make up its mind to go..."