Last night Delycia and I attended our book discussion group's meeting, and, as usual, we thoroughly enjoyed it. The discussion brought to a conclusion our reading and study of Dickens' "Great Expectations", which we started back in November. (The group never rushes the reading.  We like to read slowly and dig deeply.) Last night we talked about the various themes in the novel, about symbolism, about whether the plot was plausible, about whether the book could be called "beautiful" and a work of art, and about how it compares to "War and Peace", "100 Years of Solitude", and "Middlemarch", a few of the other books we've read.  (By the way, the group is called CLAM, which stands for Classic Literature At Mystic. We try to focus mostly on "classic" works of fiction. We meet every other Monday at the Mystic Noank Library at 7:00 pm. Come join us!) 

Today, we took an invigorating 2-hour hike in East Lyme at the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve, a beautiful place of ledge and boulders and moss and towering trees.  It was cold, but we were bundled for warm walking. I especially enjoyed the wintry monotone of colors -- the countless shades of grays and tans among stones and trees. In a way, the "emptiness" of the winter woods -- the lack of green leaves and blossoms -- made the stripped forest seem extra beautiful.