Miss E---, a friend-not-playing-this-game, had written, telling me she was returning the book she'd borrowed during a summer camping trip and that I should expect mail.

I was delightedly surprised when I found a large box on my doorstep,




containing much paper
my book

and many other wonderful things:


including




... a box of absinthe mints.


<)~ Oh joy, oh delight!~(>

I adore these mints, but they are unavailable in my area and therefore unobtainable by usual means. (They are in most areas, I suspect. Miss E--- had found them during her travels, in one of the goblin markets she has the knack of finding.) I had first tasted them during a visit to Saille this winter. She had been given a box of them by Miss E---, to whom we were speaking on the telephone while I blissfully sampled a pastille, and Miss E--- had obviously remembered my positive reaction.

The happiness I experienced upon the return of my book, and all of the thoughtful and delightful gifts packed in with it, were doubled and redoubled appreciating them through the sweet, verdant, complex taste of la fée verte.

(photograph courtesy of Mas. Miniscule Minion)

Which just goes to show that

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder.

This is a view of my everyday life.

~,~'~(>