Sunday January 5, 2025: A Small Moment of Delight

More sparkles for winter!

Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully, including my struggles to maintain a balanced life, what I listen to, read, and watch for entertainment, and occasional bits of information I’ve gleaned from doing the research for my novels.

In addition, now and again I will provide some of my fiction to read, for free, on this newsletter. Everything is available to anyone who subscribes, but I am always pleased when someone shows their appreciation for the newsletter by upgrading to paid.

Daily Diary, Day 1586:

Since I did a 2024 TaDa! post on Wednesday, I thought I would do a Small Moment of Delight post today. I was tempted to repeat my last post, where the delight came from the Christmas Cactus in my kitchen because the blooms just keep coming (here is most recent photos—one from last night which captures the sunset, one early this morning.)

However, I decided instead to share another object that gives me a little sparkle during these dark evenings. In November, I posted about the delight that I was getting by turning on a small lighted tree on the shelf in living room every evening. We sit in the den to watch TV, but this leaves the living room very dark and gloomy as soon as the sun goes down.

But for Christmas, a dear friend (who felt bad because I couldn’t eat any of the holiday cookies she brought my husband) gave me this lovely and quaint Victorian house with a small light inside to help banish the gloom. Here are photos of it in the daylight, and then with the lighted tree.

Every evening when I enter the room, I experience a small moment of delight.

What brings you particular joy in the long winter months?

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