What a book! What a man! What a president!

I finished Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris in the wee small hours with deep regret. Not only is the book a quite astonishingly fine literary achievement, but President Theodore Roosevelt, a complex mixture of intellect, humanity and passions is a pleasure to read about. Hard not to contrast him with the present incumbent; but depressing. And by the way, President Theodore Roosevelt was a Republican.

The best movie portrait of Theodore that I know of is in one my all time favorite movies, The Wind & The Lion.

The promised snow arrived on schedule. I remain impressed with the relative accuracy of weather forecasts in the U.S. In Ireland, where we emigrated from in 2001, they tended to cover all the bases so you were never quite sure whether to put on your snow shoes or your bikini (so to speak).

The house has been transformed during the night into Christmas mode. My daughter, Evie, is a genius at such things down to, and including, hanging Snoopy Christmas stocking on each of our doors. Exciting stuff.

My task of the day is to wrestle with The Blood of Generations and the issue is how to inter-cut the past with the present in a fashion that retains pace and flow.