Dear Ella, It is Mardi Gras today, and I am thinking of you and the masks and costumes you always manage to produce around this time of year. Did you celebrate today? I suppose you must have done so. There was almost nothing to mark the occasion here in Philadelphia, much to my disappointment. I had been looking forward to the distraction of a grand spectacle, and was surprised to find that our wondrous exhibitions appear to be confined largely to Louisiana. I know that you have always expressed a certain wanderlust, but I find myself missing the city of my birth as I sit here in the a chilly room. Did you know that ink can freeze? I cannot say that I was pleased to discover this for myself, though I will confess that the snow almost makes up for the cold. If only snow would appear in the heat of summer it would be perfect.

Celeste