This Week in Its Briefs - Cottony White

1. The terrifying yet also perversely and profoundly boring tax season has ended again. I never fail to feel the sickening lurch in my gut when I realize we owe taxes. We owe taxes every year no matter what, so a logical mind might anticipate and prepare for what sensibly seems to be an ironclad eventuality, yet it catches me by grim surprise every year. I don't know - perhaps in my deepest fantasies I'll wake up and one year we won't have to pay. Laugh along with me, mes freres.

2. In Cupcake News: The Cupcake has, as I wrote earlier, announced his semi-retirement with a new title, that of Chairman Emeritus. From what I can see, Chairman Emeritus shoes resemble nothing quite so much as cushy pink bunny slippers, as he's embarked on an intense travel schedule interspersed with working on his other business ventures and steering wheelbarrows full of cash to the bank.

He's much happier now and subsequently lots more fun to work for - the tarnished lining in this particular cloud is that he still needs staff (like me) to run his life, and I'm sure the remaining active business partners at the agency will at one point, probably soon, become fed up with the time I spend doing his work and somehow find a way to pull the plug. At which point I think I ought to negotiate my own tiny cash wheelbarrow...

3. It's Wedding Season - this weekend a work colleague will tie the knot for the second time (at the age of 54 - gulp!), next month the son of a dear friend will sensibly and I’m positive beautifully wed exactly the right woman for him, and this summer we have the wedding of a favorite of Mr. Fresh Hell's many nieces.

I love weddings in a completely unabashed uncynical way. The sense of romantic promise in the air lingers as sweet and fragrant as the flower bouquets – it doesn’t matter if the couple is young and untried, or older and starting over again – summoning the immense courage to stand up in front of family, friends, (and often one’s God) and promising to honor and cherish another person until death sunders you is an icy plunge into a depthless well of faith.

4. I am a crafty person, in that I enjoy handcrafts. My real love is knitting, which has always afforded me endless delight. It's always amazing to me that with two pointy sticks and a pile of yarn I can create a useful and attractive garment. In keeping with my general impatience, I always have at least three or four projects on needles at the same time, so I don't tire of any of them.

Slow week here at the Briefs, but hopefully more to come later, so I remain, as usual.