Yet More Alexander McCall Smith

Santa was good to the readers spread about under Dilys' roof, and several more adventures of Mma Precious Ramotswe ("The Miss Marple of Botswana" according to the NYTImes) materialized.

In Tears of the Giraffe, it is explained how Mma acquired a fiance, Mr. J.L.T Matekoni of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors; and how that fiance acquired overnight two orphan children to raise, and how those children came to Mma's house on Zebra Drive.  Mma escapes from the crosshairs of a wild and evil woman, and brings comfort to the heart of an American mother.  Simple, compelling, humanly true, and full of sly and forgiving exposition of folly and generous schemes.  What a wonderful series.  May Professor McCall Smith live and write for many decades.

In this passage, it is the end of the year.

Several quiet days ensued....Mma Ramotswe wrote letters to old friends and prepared accounts for the impending end of the financial year. She had not made a lot of money, but she had not made a loss, and she had been happy and entertained. That counted for infinitely more than a vigorously healthy balance sheet. In fact, she thought, annual accounts should include an item specifically headed Happiness, alongside expenses and receipts and the like. That figure in her accounts would be a very large one, she thought.

When we do the sums at the end of this new A.D. 2005, may happiness outweigh our sorrows, and receipts exceed expenses.

A Good&Happy New Year to all! (And may we all have friends as generous as the one at Random Jottings who  provided HTML for drop caps.)