von has just zipped by dropping off a huge box of hangers (a person can never have too many hangers) and assorted things he wishes to be rid of and that he thought i might want. among these odds and ends that i have inherited from von, there is a compass. why he think i would want a compass i do not know. i have put it in a drawer, and may use it as a prop in declaring "i'm not in cambridge anymore" one day. also, the brown blanket which i've often used when staying over on his couch is now mine. in addition to the black bookends in the sink (as soon as i put the box down on the kitchen counter, all the metal bookends fell into the sink.) there is one white one shaped like a palm, the fleshly not the botanical, and some beige file dividers. then a kettle which i scoff at, it being inferior to the two other kettles in this household. the famed glass teapot, two gong dao bei (fairness cups) and four teacups. (i think they're really milk and sugar containers, but we used them as fairness cups.) then two brown glass jars, of the sort you might use to keep hydrogen peroxide in to prevent decomposition. one of them had tea leaves in. the other was empty. as i can't tell what he meant me to have it for i have filled it with water and put a peony in it.