Saturday, May 13, 2006

today's my birthday.

it's no big hullaballoo. if anything it's just a reminder that another year has passed you by.

my presents so far: a lovely pot of flowers, a bottle of champagne shared with my always thoughtful husband, a card from my in-laws, and a $25 iTunes gift card, which i immediately used to purchase music of questionable taste.
* * *
i broke two of my champagne flutes this afternoon. it was a truly boneheaded move. i had just washed them and put them on the dish drainer to dry. a fly started buzzing around my head, which prodded me to grab the fly swatter. the glasses being in the precarious position they were, i thought of nothing but killing that flying little bastard, and thus with one flail of the arm the flutes went crashing into the sink. i've had those flutes since college. i'm not devastated as much as i am disappointed.

some would consider this bad luck. i look at it as an opportunity to get new ones. or as they say, mazel tov!
my homage to Elliot Erwitt

We have a three-day weekend. We're driving up to the see the in-laws this afternoon, which will be nice. I love my in-laws...I should consider myself lucky after hearing most people's horror stories about their own.

It'll be a short work week for me: two days of actual work, two days employer-paid workshop with free lunch. Bad thing: it starts at 8:30 a.m. I'm usually in my stage four sleep at that time. Why does everything have to be so early?

The cat is restless. I came out into the living room this morning to find him standing on top of the woodstove. I think there's a mouse in there. I've been hearing noises coming from inside the stove and just heard a squeak.

Friday, May 12, 2006


This is one of my favorite photos. It was taken in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. There were so many birds...not just pigeons, but sparrows as well. The hedge in the photo was alive with sparrows. The birds were so tame the would literally eat from your hand.

I didn't feed the birds but was fascinated just watching. At one point my flash accidentally went off, startling the person but not the bird. I made sure to turn off the flash afterward.

I love birds. I love that they seem so fragile, but that their fragility belies their strength.
This is where my thoughts lie lately.

I haven't shot a decent photo in months. Life has been stagnant for just as long, with the exception of this last weekend where I actually had a somewhat social life: going to a foreign film in an arthouse theater, spending time with two different friends in two different cafes which were right across the street from each other. It was exhilarating, different, almost like being on vacation. But this time I didn't even need to leave town. The depressing thing about it is that you eventually go home, to the reality of a house that could have used a little dusting, a little attention -- a somewhat difficult task when you don't have the energy or motivation. It makes weekends all that much shorter.

So my thoughts wander to places other than where I am. I will probably be posting photos from vacation as a way of reminding me of a more carefree time. Or it might just make me feel worse because we can't be there.

Summer is officially here. Tonight we sleep with the fan on.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

sometimes getting through the day means having to do things in small batches.

the days for basking have arrived. soon we will be sweaty and cursing the hounds and cars and lawn blowers that invade our sanity, and the heat at night will not let us sleep.

[wow, has it been five years since i posted on here?]