6

A Ghost Story

Who'd guess that a ghost
(just a bed sheet with eyeholes)
could be so poignant?

27

Reporting live from Chicago, where I'm visiting Zoë with Mom and Dad, my trusty road trip companions. We have eaten and coffeed well, and seen some Chicago sites, finally met Z's sweet petit ami, and I've gotten to spend time watching BoJack Horseman with my girl, which I've been meaning to watch ever since I saw this great talk by Lisa Hanawalt. It is so good to be here with her.

Because it is such nice landscaping.

33

Our new vacuum cleaner is spectacular at sucking dirt out of rugs (I was delighted and horrified the first time I used it on the living room rug, immediately after vacuuming the rug with our old vacuum, to see SO much dirt sucked up into its dirt compartment. Also, no bag, so you can see the hair and dirt that was on the floor a second ago). It's got this weird attachment for wood floors that I'm less enamoured of, though. It's awkward. It moves like... Well, like Elmo's head moves when he dances (See above).

Long story short, the new one's better on rugs, but the old one's better on wood floors. I think we need a third one for getting dog hair off the couches.

34

Walking on the beach this morning, I coveted certain shingled, modest cottages (million dollar cottages, right on the beach, but otherwise modest). Just imagine waking up every morning and smelling the ocean, hearing the waves. Walking the dogs on the beach right out the back door...in my pajamas!

But every so often there's a newer, bigger, seriously ticky tacky house. Sometimes sort of castle-esque. Kind of a beachside McMansion type house. Which makes me wonder if the people ever stand on the beach, looking at the contrast of their house and the others, and think, "Does this house make me look like an asshole?"

Tomato? Hmm. Actually, do you have any other flavors of ketchup?

38

It's a good day for cover songs. Here is my compulsive collection of covers. Give them a listen, you'll surely like some of them!

Hey, Theo caught and murdered his first mouse last night. He left it as a gift for us in our bedroom. Thankfully, Mark found it first.* Theo proceeded to saunter and strut around all day being proud of himself. He spent hours lying on my arm while my hand was trying to type stuff on the laptop. Purring and smiling.

I keep this on my phone so I can use it for a WOOHOO emoji.

In other animal news, Clover is increasingly scared of fireworks and thunder and breezes blowing window shades unpredictably and so on. We bought some Rescue Remedy for her today and slipped it into her chicken broth appetizer.

Animals seen/witnessed in the last few weeks: turkeys, the usual seabirds, two osprey parents, the usual songbirds, grackles, foxes, skunks, a whistle pig,** the usual dogs and cats, a dead mouse, squirrels and chipmunks, black and white cows.






*Mark historically deals better with dead animals than I do. If I'm being totally honest, he was also better with vomiting children. Speaking of which, you know what I can't handle lately? Gratuitous vomiting on telervision shows. 

**I've converted Mark from "groundhog" to "whistle pig," and Gus is even learning it! Now when I say it, he perks up, like, "Wa-huh? Where?!"

41

Photo by Thomas Kiefer

A former janitor for Customs and Border Patrol in Arizona collected and photographed the ordinary things left behind by migrants when they were detained or deported.

We walked at Wolfe's Neck this morning in the gray chill. Animal tally:

• Black and white cow outside the fence, half in the road, calmly chewing on weedy grass. All the other cows safely clustered together inside the fence, far from the road.*
• Two osprey, calling, soaring, then perching—one in a branch and the other in the nest. Where are the babies? Are they out of the nest already? 
• Dogs dogs dogs. Foxlike, wolflike, puppetlike.

*We called the farm to report the rogue cow.

42

Not available in Maine :(

In related news: I never did get to try Bulletproof coffee before it seemed to fizzle out of style. I don't know that it ever came to Maine—although that may mean that it's on its way.

Working on blurbs for brass instruments today, and now I've got this song stuck in my head. Maybe it will usurp "You're So Vain," which had been lodged there since the eclipse.*






 *"Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun."

43

Rabbit rabbit, sweetest peas.

44

You should hear these dogs howl when a bunch of fire trucks go by.*

You should see how fast I can hit the mute button when I'm on a conference call and I hear the distant siren of a fire truck.



*Only fire trucks. Not ambulances or police cars. And Clover's howl is more of a weird yodel.

46

The yard was full of grackles this morning, dozens of them. They enjoy the suet bird food, and they took turns with a squirrel that hung upside down from the roof of the old playhouse, devouring the suet cake I put out the other day. Edward Gorey birds, black and shiny with bug-eyes.

Terms of venery:

A plague of grackles.
An annoyance of grackles. 

I guess I was thinking of the Doubtful Guest. I found nothing in my search for "Edward Gorey bird" that looked like a grackle. But this guy has a definite grackle look around the eyeball area.

47

Looks like August, feels like October.

Little kids with glasses.

Three-legged dogs.

48

It feels like almost-fall. Sun and cool breeze and chilly nights, and dogs with extra amounts of energy during the day, who curl up beside us at night.

It might be too soon to say for sure, but I may have found a pair of jeans that doesn't stretch out and leave me with a saggy butt by day two. I will go ahead and recommend them, because I'm feeling optimistic after two hiking-in-the-woods, dog-chasing, bending-to-plant-mums-in-pots days of wear. They are Levi's 712s, FYI.

49

Jeff Tweedy turned 50 yesterday. Happy birthday, Jeff Tweedy!

50 til 50

In fifty days, I will turn 50.

Did you know that sometimes trees are shy?

Today's non-Instagram-fabulous snapshot: Gus lying in the fireplace. I need to repaint that brick, it's so impossibly grubby. You can also see the scratching post at the right, which Theo will actually scratch with as much enthusiasm as he does the couch also pictured here. That couch was new and perfect when we got Theo, and he has in the ensuing five years scratched the hell out of it and ripped the fabric underneath so it dangles down unattractively. Plus, this couch is usually covered in dog hair.