Twenty-third

We started the day off right at Tandem with the boy. Otherwise it was largely a cleaning/scraping paint off things/sanding bathroom walls/vacuuming/school project type of day. I did visit the library and pick up three books, despite the fact that I'm only halfway through the New Yorker pile I swore to vanquish first. And Christian, Isaac, and Gus played some basketball.

Fifteenth

Losing steam here, mid-way through. I've been patting myself on the back, metaphorically, for my perseverance, both here and over here, but there's something about the ides of November that slows a person down. That and the utter darkness at 4:30, that's just hard to adjust to. It is 6:30 as I write this, and I am ready for pajamas and a book. Actually, I am enforcing the reading of all the New Yorkers I've got piled up before I allow myself to go back to the library. Which is nice because it's also bath season, and it's easier to read magazines in the bath than library books. Uhhhhh, I am an 80 year old lady now!!!!

Sleepytime.

Idée fixe

The period of mourning was not quite decently long enough before I started feverishly scouting Petfinder and other online dog porn. In fact, the depth and severity of my mourning for my best friend intensified my desire for a new dog--not in six months, not in a year, but now. I've found myself at loose ends, partly because work is light right now, partly because I just didn't feel like doing things I should be doing. To tell you the truth, I felt like climbing back in bed every day, although that made me sad too because the only things Minnow loved more than a good nap were a romp on the beach or something delicious to eat.* If only I had a dog who needed to be walked! So, as it turns out, sometimes you start looking for a puppy and before you know it, you have paid the fee for a rescue puppy and he is scheduled to be delivered to your general geographical area in two weeks.

These two things happened on the same day: I made a commitment to give this puppy a home, and I picked up Minnow's ashes from the vet. Which I handled with calm aplomb until I got to my car with the earthly remains of my friend.

But this new guy, this rescued pup! His name as of now is Augustus, but we're taking suggestions and will cast some kind of family vote once we've met him. He is about five months old, probably mostly Golden Retriever. He will be delivered to Connecticut on October sixth. I am so excited to meet him.

Plus:

I am seventy-seven percent sure I saw a heron in the Fore River as I flew past in my car en route to Target to buy boring paper products yesterday. It was a crazy long long necked seabird for sure. (The Dancer has a knack for naming such birds with great authority when we are walking around the Back Cove. I will see a funny bird and say, "Ooooh, what kind of bird is that?" And she will say, "Oh, that's a long-legged bluebilled tree hugger," or whatever.)

Today I walked to the library, bought myself a coffee at Speckled Ax, walked home. It was a beautiful day with a sky all October-colored.



*See? Soul mates. Although I don't have a taste for snotty tissues, his favorite.

ten

minnow is worried. this pile of library books is not getting any smaller, partly because i mostly checked out 800-page novels, and partly because i apparently requested even more books than i originally thought, and as soon as i finish one, i get a notice that two more are ready at the library. and i keep picking them up and adding them to the pile.

back when wildflowers would come right up to your hand as if they were tame

apparently, while in some kind of fugue state, i requested a ridiculous number of books from the library (twelve? fifteen? something like that). now i've got a pile beside my bed as tall as a toddler and a reality show inside my head in which i have to read each and every one before they're due back at the 'brary. most challenging will be 2666, which i'm reading with my tiny book group, and which is 900 pages long, and which i've already renewed twice.

this morning i watched a bunch of little kids watching a worker who was standing in a deep hole wielding a shovel. i love how fascinating that kind of thing is to kids. i miss reading you can name 100 trucks!, even.

i love this dog, even though he barfed very quietly on a pile of my clothes the other night.

(above, his tiny serving of kefir, intended to stop the horrible gurgling sounds emanating from his stomach. it worked!) 

today is picture day at the learning shack. i think i've finally shaken off the parental guilt that comes with not buying the resulting photos. i used to order the very cheapest package every year, even though nine times out of ten the picture is just bad, one way or another (an awkward pose, a defiant refusal to "show some teeth" resulting in a weird grimace. etcetera).

i made my mom laugh recently by referring to the white satin-uniformed women in a feminine hygiene commercial during project runway as "menstrual scientists."

i moved some plants around and drew pictures so next year i (maybe) won't make the mistake of pulling up perennials and allowing weeds to flourish, fooled into thinking they're legitimate.

 























we have such nice dirt in our yard. it was pretty great to dig in it all weekend. also, i finally turned the compost!



October, by Don Thompson

I used to think the land
had something to say to us,
back when wildflowers
would come right up to your hand
as if they were tame.

Sooner or later, I thought,
the wind would begin to make sense
if I listened hard
and took notes religiously.
That was spring.

Now I’m not so sure:
the cloudless sky has a flat affect
and the fields plowed down after harvest
seem so expressionless,
keeping their own counsel.

This afternoon, nut tree leaves
blow across them
as if autumn had written us a long letter,
changed its mind,
and tore it into little scraps.

beautiful soup

kale and white vegetable soup with warm gluten-free rolls at kamasouptra the other day. a trip to the library + a bowl of soup (which falls nicely into my only-if-it's-under-five-dollars rule for eating out) = what a lovely day with my girl.

below, my favorite library find yet, from old portland town by herbert g. jones. "evidently (trollope) had an eye for our ladies, as he said they were very comely and sturdy, apparently well able to take care of themselves." amen!

my girl

is still job hunting (i don't think i ever told you the story of the job she had and immediately lost through no fault of her own). she's applied just about everywhere in this town, and i'm positive she'll soon land one.

we walked downtown together a couple of times this week, despite the heat. this barbershop will always make me laugh now, because of this.





















the library = hours of free, air conditioned entertainment.





















this book made me think of young billy joe isaac:






















seriously, books are funny.





















my girl is a little blue because max is leaving in one week for his farming adventure in spain. he'll be gone several months, and then in january the two of them will head off to india for their joint adventure. it's going to be very strange around here without him.

various things that happened on friday

at some point, there were zombie hunters in my kitchen.























zoë, mark and i went to the library, where she got some books about learning hindi, complete with helpful travel phrases.



















i was going to get this book for minnow, but then i saw it was for people.























the main event at the library was isaac's eighth grade culminating event, based on the four freedoms*. this is his gorgeous collage, illustrating "freedom from want," focusing specifically on access to education.























*which was the theme of the poster stolen from isaac's social studies classroom by the knox county republicans last month, remember?

the sort-of new library

one of the best things about the refurbished library is that it feels like a completely different place. there was a moment, after wandering the unrecognizable first floor, that i thought, "now, wait - how do i get back to the front entrance?" which is, weirdly, saying a lot.

















maybe the most impressive area is the children's space, which is flooded with natural light and also has adorable light fixtures of various kinds (i like these, above, bird-like). there's also a pretty nice "teen" area with separate computers and study rooms and these seats, below, reserved for ages 12-19. i wondered, walking around, if the staff has had time yet to get all the books back in the main library stacks. i hope not, because there are many empty shelves and face-outs (i particularly noticed this in the teen section).

















then there are places where, clearly, the money ran out. or i suppose some of these things could be still in progress, but it certainly feels like where the new carpet ends and the old (hideous, orange) carpet begins, there should be a sign saying, "PHASE TWO." sadly, phase two is dependent on lots more money, so i'm guessing it'll happen around when my grandchildren are born. below, downstairs. feels like the old library, but roomier.
























there was going to be a cafe, but i suppose that's phase two also. for now, coffee-dispensing machines.

















the auditorium is bigger and accessible from the street, so the library doesn't have to be open when events take place there. i love the font on the blond wood here. pretty.

















i almost forgot my favorite thing, these little cozy reading areas throughout the kids' area. they make me wish i were eight years old, curled beside the window with a stack of books. each one is different, but they all have this wonderful secret-fort kind of feel. and the pillows look comfy but washable.
























well, and my favorite favorite thing was how happy the librarians seem to be with this new set up. i heard lots of references to the environment being less tense and people having the chance to spread out and to rotate between areas of the library (which is good news for those who might otherwise get stuck downstairs with the orange carpet, magazines, and sleeping homeless people, in my opinion). i had the loveliest conversation with one of the usually crankiest of the cranky librarians. she was practically beaming.