Scenes From The Weekend

This is me being a show-off while simultaneously revealing (more of) my oddities. We all know I love my dog. I happen to like this photo of the dog on the deck so he gets included here. Next to the dog is a photo of a garden gnome. A few years ago my little brother purchased a ceramic gnome for my dad as well as a set of acrylic paints to personalize this gnome. Surprisingly to all of us, my dad actually did this activity and enjoyed it. So last Christmas I was gifted my own paintable gnome, as seen below. While Simon went to work Friday, I parked myself on the deck and probably spent a total of 10 hours painting this thing. I loved every minute. This task was the perfect blend of creativity, productivity and therapy. I may have grown a little too attached...

It's Here! Stitchfix #6

Stitchfix is an addiction. I've gotten used to the excitement of coming home to a box of surprises and may have to reign it in a bit. I signed up for another shipment in August but the move in September could provide a catalyst for a break...

Haley was my stylist again and did a pretty good job. Actually, I think I've only ever kept tops from fixes and with this go around, I found a dress and necklace! I started with the two blouses -- the Egret Embroidery Tank Top and the Anabelle Lattice Detail Sleeveless Blouse, both by Under Skies. I liked them a lot. The embroidery tank was quite similar to an item from my first fix. Same designer, same issue with the armholes. And while the Annabelle top fit slightly better I knew I would never wear it given that it would require a strapless or racer back bra, and I just can't be bothered (lazy).

Then the shorts. As we may recall, the last time Stitchfix sent me shorts, they also sent me over the edge. Entirely different story with these babies made by Level 99. They fit great, were incredibly comfortable and were a fun pattern. Generally, if I integrate patterns into my clothes, it's usually only with tops so I was excited to see a way that I could spice things up on the lower half. Plus, they were my three favorite colors - black, white and grey. HA. However, they were $78 and you know what, I just don't wear shorts enough to justify that. And when I do, it's generally at the lake where honestly, the fanciest item I put on my body is a v-neck tee shirt. Reluctantly, they went back.

I wasn't holding out much hope for the Nils Swing Dress by Three Dots. Three Dots is a great brand that features super soft comfy material and this dress is stretchy, silky cotton bliss. I put it on, and honestly, it wasn't bad. I was shocked. Somehow, a dress with a seam at the hips wasn't an utter nightmare on my weird torso. Then I started to really like it. Simon did too, so it's a keeper ( please don't say you think it is horrid). Oh! It has pockets!!! Eeee!

The necklace really forced me out of my comfort zone in accessorizing...basically that's the "I have one necklace that I wear with everything zone." But I've been eyeing pieces like this, it was a good deal ($38) and I enjoyed how it looked with the dress. Someone please toss out some ideas on how else to wear this. I've never tried such a bold, chunky piece...help!

So that's the fix. Let's take a moment to acknowledge Merwin, who sat patiently as I hemmed and hawed over these things. Thanks little doggy.

A Poem For A Tuesday

The Last Things I'll Remember
Joyce Sutphen

The partly open hay barn door, white frame around the darkness,
the broken board, small enough for a child
to slip through.

Walking in the cornfields in late July, green tassels overhead,
the slap of flat leaves as we pass, silent
and invisible from any road.

Hollyhocks leaning against the stucco house, peonies heavy
as fruit, dropping their deep heads
on a dog house roof.

Lilac bushes between the lawn and the woods,
a tractor shifting from one gear into
the next, the throttle opened,

the smell of cut hay, rain coming across the river,
the drone of the hammer mill,
milk machines at dawn.

It has been quite the year, I guess, and endings have been a theme. I wasn't ready for that, as if anyone ever could be, but they just seemed out of place, too soon, too wrong for where life is right now. Clearly different than The Last Policeman but this narrator too seems to know that an ending is near. The words, details, sounds and smells of these moments send me right there as she recalls them. I'm not sure, actually, if she is recalling -- creating a survey of these particular memories -- or if she's there, observing the peonies and listening to the sounds of this summer day. Was it she who slipped through the broken board of the barn? Or is that a reflection on the idea of youth, now long gone? She seems to have a familiarity with this place, as though she has seen these details many times, as though each image is comforting and warm and quiet and known. Like all that she has always seen is exactly what she wants to take with her wherever she may go.

Scenes From The Weekend

Gosh, Mondays. Ugh. I should go all glass half full and be grateful for spectacular weekends but these happy times at the lake seem to highlight the misery of the week. So it goes. We made it up Friday night just in time to catch this beautiful sunset then had some fun guests join us Saturday, one of which stole the show with his adorableness (sorry Merwin, your cuteness takes a back seat to this little guy). Clark experienced his first canoe ride, took a walk to Great East Lake, spent hours opening and closing the sliding screen door (cheap entertainment!), and had some good times with Merwin. Great to have you, Downeys!

Book Report - The Last Policeman Series

I hadn't necessarily thought of myself as a lover of mysteries but these books might change my tune. Admittedly, The Last Policeman series by Ben Winters didn't suck me in because of their mysteries, but instead because of the world in which those mysteries take place. Pre-apocalyptic, if you will. "Say what," you might ask. "What is PRE apocalyptic?" You learn early on that a sizeable meteror, asteroid, comet-type monstrosity is headed toward Earth, destined to strike on October 3. As you can imagine, the world becomes increasingly desperate and depraved as the date nears. Each book presents a mystery to be solved by Detective Hank Palace, a rookie cop quickly advancing through the ranks...since the ranks are dropping like flies to face "the end" however they see fit.

Against the backdrop of crumbling systems and humanity, these stories are really my cup of tea. It's a nice juxtaposition for those who aren't apocalyptic obsessed too...light on the morbid, depressing details of doom as the plot focuses more on Hank solving the cases. The third book, in particular, is somehow very lovely, with snippets of writing worthy of a dog-ear:

It's not just a person's present that dies when they die...It's the past too, all the memories that belonged to only them, the things they thought and never said. And all those possible futures, all the ways that life might have turned out.

The third was a bit more introspective than the others; we spend a lot of time alone with Hank as he looks for his missing sister in the week before the collision. He recalls different moments of loss in his life as if he's using the asteroid as a way to unpack things he had left stuffed in a corner. While the ending itself was pretty perfect, I really, really didn't want to be finished reading these. I own the entire series if you want to borrow. Is anyone else still reading actual books or has everyone moved on to e-readers? Anyway, read these. They are great. And who knows, now maybe I'll FINALLY shift from dystopian depression to crime novels. Yay?

Memory

It must've been over a year ago. I think it was summer but it wasn't yet the point where everything and everyone seethes with heat. I can't recall exactly. Simon's mom was visiting and Simon was stuck at work well after closing time...a big project or report or something. So after being out and about much of the day, MJ picked me up at the office and suggested a drink together at a restaurant down the street.

We started walking over just as fat raindrops began plopping onto sidewalks around us. We snagged a nice window seat at Grafton and two glasses of red...cozy amidst the dark skies and vague rumbles of thunder.

She saw him first. The guy seated outside at one of their cafe tables along the sidewalk. Relatively nondescript man, blonde, likely in his mid to late twenties, perhaps thirty. Alone with a chardonnay or pinot grigio or something pale yellow, the glass dripping a bit with the sweat of chilled wine and moisture from the air. The rain got heavier. He popped open his umbrella and huddled under it. Waiters offered him a spot inside as the skies opened and rain rolled down the streets. He appeared content, even happy. His little bubble under the umbrella with his wine and himself and something that kept him there despite the rain purging from the sky, spitting up from the streets, and slanting sideways in its deluge. I remember talking about it, both in that moment and again months later, marveling at his resolve and having witnessed what seemed like something for him. It's as if he said I'm doing this no matter what. This is what I'm doing. 

Merwin and Cars

Earlier this week, Simon started a new job. For the first time in his adult life, he is driving to work (welcome to American culture, huh?). 

It has become clear that despite countless trips in a car himself, Merwin doesn't quite grasp the concept. We'll head out for our morning walk as Simon is hopping into the Golf. As he drives down the road and says goodbye through the open window, Merwin carefully watches. When the car is gone, he seems to think that Simon should still be there. He doesn't watch the car disappear down the street or chase after it. Instead, he sniffs the road, whines, and strains to look for Simon on that one patch of pavement. And at the end of the day he gets excited when he hears the car pull into the driveway, so how doesn't he understand that in the morning, the car takes Simon away?

I suppose I can't expect much more from that tiny brain, but it's just interesting to me what dogs "get" or in this case, don't get.

Whatever. At least he's got his looks.

Recent Scenes From The Pond

I realize that I never take enough pictures of the humans that come to the lake. Just dogs and sunsets. We had such a great week in NH, with visits from some of our favorite people, not that I documented all of them with my poor photography judgment but trust me when I say the vacation was made perfect by them, not the sunsets.