(Not pictured: swampy-slippery paths, at least one spill, and swarms of mosquitoes.)
Thursday, August 05, 2021
escape landscape
(Not pictured: swampy-slippery paths, at least one spill, and swarms of mosquitoes.)
Wednesday, August 04, 2021
movie heavy
The songs made At remember dancing in the kitchen in New Jersey 🥰. There's a fair bit of queer baiting in it and the kids picked up on that right away 🥰🥰. Big A and At drifted away after an hour, but Nu watched the movie all the way to the end with me 🥰.
I love Arthurian re-visions and The Green Knight delivers sumptuously. Also, it's an era frequently coopted by white supremacists and their narratives, so Dev Patel as Gawain was so satisfying. And I guess it's about maternal machinations, so very apropos for me to see it with At. Ha.
Tuesday, August 03, 2021
calibrations
from the bottom of the stairs
it was my prayer
Monday, August 02, 2021
bits of the day
Out early today to Alma for a seminar/workshop and it was so good to see and be with people--many of whom I haven't seen or been with for a while. A few people were wearing masks indoors and although we're nearly 100% vaccinated as a college community, I wore mine too out of respect.
Work, work, work, and then I headed home with JG on the phone to keep me company on the commute home.
Low: Heart heavy with the looming eviction of millions of families in the middle of a pandemic.
High: Hearing The Foo Fighters' cover of The Beegees' "You Should be Dancing" live from Lollapalooza on the radio. Apparently it's something they've been doing for a while? Anyway, it was the bit of disco silliness that helped me get through the day.
Pic: An early bird posing for me with their accessory worm (yesterday at the Horticultural Gardens).
Saturday, July 31, 2021
what goes around
In other not news, August starts tomorrow, and a look at my summer list tells me that we're doing alright. I even got to do one of my big maybes--sit by the ocean. But things I threw in there thinking we'd definitely get to them (hammock camping, firepit nights) haven't happened because it has been such a wet summer.
Still a few precious weeks left...
Friday, July 30, 2021
today in vignettes
An early morning walk with L after SO MANY days. Between her travels and mine, it's been way too long. The Radiology Gardens (where I snapped this pic) had a fundraiser, and we bought a giant planter of coleus each and lugged it around with us.
At took me to the car dealership earlier in the morning to drop Bluey off for a two-year service. When the check-in person asked if I needed a loaner or a ride back home, I felt so proud telling them that I "brought my son." The son in question was amused that when he stopped to get gas, I hopped out to help him, but was so lost around all the slots and buttons after two years of plugging in Bluey.
A boozy cousin B called as we were getting dinner on the table. A bunch of cousins are getting together at his new beachhouse in Pondicherry and he MISSED me. I've been seeing pics on cousin chat since, and everyone is talking about a big reunion in December. Today I'm pretending (even to myself) that this might actually happen.
And today is officially the day Nu picked their new name. We had tried a name that started with "N' for a while. But then one day as I was getting dressed, I saw Big A's money clip with his initials, and the thought that At would be able to use it one day slipped into my mind... I wanted that for Nu too. Nu's new name begins with "A" too, so they'll still be the "Baby A" who debuted here in 2007. And even better, it kind of starts the same way as their old name, so I can course correct before I reach the end and avoid slip-ups.
Thursday, July 29, 2021
our mother would hate this poem
parents' fight from decades ago
when they were fighting always
and always passive-aggressively
my father sounding patient
my mother sounding smart
neither of them listening to each other...
from our room: my sister and I listened,
grading them--not on how right or wrong
they were, but how not mean they were.
our mother lost our ratings
for our father lost the fights
afterwards, he wouldn't talk to her for days...
every time she happened to be in the room,
he'd be whistling or humming something
to show how he didn't care and didn't hurt--
like at all--not even a little bit
Monday, July 26, 2021
Sunday, July 25, 2021
some more (travel)
Once more into the skies and on to D.C. where a long postponed conference-workshop awaits.
Saturday, July 24, 2021
"memory-keeping"
Ten days ago, photographer Danish Siddiqui was killed by the Taliban. I know people who don't know his name, but would recognize his images right away. What images! Siddiqui's image of the Rohingya woman keeps showing up in my dreams a lot lately (I've been rereading Sea of Poppies and I think my brain's conflating things).
SV, who's quoted in this New Yorker article, calls his work "memory-keeping, at a time when we have lost our capacity to think or remember." Here are some other galleries of his work in remembrance.
Friday, July 23, 2021
an ordinary happy
Thursday, July 22, 2021
"How to Live in a Burning World Without Losing Your Mind"
Today I'm really feeling Liza Featherstone's essay in The New Republic: "How to Live in a Burning World Without Losing Your Mind."
"I’m in no condition to receive this news. I can’t tolerate more worry, death, sickness, sadness, or pain—more mothers and grandmothers dying, and maybe even less bearably, children.
I’m not alone.
We are in the middle of another wave of horrific climate news, but many of us are too traumatized to pay attention. The more loss and horror we’re facing in the rest of our lives—whether from the coronavirus and opioid pandemics, economic upheaval, or the ordinary awfulness of cancer and death—the less equipped we are to take it in."
Tuesday, July 20, 2021
Saturday, July 17, 2021
building
A normal kind of day--normal chores, normal outings.
Went to check on the Arboretum's yearly peacock display with L before the rest of the family woke up. I love the purple spikes they've added to the begonias this year.
And yes, it's syllabus building time again.
Friday, July 16, 2021
three in a row
Scout, Huck, and I hosted bookclub while Big A, At, and Nu did their own thing. I'd planned to have a garden party, but rain was in the forecast and mosquitoes were out in force, so I moved it indoors. And just like that we had our first indoors party since the pandemic started.
Here, Huck, Scout, and I (L to R) are spooning in blissed-out collapse after dinner.
[Pic by Nu, reflected in the glass door.]
Thursday, July 15, 2021
"look for the helpers"
I had so much help yesterday:
from the scummy
Nu skimming off pond scum
At making a strawberry, arugula, feta salad
Monday, July 12, 2021
island times
Saturday, July 10, 2021
Loveliness
It has been magical. This gathering of happy faces and hugs... congratulations, commiserations, reminiscences, and sweet sillinesses. Turned out, seeing A+M getting married was the cure to my pandemic year.
Wednesday, July 07, 2021
Monday, July 05, 2021
weirdness, madness, and freaking the eff out
Weird: I thought I'd gotten poison ivy on myself from digging up myrtle to transplant. I could feel the blisters forming because I saw ...
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Friends and old neighbors shutting it down in honor of John Crawford. _
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I have the feeling that I’m going to succumb to the season and put out a list of resolutions soon. Just wanted to establish this heads up th...
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At had us pose for this pic up at Aunt R's place on Lake Huron so he could put it up in his dorm. "Don't tur...