28 September 2011

26 September 2011

clone clothes

here are four shirts, all new within the last few weeks, all identical, except for color. when i find something i like (the brown one), then i buy another (the orange one). when i wear them and find how comfortable and utilitarian they are, how they can be worn under jackets or dressed up with scarves, i go back and buy two more (the maroon and the green). only by now, they're on sale! even better!

i so hate to shop. buying duplicates is one of the shopping strategies that gets me through one season after the next. but i think this is the first time i've ever bought four of the same item. four! better get out the scarves!

24 September 2011

car talk

sometimes, when i'm driving alone, i talk to myself. yes, out loud. usually it's replays of insignificant conversations i've had in the recent past, interactions i've had where i've said the wrong thing, given bad advice, made the foolish comment, been too tongue-tied to say anything at all. but in the car, i get it right. i am insightful. i am witty. i am astute. 

i know how pathetic this must sound. but it's not the reworking of the conversations that bothers me. it's the fact that i do it at all. am i destined to become one of those old ladies who carries on a conversation with herself, even when she's not alone in the car? this is what concerns me the most!

22 September 2011

for a change

while back, when one or another of the seasons were changing, someone commented that it seems we are unhappy with the season we have and are always looking forward to the one that's not yet here. i've been pondering this as summer changes to autumn. i do love summer and i hate to see it ending - but the anticipation of cool air, clear nights, vibrant colors, and all things fall is still somehow exciting yet comforting to me. i love to get ready for fall - and i'm almost there.

17 September 2011

close call

here we are, only in the midst of september and last night we had our first frost advisory! there's another posted for tonight but since we escaped it last night, it's unlikely it will happen tonight either. phew! i adore fall - but i'm not sure i'm ready to totally give up summer just yet!

12 September 2011

september 12 of 12: small joys

after being so melancholy yesterday, i woke up this morning happy to find a new day before me. i had no real plan for the 12 of 12 for the month, and just began taking pictures of things that made me smile and feel happy again.
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morning fog. truly, it doesn't happen often enough in these parts for me. but when it does, i love walking outside and into it, knowing that it's just a big cloud all around me. fog always makes the world feel so ethereal and magical. 

commuter coffee. it still feels like an indulgence after all these years of drinking my second cup of the day in the car.

light up sneakers. i laugh watching kids run in these, with their toes all blinking and flashing off and on. i wonder about how the shoe is made to do such amazing things. and i secretly wish someone would manufacture them in adult sizes.

missing teeth. always good for a big smile. from me and from the small friend.

prepaid gift cards. cleaning the dashboard cubby and finding there's the price of a few coffees still left on them.

late summer on one side of the road...

and early fall on the other!

crisp white architecture. i have passed this house at least five times a week for the last thirty years. and i never really noticed the wondrous detail in it until today, when i stopped the car to photograph something else!

bare feet in the cool grass. after a long day of standing on them, i'm very happy it's still warm enough to do this!

the last black-eyed susan of the summer. even though it's pretty scraggily, it was a big decision whether to pick it and bring it into the house. i ended up leaving it in the yard, thinking it might last a little longer that way.

tree silhouettes against an evening sky. any time of year, these amaze me. so detailed and intricate, they make me wish i could draw them with pen and ink. 

the almost-full harvest moon. it lights up the night and makes the landscape almost as ethereal as the morning fog did.

11 September 2011

a decade later

today was a hard day, much tougher than i ever imagined it would be, full of memories of the 9-11 attack on this country ten years ago. even a decade later, i cannot bear to see the photographs, watch the video, hear the accounts of that day. this week i've tried to watch some of the tributes that have emerged but even they are still too jarring, too surreal. today i found myself silently crying at times and unconsciously praying at others - and i was full of restless energy. so i created a baking frenzy in the kitchen this morning, my default activity when i am upset. later i cleaned and scrubbed and organized, trying to create order. outside, i marveled at the sunshine and the bright blue sky, so reminiscent of that tragic day. at the end of the day, i went out to find the perfect photo to represent my feelings about today. and i just couldn't.

09 September 2011

ticket to ride

brilliant sunshine after a week of rain, driving home earlyish on a friday afternoon, singing along to twenty-nine of the beatles greatest hits on the ipod. what could be better?

05 September 2011

time for mums

normally i don't buy chrysanthemums this early. but i couldn't bypass this vibrant color, new to me, and was afraid if i waited, it would be gone. so bring on fall. i have mums and i'm ready. 

04 September 2011

labor day laundry

here it is, a day from labor day, and i still have not replaced my defunct clothes dryer, gone now for over ninety days. not a great clothesline day today so here i am at the laundromat, drying my clothes with quarters. i wonder if this may become the norm as i return to work - and i'm not looking forward to those prospects. when will i make the time in my busy life to do this? what will i give up? yet as i watch my wardrobe tumble, i reflect on times past, when there were no electric dryers and no laundromats and i wonder how families managed to clean clothes then. clearly, their laboring must have been very different from mine. i'll try to be mindful of that when i next feel like complaining about my situation. and i'm going to keep looking at dryer sales.

01 September 2011

late summer's eve

evenings seem to come earlier and earlier these days. as the daylight dims, the air cools quicker and there's a faint anticipation of fall to the air. biting insects are just about gone now and the yard becomes an outdoor extension of the house - quiet spots to read or work or dream. birdsong in the evening has ceased, sadly, but has been replaced by a chorale of crickets singing well into the night, an end-of-summer lullaby drifting through the still-open windows.