Half a day in the life

• Made coffee, drank it.
• Walked the dogs in the gray morning. Teased M for claiming it wasn't that cold (fingers, stiff and painful).
• Took a rare morning shower (I prefer alternate afternoons, generally, or bedtime is nice too).
• Got my hairs cut! My head feels light, my hair smooth and floaty. Jamie wanted to cut it in a "long lob," and I let him do it. It makes me feel (very slightly) stylish.
• Stopped at the medical marijuana dispensary to pick up my special tincture (BECAUSE 2020).
• I was heading for the library when the power steering ceased to be — when this happens in a car, I am transported back to 1984 and a certain 1970 Volvo. I veered toward home, and as I neared the intersection where my house is located (using all of my upper body strength to turn the steering wheel), the car stopped altogether. The hazard lights blinked palely. I called M, he called AAA. M and Isaac came to my rescue, and they (with two not entirely necessary helpful bystanders) pushed the car out of the intersection into a parking lot.
• I walked home and ate a piece of toast with peanut butter, while M accompanied our car to the car place.
• I wrote some words for money.

Best boys.

A story for Ben

Adventurous Man and His Brave Pet Chicken Are Sailing Around the World Together

(Click the photo for the whole story.)

It was evening all afternoon

Don't you love when you're walking at night and the people in the houses have lights on, and they're moving around, doing things that you can see in glimpses?

I still can't quite believe my luck: I get to live on this pretty planet, within driving distance of this ocean.

Fünf

I have been overwhelmingly distracted since yesterday by something terribly sad that happened to an Instagram acquaintance. She lost her child to suicide and posted about it the very next morning. I don't know her in real life, and I've only known her and her family the way you become familiar with online friends who illustrate their lives with beauty and clarity. But I've been aware of them for years, of this sweet boy who's suddenly gone. And his sweet mother and younger brother whose world has just ended, and who will have to start over in an entirely new one, without him. I can't stop going back to her post, and scrolling through pictures from her past. It feels like the heaviest, saddest event to witness (up close, but afar). If you're interested in helping, there is a Meal Train site where people are making donations. 

And of course, I'm sending love out to all the humans I adore so much.

In happier news, I'm in awe of this solar system quilt made in 1876. It makes me think of my brilliant niece Oona.*

Click for all the info!

“The eye that directs a needle in the delicate meshes of embroidery will equally well bisect a star with the spider web of the micrometer." - Maria Mitchell 



*MOM, note, no comma after "niece," as I have more than one brilliant niece!

4

Four, fourteen, forty-four, all my lucky numbers. I have a friend who's deeply superstitious of the number four, and many cultures consider it bad luck. I searched far and wide for a contrasting superstition, with no luck (no pun intended). So it's mine, all mine, lucky number four.

The word of the day is heuristic.

The first book I finished in 2020 was Jia Tolentino's Trick Mirror, and I enjoyed it so much that I didn't rate it three stars (my usual appraisal of almost all books) but (wait for it) FOUR.

Mom recommended this article by Heidi Julavits, and I agree, it's wonderful.

Marching into 2020 like

Uncut Gems

Adam Sandler — wow!
And Mom was so thrilled during
the basketball scenes!