some days are like that

"what happened to our summer?" asked samba (strangely, he didn't question the fact that we had placed a chive flower on his head.)

today was cold, windy and grey. we were spoiled last week, i tell you, lulled into thinking we'd have an actual summer this year. but alas, it was not to be. we might even have to turn the furnace back on.

the silver lining was that i didn't want to be outside, so i got loads of work done. none of it including doing dishes or putting away clothes or vacuuming or cleaning the bathroom, which is really starting to need it.  some days are like that.

then the horse got scared of some horse-eating invisible thing while i was brushing her (i blame the shift in the weather) and bonked me in the head with her head. i saw stars. and they weren't the twinkly kind in a clear, night sky. ouch.

i've still got a headache from that.

some days are like that too.

three things you know are true

i woke up at 2 a.m. with a splitting headache and it has been hanging out with me ever since. it actually hurts to think and don't even think about asking me to finish a sentence.  i was having a (probably only semi-coherent) skype chat with a bloggy friend. we were talking about my upcoming courses that start next week and she sent me a link to this lovely video. i've never tried spoken word poetry, but i think i'll use it with my students in the coming months. what a beautiful idea! of course, this is a TED talk - they have all the best stuff. if you have 20 minutes, do watch it, you won't regret it. and besides, if you don't watch it, you won't understand the title of this post.

i woke up with a headache

i woke up with a headache. i blame the abrupt shift in weather.

* * *

these photos were clearly taken before the weather changed...

the saddlemaker, who is actually a saddle fitter, is coming today, but already we think the used passier dressage saddle we're trying out is MUCH better than the other saddle we had. we'll see what she says about it tho'. who knew so many problems could be caused by the wrong saddle?

matilde is already quite fuzzy. i suppose she knows something we don't about the coming winter. and it doesn't bode well. 

* * *

thanks to my headache, i don't have much more, so i'm off to make potato leek soup to try to feel better so i'm coherent for the saddle fitter.

* * *

in the meantime, check out these:

the chef's garden

and the men-ups!

hallucinating giraffes

around midmorning, right as i was putting the finishing touches on my to-do list, i got a monster headache. i blame the chocolate on toast that husband made me for breakfast. too much sugar, especially in the morning, will bring on a headache every time. it resisted all ibuprofen and the gallons of water i drank, so i finally took a nap. i couldn't even read, because it hurt too much to focus my eyes (there's that focus thing again).

when sabin came home, i decided to hang out and watch project runway with her, despite the headache. while we watched the amusing catfighting and recriminations,  i worked a bit on my knitting. and that's when i saw this little giraffe herd go by...do you think headaches can make you hallucinate?

the early bird gets the...ship?

i woke up this morning at 3:30 a.m. tho' i actually had 'til 4:30. and naturally, i couldn't get back to sleep.  so i got up and got ready for my 7:05 flight. because i was spending my day at a ship repair yard. and since i've now got a splitting headache, there's a mouse in the house (thank you, lila) and my family is yelling at me to watch coupling with them on BBC entertainment, i'll leave you with some scenes from my day.

even the trash is beautiful at a shipyard.

and so are the containers in which they lift it off the ship

not sure what this is, but it looks cool.

dry dock

now that's a really, really big spool

do not press the red button.

there are always ropes posing nicely onboard a ship.

more tomorrow.

if you can't stand the heat...

...lie down until the headache you got traipsing all around an LNG carrier that was in a dry dock at a shipyard passes and then go out for sushi.

more tomorrow when the headache aura has faded...

p.s. this shot is taken at Clarke Quay, Singapore

we choose for ourselves

a real eye-opener

i'm writing this post as my splitting headache fades and scheduling it for tuesday morning, because tuesday's gonna be a crazy busy day for me. i'm feeling a little discouraged and slightly depressed about some total crap that's going on as i write this, but i just read marinik's post from saturday, about how we choose for ourselves what kind of day we're going to have. and so right here, right now, even tho' i have a headache and just lost approximately half of my brain cells watching an episode of america's next top model and probably sent VEG over the edge by jokingly suggesting canada apply for statehood (again, i blame the aforementioned missing brain cells), i'm going to choose to have a great tuesday.  and why shouldn't i? although That Girl forgot to pack my flat iron, i have molly's magic beads and my favorite black banana republic suit  and sexy wolford tights (there i go with the brands again) to wear tomorrow. and the lack of flat iron means that i can try out this hairstyle, which i've been wanting to do ever since trinsch first posted it.  doesn't it look pretty and calm and carefree? see, looking on the bright side. now keep your fingers crossed that the misogynist dinosaurs aren't about, as i forgot to bring my magic wand....(just to mix the metaphors up a bit).

wanting to end this on a hopeful note.