a small, not very coherent, collection of thoughts

i know this is a very serene picture, but i'm not feeling all that serene, there are a lot of things bugging me and they are all tumbling in my head. i'll get the trivial out of the way first...what the hell is a groom's cake? what groom wants a cake? (i need to be where facebook is not...so much for the new "re-focused on what's important" timeline, zuck.) and believe me, the cheeto satan does not weigh a mere 239 pounds. what a shithole. or is it asshole? or is it shitty asshole? yes. yes. and yes.

and now on to the less trivial...several times of late, i have read heartfelt, earnest facebook versions of life stories featuring the storyteller patting themselves on the back for never having accepted any kind of help...be it food stamps or financial assistance of other sorts. as if that's something to be congratulated for. as if needing and receiving help is a horrible, awful thing. honestly, is that where we are? if so, that just utterly sucks.

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when you're crabby from being hungry, it's called hangry, but what's it called when you're crabby from not sleeping well?

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if someone says your podcast trailer sounds "so npr" and also "so american," is that an insult or a compliment? i suspect it was an insult, but i'm choosing to take it as a compliment.

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reading studs terkel's seminal work - working - from the 70s. and i'm realizing we haven't really progressed all that much. it's fascinating and deep and comforting and also disturbing. i have a library copy, but i think i'll have to buy it. so i can write and underline in it - things like this: "i think most of us are looking for a calling, not a job. most of us, like the assembly line worker, have jobs that are too small for our spirit. jobs are not big enough for people."

that said, i genuinely do love my job. but i fear that's the exception, not the rule.

* * *

a friend went to a course with tom of holland

and i want to too!

i have a whole stack of things that need mending.

i could work in my pyjamas every day

while i wasn't completely alone today, there was sunshine and time for a solitary walk. i also helped husband move a load of wood and getting out in the fresh air and stretching my limbs, doing something physical helped - i so often forget to reside in my body as well as my mind. aside from some hours of work (which, since i was home, i could do in my pyjamas), no one really expected anything of me. that, and the pyjamas, were very welcome. i found a little bit of time to read some more long read pieces that i'd been saving. like this one, which, like yesterday's, is also about home. and this one about anna akhmatova. what are you doing to find peace and comfort in this liminal space between christmas & new year's?

serenity now

i don't think i'm going to sleep a wink tonight. i'm so nervous about tomorrow's election. and it will only get worse tomorrow night. hard to comprehend what might be ahead of us, no matter which way it goes. but for now, there are kittens.

100 happy days :: day 82

a delicate moment of serenity.

you grab the happy where you can.

the waiting is almost over

i wanted to report that i have what i call my sunday evening feeling. it's that feeling brought on by knowing that the laundry is done and put away, the dishwasher is going, the stalls are mucked out and all the animals are fed, you're bathed and ready to read a nice relaxing book before bed and you're completely ready to face the week ahead. and while all of those things are true, i don't have the serenity of the sunday evening feeling at all. because i'm just way too excited to start my new job tomorrow! i feel a bit like a child trying to get to sleep on christmas eve, lying wide-eyed in the dark, imagining christmas morning. hurry up already tomorrow!

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reading this will make you want to hop the next plane to istanbul.

tah dah!

i need to think happy thoughts to calm my blood pressure (that thing that i'm almost out of, but not quite is making me a bit crazy), so what better way than sharing a happy skating photo that sabin took of me the other day. we've had several days of meltiness and the ice isn't safe anymore, so this was our last proper skating, probably for the year. but it was glorious!

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read the alabama chanin blog - it makes me happy and inspires me every time i do.

great stories and plenty of inspiration.

it's magic they're making.

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over the past few days, i keep coming across art collectives.

here

and here (be sure to read this while you're there).

what would you do if you were part of an art collective?

(or what DO you do if you're part of one?)

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best line i've read all day:

"the only excuse for not coming is that you hate fun." 

i would so hang out with those brooklyn brainery people.

if i were in brooklyn.

or had ever been to NYC.

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would you believe i spent an hour today, surrounded by all my cameras talking to a local newspaper reporter about my 365 photo project and a photo project i'm trying to get started in our community and that i nearly forgot to take my photo of the day?

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we're going to germany for lunch on saturday.

that's so much less exotic than it sounds.