once upon a dark and stormy night

the rain just never stops, even hollister can't believe it, he's never seen anything like it in his little life. and the winds are back, so it really is a dark and stormy night out there. it seems like it's been raining for a month and the forecast for the week ahead looks bleak. it leaves me feeling dismal and i dream of escaping to somewhere that has sunshine. we are going to barcelona in a couple of weeks, but that seems like an eternity from now. i hope barcelona is practicing its sunshine, because i'm really going to need it. denmark has always been rainy - i remember my first november here, i don't think the sun shined once, the darkness and the rain were just as unrelenting as they are now. i remember that we went out to dinner one evening, riding our bikes, despite the rain. i foolishly wore a dress, it was a bit gauzy and romantic and had a better story than i did, because it was from the j. peterman catalog. it got caught in my bike chain and husband (who was just boyfriend at that point) had to kneel down in a puddle and get it unstuck because i was trapped. that made the rain a little more bearable - both his chivalry and a little bit his suffering. we've been doing all kinds of errands together this week, despite the rain - a trip to ikea, a visit to a fancy paint store where an old man hand-mixed two colors for us, followed by a dinner together at the burger shack (they have the best fries - with fluffy grated parmesan and fresh thyme on top). it's not the same as that long ago dark and rainy night, but it's pretty good. despite the rain.

100 happy days :: day 65

it's 70 years since denmark was freed from the germans in WWII and people all over denmark are lighting candles this evening to commemorate.  tho' when it comes time to go to a proper grocery store or choose from a wide selection of gin or to buy things which are reasonably priced, we all head for germany around here, so i'm not sure how free we actually are... still, any excuse to light candles is a happy moment in my book.

100 happy days :: day 54

with all the cats around here, you'd think i wouldn't have a favorite.

but i do.

and it's still molly.

she's fierce, independent and wonderful.

and if i could only have one, she'd be it.

she's totally her own.

and a little bit mine.

100 happy days :: day 53

(just ignore that dirty window. the cats jump up on the ledge and muddy it with their paws all the time.)

this is about the return of charlie!

she was missing for a couple of days.

turned out she was locked in the upstairs of the other house, the one above the new kitchen.

husband had been up there doing some work and didn't notice that she followed him.

alas, it took me a couple of days to find her.

she was none the worse for the wear and isn't holding a grudge.

she was a bit hungry, but otherwise fine.

but we're glad she's back.

gathered

skimming some or other feed, a headline about small household shrines caught my eye. i didn't click on the article and naturally, i have no idea where it may have been posted and i can't find it again. but that didn't stop me from pondering the growing pile of small, mostly natural, found treasures that has gathered on the window ledge in terms of whether they constitute a shrine. it does feel somehow like a shrine of sorts, gathered there over time. but a shrine to what? nature? walks? found objects? the passing of time? that little pear was perfect and green when i found it and now it's dry and wrinkled, but somehow more charming, even if it is now a mummy of a pear. i'm glad it dried up and that it didn't rot.

it's not all found objects, unless you count seeing something in your facebook feed and ordering it from etsy as finding, which i did with the heart by kim from numinosity beads. but even the little bottle is a found object, which i found one day out in the yard when i was emptying the litterbox. it does make me wonder what other treasures are lurking out there.

that little egg, which i found late last summer has also dried instead of rotted (thankfully) and is light and hollow now, as the inside has dried up. i'm pleased the cats have left it alone so it could do that. what is our human desire to gather things and keep them? why are we somehow driven (some of us more than others) on an almost unconscious level to gather and keep. stones, bits of moss, driftwood, shells, feathers. they constantly find their way into my pockets.

for me, there is pleasure in the arranging and rearranging and the photographing. it gives me a small moment of beauty and creativity in the midst of a busy everyday. and i guess that's shrine enough for me.

happy weekend, one and all.

from where i sit

a simple oak tree in a bottle.

a bowl of beloved stones.

a candleholder gathered on a favorite beach.

a whirling dervish.

a whimsical robot.

a window in need of cleaning.

and golden light lasting only a fleeting moment.

a glorious light between the squalls.
during the squalls, i wonder if we shouldn't have built an ark.
my favorite sweaters are back in rotation.
as are the scarves.

i've started to knit a bit again.
it's like starting all over from the beginning.
i'm actually the same way with playing cards.
i have to relearn the game, despite 100s of games of whist and hearts played over the years.

pepper cat had four kittens last night. 

they're so tiny.

and i fear it's too late in the season.

but so far, so good.

she's attentive to them.

we're entering a cake contest on friday.

and the regional t.v. folks are coming out to film us making our cakes that afternoon.

so we need a new house by friday.

and it doesn't look good for that happening.

by the way,
with my earlier post about the elderly having sex,
i didn't mean to offend anyone.
or imply that older people shouldn't have sex.
or even that people in their 60s are elderly.
because that's not really true anymore today.

i'm GLAD that older people are having sex.
i just wish they wouldn't talk about it so much on the radio.
mostly because i think that what sex feels like can't really be described.
it's so personal.
and i guess i'm enough of a prude
to think it should stay that way.

so if you were going to make a cake

for a cake contest,

which one would it be?

we know sabin's will be something like this.

but i haven't yet decided.