The Condiments Are In The Cow

Baby turtles, Emma Straub, and Gwyneth in hats

Never Satisfied (the boat)

I wasn’t sure I was going to tell you this but we watched The Talented Mr. Ripley last night, split it up over two weekends. (Thursday is a weekend, right?) I recommend the first half, where people are gallivanting around Europe in funny hats. The second half, where Mr. Ripley goes on an accidental killing spree, has little to recommend, except for Gwyneth in a leopard fez that matches her coat.

Actually, I take that back. Cate Blanchett slays as a somewhat clueless, rich American: vulnerable, awkward, hopeful. Jude Law is as perfect as I remembered, but Gwyneth’s wardrobe might be doing all her acting. Hard to say. I’m not throwing stones (yes, I am.) My wardrobe should be doing more for ME, lol.

hello there, friend

We went to a petting zoo / family ice cream dairy farm. Improvements had been made to the condiments aisle. You’ll see.

They are proud of that condiment cow. As they should be!

llama with impeccable style

tell me this pig isn’t sentient

this is not a petting zoo

baby turtle sunning

I’m reading Emma Straub’s This Time Tomorrow. As always, I like her throwaway jokes. I’m also looking at all art with a plot lens right now, a what-are-the-stakes lens, something I normally resist. Usually I will suck down any watery old story you give me if the sentences are pretty enough. (Same for singersongwriter ballads - is the singer in a beard and maybe a trucker hat with a dulcet voice? We are good to go.) I like playing with this plot lens. You can put a lens onto anything! sayeth the academics. You can put a purple lens on that! sayeth my six-year-old, holding magnetic tiles up to their eyes.

We had pancakes for dinner last night. My daughter helped make them, and as I was describing the bubbles to look for and let pop, I remembered my last post, Is it ready to flip yet, and felt a weird trill of kismet.

How are your shortstacks coming, friends?

I have a lot of different irons in a couple of fires and no idea which of them will pop, or when. It feels mostly fine - that’s the overarching vibe these days. After decades of feeling a low hum of instability, something feels existentially very solid. Not gonna lie, I am enjoying this peace and calm in the bedrock. Don’t get me wrong. Our house is covered in balloons and Legos, and there are serious events afoot. But things can be chaotically un-perfect and still quite okay.

Okay?

It’s been rainy here and the air is turning. It’s getting darker incrementally earlier. We are having to turn on lamps, as if we live in the dark and dreary London of our dreams. (I am thinking of Hawaii as I talk of rain. Wounded heart.) We are working on a puzzle called Plant Shelfie, rows of books about caring for plants, and then the plants themselves. One kid has been at camp this week, the other has played dish fairy to the house. I’ve been back to the gym, which I know you *need* to know. It is my medicine, my bff, my coffee-date with myself. There is no such thing as a bad sweat.

stanning Jef’s watercolors

Sending you all the views from my windows, the wildness children are tending in my heart, knitting on the couch, gentle apprehension about school starting (mine), Lego addictions (also mine), camp ephemera, rain storms, little lamps in the corners, and thoughts about plants - painting them, caring for them, receiving them from elders. I have not become a woman who gives plants to others, but I sure am one who will take them from the women who give them to me.

Namaste from the dollar store, y’all. Hope the pencils and crayons and craft beads are serving you well.

XOXO

please close my lid otherwise my buns dry out

P.S. If you want to send photos of things with purple lenses, please do.