25 Local Outing

Can you name (one of) our favorite movies?
Of course, it would have been better if we had our knit beanies.

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

24 Lists

Geoff and Cairo, they just left with Max and Maria to run a few errands. I stayed back with an earnest announcement... I'll stay home and take care of laundry and cleaning. So, naturally, I am blogging.

Forgive me, for I blog.

In the interest of saying stuff that's on my mind, but with the sincere intention of being both brief and swift, I will list.

1. Last night I made it to MNO (Mom's Night Out.) It was lovely, and delicious, it glowed, and sparkled. I'm quite fortunate to know these women. They raise my thoughts, my aspirations. They sent me home with salmon and cupcakes. Everyone should know marvelous women, with generous souls.

2. Max is home on break. Alex is on break. Geoff is on break. Maria... Maria is home, sick, with a low grade fever... you can't win them all.

3. Geoff has been asking me to hang the art I have been making since December. And honestly, it really has taken a lot of coaxing and encouragement to get me to bring them out of their shoe box and up onto walls. I have begun.

4. My car has an estimated value of $458.00, and an initial repair bill of approximately $3,000. These numbers don't add up, but they do. My Jet Puff Odyssey has been my golden chariot, my steadfast steed, my safe and reliable ride to anywhere. I love my minivan.

5. New cars are astonishing. I went on a couple of visits. The bells. The whistles. Have you seen what a new car can do these days? New Odysseys have a vacuum in the trunk. A vacuum! Simply knowing about that one feature will amuse me for the next 4 to 6 years, no doubt.

6. We're going to order all the fixes on Jet Puff, and hope she holds. I'd like to drive her to the moon, before I finally put her out to pasture.

7. I've started walking every day, again. Since Tuesday. That's how it is, right? You start, you move forward, something sets you off course, then you gather yourself, and start, again.

8. {I am holding this spot for all of my fears, anxiety, worries, and frustrations. I won't specify them, but I will acknowledge that they are more than I can carry, and maybe I can just set them in this space, and take a break from trying to hold them all at once.}

9. We were invited to see Pink Martini, at the Hollywood Bowl, with two dear Aunts and a dear Uncle... and so, we have begun to look ahead and make summer plans, and there is something cheering and soothing, and right about marking a date on the calendar, months away, and thinking, That is going to be good.

10. There's more I am thinking, more I'd like to pull out of my head, unravel, look at... but in the interest of being both brief and swift, of balancing blogging and getting stuff done, I will end this sentence, this post, with a message:

I hope you enjoy this day, and tomorrow. And thank you for visiting Chickenblog. I appreciate the company.
With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

23 Duck, Duck, Goose, Anteater!

It's neither a duck, nor an anteater. But it is a goose, and an Anteater!

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

22 Spring is For Flowers

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

21 Grandpa Chango

Nearly seventeen years old. Maybe actually seventeen years old, already, but we won't make it "official" until the first day of April. April 1st is the day we assign as every cat's birthday. We haven't been very consistent in celebrating cat birthdays, though. But 17 is a big one, I feel, and Chango, our Grandpa, is such a dear old man cat, that I believe something must be done, some kind of celebration should be organized. Don't you worry, Grandpa Chango. We will fete you. You will have bonito flakes, even a lap or two of cereal milk from the bowl... whatever your heart, and tummy desire, damn the consequences. You are so worthy.

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

20 Outing

When William suggested a walk tonight, it took us a while to get lined up and out the door. So, instead of strolling down our dark street, we opted to explore a mall. A mall with wide sidewalks, a koi pond, piped in music, cheery lighting, and shops. It was nice... nice to be out, moving, nice to see pretty windows, with pretty displays. And finally, I couldn't resist the one shop that always manages to lure me in, both tempting me and vexing me. And I am not even going to say their name, though I am linking, here, and you may want to guess, just for your own amusement, which store in the whole wide world is my consumer frenemy, the purveyor of things I am loath to lust for. They have ceramic bowls, with chickens. Bowls. Chickens. I'm done for. It's frustrating when, at last, you find the material things you dream of, desire, which had always been odd and obscure, worn, shabby, rustic, thrifted, but which have suddenly become chic, hip, and not remotely thrifty. Alas. Alas, what folly to be burdened with good taste. Maybe what I really need is a designer to curate and display my own vast collection of worn, shabby, rustic and thrifty treasures, to their best appeal. It is, indeed, nice to walk, late on a week night, to see pretty things, smell lemon poppyseed candles, imagine where old wooden boxes and crates came from, how they would look in our Bird House, or might be artfully reproduced. So very nice, so very perilous.

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

19 Gathered Around the Campfire

Alex, Max, Maria, Amira, William~

This was, I suppose, a farewell to winter campfire. I've been distracted, for some time, and the idea that we are on the verge of spring comes as a genuine surprise. And so, the rain in the forecast is spring rain, and soon there will be spring break. A new season, new plans, new hopes. A fresh start? Yes, let's hit refresh, and plant some seeds, dust corners, change the sheets, sleep with the windows open, just a crack. I welcome all of it, and take joy in anticipation of more gatherings, books, stories, songs, laughter, spring.

Winter, thank you. You were fine, loved your storms, and rain. Until we meet again, farewell.

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.