100 Word writing prompt is coming up. Right after I’m done being awe-struck by this gal.
Our neighbors threw their annual epic block party today and this girl hula-hooped for hours nonstop. I think at one point she was eating while hula-hooping.
It is evening. The heat of the day has cooled and the cats are restless. Neither of them likes the heat much and I wonder if I should have them shaved in the summer like I’ve seen some folks do. The little guy pants. He actually pants if it’s too hot and he has exerted himself in a fit of play. Mostly they lay on the cool floor, though the kitten seems to favor a ceramic cooking pot that sits on the bottom shelf of the kitchen island. He starts out on the floor and after a few minutes pulls himself up, walking with his head slung low to prowl for another cool spot and, finding one, drops suddenly and heavily on his side. Eventually he makes his way to the kitchen and climbs into the ceramic pot, curling himself perfectly tail to nose.
Nice and cool in the ceramic cooking pot. Probably the kitchen hygiene police are on their way right now.
It’s like Written? Kitten all up in here. Only I’m giving you kittens BEFORE you write 100 words. See how good I am to you?
Us humans who are too big for ceramic cooking pots went to the local swimming park and drank copious amounts of iced tea and lemonade instead.
And really, I’m counting my blessings (swimming, kittens, family, house, copious amounts of lemonade) because I’m well aware that these things can be snatched away in a second. Thinking of you Colorado (may you get rain) and the East Coast out to the West (may you get power and cool breezes).
This week’s word is from Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, which I just started reading after somehow managing to miss it in high school and college.
Murmur
I recently rediscovered the Internet. Not that it exists, but that you can get lost in it, discover new things, and suddenly come up for air feeling a little hung-over and very unsure of what all your new discoveries actually mean in the grand scheme of things.
What else to do except share these discoveries?
I found Dear Friend through a long trail of links starting with a scathing article on the new “lifestyle bloggers” (sorry, I lost track of where that one was). Love the artwork, the blog design – something ineffable that speaks to me. Like this photo:
Dear Friend – a hot summer dinner night.
Through that same pathway I stumbled on Kinfolk - “a growing community of artists with a shared interest in small gatherings.” Ok, so it’s kind of in-your-face snobbery on one hand – on the other hand aren’t we all deeply longing to get the hell off Twitter and out of “conventions” and get into each other’s living-rooms and make some real friends? I work from home, it gets lonely.
Which is probably why I’m also in love with this textile letter project. That and I had already been thinking about returning to the art of letter writing. A year ago I collected a bunch of addresses from friends and every once in a while I send out something to one of them. The textile letter project makes me want to step that up. I just need to find more time, ha! Honestly, I don’t know how you people do it.
Then there’s N+1 magazine which is not actually new to me, but I had forgotten to check it in a while. Some really great essays coming out of there.
Lastly there’s Street Anatomy for no particular reason except I love science and this merging of anatomy and pop culture is like candy to my brain.
This hardly represents everything my cursor touched in the last week. Just the high points folks.
Discovered anything good lately?
This post is going to be like a drive-by. And by drive-by I mean it’s going to be quick, come out of nowhere and be gone before you can call 911.
But because I love you, here’s a slice of my day earlier in the week when it was like 2032 degrees.
Lemonade, spicy food, and kittens drinking water and sleeping on cool floors. That’s how we do on a hot day.
The word this week is from Personal Velocity by Rebecca Miller. No good reason except I’m not currently reading anything. I pulled it off the book shelf especially for this, and yes, I do recommend it.
Swagger
First a little admin note – if you have a Google blog (blogger) and you don’t have “anonymous” or “Name/URL” permissions for commenting, I can’t leave a comment on your blog. Just know that I AM reading all your posts even if it’s sometimes a week later.
Second, a little love note. I’m so thrilled to see so many familiar faces after my hiatus, and really loving meeting all the newcomers as well.
As I mentioned, we had our housewarming last weekend and I was finally able to at least unpack the writing room. It is still sorely in need of lots of personal touches and decor, but it’s clean and it’s mine (for however long it’s mine) and I love it.
A housewarming gift from someone dear to me.
Wee stack of journals.
More journals. It is a writing room after all.
The “for now” desk. I’m treasure hunting for just the right one.
Antique bureau for hiding away things and for guests.
If you need me you know where I’ll be. In the meantime, of course this week’s word must come from Virgina Woolf’s, “A Room of One’s Own”, from this paragraph:
So that when I ask you to earn money and have a room of your own, I am asking you to live in the presence of reality, an invigorating life, it would appear, whether one can impart it or not.
Invigorating
