022/365 - Saturday 21 November 2015 | I sat in the car with Mads and Ella waiting while Wolfman ran into the grocery store for a quick, easy (read: frozen, processed) dinner. As we sat, I watched a small blonde woman standing among the Christmas trees on the store's patio. She seemed to be enthralled, sniffing and petting, fondling each tree. When Wolfman returned to the car he said, "I think that woman is on pills." As he passed her on his way out the store, he heard her exclaiming, "Oh my gawd, they're soooo pretty." When we drove away it looked like she was trying to bear hug one tree, or possibly pick it up and carry it home pressed against her chest. I don't know that she was necessarily on something. I get it. Trees are special.
023/365 - Sunday 22 November 2015, Day Off | Both Wolfman and I have tried in the past, unsuccessfully, to read Mads Where the Wild Things Are. This week, though, suddenly, he plucked it out from his box of books--I think because, this week, he is suddenly a Wild Thing himself. He's been in trouble a lot this week, for kicking at the dog, for throwing things. And punishing him is a little demoralizing for Wolfman and me. It's hard to be so stern to a creature we're so in love with.
023/365 - Monday 23 November 2015 | I watched this little stripper garden gnome at Spencer's for nearly a year, waiting for the price (an entire $17) to go down. I loved her the moment I saw her, but nearly $20 was just too much for me to spend on a novelty knick-knack, for myself. (I did consider, briefly, buying her for my mother-in-law, and then decided she might not think that was funny.) Though he doesn't quite get the appeal, Wolfman gave her to me for our anniversary. She's been posing on top of a table in the living room until the weather warms up. I can't, in good conscience, send her out doors in this cold, wet weather. She can do her dance in the garden once things start blooming again.
024/365 - Tuesday 24 November 2015 | Been spending much of my work days at the buying counter. Perhaps because of the holiday we've been a little backed up with drop offs, or maybe this is just the new norm. After a few hours at the counter, everybody's clothes start to look the same--just a blur of Banana Republic, Ann Taylor Loft, Talbots, Chico's. I'm always thankful for little surprises, whether intricately beaded vintage statement jackets or the teeny, tiniest little leaf stuck to the back of a cardigan.
025/365 - Wednesday 26 November 2015 | Currently Reading. I meet people sometimes, at the mall, at the flea market, in delis, who tell me they recognize me from the bus. I was a frequent traveler of the Triangle Transit Authority--big fan of public buses. I don't often recognize in return the people who stop to reminisce with me about our bus riding days; these encounters always leave me a little baffled, flattered, guilty (I once thought of myself as an observant person). But, maybe I don't remember these faces because I always had mine stuck in a book. In fact, that's part of what people remember about me, that I dressed wildly and read prolifically. It takes me months now, not days, to finish a book, and that's if I even bother to finish. I'm liking this one, though, my first PG Wodehouse, plucked out of the Free Little Library box on Salem Street during the summer.
026/365 - Thursday 26 November 2015, Thanksgiving | I get very few opportunities to spend any time alone. It's hard enough just to use the bathroom alone as a mother of a toddler, forget meditation. But, every once in a while I do steal a moment to do a quick card drawing, lately with my Vintage Wisdom Oracle deck (my newest deck of cards, an out of the blue gift from Grandma). I've drawn this card, Centering, twice in a row, a week apart. It's not an infrequent occurrence, my drawing the same card from a deck over and over. I always take it as a sign that something's working as my shuffling skills are on point.
027/365 - Black Friday 27 November 2015 | For a couple years, I worked part time at a gas station. It was just supposed to be a month while I was on furlough from my real, government job, but a couple years came and went with a view out the front windows of some stunning sunsets. Now, post time-change, I'm witness to some pretty amazing skyscapes once more. How glad am I that I don't work in the windowless interior of the mall, but in a big, airy space with an open floor plan and a wall of window. Black Friday is the absolute worst. But, this sunset was nice.
