From inside my bedroom window!
I could hear a lot of soft knocking on my window, and when I looked over, a large dark brown butterfly with yellow spots was struggling to get back outside after having flown in.
So, I slid a card under it and a glass over it, went to my window opening, set it free, and watched it fly away.
I hope it had a lovely day. 🦋
My clay soil is not so wet it's clay or dry it's solid, so I can easily pull weeds by hand, feeling the satisfying little pull as the root ball pops out.
It’s just nice. I also got to see some fun local fireworks. I’m so happy to have been able to open my windows a little bit!
I had to make it to July 15th walking 6000 steps a day and I broke it today. Only made 5400. I cried.
I walk my son to school each morning. It’s a fun filled walk. On the way to school we see various people with dogs on their morning routine walk. There is the man with 4 Staffordshire bull terriers. 3 grey and one my son has called the odd one out (she’s black and white) they’ve become accustomed to seeing him and their owner says they look for him and act disappointed if they don’t see him for cuddles and strokes. There’s the bedlington terrier who jumps up at my son and the owner apologises profusely while saying he’s a bit unruly. There’s the cockney bloke (we live in northern England so it’s out of place delightfully) who has the strongest cockney accent I’ve ever known with his beautiful German shep. She is 13 now and ever so slow and lethargic but she wags her tail like crazy seeing my son and she gets lots of cuddles also. We discuss the various dogs and if we haven’t saw someone we usually see on our walk he frets if they’re okay. After dropping him off I walk back toward home and see other people on their morning walk with their dogs. The thing I love to see is two dogs who really enjoy seeing each other. Like that morning walk is their highlight. I’ve noticed a huge Cane Corso and its nodding acquaintance with a shitzu. They walk past each other and both the owners and dogs acknowledge each other. Two labs that greet each other and run around on the patch of grass next to the park like they’ve not seen each other for years (for which I’m sure that day seems like) I love that the dogs we see on the way to school know each other like we know each other on a passing, head nod, quick conversation, knowing chat and deeply getting to know each other way like how us humans form connections
I moved into my apartment about a year ago and here are some things about the little quasi community here:
I met my roommate on reddit (I know) and recently he had me close my eyes and hold out my hands and gave me a glass/clear box picture of my cats that he took - one is licking the other one
One of my neighbors downstairs and I are friends - we often carry groceries to each other to cook together, I help spray and feed her gecko when she's away, she drives me to the farmer's market, we have each other's keys on our keychains in case someone gets locked out. I like looking at the keychain (which also has an acrylic character keychain from my artist friend) and knowing I'm useful. I take up her packages in case they get lost, we help each other move in furniture. We met in the laundry room.
There is a couple a few doors down with a dog they rescued from an organization that only takes dogs that are to be euthanized. Her name is sweet potato and all three of them (humans and dog) are sweet. they go on 4 walks a day and they're so happy, I hear squeaky toy noises from their door.
My super recently showed me pictures of his twin toddlers smiling on vacation - I left a cake by his door when I had some extra once and nice guy
Once I got locked out and my roommate, neighbor friend, and super were all not there so I knocked on my downstairs neighbor's door and he graciously allowed me to crawl through his fire escape (he had a wood stick propping his window closed and had to remove it) and was very nice about a sweaty stranger asking to go through his window
There is a man who works nearby and when he's outside he greets everyone including me to say good morning
There is someone who worked at the building next door who saw my roommate and I moving an armchair from the street (trash) into our apartment so he showed me all the furniture people were throwing away he had collected in the basement to see if I wanted any
Also all the pigeons nearby in the square are so plump and healthy somehow. That's it for now
She knows what's up, lol.
On another note, at work today we had to unclog our ice machine for the first time since I've ever worked there (3+ years). We found two name tags and some prepackaged peanut butter someone had thrown in that were older than my time here, since I didn't recognize them. Turns out they were five years old, just decomposing in the bottom of our ice machine. That's a great way to never order drinks with ice at a restaurant ever again!
I'm currently snuggled in bed with the AC on and door closed. In the next room I can hear my husband reading to our 1 year old. In a bit I'm sure I'll hear him singing along with the wiggles. I just love how all these little things show I picked a good guy.
I don't know if it's the weather or just the slower pace that comes with it, but whenever it starts raining, I almost always end up reaching for a book instead of opening Netflix.
It wasn't something I planned it just quietly became one of my favourite little routines.
i sit out in the backyard at night and anywhere from 8 to 11pm i can hear the tow truck driver who lives around the corner get home (and sometimes leave and come back on late night calls)
i don't think i've ever spoken to this neighbor but whenever i hear it i'm glad they're home
I moved to the mountains a few years back and it was the best decision I’ve made. Waking to a the soft floomp of a forest cat upon my chest demanding head-bashing affection, and then slowly gaining consciousness before being alerted by the rush of wild turkeys outside that it’s time to give the hens their morning treat is the way. And retiring to the hoots of owls & coyotes yipping merrily creates a deep, sacrosanct slumber.
A really long time ago - Mum used to take us for picnics and outings to the various monuments in our city. These were mostly architectural marvels of Mughal era and were mostly mausoleums of various kings and their relatives. Grandeur was an intrinsic part.
And then Dad got posted to a UNIDO centre in Ahwaz - a smallish town in Iran. Education was limited to Persian/Farsi medium in schools, so we got left behind, visiting in our summer holidays. Once there, we took trips to the Caspian sea, Shiraz, Isfahan, Persepolis, and, of course, Tehran. All car trips. We saw - nay experienced - the absolutely glorious architecture and the fabulous geometric decor in tiles. The caligraphy was on another scale too - with the perspective calculated to a point where it did not seem to reduce in size. Mum made sure we were aware of all of this. She taught us to look and to appreciate the materials, the colours and the absolute insane labour, the planning, the geometry of these places.
I fell in love with geometry and tesallations, though I did not get to use it much in my career.
Today, I managed to replicate a design. The sheer happiness that has given me, is boundless. The smell of freshly baking bread, the setting sun while monsoon clouds clear, brings it all together.
Remembering Mum. Knowing how much she would have revelled in this too.
Too exhausted to do anything, so i've been stuck in bed listening to music and podcasts. Legit can't walk twenty steps without wanting to pass out. On a plus note at least i'm finally catching up on sleep and getting back to healthy eating again lol.
Fml, feels like it's always one step forward two steps back with me.
I'm moving in to a new house right now and there's a little fountain from the previous owner. I was in the yard doing stuff and a little bird was taking a bath in the fountain, then it flew away. Then, a hummingbird flew right up, like it had been waiting in line, and started bathing in the water. It was so special, I've seen lots of hummingbirds all my life, but I've never seen one so comfortable as to take a bath, nevertheless just a few feet from me! It was so lovely, we just stood there and let it do it's little birdy thing for a few minutes in silence. I'm looking forward to getting to watch birds hang out there :)
I feed the birds on my back deck, and of course squirrels raid the feeders. I was watching TV and noticed two squirrels through my sliding glass door which was open with a screen door.
As I was watching them from inside my house, about 10 - 15 feet away, I suddenly coughed a little. They instantly froze in mid step, whipping their heads around to stare at me. It was so cute! One guy had a paw in mid air, and the other was holding a peanut and stared with his mouth open. It reminded me of playing Freeze Tag when I was a kid.
After a few seconds the squirrels broke their freeze and made a run for it, dashing along the top of the railing to the end where they do a short "Flying Squirrel" into the trees.
It's just cheap thrills for me, and keeps me feeling like I'm just a bit in touch with nature.
I was grocery shopping with my aging mom today when we spotted a teen counting her change to buy a book. My mom reached into her wallet and handed me $3 to give to the young lady. I walked up to her and asked her if she was buying a book and she said yes, so I handed her the money and told her to have a great summer. My mom was so happy and that it made MY day!
My niece and I went to our local supermercado and got some great produce for at least a week for under $20.
10/10 would recommend. Even better if you have an actual seashell and can pretend it's the ocean you're hearing. Also, the effect is literally called seashell resonance, which is super cool.
I put a sticky note on my fridge that says “eat pasta first.”
It is ugly. the handwriting is bad. it’s not even centered.
but i have actually eaten the pasta.
I also have scissors that live in the kitchen drawer now, keys in the same bowl, and a basket for clothes that are not clean but not laundry yet.
None of this looks organized. it just makes my day slightly less annoying.
That feels like enough
So I went to the movie theatre today with my family, wearing my favorite t-shirt. It has a reference to a fairly obscure board game on it, which I never expected anyone to recognize. Lo and behold, the guy getting our popcorn looked at my shirt for a few seconds and then asked if it was referencing said game. I said yes, and we had a pleasant chat about it while he served up the popcorn. I couldn't stop grinning afterwards, and I still get a little glimmer of joy when I think about it.