Tonight November 8, no one in pool, me reading Patti Smith on a lounge-y thing, beautifully quiet, Austin evening skyline. With sweater of course..
Update November 7. Gorgeous sunny Sunday morning. Kitten Oliver on the windowsill watching dozens of finches perching in the trees below, flicking his tail, entertained.
And yesterday I finally cleaned the floors. Yay me. How nice to wake up Sunday to everything being clean. (Kitchen, bathroom done too.) It’s a good set up for the work week. I have a lot to get done by the end of this year that, as always, went by so fast but for now, the domestic chores are out of my way and I can concentrate. Yay triple yay.
Gift to self…after and only after I meet my writing goals this week…get to the garden store to replace my failing jade plants. Gosh they are sensitive. In the historic Unitarian church where I was married, volunteers did such dedicated work, probably every single day, to keep those gorgeous jade plants there, in their tall windows, keeping on.
Update November 1. I know everyone asks “how can it be November already”? Yeah. (Though in Austin in November I can take my journal or a book down to the pool about an hour before sunset without shivering…with sweater of course. So no complaining.)
Yesterday I worked out a nasty knot in a cheap but liked necklace. Baby oil, sewing needle, and patience. Eventually it worked. Knot gone, necklace straight. Back to basic. Somehow seeing a teeny metaphor for our tangled world. Tools, diligence. Problems small and of course far more large, way more thornier, and of real significance…humans are capable of solving, we are.
One. Cleaned up all the open tabs in Chrome. Still working on inbox and subscriptions and passwords. Then match up Zotero with laptop file structures, with bookmarks, with manuscript files. The path to simplicity can be a little twisty.
And WordPress sidebar fixed. That took a few tries. WordPress is feature-full but not really simple. Practice.
Android update. What a mess. Just growl and get a Lyft to the T-Mobile store.
Two. Article in New York Times today about Laura Ashley. My mother hand sewed my wedding suit. But for the rehearsal I wanted, really wanted Laura Ashley (and that’s what I wore). Pretty frilly fussy stuff. Cannot believe that was once me. These days no frills or fuss.
Three. I also now love my uncluttered minimalist nest, with few possessions, but the right ones, and photos and journals going back decades which do matter. Here I have a perfect serene place to concentrate and write which is most important. And congenial neighbors and their adorable dogs and a cappuccino across the street when it’s time to get out.
Dayna Finet 