Good omen

With a butterfly landing on knees and clinging to fingertips; so far, very good luck in Los Angeles.

Squirrel

This guy was just sitting right up real close next to my car in the Kinko's parking lot yesterday, and holding his ground (tree) when I so obviously and heinously threatened him by returning from my secret print, fold, staple mission and unlocking my car door. Lots of knuckle tapping, lots of little war noises on both sides.

Thirty hours later, twelve hours to boarding a plane to reunite with a more welcoming animal.

Digital hibernation

I haven't been feeling too Internet-drawn lately, just doing the basic check email, check blogs, check my bank balance, and that's usually when I've checked out at work. Once I get home from a day of classes and world travels in scanning and staring at a computer screen, all I want to do is eat and finish homework and curl up until eight the next morning. But at least I have a camera:

Too much of a slump to type, suffice it to say doing well despite darkening days tinged with nostalgia. I've been missing a lot lately, and I guess my web-avoidance is an attempt to make a little more tolerable my "reminiscences of the day mixed with some memories from the past." I'm looking forward too some sort of return bumbling through this big world, dreaming of certain people and certain places and certain times in my life while acting out adolescently in the dark on the bridge and getting much too wibbly and excited by movies I watched when I was six.

Good weekend

As can probably be guessed, this last weekend was spent lolling doing very little but though we're back to our weekend routine of repose and whatever strikes, some things were a little out of the ordinarily. First, I spent a little Friday night alone time downtown running secret errands that I won't discuss at this venture because of a possible lurking someone with a looming birthday who every so often is reading this very blog when I lurkily peek over to see what he's doing on the computer. But I will say that my unpublishable activities downtown were quite successful.

For our second not-so-usual phenomena of a weekend, Pup planned our Saturday (whereas leaving the apartment is usually on a whim of mine). The next morning (or afternoon) when we rolled out of bed, a mushroom and slug hunt on the path below the apartments. Very good!

Very successful! Copious mushrooms and three whole banana slugs, two were even munchin' on a banana peel! Da doon, chuh. Unreal.

So, then, with mushrooms in tow (but banana slugs left right where they were), we thought it only fit to make spore prints... and pizza. Not mushroom pizza, though! We are only weekend mushroom hunters, and I have a lot of schooling to do before I'd feel confident enough to harvest my own mushrooms. But we did make pizza: fig, arugula, prosciutto, goat cheese on herb garlic crust, minus figs for picky Pup. But he will eat green beans, so small victory.

Then, in a completely unprecedented turn of events, we went out again on Sunday. Maybe struck with the urge to do somethings after our packed weekend in Davis, we ended up on two adventurscursions last weekend where we'd normally settle for one before dragging ourselves back to the apartment pooped and ready for some Food Network. But it was two this time--three, if you count our Friday night every other week excuse of grocery shopping to go treat ourselves to very cheap and very greasy Costco hot dogs. True, all we did was roam our way downtown to buy spices and butter and a large piece of heavy yellow paper so I could make green lentil soup with coconut and warm spices (with some chicken and chard and cumin and chili added to the recipe then topped with Greek yogurt and my first time making clarified butter! but no pictures because it is a little less than pretty) and the very last little bits of Halloween costumes.

All in all, a welcome respite and recharge, now ready to tackle this week of midterms, birthdays, and bumps in the night.

Why do I keep saving banana slugs?

Second one in two weeks! This little guy was precariously sluggin' along the path from Kerr Hall to Kresge while I walked home from Female Physiology, and he near fell prey to painfully oblivious shoes many times before I could rush quick enough to trap him between the caution tape of my legs and help him up onto my arm for a short and slimy journey to wooded safety.

Also, I love this

Goodnight!

Small accomplishments

Persephone's web spun a fit of inspiration--buttercream khaki, tiny white buttons, 7" polyester zipper, floral lace, ribbon roses. Switching between Project Runway, LA Ink, Policewomen of Broward County last night, Courtney and I switched between black and white thread on her industrial strength sewing machine gathering, stitching, basting, hemming, attaching fabric to fabric. While I'm not about to unleash anything (I've still got work to do), I am amazed that I was suddenly willful enough to sit down and not stop until I had a skirt. Mostly, I am amazed I remembered how to sew after only having used my machine these past few years to mend tears and make hip-skirts waist-skirts.

In the wake of a mad, maybe on and off, ten-hour sewing adventure, today was sluggish and hot and mostly non-functional. A shower, a trip to the Davis cemetery (more on that later!), one million dragonflies and strictly business at the bank, Courtney, anticipation, the future, and chirashi.

Where I've been: LA Zoo