Friday, Mostly Photos

Posting is light this week. Almost three hours in the dentist’s chair on Wednesday, and I’m going back in today for a quick meeting with the fellow who’s making the crown. This has been a process!

I did add a post on my Reading Blog yesterday, if you’re interested.

And here, I can take you on a quick walk. I wore a Gap t-shirt from a few years ago with that navy Uniqlo skirt and my reliable New Balance sneakers.

Admired some construction graphics — all that geometric regularity, lines, angles, blocks of neutral colour with the odd punctuation of red or yellow — so sharp against that blue sky.

And back home,  the sun tipping toward the ocean, slanting evening rays through the sheers we had installed after loving the effect of sheers blowing in the wind in an apartment in Zagreb a few years back. .

A moment of recognizing that I love this space, although I still sometimes miss my old home (four years now, so perhaps that will never completely leave me). . .

I did listen to podcasts during that walk, and I would love to share the content with you, but I have to prepare a presentation for tomorrow’s French class instead. It’s going to be about walking in Paris and taking a photo of this mural . . . . and then finding the photo again, in the context of my recent interest in Haiti, learning that James Noël is a Haitian poet. . . .

If you’re interested, I’ll tell you more about that later.

But for now, I’ll just wish you Happy Friday! Any weekend plans you care to share?

Comments below, if you please — they’re always appreciated.

xo,

f

9 Comments

  1. Marsha
    24 July 2020 / 6:19 pm

    Well, my plans are pretty much the same every day, since I'm in California and options (especially for aware elders) are limited. But I was struck by the beauty of your "new" space and happy that you shared these photos and thoughts, as I generally am when I tune in to your blog.

  2. Anonymous
    24 July 2020 / 8:02 pm

    traveling to Virginia with family for a week tomorrow. a long awaited vacation which is turning into something much different than planned. We go to see the wild pony roundup and foal auction and all the events leading up to this long standing tradition, but this year it has pretty much been cancelled. So we will go for the lovely beach, the wildlife preserve and some fresh seafood. Maybe, carefully masked, explore the art galleries and a quirky bookstore. See if I can still ride a bicycle. when we get home a two week quarantine awaits. My sympathies over the prolonged dental issues. I ought to have had my permanent implants by now but since the dentist, the oral surgeon and the lab which makes the implants have just opened back up having been closed since March I still have my temporary bridge which keeps falling out, not a pretty picture. I do like your living room.
    Darby

  3. Lorrie
    25 July 2020 / 4:44 am

    Happy Friday! Your French presentation sounds so interesting. I'd like to find such a group for practicing my French (which is dismal these days) when I retire after this next school year.
    Weekend plans include a little gardening and a boat outing with the local families to Sidney Spit. I hear it's going to get hot!

  4. Madame La-Bas
    25 July 2020 / 2:11 pm

    You sent me on a search to find out more about James Noël. The streets of Paris are like that. You stop and read a street sign or some graffiti and you are introduced to a whole new world. I hope that you share more about your presentation. Did you read Noël's response to Trump's labelling his country "un pays de merde"?

    Life is slow with us. My husband has been feeling unwell for 2 years. I putter. I'm looking forward to a sunny day so I can read on the pool deck.

  5. Mary
    25 July 2020 / 4:23 pm

    Love the idea of your sheers blowing out in a soft breeze. For a very cooling thought, I remember my first apartment in Minneapolis almost 50 years ago. My west-facing sliding door was so sieve-like that the heavy drapes would catch the wind (always in winter) and billow into me as I sat on the sofa about two feet away. Not exactly the same kind of ambience. And bloody cold, too. 🙂

  6. Lisa
    25 July 2020 / 5:25 pm

    There's almost nothing I like better than a cool cross-breeze on a warm day's evening…

  7. materfamilias
    25 July 2020 / 6:21 pm

    Marsha: Thanks for the kind words. I hope you're enjoying some simple but comforting pleasures as you stay aware (and alive!) in California.
    Darby: I wish you a wonderful week with family and I hope for you that there are many compensations for the plans that had to be jettisoned. Sorry to hear about the big delay in getting your implants done — I hope that proceeds quickly now — personally, I'm crossing my fingers all this work will be done before any possible 2nd-wave shutdown. I really like taking certain things for granted 😉
    Lorrie: It's really a retirement luxury being able to spend time on my French — you'll love it! I heard the same thing about island weather this weekend — stay cool!
    Mme: I found that letter thanks to you mentioning it — wonderful, right?!
    Marie: Ha! Yes, there's a time for curtains to billow in a breeze and a time when they shouldn't have to act as ineffective windbreakers!
    Lisa: It's not so easy to have such a beautiful breeze in today's HVAC-conscious buildings, apparently. I so took for granted the breezes in our last home, had planned door and window placement carefully for that pleasure. . .

  8. Sue Burpee
    26 July 2020 / 2:33 pm

    Been thinking a lot about tee shirts this week and doing a closet inventory so I can add more colour to my closet. Don't know how I ended up with mostly black and white tees. Then laundry, hanging out every load because yesterday we had sunshine and a breeze. Sigh… clean sunny sheets on the bed and rough line-dried towels make me happy. Today is the day we are cancelling all of our Africa arrangements. Had a bit of a kerfuffle cancelling our KLM flights, but we are getting much of our money back and hopefully the insurance will make up the rest. Today we cancel our two safaris (boo) and all the accommodations. And since the rest of the day will be reading, I'm going to pop over to your reading blog for some recommendations. I am bookless at the moment, a situation which can engender panic. Ha. xoxo

  9. materfamilias
    27 July 2020 / 3:19 pm

    Sue B: Ah, I envy you your clothesline! I use my folding clothes rack as often as possible, year-round. Mostly inside, of course, although I shift to the terrace outside when I can, even just for a few hours for that fresh-air smell. This week is a treat, here, for drying outside. Lots of sunshine (and, predictably, I'm already complaining about the heat 😉
    Sorry about the Africa trip. We still haven't processed refunds for our Sicily trip, still somehow hoping to use the credits later.
    Hope you find something good to read. Dottoressa has some intriguing suggestions over at my other place. . . .

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