Cooped Up

Winter. I will never say that I enjoy any aspect of it. Cold can kiss my ass.... snow looks great out the window but I'll take a pass on going out in it much. Dark at 4:30? While it is beneficial for my current sleep/work schedule it sucks eggs. I want to be able to have the doors and windows open... I want to see green on the trees... I want to go barefoot. Remind me again why we moved back to the mainland from Hawaii? That was really, really dumb. Sigh.

This winter so far has not been too harsh. It has been so mild in fact that I am currently suffering from my juniper allergy. In January. This is about the only reason why I could be moved to cheer for a deep cold spell to fall upon us and linger. Rudy is also suffering from seasonal affective disorder. He lays around in a piss poor mood and all he wants to do otherwise is eat. See?

Go ahead and look at the larger version of this by clicking on it and take a gander at the dirty look on his face. He is a hater.  The dude is hard up. He even has a dried sweet potato treat wedged back there by his bum but he could care less. I think I may buy him a bottle of bourbon just to help him through until we get to the end of February. Everyone likes to pretend come March that Spring Is Here! So I will let Rudy ride that shenanigan train too. Until then... bottoms up Rudy. Just don't puke on the rug.

The apartment feels like a nest at times. We have too much stuff, it's warm in here and the thick adobe walls can sometimes make you feel as though you were twenty stories underground in a tomb. The thick draperies and blankets we have covering the windows aren't doing us any favors in that department either. I have grown to depend on them though... to block out the car headlights that race through our bedroom every 5 minutes for hours right around the time we go to bed.

I did notice that our orchid on the high window ledge in the bathroom is getting ready to bloom. I can't even remember what color the flowers are... purple? So that will be cool to watch them open up.

My favorite tea tin has been getting a real work out. We drink about 40 gallons of hot tea per day. I'm hooked on genmaicha. Does anyone have a suggestion for a good chai? I am thinking of blending my own as I can never quite find a store bought variety that does the trick for me.

My cookie cutters above the fridge are looking sort of lonely.... I need to find the time to bake up a mess of rockets and hippos to deliver to friends with kids. I have not even used most of them yet. I have a monkey and a bison and a bunch of other random shapes. It's just a question of when will a Martha Stewart mood strike?

Our mantle is such a glom of nick nacks. One of my favorites is the little green wooden guy. He is super old, hand carved and hand painted. He's meant to walk/waddle down a plank board with his big feet. Billy bought me the groovy purple crystal a few years back. We saw it in a gem & mineral store and I was taken with all it's little facets and sparkles. It is supposed to be straight up, pure magic (of the fairy variety.) So far nothing big has come of it but I love it anyway.

The photo on the right is my Grandmother's family (on my Mom's side) on their cotton plantation in Arkansas when my Gram was a young teenager. The pic to the left of it is her parents. I love both of these photos dearly even though I never met my great grandparents and I only know (knew) 3 out of the ten people in the group shot. The photos make me feel grounded somehow. Knowing that these sort of folks are my roots makes me feel like part of an old oak tree even if I am still somewhat of a bitter little acorn.

Billy is painting. Every day. Some things (barely ever if not) never change. He is working on a self portrait which I will post an image of when it's been completed. It's been years since he did one... and I think this one will be really cool.

I'm off to start a new book. Haruki Murakami's 1Q84. Anyone else reading it or planning to?