Miss Kelly, perhaps you'd like this flower. I seem to have
misplaced my buttonhole.
Our house is at the end of a pipestem, so although my home
office faces the front yard, you wouldn’t think there’d be much to see. This
time of year, at least, the flower beds out front (which were lovingly and
skillfully planted by the lady who used to own the house, and which I am
currently trying to not kill) are pretty spectacular, with something new
popping up all the time. And while watching the flowers is great, mostly what I
spend time watching is creatures trying
to eat said flowers. The other day I looked out the window to see a bunny
snacking on one of my tulips. I knocked on the window and the bunny froze, on
its hind legs, with its mouth still closed over a tulip petal. You could almost
see its little bunny mind churning, trying to come up with a reasonable
explanation (“Um…this isn’t what it looks like…”). Tilly was not amused:
She’s quite a watchdog, when it comes to bunnies (humans…not
so much). But as Tilly is stymied by the inability to let herself outside, I’d
say the bunnies have more to worry about from the big-ass fox I saw prance through the yard the other day. My cat
Samson once tussled with a fox. Some of you knew Samson…he was approximately
the size of a wildebeest. I’m pretty sure he deadlifted the couch while the
rest of us slept. And that fox nearly did him in.
We're talking about unchecked aggression here, dude.
In other “WASP-y Suburban Highlights,” our bathroom
renovation is finally complete. Most days, I tried to work from the couch while
Alfredo-the-bathroom-guy (probably not his real name) worked noisily upstairs.
Occasionally, a guy I called “The Dude” (not because of a resemblance to Jeff
Bridges, but because it was clearly his favorite word,) would drop by to 1)
help carry something heavy, and 2) repeatedly refer to me as “Maria.” It was a weird 6 weeks, but worth it in the
end (yes, there’s something vital missing from this picture—can you figure out
what it is? I seem to have deleted all of the “final” bathroom pictures):
I hope they have pudding.
I’m currently in Phoenix for a conference. I’ve never been
here before, and won’t really get to see much before my 5:30 am (GASP) flight
tomorrow morning. Main impressions: it’s hot, it’s sunny, and if I lived here
I’d have to bathe in SPF 50 every morning. I did have a good local beer called
the “Kilt Lifter” last night…and that’s pretty much the closest thing to an
“Arizona experience” I’ve had here. Otherwise it’s been meeting rooms and typing
notes. Very glamorous. Plus I have this "awesome" view :
.jpg)
Tomorrow morning, at the butt crack of dawn, I head to
Asheville (via Chicago…because that makes sense) for Brevard’s White Squirrel
Festival (it’s become somewhat of a tradition…read about past years here
and here).
I am much looking forward to seeing my parents and the WNC mountains, where
things such as “shade” and “temperatures below 80” exist. I’ll wear nothing but
t-shirts and shorts, and ride around in my dad’s pickup, and enjoy small-town
life for a week or so…but for now, I must slap on some Ann Taylor blandness and
sit in the back corner of a windowless conference room. At least I won’t need
sunblock.
