Thursday, May 24, 2018

Love spray | Olga | Reading is Rad



“The magic of the street is the mingling 
of the errand and the epiphany.” 

Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust   |   Photo by Jay Fung

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I'm heading out to a cafe to do some work, because so far today I have done nothing but sit in front of the TV. Is anyone else watching the final season of The Americans? It could hardly be more gripping, and the acting is outrageously good. The series finale is next week, and everything appears to be exploding, but quietly—more of an implosion actually. And then I watched an episode of Fixer Upper, wishing, as I do come summer, that someone would just come in and make over my house. In the kitchen, the dishes are piled up from last evening. I looked at them and walked away. Memorial Day weekend is here. These warm weather holidays leave me invisibly reeling and out of sorts. I'm always convinced the rest of world has scintillating outings planned, while I stare at a sink full of dishes, and wrestle with a book outline that is taking much too long to reveal itself. So now I am packing up my laptop and heading to the bookstore cafe. Surrounded by similarly solitary strangers, I'll try to co-exist with this "poor me" melancholy for a while, hoping it will grow bored of acceptance and ride on through. 


21 comments:

  1. I'm going to water my garden and roll around with kittens.
    Love

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  2. I took a walk. Now I don't feel like doing anything at all. Sounds like you're being pretty productive to me.
    As to Memorial Day weekend plans? Uh...nope.

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    1. Ms. Moon, I think about the posts Scott writes on insta, and I wonder why I seem so resistant to just meeting each moment as it is, why I am so often wanting the moment to be different. And productive? Once I got to the cafe I did more work in 2 hours than I'd maybe done all the previous day.

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  3. "These warm weather holidays leave me invisibly reeling and out of sorts."

    It is occurring to me that Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day all bring with them a growing measure of melancholy in connection with the state of our nation. I identify with the lived experience of invisible reeling and feeling out of sorts on those holidays as well as the knowledge that the feelings come and go. Hoping. Sending love. Appreciating your artist's eye.

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    1. am, the feelings come and go. we will try to remember that, okay? i always love seeing you here.

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  4. I have never even heard of The Americans so that tells you that there are people who live a life less exciting than yours. 😁

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    1. Birdie, it's a series on FX, about undercover Russian operatives in DC in the 1980s. The real driver of the story is not the espionage so much as the relationship between the two spies, put together to live as a married American couple. They have children, they fall in love, but life is so hard-edged, especially when their daughter becomes a teenager and starts to suspect her parents are hiding things. For me, it got better each season, and this final season is by far the most taut. I watch it hardly breathing. It ends next week, and it does look as if every danger that lurked is now coming home to roost. It's on netflix i think, except for the final season, which is currently live on TV. hope you're doing well, friend.

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    2. Well, now I have to go watch it!

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  5. Oh my, does the writing at the base say "do it trump style?" Ewww. I am glad to hear that you know what to do when faced with a pile of dishes! THAT is MY style! I had no idea that this week end is a holiday.

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    1. Linda Sue, I don't know what that orange man graffiti says. I like the picture, which as taken by one of my daughter's former teachers, so i chose to focus on the other messages in it, including reading is rad, since Rad is the diminutive of my husband and son's name.

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  6. I always imagine everyone has much more interesting lives than I do as well. We're to a funeral this weekend.

    Hope the book goes well.

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    1. Thank you, Lily. May your gathering be somehow uplifting, even though sad.

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  7. A weekend of nothing sounds perfect to me! I broke my right ankle last Thursday and having a blast in myself this weekend!

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    1. Joanne, I am so sorry to hear you broke your ankle! Perhaps the silver lining is that it removes all inner imperatives to do anything but set your foot on a pillow and take care of yourself gently. I hope you heal quickly, with no after effects. Sending love, my friend.

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  8. I feel the same on long weekends. We never do anything except try to get caught up on what we're behind in, and have some downtime to rest or read. We don't WANT to do anything else, but it still seems like everyone else must be having a much better time!

    Sometimes the only sane response to a sink full of dishes is to ignore them. I hope your cafe time helped and your outline falls into place soon.

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    1. jenny-o, birthday mate, lol of course we feel the same! my outline is due next week so it will have to fall into place before then! i think i'm going back to the cafe to work today. i was so much more focused.

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  9. I love the photo and the title of this blog post. I first thought it was an homage to Steve Reed's beautiful doggie Olga, especially with that photo. Oh these long weekends. No mail on Monday and our California coastal towns filling up with people looking for respite from their hard-working lives. I hope your weekend has the epiphany.

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    1. robin, i thought about Steve's dog when I saw the photo too! That and the fact that both my husband and son are called Rad for short, is why I absolutely had to post it here. Your town fills up on these long weekends, while New York empties out. The streets become eerily quiet. It's always weird to me in a city that's usually so bustling. It makes me feel as if I should be elsewhere.

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  10. Olga! I love it! My dog isn't blue, but she often wears that expression. LOL

    We just started watching "The Americans," so we're only on the first season. Somehow this show had eluded me until now. Looking forward to the rest!

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    1. Steve, Olga is a true celebrity! And I think The Americans gets stronger with each season. My only quibble with the show is some of the disguises. But I've found it to be compelling overall.

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