Rebellion

I turned 37 last week and promptly felt the urge to rebel. I quit the 100 Day Project. I didn't have a great plan for maintaining it, and as soon as I went a day without taking a photo, I gave myself permission to just stop. I didn't stop noticing things, but as a daily broadcast, it was feeling arbitrary. It also took the energy out of ever wanting to write about anything else.

Sometimes it's important to press through, but this is not one of those times. Life changes and my relationship to blogging has been somewhat consistent but also very seasonal. I still find blogging fun because it lets me ride those waves. The current wave, if you must know, involves a list of 90s love songs on shuffle play on Spotify. (Lisa Loeb, how did I forget about you?!)

I'm thinking about big questions right now, like if I'm ready to use jersey knit for my next dress, or if I will ever think of myself as a gardener, or if I'm ready to bring my folding bike on the bus, and whether James Holzhauer will ever be defeated on Jeopardy. And other stuff.

So that's all for the moment. I'll hop back on here soon enough, but I wanted you to know I'm still alive and noticing the world and all its strange beauty.

Noted: Day 23

+ My favorite point of the trees turning green has arrived.

+ My skin is rebelling against the good weather.

+ What did we do before zipties?

I forgot to take a photo today, but Joel made this happen

Noted: Day 22

+ My birthday song

+ The Red Hat Society Ladies at the museum, picking out their favorite Navajo blanket design and telling each other not to touch the textiles.

+ My sit bones are 13.4 centimeters apart. (There is a machine at the bike shop that measures this.)

+ The guy at the Rocket who asked us if we were Preston and Shayla. He was meeting a couple there and didn't know what they looked like.

+ Wondering if we looked like a Preston and Shayla.

+ Spokane is still not hip to fava beans.

+ The joys of listing all the NPR news hosts' names

+ The joys of having a grand dinner made for you and your friends coming to eat it

+ The joys of realizing you're in bed before midnight

+ Everything glimmered.

Noted: Day 21

+ Beyonce.

+ Blossoms on the bike trail.

+ Rollerskaters carefully walking down stairs.

Noted: Day 20

+ Everything was extra beautiful today.

+ Shrimp plants do look like shrimp, and cacti are perhaps the most innovative plants I have ever known.

+ Humans seem out of place in greenhouses/conservatories.

+ Something I forgot to note on (Good) Friday: a man got on the bus, wearing an "I Love Jesus" baseball cap, tracts sticking out of his shirt pocket. "Happy Sabbath, everybody!" he said as he took his seat in front. He then stretched his arms across the row of seats, crossed his legs, and hung his head. Uh...

Noted: Day 19

+ Waking up with a friend's song in my head.

+ Kid who looked like a mini Fonzie on a banana-seat bike.

+ The satisfying feeling of pulling out giant masses of wild grape hyacinths that take over my garden beds every spring.

+ Delight in visiting two new coffee shops in my town that make me feel out of town.

What is natural here?

I see a smiley face

Noted: Day 18

+ How great it would have been if I carried cash and could have gotten a paper crane from the boy on the corner who was selling them for a dollar a piece.

+ Feeling the eyes of customers who want my table.

Lobster rolls to the left

Noted: Day 17

+ Something about this handwriting reminded me of my third grade teacher. Maybe the swoopy t-cross? It feels happy.

Noted: Day 16

+ "Some people think girls are awful." "That's because they're awfully wrong." Dad and son exchange.

+ At least five different birdsongs at 7 a.m.

Noted: Day 15

+ The skunks have returned to the neighborhood.

+ The strange feeling of walking by a duplex you lived in 15 years ago (after almost missing the street) and remembering things you haven't thought of in years.

Hard not to notice a yard littered with Easter eggs

Noted: Day 14

+ The DMV clerk who said, "Your eyes are still brown?" to a customer.

+ The purple painting leaning against the covered walkway along the Maple Street Bridge, and the poor guy who ran out of gas about 100 yards later, at rush hour.

+ The incredible variety of cut fruit in containers at the grocery store.

Confusing parking lines at the DMV, of all places

Noted: Day 13

+ "I know I may be getting older, but you look like you're about 16." - Lady at the Trader Joe's wine sample table, to ME. 

+ A lawn chair on the creek bank, for some nice day someday.

Dad's doing something and I should be there

"Super Old"

Noted: Day 12

+ Waking up with Misdemeanor by Foster Sylvers in my head

+ Line talk at the Bike Swap between new acquaintances: a woman asking a little girl if she thought her dad is a hero for coming to her aid after she fell in the adjacent soggy field. Two Californian transplants - one who moved here 15 years ago expecting to leave after 2 years, the other who has been here just a year - discussing good places for bike rides and picnics with the kids. Several people on their phones saying "I'm at the Bike Swap."

Dried up, still beautiful

Noted: Day 11

+ The gals in Joann discussing "why you're even dating him if you don't like him." Seriously, girl.

+ Dramatic shadows between 4 and 6 p.m.

Noted: Day 10

+ The slightly terrifying sight of a shirtless guy riding his bike across traffic holding a long stick with a metal hook attached.

+ How satisfying it was to listen to "Incense and Peppermints" on the oldies station.

+ The dream about being in an elevator during an earthquake in San Francisco. It wasn't scary but I did think, in my dream, my family is going to be worried about me.

Noted: Day 9

+ The NPR promo from Ari Shapiro about listening to Morning Edition as the way to *really* wake up in the morning, set to ironically positive music.

+ Old Yeller, the dad down the street who regularly yells empty threats at his tin-eared daughters on their walk to the bus stop (like "You're not getting another new backpack!!!!!!!"), yelling as soon as I walked out the door, "You're grounded!!!!"  The daughters walked ahead slowly in front of their even slower dad, when they stopped at my car as I was scraping the windshield to chirp cheerful hellos at me. Kind of heartbreaking and odd at the same time. This neighborhood is something else.

+ The sweet sadness of watching my cat play with her own fallen whisker.

Noted: Day 8

+ Perfectly synchronized turn signal with jazz tune on KEWU

+ College students and free food is still a winning combination for conversation and gratitude

+ The evening light!!

The light!!

The light!!

Noted: Day 7

A charming bit of moss in my garden

+ Things I'm noticing about noticing:
     - It's hard to notice when I'm listening to something.
     - Sometimes I don't notice what I notice until later.
     - People are the most interesting things to notice.
     - I'm better at noticing things in the morning.

+ The line "But it's been no bed of roses, no pleasure cruise" from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" has been repeating through my head for 2 days straight.

Noted: Day 6

+ The expressway of squirrels darting in all directions across our path.

+ Forsythia are blooming.

+ Boxelders are invading.

+ A reliable way to assess whether two people are on a date (I think) is the look of interest and surprise in reaction to whatever the other person is saying. I enjoyed watching this way too much while eating a waffle at the ice cream shop. Also, an ice cream shop on a Sunday afternoon is a perfect place for a date, don't you think?

Whimsical windowsill at the ice cream shop. Outside: date in progress.

The combination of these colors speaks to my soul

Noted: Day 5

+ An allergic reaction to ignore: cheese that makes my tongue itch.

+ Don't bother to order wine if you're getting anything with Szechuan peppercorns in it.

Hidden yellow revealed

A passion for bugs

Oh come on. You got a bigger lunch than I did.