I'm still here, not doing much, with barely anything to report.
Today it is two weeks before the official construction start date. Next week is moving week, and for now I am still just kind of hanging out between phases of my life, still sorting out what goes where, still packing some things before the movers come, still changing plans, almost daily it seems. I am moving some small things, there are always things that it seems to make sense to move myself, that I don't want to pay someone else to pack, although at the moment I can't say that I honestly don't think it would be easier just to pay someone. I live in and use all three floors of my house, and think nothing of running up and down stairs all day long. But I had forgotten how exhausting it is to carry stuff, 25 to 40 pound loads of stuff, up and down stairs out to my car, up stairs to my apartment, in the heat. No wonder I have little to say.
But here are a few things that have entranced me lately.
1. My small wine rack.
I put this together this morning after hauling the coats, some wine, and a few other kitchen supplies over from the house. It was actually rather gratifying to sit on the cool floor in the empty apartment and bang things together. And I am thrilled to have a coat closet since there has been no place to hang a coat or jacket in this house since I moved in. I still won't have a coat closet when I move back, but I will have a rear entry and space for a coat rack. I jettisoned the coat closet with the extended addition, but that is ok. I am thrilled with what is ahead.
2. Coreopsis.
I picked up the yellow li'l bang coreopsis as a kind of next-best choice. I really wanted a different color, but didn't find it. Now I am happy. I love the way the cheerful yellow flowers play so nicely with the little lime hydrangeas. The south side of the front yard is doing really well considering I just planted it all this year, and we have had some extended dry spells. I've decided I will need a lot more coreopsis next spring.
The crape myrtle on the cool, shady side of the front yard is also doing much better this year after I hacked back a bunch of other trees and shrubs that I really didn't want. I remember talking to my neighbor and he didn't even believe there was a crape myrtle in that thicket. No doubting its presence this year, as the blossoms are quiet evident, although I will have a good bit of weeding out to do again next spring.
4. New Perfume
I treated myself to a decant set of natural perfumes that Duchesse, of the blog passage des perles had recommended and I fell promptly in love with one perfume, Arbolé Arbolé by Hiram Greene. I have been wearing it every day and it just makes me feel grounded and happy. It is sweet without being sugary, at least on me, with hints of patchouli, cedar, and sandalwood, therefore making it somewhat woody and grassy but without the harsh edge of some woodsy fragrances. It also feels a bit spicy, with a little touch of the oriental, but I don't really know if that is an intended part of the perfume, or how I feel wearing it. It reminds me of walking outside at dawn on a summer morning right after a nighttime rainstorm, when one smells the wet, but one also smells the earth, the wood, the perfume of flowers hanging in the air. It is a scent both soft and warm, bruised and also full of hope. I think that is how I feel when I wear Arbolé Arbolé. I feel like I am in a bubble of hopeful equanimity, as if no matter how harsh the storms, how ugly the world, there is still hope that nature and right will win out. For me, for this summer at least, it is the perfect perfume, filled with hope and laughter, calm, and a touch of flirtatiousness, where upsets are melded into new growth, a reminder that as long as there is still beauty and life, there is also still hope.