170/365

sunday scents:

mint leaves
bonfire smoke
honeysuckle

I don't need much else, really.

169/365

things I miss, part three:

first kisses
the pacific ocean
rotary phones
downtown cincinnati
nineties hip hop

168/365

books checked out from the library:

easy growing (gayla trail)
herb gardening from the ground up (sal gilbertie/larry sheehan)
small plot big harvest (lucy halsall)
the anxious gardner's book of answers (teri dunn chace)

if this gives you any idea where my head is these days.

167/365

things seen today:

a hummingbird just outside the window
a banana the size of a human person at the thrift store
the first nasturtium seed sprout in my garden
a bird with a piece of white plastic in her mouth
the very first lightning bug of the season

166/365

things that feel like a betrayal:

every time an ad appears somewhere it shouldn't
every time my hair defiantly curls under on its own
every time something I've loved for a really long time goes mainstream

every time blogger auto switches my font from helvetica to georgia

every time I see (and hear) that horrible pharmaceutical commercial jingle that uses the jackson five's ABC 

165/365

places I'd like to spend the night, part two:

in this super pink love nest
in this here joshua tree hacienda
in pretty much any one of these european sleeper cars, going anywhere, any time

164/365

places I'd like to spend the night, part one:

in this lil idaho potato
in this old airport terminal
in one of these here trailers with a rainbow blanket on the bed

163/365

things my mother taught me:

how to be silly
how to be generous
how to pick strawberries and blackberries
how to make a lot with a little
how to bake brownies from scratch
how to make a home feel like home
how to make birthdays inordinately special
how to cultivate collections
how to honor family heirlooms
how to make the library a regular part of life
how to keep a prayer journal
how to road trip on a shoestring budget
how to wrap presents all pretty-like
how to paint nails all pretty-like
how to look at things realistically
how to make christmas feel like magic
how to put on a pair of pantyhose
how to throw a humdinger of a yard sale
how to rock mary kay cosmetics
how to work the fleamarket like a pro
how to bake red velvet cake 
how to bake gooey butter cake
how to make groceries stretch for days
how to care for people
how to love God
how to be thankful
how to laugh
how to cry

I miss you, mom.

162/365

songs I can't stop singing:

just a lil tack in the shingle of your roof (reverend howard finster)
I am going to make it through this year if it kills me (the mountain goats)
dreams, take 2 (fleetwood mac)

no really, I can't stop. 

161/365

things I had trouble with today:

the meeting of a deadline
the writing of this list

160/365

sounds recently heard, noted, enjoyed:

a cassette tape rewinding
ezra asleep in the next room
the hiss of the kettle
the heaviest rain
a thunderous gaggle of kids at the art museum
birds in the backyard
joni mitchell on vinyl
a million migrating monarch butterflies
the faint ring-ring of ava's bicycle bell as she rode up the driveway

the grinding of coffee beans (because, I know what this means)

159/365

words I had to stop and look up in the dictionary last month:

impecunious
conflagration
nascent
declension
stentorian
vertiginous
obstreperous

158/365

things that happened on this day, twenty-nine years ago:

decided I liked this one guy
let him kiss me
fell in love

(we were babies)

157/365

hopeful things:

seed packets
train tickets
rolls of film
new notebooks
morning

156/365

films I could watch over and over and over again:

crooklyn
bottle rocket
the before trilogy
frances ha
flirting with disaster
basquiat
roma
in america
slaves of new york
rushmore
twentieth century women
moonlight
almost famous
dazed and confused
junebug
murial's wedding
bridesmaids
walking and talking
working girl
ladybird
say anything
school of rock
slums of beverly hills
reality bites
swingers
party girl
amelie