One Day, Many Updates and Thoughts

A self-portrait I liked today:



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Whole Foods in the South: A Horse of a Different Color

Woman ringing up my groceries: That's a nice color combo you have on there.
Me: Thanks. Blue-green and red-orange are complementary on the color wheel, so I was hoping it would work.
Woman ringing up my groceries: It's really...what's that word I'm looking for...
Dude bagging up my groceries: Creative?
Woman ringing up my groceries: Puerto Rican!

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Via AT. Not much you can say about this sad event. I have so much respect for photojournalists. I fantasize about having the courage to do this kind of work some day:

Tim Hetherington, 'Restrepo' Director, And Chris Hondros, Photojournalist, Killed In Libya

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Dinner made tonight came out delicious. Something, as Aaron put it, "Totally off the map."



Salad with the following ingredients (organic, fresh, and local in this case, might have made a difference): mix of arugula and spring blend ripped up small, buncha chick peas, fresh cherry tomatoes halved, bulb of fennel sliced thin, red onion sliced thin, goat cheese mozzarella roughly hewn, and homemade dressing of flavorful extra virgin olive oil, fresh oregano and flat leaf parsley from my garden, fennel seed, red pepper flakes, orange zest, salt and pepper.

Fresh loaf of bread from Gugelhupf, sliced on the angle, rubbed with a sliced clove of garlic and touched lightly with butter, then broiled.

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An open letter to my brown, Banana Republic scarf:

Dear Scarf,

I miss you. I'm not sure when you left, but I recently took notice of your absence. I'm sorry if this makes me a bad friend, but doesn't the fact that I miss you now count for something? Did you run off with my only pair of black pants that fits right now? If so, I wish you two a happy romance, as I do believe that black and brown can live in harmony. But it would be nice if you'd come back after you elope. Because I found you the perfect outfit to accent. I was all excited to show you last night and that's when I realized you'd gone. Twas a sad day. We've had some good times together, have we not? I mean, we've been friends since my junior year of college. And I've taken care of you, haven't I? I always bathed you by hand with gentle soap, hung you up to dry with the gentlest of padded clothespins, and gave you the coveted top rung of the scarf hanger. If you come back, I promise you won't have to share a rung with my Israeli kafiya anymore. I know how you get jealous when you think you have to vie for favorite, but you know you've always been my #1. Come back and let me tell you how much I appreciate you.

Fondly,
Beth

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Over a year ago, I got the Elliott Smith album "New Moon" and ripped it into my iTunes. My cousin Andy, who is a walking music catalog, told me that if I liked Nick Drake I would probably also like Smith. After an initial listen my conclusion was, "Yeah ok, that's pretty good." Promptly, I forgot about the album's existence, only maybe hearing a track sprinkled in on the rare occasions I use the 'shuffle' mode on my ipod. About three months ago, I remembered. I have been listening to this album pretty much nonstop since then. If you have any affection for lyrics that resemble poetry and yet somehow also maintain an observational posture on the day to day, you will love this CD. Released posthumusly, it contains recordings Smith made between '94 and '97 (while he was recording both Roman Candle and Either/Or which I now have and are also good). Some of my favorite tracks from New Moon are as follows (including links to YouTube versions):

Angel in the Snow
Go By
Georgia, Georgia
Big Decision (posted here a few days ago)
Almost Over

and many more! Anyway, give some tracks a listen and maybe buy the album. Because it is DAMN good. I'm even noodling around the idea of an entire post inspired by the lyric from "Riot Coming" (another fave) that goes, "I met a girl on the square, who showed me how to kill my cares. But once that's done, man, there's nothing to do." Still just a thought though; probably now that I've said it it'll never happen. :)

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Living more alive. Where to begin on this one? It ends self-referentially. I can't even say this because I'm saying everything else. I am a river of words. I'm living more alive. I think you help bring this out of me. Alas I'll have to save it for another day.