(note to the reader: i wrote this last monday, in my little notebook as i sat downtown on a pretty day, drinking coffee in a cafe. i would not bother posting it, but it does document one of the rarest of rare things: andrea having a good day.)
the oppressive, cutting winds seem to have finally ceased, and i can not locate a cloud in the sky today. it's still quite cold, but then again, it is february, and in new england, blessings are to be counted for each day that does not contain an ice storm, or a wind chill below zero, as has been the case for the past few days.
i've never thought much about my mood being connected to the weather, as i have always kind of enjoyed thunderstorms and rainy days and such... but there's just something about the mid-winter cold that just gets to me- and the past few freezing days have just happened to coincide with a few non-tragic yet still annoying bad incidents. today, though- my day off- has been wonderful so far. (and just as i wrote that, i'll have you know, i spilled coffee on my ivory sweater. oh, well.)
i slept in. i woke up to sunshine and warmer temperatures. i found everything i needed while shopping, and spent far less for it than i'd imagined i'd have to. and so, on this occasion, my "bad news blog" will be positive- and i would like to salute all the little things that made me smile today.
1- my ipod shuffle. (as apple has decided to get rid of it, i treasure it even more.) it's like my grumpy little child. we have a relationship. she's been in a terrible mood for the past few days, getting stuck on only the saddest, most melancholy songs, and no matter how i skipped around, she only landed on the somber songs, or ones that i didn't feel like listening to. her overachiever sister, the nano, doesn't get out too much, cause i'm afraid of breaking her, but it got so bad that i almost switched. today, however, the shuffle started out with one of my ultimate feel-good songs, grey eye glances' "halfway back," then moved on to warren zevon's "i was in the house when the house burned down," then treated me to a delightful mix of 80s pop, including "you spin me." my little girl had a good day.
2- webs. (www.yarn.com) the greatest yarn store ever. i have become quite knitting-obsessed lately, partially due to my incapacitation and the horrid cold, and partially due to my friendship with an AMAZING knitter, teresa. (read her knitting blog at knit.liquidgirl.org, knitting fans.)
but anyways, webs is apparently a very famous knitting store and warehouse, and as luck would have it, it is in walking distance to my house. my search for "burnt orange" yarn had previously been unsuccessful, as the color that i had picked out and purchased somewhere else for a tidy sum had been deemed "tomato red" by one person, and "netflix red" by another. however, as soon as i walked into webs, with its AMAZING selection and good lighting, i believe i was able to find the perfect shade. in fact, there was so much selection that i literally had armfuls of yarn. and knittters are such wonderful people, that at one point i let out a little whimper of frustration, and a nice woman and her daughter asked what was wrong and ultimately helped me make the right decision. and anyone who knits will appreciate that i was able to get roughly 700 yards of great quality yarn, a set of circulars, and a nice set of double-points for just under 50 dollars. webs, i salute you.
3- last, but most certainly not least, i salute one of the greatest graffiti artists of our time, jasmine.
in the second stall of the downstairs bathroom in thornes' market, there is graffiti on the inside of the door. it stands alone, a black scrawl on a spotless white background. read out loud, it reads, "Jasmine and Leon- been together for three years." but jasmine, you see, was thinking outside the box. she substituted numerals for the boring, spelled-out numbers, so it reads, "Jasmine and Leon, been together 43 years." so i was given a mental picture, a movie of an elderly woman, perched upon the toilet, daydreaming of her husband. she is inspired. she reaches into her oversized old lady purse for a pen, fishes around, and pulls out a ball-point pen from its neat place in her checkbook. she stretches toward the stall door, struggling with all of her might to proclaim her love to the world without falling off of the toilet. (and in my cruel vision, she does fall off- but no one sees, and she's not hurt. i swear it.)
i laughed out loud. thank you jasmine, thank you leon- may you have 43 more happy years together.
shadows are creeping over the mural painted on the brick building next to the parking lot. i want to take another nice little walk before the sun goes down. it does make a difference.
it IS the little things that are important- music, hobbies, laughter... and sunshine. don't underestimate the impact of sunshine, and a little less wind.
