waaaaaiting

Have never had vegetarian crab cakes~but with fresh mango salsa? I'm hooked.

Tree and moon photos never turn out as stunning as they appear in real life.

At least I'm getting lots of reading and walking done right now.

aging

Some more of the October family birthday celebrations~while I was not there in person, got to chat with the birthday girls. 

Slowly the trees are tinged. 

riding bikes

There's a fun challenge going around fb right now where you post a b/w photo of your day (no people, no explanation) and tag another friend. So, this was my shot today~thought the Pentagon stop made it even more noir. 

Taught my first lesson~such fun. High school senior with a deep bass voice~total choir nerd. Hope he liked the lesson enough to return and to tell his friends/classmates. Nice to have at least the tip of one toe back in the world of work.

exactly

I hate adulting right now.

Except when it's time to eat my vegetables. 

Pear tart with cinnamon/orange juice glaze. There is beauty in every season, but Autumn wins my vote for the best bit of the year. 

sunny scenes

The Elders enjoying Angel's Camp and environs.

Remember those purdy cauliflowers from yesterday? One was transformed into roasted soup with freshly toasted California almonds slivered on top. (I found a bag while rummaging through my storage unit for my social security card. Don't ask~long and irritating story. I.SO.Want.To.Unpack.My.Life.) 

The spooky kitty is now calm enough to sit on my tummy and purr. 

If you've been missing your headless horseman, he's in Alexandria.

Wonder if any of these darling little pumpkins ever bean their owners if the door gets shut too hard?

Everything's still blooming like mad in this warm autumn.

Saturday scenery

A tasty brunch.

Cosy kitties. 

Colourful produce at a local farmer's market.

An interesting interactive exhibit~there was a machine that looked like an overhead projector shooting out a piece of paper every 30 seconds. The room was full and people were lying in it and throwing wads in the air. 

Another warm day of sunshine.

Miniature diorama of how to reach your angel. 

Icarus. 

Huge arrangement leftover from last week's reopening of the Freer Sackler Gallery (the Asian art of the Smithsonians.) 

Also from the party~very cool entry into the gallery. 

The royalty of cats exhibit. :)

Stumbled upon a cellist playing Bach~it was exquisite. And it was lovely to watch the faces and bodies of the crowd relaxing into beauty and calm. 

Leaves that look like black silk. 

The Good Life

When some people talk about money
They speak as if it were a mysterious lover
Who went out to buy milk and never
Came back, and it makes me nostalgic
For the years I lived on coffee and bread,
Hungry all the time, walking to work on payday
Like a woman journeying for water
From a village without a well, then living
One or two nights like everyone else
On roast chicken and red wine.

~Tracy K. Smith

#metoo

By now, you've seen these hash tags on some form of media. I don't know that memes or ribbons or such actually affect (usually) a social justice issue. But stories are important and interesting and how we learn best. So, here's one of my stories.

I got fired for telling a supervisor to stop touching me. Fortunately, it was only a crappy temp sort of job, but it was still wrong. When I went to the owner of the business to report the supervisor, I was told to be more Christian and to be patient with him as he was a dork around women.

Um. "Stop touching me. I don't like it." is pretty clear, even if you are a dweeb with social graces. 

I consulted with a lawyer who told me that if I were to pursue it, the other side would get nasty with digging into my social/dating life and I was better off to drop it.

I was lucky~this wasn't a career sort of job. I didn't lose my housing. I wasn't harmed physically. It was mild compared to some of the stories I've heard this week. 

It's tiresome and wrong that this kind of idiocy still exists. Can you imagine the advances/inventions/creations/just better days that could exist if women didn't have to spend so much of their energies avoiding and fending off entitled male behaviors?

Back to daily joys tomorrow. 

"you're never fully dressed"

We're going to skip the idiocy of the ending of that line as smiles are in short supply right now. But! There is darling footwear~wore my Baltimore blue boots for the first time this season and admire them as much as the November day they were purchase.

And oddly, slippers were in one the boxes I grabbed from storage~with the cool and crisp weather, they are most appreciated in the mornings!

signs

Reading Lunch in Paris and fell asleep dreaming about decadent foods. Decided that we needed some pots of chocolate this week and when I went to find the ingredients? Every item was on sale! How's that for a sign??

How this week is feeling. Off to Maryland to get my fingerprints done for the umpteenth time~hopefully, I can begin subbing later this week.

flora & fauna

The geese seem to be walking to their winter grounds~as it's still 80 and humid, guess I see their point. 

An eye-catching odd grouping of flora.

circle 'round the sun

October is a busy month for family birthdays~got to celebrate with cousins last night. My first intro into Brazilian food. Very tasty!

And what good is dining out on a birthday if one doesn't have the embarrassment of a candle and singing??! 

Building with fun lights. 

Parking lot sculpture.