hurry up and wait

Well, the sidewalks are covered in salt and people have swarmed the grocery stores, or so I've been told because I avoided the madness. We had dinner with our downstairs friend, which makes two nights a row of socializing. That's basically my quota for the month, so I'm going to get straight to the haiku about this evenings commute, and then it's faceplant city (aka crazy friday night bed time).

she strolled downstairs hunched
over her phone playing games*
i almost kicked her

*really it was 1 game, but pluralizing is a trick to cut out the syllable for the article. instead of kicking her, I said "seriously" in my supremely pissy tone because she was taking up half the staircase in the middle of Friday evening rush hour. Fine, be a phone zombie and enjoy yourself, but MOVE OVER.

picture: stairs of a brownstone somewhere in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY, summer 2012, film, Canon Tlb 

tee time

The previously mentioned dinner guests should be here in about 15 minutes, so let's see what I can manage in that amount of time. We are allegedly getting a lot of snow this weekend, and there are infographics circulating the intertubes depicting how many of whatever BS item people should buy in a given region. Call me a teetotaler, but I do not understand the whole it's going to snow, let's go buy 5 bottles of wine, a case of beer and pork rinds! or whatever. This one is a little more my speed (as seen on the Central Rappahannock Regional Library facebook page, so it's not for New York, but it should be!):

and now for the completely unrelated short version of the dog helping us clean for our guests:

snout glued to the ground
as he compulsively licks
squished sweet potato

picture: a thai eggplant, which was NOT in dinner, because I am allergic to eggplant, February 2008, digital 

january morning

Well, I'm definitely less grumpy, but I don't have very much time before I need to get into bed to prevent tomorrow's grumpiness. Especially since we are having dinner guests tomorrow, and the apartment has a few days' worth of "who has time or energy to put THAT away" stuff. So here's a snippet from our walk in the park this morning. I tend to groan to myself as I'm pulling on layer upon layer of warm clothes, but park days are always better days, even in January.

over glinting snow
patches we walked while birds chirped
like creaky porch swings

(it's easy to get into list cadence with haikus. not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing or just is. luckily, it's my party and I can list if I want to (although this one is less list-y than usual))

picture: near the end of the long meadow in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY, this morning, iPhone 5

grump

Note to self: write blog post before starting tedious campervan rental research. Good grief. I'm too cranky for public consumption. Here's the short take for today:

the cats sit staring,
willing me to give up and
bring them their dinner

picture: an old volvo seen on the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark, September 2010, cross-process slide film, Canon Tlb 

show up

Well, I'm home from the funeral marathon. Three different events across three days, which was a lot for me, so I can't even imagine how the immediate family must feel. The services were all in Ukranian, so I spent a lot of time watching the attendees and trying to catch the emotion of what was being said, but I had little clue as to what was actually happening. It's more about showing up than understanding the language. Today's service took place in a beautiful Ukrainian church that is built out of wood without the use of nails (so I've been told - I'm skeptical). At any rate, it's amazing, and oh so effing cold. My feet STILL haven't warmed up from sitting there for 90 minutes listening to the singing and watching the priest toss around burning ashes in a ceremonial metal holder that I'm sure has a name. The light in the church is incredible. There are small windows towards the ceiling that let in huge diagonal streams of light. Sadly, the light wasn't enough to keep anyone warm.

Now back to life on animal planet in which the cats roam around while the dog is gone and then he comes barging in the door from his evening walk yodeling because the orange cat didn't scramble out of the kitchen quite fast enough. And now for the short form:

cold toes and running
noses, crumpled tissues and
questions of what's next

picture: headstones at Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, fall 2011, film, Canon Tlb 

white rain

Death always seems like a horrible practical joke. Like the deceased will burst out of a closet and yell GOTCHA. There's something so unbelievable about it; something that just doesn't compute. But it's real, and it doesn't matter whether you can make sense of it. Shit happens anyway. We're headed to the wake in a few minutes, so in the interest of time, here's the short version of today so far:

sky thick with flurries
until the sun came along
and made the trees shine

...a little cheese to go with the grilled cheese sandwich I plan to have for dinner (suburban gourmet).

picture: a snowy walk through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, NY, January 2011, film, Ricoh  rangefinder 

in short

it's been many hours
since I silenced my alarm
to run with the sun

picture: a double (possibly triple) exposure taken while running the Philadelphia Marathon, November 2011, film, Holga camera