Still the One

Heidi and I are invited to the wedding of a close friend and neighbor at the end of October. We're not really at an age where we are invited to many weddings, and it's an evening event, so wardrobe has been a bit of a consideration. We ordered some dresses from Nordstrom to try, and although I liked mine, Heidi didn't like hers or mine, so I returned hers and kept mine for now. 

It seemed the more she looked, the more frustrated she became. "Get ready," she told me, "if I don't find something soon, I'm going to fly to Buffalo and go shopping with my mother."

I did not consider that a threat. "Maybe you should," I shrugged. "But what are you looking for?" We started talking about dresses from the past to try to figure out the answer to the question, and reliving some fun events as we did. When we got home, Heidi slid open the far side of the closet, pulled out a navy blue dress, and put it on. It was perfect! It fit well and looked great. Problem solved.

And most remarkable of all? It was 30 years old. She had bought it, with her mom, to wear to, what else? A wedding.

There Will Be Fall

It's hot. 

Our temperature has been in the 90s every day for nearly a week, making it the hottest five days in September on record. When I go out at night, I'm reminded of the years we lived in Saudi Arabia: a wall of warm darkness wraps around me. 

And yet. 

There is a quality to the light, some unrelenting element missing from the direct sunshine, maybe even a hint of concession in the heat that lets me know it cannot hold.

It is September, after all.

Plumb Inconvenient

Right before we walked out the door this morning, the clasp on Heidi's necklace opened, and it slipped down the drain. There was nothing we could do at the moment, but the specter of an unusable bathroom sink greeted us as soon as we got home. 

And so I did what many homeowners would do in this internet age: I looked up a DIY video online, then cleared out the cupboard and took apart the trap. I freed the necklace and cleaned out a disgusting clump of hair, too. Not how I pictured using my afternoon, but when you own pipes? 

Sometimes ya gotta fix 'em.

Wake Me Up When It's Over

The first activity of the second week of school on the morning after a four-day weekend was for all the sixth graders to file into the theater for their semi-annual safety assembly. The 350 or so of us sat quietly as the administration went through an hour-long litany of rules and expectations.

To be honest? I was surprised at how well-behaved the students were. Then I saw a few nodding off, as I wished I could, too, and I understood. They weren't being particularly good, they were just semi-conscious.

Adopt a Pup?

When I first met Heidi, 25 years ago, she had a little tiny peanut cactus in a little tiny clay pot. It did its cactus thing, staying relatively the same with very little maintenance, for many years. Then one summer maybe 8 years ago I put it out on the deck from June to September, and we were amazed to see it triple in size and grow a couple of off-shoots. 

The following year I repotted it and put it out there again, and it grew just as exuberantly. At the end of that summer, I read that the branches that grew from it were called pups, and they could be cut off and potted themselves. Soon we had a big hanging pot full of pups, and they wintered over in the western-facing window of our guestroom, a cool and sunny place for them to enjoy their seasonal dormancy. 

Today I repotted those cacti after another summer on the deck, and it took 7 pots to find places for all 20 of them and their pups. Some of the stems are 18 inches tall! How amazing to consider that all of those cacti came from one little thumb-sized plant.

Also? I think it's time for me to find some new homes for those pups.

Eye on the Sparrow

There was a bedraggled sparrow fluttering in the elevator lobby of the parking garage this afternoon when we went to the new nail salon down the street. "Should I shoo it into the garage," Heidi wondered out loud, "or would that be worse?" 

The chime sounded and the heavy stainless doors rolled open. "Maybe we can get it on the elevator with us and let it out at street level," I said only half-joking. 

Unsure of how to help the plight of the little bird, we stepped into the elevator and rode up one level, exiting on the street and walking to the salon. Upon our arrival, they informed us directly that the wait would be 45 minutes, but we were welcome to make a guaranteed reservation for that time, which we did, relieved to know when our pedicures would actually begin.

We had a few errands to take care of, anyhow, and so we rode back down the elevator, once again encountering the sparrow. Now that we had some extra time on our hands, I returned to the car to fetch a canvas cooler bag and returned to the vestibule, determined to capture the bird for its own good. We chased it around a bit, sending helpful vibes and cringing whenever it hit a glass wall or the elevator or the ceiling, but after a few minutes, Heidi had the little gal tail head down and feathers up in the bag. Quickly we boarded the elevator and dashed outside to release our rescuee. 

And away she flew.

Spinning My Wheels

The weather is predicted to take a drastic turn tomorrow into a late-summer heatwave with temps in the upper 90s, lasting for at least a week. With that knowledge, I put off the pool and walked down to the nearest bike share station this afternoon, eager to enjoy the last of the perfect, blue sky and low-80s weather we have been enjoying the last two days.

There was one of the newest pedal-assist models available, and I grabbed that one, curious to see how it rode. It was heavy but still a pleasure to ride: I moved along the trail at a breezy clip making my way along Four Mile Run to the airport and then south past the Washington Marina to Old Town, around the Masonic temple, back through Delrey and Arlandria, up the hill in Park Fairfax, across Quaker Lane to Fairlington, and on over to the bike station across from Fort Reynolds Park, all in a little under an hour.