all i need is a cat

[jazzfish]

It's snowing outside, but it wasn't for the two-hour drive home last night. I did catch a few glimpses of an amazing aurora borealis, though, all white-green and swoopy.

I have tea and a chapter of A Night in the Lonesome October, and then probably further into my physically delightful SubPress The Kingdom of Gods. Last night I finished a third reread of The Scholars of Night, at which I got to say GODDAMMIT MIKE. One of the joys of rereading JMF's books is the increasing frequency at which I get to say GODDAMMIT MIKE as I pick up on yet another buried gem. I had pancakes, but they are sadly all gone.

I vacuumed this morning for the first time in weeks. I always forget how much "not walking on dirt / bits of dried mud in bare feet" immediately improves my mood and my quality of life.

Last week I got a small Bluetooth speaker and set it over my stove. It's now playing "Kind of Blue," though I think it's nearly over.

The rain falls down,
The wind blows up,
I've spent all the pennies
In my old tin cup.
--Clyde and/or Wendy Watson, Father Fox's Pennyrhymes

The Kelowna trip had some very good parts and I am still assessing the damage both fiscal and personal/interpersonal. But that's an Afternoon job, at the earliest.

Comments

[reedrover]

I dislike cleaning house, but yes, I like a clean house.

[jazzfish]

Part of why I like being in an apartment is that the actual time spent cleaning is so much less. (It still takes me just as long to get started, I expect.)

I rather like that song in your next comment, as well. :)

[reedrover]

Oddly, your title saying needing a cat made me think of this from Wicked Girls by Seanan McGuire -

I just wanted to leave you this
One last note in your window
Before you disappear
I wanted to concatenate
The paper with the pen
With the hand that you left here

I wanted to show you that I'm still breathing
I wanted to show you my fingers still bend
I wanted to thank you for giving me something
To be all bitter about
It's good to be writing again

And I didn't want to wallow
So I'm writing a peppy
Little sonnet about the snow
And I think you would like it
And I guess that's what I really miss

And there's something bothering me
What I wanted to say is

Hey, yeah, hey yeah, yeah...

Oops, I didn't mean to get all heavy
I mean, really, I am doing just fine
When I look at your picture
You are foreign to me
You are practically out of my mind

And this is the season, I thought, for all summer
And this is the reason I emptied my mind
On to pieces of paper that don't hold the answers
Just clear-headed questions, and the memories
Of warmer times ...

And I've sworn off of lovers
But I adopted a cat
With paws the color of snow -
And I think you would like her
And I guess that's what I really miss

And there's something bothering me
What I wanted to say is

So, here it goes, this is my letter
To tell you the truth, I can't tell if I am better
I've been thinking about the way most
Things are difficult to open, and easier to close

But closure isn't something that you get with a person
It's a plan interrupted by snow ...
Or a division of property
I gain that, you gain this

And there's something bothering me
What I wanted to say is ...

I wanted to tell you that I'm still breathing
I wanted to show you my fingers still bend
I wanted to thank you for giving me something
To be all bitter about
It's good to be writing again

[davidgoldfarb]

One of the things on my bucket list is "see an aurora with my own eyes". Unfortunately I don't do well with cold, which makes it difficult.

[jazzfish]

If it helps, "cold and dry air" really is substantially different from "cold and damp air." I am substantially more comfortable up here at -10C than I ever am in Vancouver at 0C.

[davidgoldfarb]

I've been living in Houston for twelve years, which is long enough for several notable cold snaps. (Most recently last February.) So yeah, I'm well aware of that. But "dry out" only gets you so far.

[novel_machinist]

You know I've never seen the northern lights. One day, maybe.

[jazzfish]

This was my first time, after several near-misses (things like "had gotten very little sleep the night before" or "didn't have my glasses and my contacts were out"). They're pretty neat! I don't know that I would make a special trip just to see them but I'm glad I got to.