Unquiet
Things

Many years ago, I wrote on this blog how I loathed bathing (because I hate being wet! Not because I hate being clean!) But a strange thing occurred toward the end of October. I felt myself longing for the tub. And not even a tub filled with bubbles and bath bombs and all of the frou-frou paraphernalia that I sometimes use to trick myself into the whole moist, soggy production, but just a tub full of clean, clear hot water. I’m not sure what I can attribute this to; it’s so unexpected! I eventually added a scoop or two of the bath flakes I had sitting around, and before I knew it, I had emptied the little bag, so I bought a big bulk container! Anyway, for the past three weeks I have been having a little bath every night and it’s really lovely.

Most of our garden died this summer.  The eggplants and peppers got infested, the sunflowers were constantly droopy, none of our zennias or dahlias even bloomed! We are still getting a lot of this fuschia/magenta/scarlet flowering vine, though, so I am just madly clipping it every day and sticking it in every vase I own. The woman who used to live in this house (she still lives in the neighborhood, and her sister lives right across the street from us) told us it was called Love-Lies-Bleeding and that she planted it where she buried her cat. So one, there are pet remains in our backyard somewhere, which is fine I guess, but two, I don’t think she is correct, because none of the images look like this plant when I try to google it. Do you recognize it?

Two little guys that did not perish over the summer are Patty and Selma, my pitcher plant and venus flytrap! I got them from the Lowes garden section and they looked pretty awful when I brought them home. Pale and shriveled and sickly. I read that they like it boggy and sunny, and that you shouldn’t repot them in amended soil or give them tap water. They want soil with no nutrients and water with no minerals or extra stuff, so basically rainwater or distilled water. So I just left them in the vessels the came in, put them in a pie plate and left them out in the garden, let them get rained on, and hoped for the best. And six months later, they are doing great! The Selmas insides turned a nice fleshy pink, and Patty’s pitchers are now threaded with veins, and they both continuously sprout new growth. Finally, a plant I have not failed!

…and if you’ve got your hands on the current issue of Rue Morgue Magazine, you might just get to read a little bit about Patty and Selma!

When we moved into this house 3.5 years ago, one of the things we knew we were going to have to tackle was the back screened porch, which was old and leaky and falling apart. Late summer we finally got the contractors in to tear the whole thing down, and the rebuilding has been happening in agoninzingly slow increments. First the concrete slab was poured, then the walls and ceiling went up the next month, and finally yesterday we got the glass windows and door. Whew!

We obviously need to do something for the floor (like what? I don’t know. I just know we do!) and get some furniture, but I am really bad at decorating or even envisioning how a space should look, so I need some help! Any ideas for me? All I know for sure is that Yvan wants to put a rowing machine in there somewhere, and that I desperately want a COSMIC EGG CHAIR. So definitely share some inspiration if you’re good at this kind of thing!

I’ve somehow picked up a nasty cold this week. How?! I don’t go anywhere! So I’ve been taking it easy, listening to music (pictured here: A Blessed Unrest from The Parlour Trick) (not pictured but also and of course I’m madly, incessantly listening to Everybody Scream just like all the rest of you are I bet) and reading and drinking lots and lots of tea.

Not actual tea, if we’re being precise; this particular concoction is a combination of dried lemon and orange slices steeped in boiling water with a dollop of the cranberry compote that my father-in-law made, and strained into this marvelous little tea set that a friend surprised me with.

Sometimes a gal’s gotta get herself some ridiculous treats. Sometimes it’s a cursed toy sold at a Mexican grocery store counter, sometimes it’s jams and syrups and chocolates flavored with lavender and rose.

Sometimes it’s a new phone case with a beaded little wrist strap and a strange mantra that your camera won’t even focus on because it’s so silly. “the btack lulips nothing and the charm charmnight queen cama.” Indeed! Indeed.

Other things of note…

– I finally watched Frankenstein! That malachite dress, gosh! I made a cocktail for the occasion, which I’ve named “Strangely Are Our Souls Constructed.” With a Japanese Whiskey, Lillet, Amaro, Maraschino liqueur, and a dash of absinthe, it was appropriately…pretty monstrous.

– I thought I might be brave and buy a cropped top. But I didn’t take into account that being a short-torsoed person just makes this a regular top.

– I made a good soup! With pork belly, white onion, lotus root, and kobocha squash, flavored with dashi, mirin, soy sauce, and miso.

-Have you been hearing about this “personal curriculum” trend? I love the idea of creating your own little structured study plan for topics you’re curious about…like designing your own course with books, videos, and assignments, instead of just randomly reading or scrolling. I’m already putting some ideas together for my winter and spring semester!

– I love hacks and shortcuts, things like “you won’t believe what this 60-second X thing will do for your body/mental health/finances/whatever!” I like doing things that feel good for me, but I don’t want to spend too much time on them because fuck that! So I am definitely going to give this 60-second jumping routine a try. What are your quickie good things?

-I sold a whopping 20 bottles of perfume from my perfume collection! Many thanks to everyone who reached out and helped me pare down. I am trying not to fill those empty spaces back in too soon, or at all…but…there is a perfume I have my eye on. I sniffed a sample of Nightchild from Epichron, and it smells like a Finnish heavy metal song. Seriously, it’s the olfactory equivalent of these sounds.

Anyhoodle! I am sick and snotty, and I hear the bathtub calling my name, so that’s it for now!