Welcome Welcome July – you beautiful 2nd half of the Gregorian year incoming.
Have a seat. I’ll make some tea. Let’s talk about how wonderful you can be.
Welcome to Philadelphia
Crappy iPhone photo of a fuchsia, dark salmon, and gold sunset over the Philadelphia Art Museum
Been a bit of time since I’ve updated here, sheesh. It feels like I’ve been running on empty for months now, with Jon being here since end of March and needing to do multiple cross-country drives and a flight in order to get everything settled in.
Yeah, I did 4650 miles in a car, 1550 of that with two animals, plus a round trip flight. And holy shit I did that all in 30 days.
Aaaand since arriving in Philly at the beginning of May, I have been to Baltimore twice for family, NYC twice for friends and once for work, and Stamford once for work.
…*crash*
Can I stop now?
Oh wait, no I can’t – work & friends on Wednesday, DC protest Saturday…
I don’t think I’m going to move at the beginning of summer ever again. *klonk*
Abandoned train tracks with crumbling train ties on the lower right hand side, underneath blooming buckeye and crepe myrtle trees, and a lightly-graffiti’d stone wall on the left hand side, with sumac and oak trees flourishing above it.
But in the meantime, I’m finding some little hidden gems around. It’s not as wildlife-friendly as Buffalo Bayou was, so I’ll really miss the egrets and other water birds… but it has definitely got its charms.
I like it here. :)
WE HAVE ACHIEVED LILACS
There is a gorgeous-smelling white lilac bush close to the new apartment, lush with double blooms. Every time I come back I try to huff it.
Also, bonus white frilly iris. Second spring hurrah!
The Sadness of Leaving Something Beautiful
Kizu stands on a sand bank in Buffalo Bayou Park with the sunlit Houston skyline behind her.
We are going to miss this view, this park, the birds, and the people we know and love here. 😢
Yet ANOTHER OMG MOOOOON
Seriously, I can’t get enough.
A bright, clear, almost-full Moon photograph from February 2018
I mean, DAYUMN, Moon! You look stunning!
Galveston Pleasure Pier, Late Twilight
Galveston Pleasure Pier (a small group of amusement park rides, including a ferris wheel, roller coaster, and a tall chair swing ride on a long pier) lit up in blues, reds, and purples on the background of a dark purple late evening sky.
Of course there are many pictures like this, but this one is mine. And I did not mess with the white balance at all – it turned out this purple all on its lonesome. It feels like a wonderful gift.
Particularly Proud of this Pelican Shot
A Brown Pelican (large water bird with white-and-black mottled wings and orange patches on its head and beak) flying low across gray, lightly wavy water. Its wings are on the downbeat.
Brown pelican in flight, from a Galveston trip in early March. I’m particularly proud of this photo, given I had no tripod and was following the bird by hand. The rest of the shots in this series? Not so much.
Spring Cleaning – The Moving Version
Welp, things are again changing dramatically over here.
Jon and I are moving out of Houston, back to the East Coast, back to snowier climes. Which we’re thrilled about.
*confetti* *dancing*
This has been cause for much celebration by friends and family in the northeast, and not so much from friends and family here in Houston. (It’s nice to be loved.) But once again, Jon and I have to live hundreds of miles away from each other for a month and change, due to his company’s scheduling. He literally stopped his contract work here on a Saturday and started work in the new city on Monday.
So yeah. 45 days apart once again. Which we are NOT thrilled about.
Soooooo, given the frustration and bodily trauma that was “packing to move to Houston,” I am looking at this as an opportunity to really lighten up our load. Books about decluttering, such as Konmari and others, have been a presence in the media the past few years. We read a few but never thought we could do anything like that, because we love-and-joy REALLY hard on lots of things. (As in, YES EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE OF THESE WATER GLASSES GIVE ME SQUEEJOY GO AWAY kind of hard.) Now I’m in a “uhhh fine these can be replaced” kind of mood, because cross-country moves are annoyingly expensive.
And so is packing.
Ugh.
So I guess yay new adventure, boo the leadup? I am looking forward to the end point, though.
