sayonara

The time has come for me to say goodbye. I know endings are difficult, especially when they are unexpected and ill-timed. For some of you, the discontinuation of this blog could be unsettling, perhaps enraging. and i get that. No one wants goodness to end.

However, Seattlite has run its course. It has been a good blog and has been my companion through many difficult seasons. but this will be my final posting on my Seattlite blog...

...because I have started a new one! I am no longer a Seattlite, I am a Nashvillian. I live in the Music City, not the Emerald one. And my blogging is taking a new direction, as am I.

if you are interested, you may now find my musings at: http://akounsage.tumblr.com/

thanks for reading along...and i hope to see you at my 'alternate location'.

adios amigos!
tlk

weird dude

Sooo...there's this guy...

Let's call him 'Weird Dude'. Because that is what he is.
Totally freaking weird.

He showed up about a month ago while I was staining my back deck. I live across the street from a church with a fairly large lawn and I noticed a random guy sunbathing on the lawn in a chair pointed directly at my deck. He was wearing denim shorts, socks, and was drinking beer out of a pitcher. Every 20 minutes or so he would orgasmically yell out "Oh, it feels so amazing out here". i kid you not. i put on a pair of sunglasses so i could stare at him without being COMPLETELY obvious about it. Every once-in-a-while (*just* about the time I would bend over), out came his camera phone. i would bet money on the fact that he was taking pictures of me. Creepy McCreeperson.

I finished staining for the day and went inside. When I came back out to wash my paintbrush he was gone. I had no idea where he had disappeared to, or if he even lived in my neighborhood. I figured he may have been a random guest of someone on my block and decided to forget about it.

The next weekend came around. cue the Weird Dude. I was out on my deck potting some flowers and all of a sudden I heard, "Oh God, it's feels so good out here!!" I immediately froze. He had announced his return. Denim shorts, camera phone--the whole nine yards. I promptly went inside for the afternoon, but frequently checked on him from my kitchen window. Where did he come from?! Was he mentally insane?!! Why was he laying out in denim shorts?

so many questions.

Frustrated, I decided to do some reconn with my next door neighbor who seems to know EVERYTHING about everyone in our neighborhood, including the new "lesbian couple living two doors down", (he made sure to say in a whisper). I pointed out Weird Guy to him but he had never seen him before. We both just stood and stared across the street at him for a minute..."denim shorts," my neighbor whispered. "I know," I said, shaking my head.

Today, however, Weird Guy took things to a new level. Once again he showed up out of the blue, but this time he had ROLLED UP his denim shorts into a denim brief. (what could possibly be more uncomfortable?) Then he pulled a guitar out of nowhere and started playing TERRIBLE country songs that I'm positive he wrote himself. I left home to get a massage and run a few errands...and when I pulled into my driveway 3 hours later he was STILL there playing his guitar and singing at the top of his lungs. As I got out of my car I heard the lyric "kissing while the frogs looked on" and I almost peed my pants.

what. in. the. world.

I promptly went inside to get my camera. This needed to be documented. Typically, Weird Dude faces the direction of my house but when I got back from my errands he had his back to me.  i still managed to score a couple good shots.

the denim brief

the horrible, awful singing

In spite of all my spying, once again, he managed to sneak away without me noticing. So, either there's a time travel portal in the lawn across the street that Weird Dude uses once a week...or I've got a serious problem on my hands. I was hoping the cicadas would eat him but they are all dead now, so there's that. I will be away next weekend so I will undoubtedly miss next week's performance, but I can guarantee you that the next time I see him I will be taking more pictures. and, of course, posting them on my blog. 

Goodnight, Weird Dude, wherever you are.

The Birds

    

     I recently bought a pair of moccasins and took the weekend to break them in. Miss Dottie and I went on a long walk today and I wore my moccasins for two reasons: 1.) I like shoes worn and broken in, not brand-new looking. Plus moccasins are incredibly comfortable when they mold to your feet and I wanted to start that process ASAP. 2.) I have heard that moccasins made the footsteps of the Native Americans quieter as they walked through the woods, and I wanted to see if this would be the case for me as well. Result: The moccasins did not make my footsteps any quieter...but this may have more to do with the way that I walk more than the shoes. who knows?
     What I DO know is that my moccasins led me to a bird's nest that had fallen from a tree. There it was, laying sweetly on the ground and I thought to myself, "Surely, this must be an omen of some kind...I mean, I'm wearing moccasins, for Pete's sake". I let Miss D investigate the nest before picking it up and walking home. All the way home, I got really excited imagining all that the nest could symbolize: a fruitful financial year, unexpected travel plans, an Indian Summer...who knows? I got home and promptly got on the internet to find out what my bird's nest symbolized and here is what I discovered:

Finding a bird's nest is "A much vaunted discovery, which later turns out to be illusory or worthless". 

awesome. it gets even better. 

"The 'proper' meaning has it that finding a nest is imagining that one has found something remarkable when in fact one has found nothing of the sort." 

double awesome. 

     Yes, I was disappointed that the nest was not an omen guaranteeing me a big check in the mail, however, the more I thought about it, the more I realized this experience actually represents the way in which I live my life: I risk putting myself out on a limb, hoping that I am on the verge of finding something remarkable...but often end up with nothing of the sort. I can't even begin to describe how painful, at times, it is to live this way. especially in the midst of so much 'unremarkability'. You would think I would learn. You would think that I would climb down and sit in a Lazy Boy recliner and zone out and watch TV. But I can't. I'm just not built that way. 

     As I looked around one last time for something remotely positive that a bird's nest could symbolize, I found a page about birds that stated "In many cases birds symbolise your thoughts about the future and the possibility that something may or may not happen." Bingo. It's not the mere presence of the bird/nest/etc...it's what you do with it. When you dream of a crow it's generally seen as a bad omen; your deepest self is convinced that something bad is going to happen. When you find a nest at the foot of a tree, the ability to hope that it will lead to something good reveals a deep resiliancy and desire for things to be well. I have a heart that genuinely longs for life, for something remarkable. And it is because I have stood in the face of so much less than that that I am resilient. not cold. not closed up. but open to the possibility that as I (once again) inch out on a limb, this might just be the time that I find something truly extraordinary. 

My Art History Professor always said to take pictures of a sculpture next to something for scale. 

So, here you have the nest AND my moccasin. 

All will be well,

and all will be well,

and all manner of things will be well.

- Julian of Norwich-

tlk

Hair of the Dog: #2

I am Miss Dottie's hair stylist. I used to be her wardrobe stylist, but lately she's been refusing to wear clothing of any kind. It's kind of embarrassing, walking around with a naked dog. Anyhoo, it was definitely time for a hair cut and I have decided to include the before and after pictures of her dramatic make-over. Her hair had gotten so shaggy that her nickname went from 'little bear' to 'little billy goat' (note: her massive beard in the picture below). Again, very embarrassing. I have decided to include her internal thoughts underneath each picture:

"(sigh)"

"Momma's back! Whad'ya think of me now, cicadas?!!"