Saturday Six : a list

Six songs I love:

Charming Disaster’s Baba Yaga – I love the rhythm and the storytelling here.
Elle King’s Exs & Ohs – the song is super fun (I hadn’t seen the video before this.)
I have loved Funkytown by Lipps Inc since I was a kid. It’s my ringtone!
The Cure’s Friday I’m In Love – I had this on a ‘cassingle.’
Holly Cole’s Make It Go Away – I had this CD on constantly while working on my Master’s thesis.
Fiona Apple’s Extraordinary Machine – The lyrics hit me hard every single time I hear it.

Like ducks!

When I was a kid, we use the phrase ‘like ducks’ to indicate that someone was bullshitting.

“My Mom gave me $20 bucks for candy!”

“Yeah, like ducks she did.”

Nowadays, I just call bullshit.

But I still like ducks!

Two ducks cross a suburban street
The view from the driver’s side of my car as two ducks cross a suburban street (There is a pond not too far away, they must have been on a little adventure.)

A longer walk

Yesterday, after a meeting, I decided to walk home.

Most of the year, this walk would be pretty straightforward but with snow still in patches on the paths , it was a bit uncertain.

I still enjoyed it though.

I really like walking for transportation but my ADHD used to get in the way quite often and I would find that I didn’t have quite enough time to get myself to my planned destination and I’d need to take the car.

It was easier if I got dropped off because there was less timing pressure for getting home.

Now though, after years of meditation and conscious work on how to make my own ADHD life flow more smoothly, I can usually plan enough time to walk in either direction or I can decide on the best plan in advance.

All of this is to say that I had an enjoyable walk home yesterday and I felt grateful for a bit of time to move and think and listen to a podcast.

Also, I saw a cool tree.

A grey tree trunk with some parts of the roots above ground
I don’t know exactly what I find so cool but I really like this tree. Image description: the grey trunk of a (currently) leafless medium-sized tree with parts of some of the larger roots visible above ground. The trunk splits into two large parts (branches?) about 3ft from the ground and there is a whole in the branch (?) on the right side that looks like a monster eye. It’s surrounded by dead grass and leaves and there is a big patch of snow and other trees in the background nearby.

Delightfully Creeped Out On My Walk

I’m glad yesterday was such a wonderfully sunny day and I was in a good mood because when I saw this on someone’s lawn I could be delightfully creeped out instead entirely freaked out.

A statue of a little girl is revealed by a receding snowbank
I have a love-hate relationship with this little statue. Image description: an outdoor photo of a receding snowbank with a silvery statue of a little girl kneeling back on her heels in the middle of it. The statue is wearing a dress and pigtails and looking upward, one of her arms is extended as if pointing upwards and the other is cracked off at the end of her short sleeve. She has a small smile on her face which looks either all-knowing or shy. There is a slab of rock near her that could be a tombstone but is probably just a rock.

When I first saw it, from the side, I actually thought it was a child’s doll that had been left behind and had gotten mildewed over the winter.

A statue of a little girl surrounded by a receding snowbank
See what I mean? Image description: an outdoor photo of the side view of the statue described above – a silvery little girl statue surrounded by a receding snowbank.

Luckily, the good weather and my good mood meant that this creepy statue made me even happier.

I love when people just lean right into their weirdness.

Way to go sorta-neighbours!

Tea for Tuesday

Since I wasn’t ready to focus on my work yet today, I drew a little mug of tea instead.

I love the process of filling in the background with thin lines, starting in one corner and working to the other, then turning the paper so I can work in a different direction. For this one I also drew a series of horizontal lines parallel to the bottom to about a third of the way up and then drew vertical lines from the top down to meet the horizontal lines.

I really like how it turned out.

A drawing of a small green mug with a gold star on it.
This mug of tea would be far too small for my needs but it was fun to draw. Image description: a drawing of a green mug with a gold star on it. The tea within must be hot because there are curls of steam rising from it. The background of the drawing is pinstriped lines that overlap.