Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Week in Seven Words #540

This covers the week of 5/24/20 - 5/30/20.

arboreal
Trees heavy with leaves cast silky shadows.

disclosed
There's a story behind each name on the monument, and sometimes you stand next to someone who knows one or two of those names and stories.

divertissement
A man is making giant bubbles with two big sticks and a cord. The wind conditions aren't favorable, and the bubbles don't float for long. Beside him, another man is meditating in a standing pose with two dogs curled at his feet.

helplessly
A metal plank rises from the river and rests against the boardwalk. A mother duck and her ducklings are scrambling up it, headed for land. Only one duckling remains in the water, swimming back and forth beneath the slope of the plank. It hears its family above, but doesn't know how to get to them.

reminded
We meet up for the first time in months and sit several feet apart on benches in the park. After the expected conversation about the pandemic, we try to switch to another topic. At that moment, a golf cart covered with roses passes us, a speaker mounted on its roof playing a looped message about how important it is to wash your hands. 

scrapes
The Scrabble board has seen rough use. Many of its colors are rubbed out, and some of the letter tiles have almost turned into blanks. And you can't have more than two blanks.

unthinkingly
It's perverse the way people cheer on or excuse the looting from the safety of their comfortable homes. Their own livelihood and years of labor aren't threatened. To them, the looting is a spectacle, a show they're enjoying before they get bored and switch channels.

Monday, April 5, 2021

Week in Seven Words #539

This covers the week of 5/17/20 - 5/23/20.

acquainting
I hear about them secondhand, and I'm happy they're doing well. I don't feel an urge to see them. Social distancing has clarified a few things about relationships – the friends I'm closer to, and the acquaintances I'm fine with sending pleasant wishes to from a distance.

careening
Bike riders and pedestrians shouldn't be sharing a narrow path.

conquest
Rats extend their shadowy empire to heavy shrubs, parked cars, defenseless basements. 

fuels
One assignment this week is a deep dive into the energy industry. Fascinating how much technology goes into producing fuel.

lawyers
One lawyer has a special kind of smarminess. It fills his eyes like oil. The other lawyer is sedate and detached, as if half his mind is on other cases or personal concerns.

mechanical
One jogger lets out huge stiff bursts of air, as if he's a machine pumping across the park.

muzzled
Children peddle around furiously on bikes and tricycles. Their eyes are bright above their masks.