combing
During dinner on a second-story terrace, the wind sighs at us through the crown of a tree.
delicately
At first it looks like a piece of stained glass, catching at the corner of my eye. It's a monarch butterfly poised on a leaf and opening its wings.
management
She left work a few months ago to become a stay-at-home mom. Within a few days, she began reorganizing a communal playroom in her apartment building and looking for other projects to sign up for. I'm guessing she will soon return to the corporate workforce.
musically
It seems like overnight she's become a major Hamilton fan. She's memorized all the lyrics, even the complicated rap battles stuffed with historical references. Today, she greets me at the door with "Washington on Your Side."
pity
Pity is uncomfortable and distasteful, regardless of whether it's felt about one's self or other people. This thought comes to me in the middle of a conversation with someone I'd rather not be talking to. I don't want to pity this other person or have that be the motive for the conversation.
relaying
The library has multiple floors, cozy and compact. A spacious staircase links them together. Footsteps echo in it, and whispers and laughter.
sidelines
We spend an afternoon at the fringes of a park, with traffic at our backs and terraced greenery before us. There isn't much hospitality indoors. One place is cliquish and for another we lack the required ID. So we're outdoors, waiting for the afternoon to fall away into evening.
Showing posts with label butterflies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label butterflies. Show all posts
Sunday, May 13, 2018
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Week in Seven Words #399
bearing
We're eating salads outside in the dark by a bike lane and jogging path in the park. From around the bend, we hear a blues song, and it's getting louder, the hoarse, broken, beautiful voice coming our way. A young girl appears, swinging a portable radio.
coexistence
On the rooftop garden, they've planted marigolds with tomatoes, collard greens, lavender, thyme, cucumbers, dill, Jamaican peppers, and other herbs and vegetables. Bees swoop around (I achieve an uneasy coexistence with them), and white butterflies look like petals sprung to life. A monarch butterfly appears too and lingers.
hoofer
One of the men in the subway car is moved to tell us about his dog. "Her name is Ginger Rogers," he says. He pauses, as if waiting for the dog to spring up from where she's curled up at his feet and start dancing.
pierced
His voice, lofty and sonorous, opens me to my anger and frustration. There are multiple entangled reasons for these emotions at this time.
prepping
In the span of a 12-story elevator ride, he shares his business aspirations and lists some of the books he's been reading to push himself into a mindset of success.
shared
It's cozy and delightful to have a movie theater almost entirely to yourself and the person you're with.
tomatoes
Some of the tomatoes are green and heavy. Others are crinkly and emptied out like candy wrappers.
We're eating salads outside in the dark by a bike lane and jogging path in the park. From around the bend, we hear a blues song, and it's getting louder, the hoarse, broken, beautiful voice coming our way. A young girl appears, swinging a portable radio.
coexistence
On the rooftop garden, they've planted marigolds with tomatoes, collard greens, lavender, thyme, cucumbers, dill, Jamaican peppers, and other herbs and vegetables. Bees swoop around (I achieve an uneasy coexistence with them), and white butterflies look like petals sprung to life. A monarch butterfly appears too and lingers.
hoofer
One of the men in the subway car is moved to tell us about his dog. "Her name is Ginger Rogers," he says. He pauses, as if waiting for the dog to spring up from where she's curled up at his feet and start dancing.
pierced
His voice, lofty and sonorous, opens me to my anger and frustration. There are multiple entangled reasons for these emotions at this time.
prepping
In the span of a 12-story elevator ride, he shares his business aspirations and lists some of the books he's been reading to push himself into a mindset of success.
shared
It's cozy and delightful to have a movie theater almost entirely to yourself and the person you're with.
tomatoes
Some of the tomatoes are green and heavy. Others are crinkly and emptied out like candy wrappers.
Friday, March 11, 2016
Week in Seven Words #281
airborne
A dragonfly, a branch and a monarch butterfly, suspended against the blue-white sky in a mosaic.
buzzed
The dip has been sitting out for hours. The chips and crackers have been pawed into crumbs. The guests have had too much wine to notice.
etiolate
She painted the sunflower drooping against a faded wall. The sunflower looks like it's losing color the way people lose blood.
glint
She twirls in a dress made of soda cans and playing cards. Silver streamers run through her hair.
grubby
At the coffee shop, the outdoor seating is a bench encrusted in cigarette butts.
materialize
Walls of sloppy, spiraling graffiti become, just one block down, a series of murals: blue faces, owls, the moon's surface.
unfolding
Depending on the light, the leaves on the tree look like paper sometimes, and other times like moths about to break into flight.
A dragonfly, a branch and a monarch butterfly, suspended against the blue-white sky in a mosaic.
buzzed
The dip has been sitting out for hours. The chips and crackers have been pawed into crumbs. The guests have had too much wine to notice.
etiolate
She painted the sunflower drooping against a faded wall. The sunflower looks like it's losing color the way people lose blood.
glint
She twirls in a dress made of soda cans and playing cards. Silver streamers run through her hair.
grubby
At the coffee shop, the outdoor seating is a bench encrusted in cigarette butts.
materialize
Walls of sloppy, spiraling graffiti become, just one block down, a series of murals: blue faces, owls, the moon's surface.
unfolding
Depending on the light, the leaves on the tree look like paper sometimes, and other times like moths about to break into flight.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Week in Seven Words #177
curiosities
What do we learn in museums? Sometimes it's only 'oohs' and 'ahhs' and a fact or two. How many times do we really connect with what we're seeing - immerse ourselves in it?
discomposure
He flies around the souvenir shop like an agitated moth, landing on treasures and launching off them again. Finally, he clutches a prize to his chest, but keeps circling as he's told to put it down again.
flirtation
A butterfly lands on her shirt front, right on her breasts. She stares at it, eyebrows raised, until it flutters off. "Must be a boy," she says.
hives
Palatial buildings are home to the offices of petty bureaucrats.
jigsaw
The White House is beautiful, but in a strange way looks like a hollow 3D puzzle of itself.
morphemes
Fun word games give structure to the hours we spend on the road.
natation
Swimming through images captured by Hubble. Strolling in a warm, gray drizzle. Looking out from between low-hanging branches at the Tidal Basin and Jefferson's pale monument.
What do we learn in museums? Sometimes it's only 'oohs' and 'ahhs' and a fact or two. How many times do we really connect with what we're seeing - immerse ourselves in it?
discomposure
He flies around the souvenir shop like an agitated moth, landing on treasures and launching off them again. Finally, he clutches a prize to his chest, but keeps circling as he's told to put it down again.
flirtation
A butterfly lands on her shirt front, right on her breasts. She stares at it, eyebrows raised, until it flutters off. "Must be a boy," she says.
hives
Palatial buildings are home to the offices of petty bureaucrats.
jigsaw
The White House is beautiful, but in a strange way looks like a hollow 3D puzzle of itself.
morphemes
Fun word games give structure to the hours we spend on the road.
natation
Swimming through images captured by Hubble. Strolling in a warm, gray drizzle. Looking out from between low-hanging branches at the Tidal Basin and Jefferson's pale monument.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Live Butterfly Pavilion at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in DC
Where I was, a little over a week ago:
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