Week in Seven Words #383

afternoon
A fatty meal, followed by shooting hoops in the driveway and a video introduction to the largest dogs in the world.

creepily
It would be an eerie statue to visit at night, the Alice in Wonderland who sits on her giant mushroom at the east side of the park. She's smiling, dead-eyed, while the Mad Hatter grins unpleasantly beside her.

employees
On three occasions, strangers approach me at a bookstore or convenience store for advice on which birthday card to buy for their boss. I don't know why I've been chosen to help, but it's a responsibility I try not to take too lightly.

hearty
Somewhere in the trees, there's a frenzied drummer. To the east, a charity walk pours down a broad paved path. Cheerleaders with dazzling pom-poms shout encouragement. In a clearing across from the cheerleaders, LARPers skirmish with foam weapons. Another group practices capoeira, and a saxophonist, playing under a bridge, is enfolded in the echoes of his music.

infusing
On a terrace by the lake, a man with a guitar sings "Layla." He performs with heart and a voice rough with age. His music colors the stones and the water, and it nourishes the people who walk by. A few smile at him.

pivot
The kids are in high spirits. They dance (including swing dance!) and sing to the music churned out by a piano player who labors body and soul to do justice to Duke Ellington. The evening's low point is at the start, when a teacher uses the words 'hip' and 'cool' and then looks like she can't get the taste of them out of her mouth.

ungovernable
The storm smashes through the park like a tantrum. Branches dangle like the arms of marionettes.

Week in Seven Words #271

cultivated
Three ladies leafing through books in a room hung with tapestries.

delivery
A rattling cart, laden with aluminum trays of warm fragrant meat.

getaway
The only splash of color in the office comes from a banner with a beach scene: sunset, gold sand, palms imprinted on curling waves.

muted
Without the usual roar from the TV, there's a startling quiet in the house.

overcompensating
His know-it-all attitude masks a fear of the world and an uncertainty about his place in it.

treacherous
Dinner isn't so much a minefield as a sea dotted with icebergs. What's above the surface is dangerous enough; below, there are contours and formations we can't bear to think about.

upgrade
"Our online system works well. People can find things easily and save their search results reliably. Clearly we're doing something wrong."

Morocco (1930): Reckless love or loveless stability?

Title: Morocco
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Language: English (with some French and other languages)
Rating: Unrated

By Paramount Pictures, Josef von Sternberg, Public Domain, Link

In Marlene Dietrich's first nightclub act in Morocco, she saunters out in tux and tails, a cigarette in hand, and the crowd immediately starts booing. Maybe it's because she's a newcomer in town; maybe it's because she's in a tux and not in a more revealing costume. She takes a seat, smokes her cigarette, and looks out at them all in cool amusement. Serene and untouched, she studies them. When she moves, she's unhurried. She's got all the time in the world, she seems to say, and sooner or later they'll be wise enough to pipe down. Either way, it doesn't matter to her.

Week in Seven Words #83

antennae
When we walk outside we're mostly silent, snug in our separate shells. But at the café we talk for hours, about books and bedbug infestations, future road trips and finding a job.

embrace
Before I'm even out of my chair she's there, catching me up in a hug.

indeterminacy
They ask me where I'll live, what I'll do. I tell them I don't know; I don't know yet. It's a dissatisfying answer that tempts people to jump in, answer for me and tell me what to do. I'm more appreciative of the responses I get from those who are open to a number of possibilities and willing to discuss them.

longanimity
The boy is barely taller than the large black dog that walks beside him. The leash is held loosely in the boy's hand, but the dog doesn't drag him or pull free; even when the boy swats at him with a broad green leaf, the dog slowly and patiently plods along, accustomed to the young child's pestering.

marina
Their Lego city has expanded to include a marina with pirates, mermaids and people on jet skis.

provender
As the storm gusts around outside I'm reminded to check that I have enough non-perishable food. Opening a cupboard I find tuna cans and chocolate-covered blueberries. I'm set.

tiffin
At the park we find a bench in the shade and catch up over lunch - pitas plump with hummous, tahini, hot sauce, falafels, and Israeli salad. It's a brilliant day. A breeze sweeps in around us, chasing away the stagnant heat. The leaves overhead are green and gold. At one point a toddler comes up to us, smiles, stares and waits to see what we'll do; his parents hang back, his mother a touch embarrassed and his father amused, both of them fondly tolerant of his need to investigate people.

Week in Seven Words #68

demanding
In the potted shrub by the doors of the hotel there's a bird's nest where the chicks are cheeping, clamoring for food from their harried parents.

hoof
The purple, pink, and periwinkle ponies are prancing.

plank
Sometimes you can hop back from what you did and undo it to some extent; other times it feels like you're walking the plank, and the ocean is stirring hungrily.

retrospection
They watch a video of themselves when they were younger. In the video one of them is a two-year-old with a skeptical frown and piping voice, a love of books and balloons; the other is a newborn – swaddled, sleepy, the oblivious center of attention.

self-absorbed
Pigeons in the station underground, strutting single-mindedly.

whee
Though he gets how to play Chutes and Ladders he doesn't seem to mind the setbacks - he enjoys making his game piece go down those long fun colorful slides.

X-wing
It's not the first time we've seen Star Wars. We know what happens. Yet there we are side by side on the couch, eyes riveted to the screen as we track Luke Skywalker's progress along the trench in the Death Star.