Week in Seven Words #584

This covers the week of 3/28/21 - 4/3/21.

foe

In her isolation, she has unraveled. She flails at imagined terrors, as they press in on her from beyond the apartment walls. 

giddiness

Dozens of daffodils swaying by the field.

intermittently

The vaccine website is a test in reflexes. New appointments wink into existence and are just as quickly snapped up.

lukewarm

One book stands out as a suitable gift. But even as I buy it, I get the feeling that it won't inspire enthusiasm.

misty

A rainy haze on the river.

reacquainted

Visiting parts of the park I've neglected for a while, like catching up with old friends. Which trees have fallen, which paths are overgrown, and is the stream still full and flowing?

translated

After creating a video message in another language, I review it multiple times, convinced that I've made a major grammatical error or mixed up two words in an unintentionally filthy way. But it seems OK.

Week in Seven Words #561

This covers the week of 10/18/20 - 10/24/20.

callow

The guitarist in the park has talent, but he seems to be only 13 or 14. The lyrics he sings would sound more convincing from someone who's at least a decade older.

cemented

The views at the new park are grand, but much of the space is wasted on concrete. The plants seem like an afterthought.

duckish

The pier is glowing, the ducks are dotting the water, and someone is using a bike horn that quacks.

pharmacy

The first time I show up to get my flu shot, no one is at the pharmacy, but the dude behind the counter glares at me and tells me they're booked solid. I don't believe him, but I decide to come back another time, because if he's the one administering the shot, my arm will probably be extra sore. I come back a few days later, no fuss; the shot's given by a quiet, efficient lady. 

plinth

We check if certain statues have been removed for their offensiveness. There's currently a mania for statue removal, as bigger problems rage on.

transformative

One of the stories from his youth features punched cards used for computer programming. These days, he keeps a smartphone at his belt.

voicing

I've come to know them by voice – the one with the mournful whimper, the one with a Caribbean accent, the one that craters his sentences with huge pauses.

Week in Seven Words #558

This covers the week of 9/27/20 - 10/3/20.

entertains

This afternoon's entertainment at the park: tap dancing, a Vegas lounge act, and a lone saxophone.

guff

"Watch the debate!" and "What did you think about the debate?" It's pointless. What the candidates say means nothing. As if they're going to give truthful answers or even answer a question directly.

indefatigable

Pigeons blanket the lawn and peck away, as if they've hit a motherlode of crumbs.

inflating

If she speaks with a lilt and a toss of her curls, she feels more confident, even when she's hollowed out with fear.

prayers

We make the best of praying at home, choosing beautiful melodies and combing through the more communal sections of the prayer service for passages to sing.

resolution

How do you keep from making the same mistakes? Wisdom is easier discussed than acted on.

sumptuous

Velvety autumn flowers in colors of wine and sunset.

Week in Seven Words #556

This covers the week of 9/13/20 - 9/19/20.

analyses

We get into a deep conversation about writing, and I savor it, because we rarely speak to each other. Not because of animosity, but because we're uncommitted to regular phone calls. Maybe we should call each other more.

blew

If someone had told him a year ago that he'd be trying to learn how to blow a shofar in the midst of a pandemic, he would have been skeptical, to say the least. As for the sounds he can produce – so far we've got crackling air and elephant squeaks. 

donuts

The new donut store has opened. Its electronic banner, streaming donuts 24/7, has become the liveliest feature in a withered neighborhood.

gladsome

The park is brimming with people. With picnics, parties, sports. One quiet spot is tucked near the entrance to a garden. It has a semi-circular seat shaded by lush trees.

honeyed

Sunlight sticks to the pine trees like honey.

pounding

Along every street there's construction noise, and the groaning of trucks and buses. At one corner, a man is raving, trying maybe to hear himself.

restraint

I'm aggrieved, and I need to deal with that emotion before I become deliciously aggrieved.

Week in Seven Words #555

This covers the week of 9/6/20 - 9/12/20.

cavernous

Multiple huge escalators in a shopping plaza that used to serve crowds. Now we glide down in near silence.

contrived

Restaurants try to recreate indoor spaces outdoors, with booths that are mostly enclosed. Lively music and colorful decorations are attempted distractions from the stink of the streets and the roar of passing trucks.

determinedly

A fuzzy gray dog shambles up to people for petting. He interrupts a girls' volleyball practice, as his owners tiredly call him back.

earthlings

Among the trees, there's a semi-circle of toddlers, moms, and nannies. Dancing in front of them are three entertainers with masks and face shields. They look like aliens who can't quite breathe our Earth air. But these interplanetary visitors have done their research and know the words to such classics as "The Wheels on the Bus."

sleepily

Mellow sun. We eat a snack by the river, while making conversation and looking out at the Statue of Liberty. By the time we return to the subway, my head is swimming with sun and sugar, and she looks like she's on the verge of a nap.

unearthly

The fungus looks like custard, or like a brain. Something that isn't quite natural. The hollow of a tree has birthed it.

wilted

The park's website instructs us to reserve a time for our visit and show up with tickets. In the park itself, staff have marked the main path with fat circles to show everyone where to stand socially distanced. But very few people are present. The park also lacks its typical displays of art, and the plants look dull, as if they're understimulated from the shortage of visitors.

Week in Seven Words #548

This covers the week of 7/19/20 - 7/25/20.

barricaded

The side doors to a vacant hotel are barred with luggage carts.

dreading

I wish I were used to these feelings of foreboding by now, the way they stalk through my psyche and claw at my attention.

flag

We notice a duck with blue, black, and white coloring on its wings. It reminds me of a flag. Estonia's flag, maybe? To check, we don't need to consult an atlas or a search engine. All he does is type Estonia into a text message on his phone. He receives a suggested flag emoji for Estonia, and yes, those are the same colors on the duck.

hooray

The documentary about the park is less about information and more about celebration. I'm fine with that, especially because the park has been a refuge when so many other places remain closed. Let's be happy that it exists.

perspiring

Joggers glistening and puffing in the morning. Drops of sweat shivering on shirtless basketball players.

protection

A visit to the dentist is much as it ever was, except for the air filters in every room, the mandatory masks, and the empty chairs between patients in the waiting room. This time, along with the x-rays and cleaning, I get fitted for a night guard, an attempt to protect my teeth from the unconscious grinding I subject them to when I sleep.

training

Three rows of stout old people working out with wooden swords. Their instructor, a senior himself, walks among them and corrects their form. I pretend that what I'm looking at isn't an exercise group but a training session for elderly assassins. (They're effective because most people don't consider them a threat... until it's too late.)

Week in Seven Words #545

This covers the week of 6/28/20 - 7/4/20.

competitiveness

These days, I'm playing more Scrabble than I have in years. In one game, my opponent creates four seven-letter words. In another game, a different opponent creates two. I'm playing against people who treat Scrabble as a serious pursuit. More than a mere game, it is, at times, a primal conflict.

misdirected

I'm trying to find my way through a beautifully wooded part of the park. There aren't many paths, and I'm sure I know where I'm going, but each time I try to end the walk at a pond, I end up on the edges of a baseball field. The woods keep delivering me to baseball, and I don't even like the sport.

overheated
Dead-eyed people in dusty, faintly pretty parks. A small fountain protests the heat.

patriotism

Throughout the day, there's little evidence of celebration. No flags in windows, and people aren't dressed in red, white, and blue. The one exception is a jogger in shorts that stretch the American flag across his posterior. The first time the day feels celebratory is at night, during a TV broadcast of fireworks – shimmering bursts of liquid color.

pondside

Our walk has earned us front-row seats to massive algae growth. 

rediscovering

For the first time in months, I set foot in a bookstore. The store is mostly empty, and I don't buy anything, but I like being able to walk around and touch the covers, read the jackets and blurbs. 

somewhat

"You always think you're going to do something wrong," she tells me, and my reaction is torn between "Not always" and "Yeah, you have a point."

Week in Seven Words #544

This covers the week of 6/21/20 - 6/27/20.

covidiot

Now a regular part of our vocabulary.

pillowing

The geese are fat brown pillows softening a rocky slope. 

pinetum

Picnic tables, mulch paths, and rail fences. The scent of pine trees, heavy and delicious.

reluctance

The dog is slow to warm up to the stranger but then reluctant to leave. He begins to welcome the goodness of those pats and scritches just as his owner starts tugging him away.

standout

Among the many colors in the garden, the loveliest is the cerulean of the hydrangeas.

summoning

With only a slice of bread, a young boy brings a frothing mass of turtles to the side of the pond.

sunset

The sunset shifts colors. At one point, a bar of bright blue appears among duskier blues and oranges. The underside of the clouds are blushing.

Week in Seven Words #541

This covers the week of 5/31/20 - 6/6/20.

boarded

Many stores are getting boarded up, including a book store. The displays of books disappear behind the extra layer of defense against looters. (I don't know if looters would go for a book store when it's surrounded by more likely targets, the ones full of clothes, jewelry, and electronics.) Some restaurants and bars are boarded up too; some may already be out of business. 

curfew

There's a curfew on the city, reminding residents that it's easy for authorities to curtail and control.

defensively

Reasons for dishonesty are varied. Sometimes, it's all about shame. Shame and self-protection. Not about trying to hurt anyone or take anything away from other people.

imagined

Two girls are playing in an artificial stream cut into concrete. They carry pails and pretend they're at a beach fringed by a forest, where ocean water mingles with fresh water among the tree roots.

off
They've settled in a field in the park, but even an open field is off-limits. A guy in a motorized cart enjoys the sound of his own voice, amplified with a megaphone, as he orders everyone to leave.

twilit

The cloudy day feels like a 24-hour twilight. In the part of the park that we're cutting through, the buildings are unseen, the paths unmarked.

unfolded

An egret gliding like a white, unfolded napkin taken up by the wind.

Week in Seven Words #538

This covers the week of 5/10/20 - 5/16/20.

aquatic

A delightful amount of turtles in one pond. They cluster around a wooden dock. Another pond has no fish or turtles; it's ringed with azaleas. The liquid voice of a stream emerges from it.

celebrate

A rich pomegranate wine.

composition

Different kinds of music in the park: a troubadour, a jazz musician accompanied by honking geese, a student violinist struggling through Bach.

enfolded

I've never explored this part of the park. It's a nature sanctuary enclosed with a fence. The gates aren't always open. Now they admit us to mulchy paths, frilled with undergrowth, and trees that soften traffic noise. One path takes us to a rock overlooking a large pond. Beyond the water, the buildings seem distant.

fountains

There are multiple fountains in these gardens, each with its own character. One is boastful and grand. Another is shy and invites you to quietly sit beside it in the shade. A third is playful, in perpetual frolic.

misgivings

I don't know if I'm in the right frame of mind to help her, but I'd feel terribly guilty if I didn't.

sliding

I'm on a video conferencing call with a cluster of people, and I need to remind myself to keep my face visible. My inclination to slide off-screen is nearly overpowering.

Week in Seven Words #536

This covers the week of 4/26/20 - 5/2/20.

beset

Pulses of weariness and despair.

breaks

Two brisk walks in one day. Lots of screen time in between.

flutters
A puddle filled with pink blossoms and shivering birds.

glassy

New construction all looks the same to me: sleek rectangles with large windows and little artistry.

insomnia

It's no use asking my brain why it's woken me up in the middle of the night. Maybe it wants me to admire the shadowy room, and the way the light creeps over the walls.

patrolling

A flock of police officers on bikes. Black masks are stretched over their mouths and noses. They're on the lookout for legal violations, which these days include picnics and outdoor birthday parties.

screens

She tells me that the schools aren't giving grades. Regardless of grades, are the students learning anything from their sessions of screen time? Debatable.

COVIDiary: Masked and On Foot

One thing I've been doing during the pandemic is walking for miles. Here are some of the highlights:

The 42nd Street branch of the New York Public Library

A small park near the American Museum of Natural History

Week in Seven Words #518

This covers the week of 12/22/19 - 12/28/19.

again
Her dollhouse, I discover, has musical features. So that I won't forget about these features, she replays them repeatedly.

alleviating
In the car, I'm a little nauseous from lack of sleep and a breakfast of a single square of chocolate, which seems to hop around like a checker piece in my stomach. What helps is a walk through the parking lot in the mostly fresh air.

halted
I'm struck most by a sculpture inspired by Abraham and Isaac, the near sacrifice of the son by the father. The father figure looks tense and determined but nonetheless reluctant, holding back at the sight of his adult son kneeling with throat bared. The son is prepared, appears not to resist at all, but his fists are clenched.

potbelly
One museum guard allows me to keep my small backpack on me, as long as I wear it in front, like an artificial potbelly. Another guard tries to get me to return to the coat check with it, but I clutch my potbelly protectively and defend it from removal.

seasonal
Scuffed-up stairs and tired-looking stoops are showered with tinsel and potted shrubs.

spotted
A deer among fallen branches by an empty swimming pool.

wintry
An elegant bridge and brittle ice, bare trees and dark, cold water.

Week in Seven Words #515

This covers the week of 12/1/19 - 12/7/19.

algebra
For one kid in the group, algebraic equations can't be fully trusted. The variables are weird and nebulous. Arithmetic is more familiar ground; one can walk on it sure-footed.

filler
Slogans, self-promotion, and meandering intros leave much less time for substance.

flashes
When asked, she says she doesn't like any books, movies, or shows. Just the Internet, here and there, like funny little things she sees on Snapchat.

litter
Trash bins are scattered liberally around the park. The trash itself is scattered liberally around the bins.

niche
Somehow it's still in business, but I'm not complaining: A tiny movie theater that shows interesting but unpopular documentaries to an audience of three or four people.

outside
We arrive at the supermarket as it's closing. Left outside, we stare through the glass at the last few shoppers while the freezing wind batters us.

shutting
One of the politicians on stage says, "We're all glad about the city's minimum wage laws." From the audience, a woman who owns a small business raises her hand and begins to express some kind of doubt or disagreement. The politicians swiftly talk over her, to get the town hall event back on track, they say. Because even during the Q&A, they need to maintain a tight, controlled environment that allows for only certain kinds of questions or opinions to surface.

Week in Seven Words #498

astronomy
We find Jupiter with its banded surface, and a tiny, pale Saturn. Strangely, it's our moon that's foggiest and most unclear.

engorged
The meal before the fast is full of water-rich foods, like cucumbers, turnips, green beans, and watermelon.

fascination
When the fountain leaps to life, one boy steps back in startled wonder. The other climbs on the rim to peer closely at the shifting configurations of water.

generational
I prefer the reading voices of the older men, their raspy, trembling dignity. The younger men recite without feeling in a nasally intonation.

glades
In a park installed on old elevated rail tracks, there's an atmosphere of forest enchantment. Some people paddle their feet in a dark stream. Others are tucked on wooden lounge chairs screened by leaves. A handful of children listen to gentle music while painting tiles in the foggy light. We turn a corner and discover a dark, massive sculpture of a human head.

licked
They order marble cheese cake, strawberry shortcake, and a dense chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate pudding. Without even planning it, I grab one of the extra forks and shave off some of the frosting. It's almost too much in sweetness and richness, and it undermines the resolve I had formed to avoid chocolate for the week.

sunless
A thunderstorm brings dusk to mid-afternoon. Lightning dips into the river like a bony finger.

Week in Seven Words #496

environmental
By the salty, polluted river, the grass is long and glossy. Purple flowers and soda cans nestle in it.

forum
Worries are better dealt with outdoors. Not in the confines of a familiar room but in a wider space with water, trees, and people.

fuzzily
A caterpillar, small as a piece of macaroni, squiggles on my neck.

multitasking
A woman is simultaneously playing the violin and hula hooping. Packing her talents together in the hopes of collecting more money in her violin case.

noise
She keeps lowering her book with a sigh. The whoosh of the passing cars distracts her. I've written it off as background noise, like the wind. After she calls attention to it, I pause to listen, and I realize how much noise I accept as a given, just a part of life.

seaworthy
Toy sailboats find their balance on a sheet of dark water.

thickly
Rain comes down in thick continuous clots and spatters like white paint on the street.

Week in Seven Words #487

alimentary
A narrow path takes us through a narrow park. I get the feeling that I'm in an alimentary canal, a digestive tract. There's enough food and shit scattered around to strengthen that impression.

anxiety
Anxiety is like clinging to a salt-caked rock miles from shore as cold waves slap you around.

chariness
A cat investigates the automatic doors. She's too small to open them on her own. When a human passes through, she sticks her head and some of her body into the gap but quickly pulls back as the doors close. Maybe she's afraid of being trapped in the building, an unfamiliar place that smells heavily of humans and disinfectants.

ditch
Decades later, she still behaves like an unloved little girl not getting enough attention from her parents.

gorge
She eats cake with popping, slurping noises.

indignity
She has tripped and is lying facedown with her face in her hands. What hurts her more than the bruising is the awareness of a crowd around her, staring.

rubber band
She walks away from the math problem and for a few minutes pretends it isn't lurking in her notebook. With a sigh, she returns to it. Solves it. Smiles.

Week in Seven Words #483

appreciative
I need to see each day as a jewel that has landed in my palm.

avian
They've hung up bird feeders in one part of the woods. It's a bird plaza now with restaurants and chatter and excited cries. Squirrels try to intrude, while humans mostly keep a respectful distance, observing this avian culture with its own languages and customs.

birthday
A park ranger looks out over the formal garden and breaks into a smile when she spots two young men, her grandsons. "Happy birthday!" they call out, and she laughs as they hug her. Nothing could top a surprise visit from her grandsons on her birthday. They lead her down a path. Behind a mass of shrubs, a dozen other family members are waiting for her with balloons, cake, and gifts.

dress
In one garden, the ranks of daffodils and tulips look like pageant contestants; their gowns are creamy and crisp, pink and white and yellow. In another garden, the tulips are at a party, in disordered swirls of color at sunset.

egret
Close to dusk, an egret with a neck like a question mark poses on a flat rock.

juicy
Savoring a pear on a walk after dark past store windows with lurid sci-fi displays.

magically
When it barks, the dog sounds like a sea gull. A goose stands on a stone fringed with small blue flowers. A child in pink taffeta tears down an avenue of pink blossoming trees. I'm in a fairy tale.

Week in Seven Words #480

betrayal
More schools handing out high grades based on low standards. They lull students into a complacency that's shattered by failed statewide exams.

dirt
The fierce wind blows dirt into our eyes. The dirt is loose because nothing has been planted yet. Only a few stringy weeds have claimed the soil.

do-si-do
We're stumbling through the steps for completing the square, as if we're in a clumsy mathematical square dance with no feel for the music. Just going through the motions.

duck
A duck puffing and rustling with deep blue in its wings, looking like an agitated decorative pillow.

glares
She urges me to admire the chandelier, to contemplate its intricate beauty, but it's blazing, and my eyes hurt.

together
People gather in the park to fish, share a blanket, feel fresh air, catch at a friendship that's slipping away.

turtle
A turtle on a rock, its head tilted up as if it's scenting the weather.

Week in Seven Words #479

bared
It's a bleak, grand landscape of bare earth and massive rocks.

dulled
The bookstore is underwhelming, basically a shrunken Barnes & Noble with a selection watered down to what's most trendy. One of the things I like about bookstores is coming across a book I wouldn't have known about otherwise; that isn't likely to happen here.

intoxicant
A teenaged boy plucks a bud from a magnolia tree. "Is this opium?" he asks his friend. An old lady, walking past them, snorts with laughter. She tells them to come back in a couple of weeks, when the beautiful opium will be in bloom. ("But is it really opium?" he asks. She shakes her head and explains that no, it really isn't.)

sunshine
They've turned a part of the park into a meadow with mulch paths. The long grass is soaked in sunshine.

surface
Around the rock clusters, the stream looks like a ripply diamond-paned window.

trifle
A blister is ballooning on my pinky toe, but I don't mind so much, because it's good to be hiking.

uses
She complains how he's glommed onto her, and how he won't stop talking, but she has no problem using him to carry her coat, camera, or backpack as the need arises.