a month gone by?

A couple of weeks back, I saw Kirsten working on putting some photos up from her trip to Arizona (and still have faith that she'll finally post them), but since then the two of us have been frightfully remiss in posting/writing/sharing much of anything about our respective lives. To be flip, I might beg off by saying That's life.

But perhaps some measures of repentance: We shared a light picnic dinner tonight (tomato, mozzarella and basil sandwiches on fresh-baked bread, a bottle of syrah) in Barnsdall Park tonight, sitting on the wide lawn while night stole its way over the city. At one point, Kirsten turned and looked north at the creased mountains, saying, It's like Hogwarts!

She was pointing out the Griffith Park Observatory, perched as it is on a shoulder and lit up in the deepening dusk. Set off as it is from the houses below, it has a curiously magical sense to it, a way of floating in the darkness. We didn't linger too long, as the evenings have begun to tend towards the chill damp that marks what passes for winter, and we didn't have a thing to light our books. So we slipped our way back down onto Hollywood, then down Vermont to the Metro station. A quick two stops home and then the last couple of blocks into our place.

It's still filling in, but we've mostly set ourselves up. A television - courtesy of my brother - sits shrouded in one corner of our dining and living room, and photos are still making their slow way onto the walls. We both take great pleasure in the coat and shoe rack that sit in our hallway, and Kirsten's plants are thriving on the patio. Rolls of muslin and a large tool box filled with fashion implements have made their way into our bedroom, but I'm not one to complain, as there's a kind of tidal rhythm to the papers that pile upon my desk (low tide as a trash can).

I wake early Tuesday mornings, and Kirsten slips out of the house before me Wednesday through Friday, but we're still managing to share most of our dinners. Teaching is going well enough for me, and though I don't want to speak too much for Kirsten, she's finding enough in her first two weeks of FIDM to keep herself busy. But all told, it's a nice life.

I'm still riding my bike, fixing it when need be, starting new blogs, finding new things to read, and keeping busy. Kirsten is, I think, not doing the same things but enjoying what life brings her. The kittens are well - they've discovered catnip, thanks to my mom's friends Stephen and Phillip - and so it goes. Hopefully, it won't take us another month to write something.