Morning darklings,
Today’s is longer because I just had a birthday, so I get to do things like that. There’s a longer-than-normal update with photos and a twice-as-long-as-usual mood board. whoa-ho-ho.
For my birthday, I did exactly what I wanted, which hasn’t happened in years. There’s always something that goes wrong. That’s often about expectations, mind you. This year, I planned with more honesty and flexibility than I have before. I woke up with many options, deciding to go off of how we felt (the hubs and I, I mean).
I made a blendie I’ve named Birthday Oats. It was supposed to taste like birthday cake, but that just didn’t happen. It was cake-adjacent and delicious either way, so it’s definitely what we in the family call a do-over.
I took it to-go, and the hubs drove us to the Peninsula Rose Garden. Oh, it was so lovely! Warm but not too warm, sunny but not too sunny. The roses were perky, my tiara glittered, and the hubs’ half-closed lids showed he was experiencing the same level of blissful peace I was. We wandered until we both remembered that we didn’t do well even in the warm but not too warm after a while.
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Next up was the Portland Art Museum for the Monet to Matisse exhibit. I’ve been to Atlanta to see Renoir and Monet, caught a sculpture or two from Rodin when a masters series came to Raleigh, and have been a Degas or two along the way. This type of art—French modern—has spoken to me since I was a little girl and first played Masterpiece (this is the edition I have). It was lovely to see this collection come to Portland. I’d seen a few pieces, but most I haven’t been in the presence of before.
The hubs and I had those sparkling conversations you see in movies the entire hour we were in the exhibit. I feel like we could have spent forever talking about what we saw in the surrealist pieces, the brush stroke patterns, whether the wet on wet was an underutilized art form (it was), the fine line between muse and obsession, why I don’t like Chagall, and being stunned at the use of green to make a realistic shadow on a face.
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The One of the day turned out to be a Cézanne. I could have sat in front of The Village of Gardanne for hours. Since I’m going back with a friend, we might sit on the couch in front of that piece and do just that, talk for a spell with a masterpiece as our view.
The rest of my day was singing with song I remember the lyrics to even when my brain is mushy, laughing til my face hurt, homemade peanut butter milkshakes, Melissa McCarthy, The Dragon Prince and raging because I have to wait another month for the next season, crackers smothered in sour cream, and blissful sleep.
I enjoyed asking questions last week, so I’m making it a thing. It’ll usually only be 3 from now on because I’m a fatigued potato.
What is your birthstone, and have you ever cared about that?
What is your favorite time of day?
If you could eat one fruit forever, what would it be?
Art by Harumi Hironaka
But also, Wesexual. #iykyk
Pearls are my birthstone, and yeah. When I was younger, I wanted a lot of things with pearls. Then I saw how easily they scratched and moved away from them for a bit. Still love them, though.
I like the earliest of mornings, when it’s still dark or the sun is just yawning into existence OR dusk when the sky is like a painter’s easel, all smeared and multi-colored.
I ask mean questions. ONE fruit? I don’t even want to answer myself. Peaches are heavenly. But I’ll say blueberries, because I could have them more often.
Until next time.
Glad you had a wonderful birthday. Love your tiara!
My birthstone is the opal, but I'm not a jewlery kind of person, so I don't have any.
I love all the hours, but I think night is the best, especially when the fireflies come out.
That is a tough one, I love them all! I guess I would have to pick watermelon, if I were forced to choose.
I'm glad you enjoyed your birthday! I really like the idea of aging with mischief, audacity, and a good story to tell. It was fun to see Alex Dobrenko show up in your mood board, too. 😎