It’s so green. That’s because it never stops raining, But, it’s so, so green. The grass is no longer greener on the other side of the fence, but it may indeed be dryer.
Surfaces are tacky, doors bulging, windowsills buckling, the towels never dry. The couch itself feels damp. The sun came out for a brief spell, and I ran around the house like a madwoman, hastily opening all the windows. Less than a half hour later, as I sat trapped on a Zoom call in my home office, the skies darkened again, and rain slashed in sideways through the screens, drenching my bay window seat and hardwood floors before I could deal with it.
Later, there was a rainbow over our house.
Just recently, one of my daughters asked me “Are rainbows real?” I was sad she wasn’t home to see this one arc over our yellow house in the peculiar evening light.
When she asked, I thought, how strange to be a six-year-old still so full of wonder that the idea of a rainbow might just be too incredible to be real. This is the same child who recently told me, emphatically, that fairies are definitely real; her camp counselor had seen one. Besides, there are fairy houses in the woods at BEEC, so that proves it.
Rainbows will never stop being a theme in our house because, in addition to the six-year-old-girl contingent, I also love very colorful decor.
To live in a “historic” house in rural New England requires some fortitude. In most houses, walls, doors, and windows represent a delineation between “outside” and “Inside.” Not so much in a house built in 1790. Bugs come through the screens; the doors don’t close all the way and, if they do, become impossible to open. The inside smells like outside. The liminal spaces are fetid from all the rain.
The windows. I could write an entire book about them. Or perhaps it would be a pamphlet, and that pamphlet would be about Lead Paint Paranoia.
Meanwhile, my kids continue to draw rainbows. This one, according to Eliza, is called “Rainbow Rain”:
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What I’m reading:
An incredible story of parental fortitude on the New York Times: Parents Who Never Stopped Searching Reunite With Son Abducted 24 Years Ago
And another really fun human interest story: Three women discovered they were dating the same man. They dumped him and went on a months-long road trip together.
A Springsteen Mystery Solved in the New Yorker (“And, by the way, ‘dresses’ do not know how to ‘wave,’“ says Jon Landau)
Not sure if this really counts as “reading” but I love Maura Quint on Twitter.
What I’m listening to:
Rhiannon Giddens new album with Francesco Turrisi, They’re Calling Me Home
What I’m watching:
What I’m eating:
Just discovered the chef Yotam Ottolenghi and his great cookbook Simple.
What I’m working on:
For Tiqets, a case study: How the USS Midway Museum Increased Its Sales – Even During a Pandemic
For Tiqets, an ebook: The Immediate Future of Tourism: Strategies for Recovering Strong This Summer
For Kincentric, copy for the new DEI landing page: https://www.kincentric.com/diversity-equity-and-inclusion
