Wednesday, October 2, 2013

A slimming black dress, a great 'hood, and a little boy's blessing

Dress: Kersh; Earrings: Jessica; Right hand ring: Effy: Shoes: Ecco; Shawl: Collection Eighteen
I think this is the most slimming dress I own. It's a shame that the photos didn't turn out well. The light was all wrong and I seemed to be talking the whole time, which isn't very surprising if you know me.



But I did manage to entertain Beau with my poses -- when his son wasn't busy photo bombing us. He's a bit bouncy, not unlike his father in the mornings.



This is what happens when you give a bouncy nine year old the camera. I thought the days of chopping off people's heads in photos ended when digital cameras became common, but apparently I was wrong. 

There seems to be a whole new generation beheaders on the way. How very Shakespearean! The kid's got promise.



Okay, he did also take this photo, which is pretty darned nice, if I do say so myself.

That green blob on the table is the robot ring with rhinestone eyes that I gave him for his ninth birthday. I bought it months in advance because he kept telling me he wanted a ring and this one seemed perfect. He loves it and wears it everywhere. 

His older brother was out of town on a school trip so we took him out for a special dinner where he got to have a grown-up hamburger: huge, with gourmet dressing and spiced fries. 

This was also the day when he told us that it was fine if we all live together soon, but that Beau and I weren't allowed to get married. He was adamant about this. When we asked him why, he said, "Because I don't want another baby!"  Somehow, he'd come to believe that when two people get married, they will automatically have a baby. 

His older brother thought that middle aged and elderly people aren't allowed to get married. Where the heck do kids get these ideas?

Anyway, once he was assured that Beau and I have no intentions of having a baby, he gave us his whole-hearted blessing to get married. 

Later, we had a little group hug and he said, "Fam... Wait. Are we a family?"

"Technically," I told him, "we're a family when I marry your father."

He thought that was a silly technicality. "You can be a family whenever you want to be," he informed us. I felt like I had official permission now. It warmed my heart.



I was pretty pleased that night for another reason too: I was wearing the sort of scarf/shawl thing that Jessica Fletcher would wear!


It's a well-known fact that I adore Jessica Fletcher, and I consider her something of a fashion inspiration. (If any of you can get your hands on one of the brooches Angela Lansbury wore in Murder She Wrote, I will love you forever.)



Plus, I got this purse for twenty-five cents.



So, yeah, I was pretty darned proud of myself, regardless of the poor lighting.



Also, I can walk now -- some. With my back injury, that was not always a forgone conclusion, so I always like photos of myself in motion. Sometimes the blurry photos are the best: they're action shots!



I bought the purse from a street vendor. We have a lot of them around here, like the guy who sells these books on the street. He's got a great collection of really good books, including ones I teach and ones I studied when I was a student. They're all categorized by subject and author, just like my books at home. He is a man after my own heart. 

He also knows me well enough that he's let me take books without paying him because he knows I'll pay him next time I see him. He's even left me in charge of his books while he ran off to get change. He trusts me. I like that kind of a neighbourly feeling.


That's him in the background, with the red hat, looking skeptically at the camera.

I live in a very colourful, offbeat neighbourhood. Just to the right of this photo, around the corner, a bunch of junkies and meth-heads (to use their own terms for each other) were selling... well, junk, mostly. They go up and down the alleys, scavenging for stuff they can sell. I've gotten some amazing finds from them, including a pair of ceramic, Denton, flower earrings (similar to these ones) for a quarter.

I know some find my neighbourhood scary. Some people lock their doors and won't leave their cars when they drive by. We laugh at people like that.

This is my home and I love it. I know it well. Take another look at the photo above. See all the crows flying overhead? They do that every single night, by the thousands, flying home to their roosts just east of here. If I get up early enough, I can see them in the morning, flying west.

I've been watching those crows fly home every night for the last twenty-four years.



When I'm out in my 'hood, I'm almost as relaxed as if I were in my own living room, and so are a lot of the other folks around here. We watch out for each other. We know each other. We help each other out. That's just how it is.

Oh, and by the way, that's a dragon book I have there. I'm thinking of getting a dragon tattoo on the back of my shoulder. Yes? No? Yes.



And here's your gratuitous lovey-dovey shot that Beau wanted to take. He's way more romantic than I am, but I'm not complaining.



And here's your gratuitous kitty photo, because he's cute, and because he matches the outfit I wore that day. Did you know black cats are more likely to be euthanized because people are superstitious about them. Adopt a black cat directly. You won't regret it.

Yes, he does like belly rubs. He thanks you for asking and he bids you a good day.

(Linking this up to Visible Mondays over at Not Dead Yet.)
qwerty

7 comments:

  1. I had that Dragon book before the flood. There are some gorgeous designs in it. I love that dress! It looks amazing on you.
    Oddly enough black dogs are also least likely to get adopted. They are perceived as being more aggressive than other dogs. It's interesting how some stereotypes persist long after they've been proven false.

    Alicia

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    1. Thanks. I'd forgotten about this dress. I haven't worn it since my back got bad but I think it still fits wonderfully. Black kitty beside me as I write; nothing scary about him.

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  2. Best thing I've read in a month: "You can be a family whenever you want to be," Smart kid! Love your dress and scarf, and your fab black cat - we've had a series of black kitties and have two now, love them all. Thanks for sharing with Visible Monday! xo

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  3. What a lovely post! I laughed when you wrote about kids and their ideas :) Amazing black kitty, he looks so fluffy. I have five cats living with me now. And four of them are black. When one of my cats had black kittens nobody wanted to take them, even my friends...just because of the colour...That is pity

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    1. Yeah, I was pretty amazed by the kids' ideas. I wonder where they picked them up.

      It's so weird that people are still superstitious about black cats, eh?

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  4. You do look amazing... the photos show the dress better than you imagine. Sweet photos, thoughts, and kitteh bomb. I have a garage full of wildish black kittens, their mum and gray siblings. Not a mouse in sight, and that's saying something since we're out in the tullies so far. Mice everywhere (except here!)
    Looking lovely, lady.

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    1. What are "tullies"? And thanks for the compliments too.

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