Notes from the small-seaside town:
Today I was walking on the beach with my husband (don’t be TOO jealous, it was grey, about 30 degrees and super windy) and there was this sign that said “DONT BOTHER THE SEAL PUPS.” And then four feet away, looking exactly like a piece of moldy driftwood (or, conversely, a very gray human baby) was a tiny new baby seal with its eyes closed, breathing really fast and twitching in its sleep. I tried to convince Glenn it was cold and needed me to hug it keep it warm, but he pointed out the sign again. I think it would play really well with the cats.
In other news, I found my roasting pan, and put my bookshelves together. Also had to go to the eye doc after something during the move flew into my eye and my eye swelled up and got all red and they had to get it out with a suction cup thingy they put on your eyeball (ow!) and run an IV (eye-V?) bag of saline through to rinse out your eye. Like a big plastic contact lens. Not something I’d recommend for fun, especially if you’re a little eye-squeamish (I am!) In future, my father tells me, I should wear protective “Lab Goggles” when I move. Especially in the 60-mile-an-hour winds and a truck full of tiny particles of dust, mold, fiberglass, feathers, and God knows what else was in there from previous moves…Hey, when I was in organic chem, we had the eye safety center, which was basically a big water fountain, and that was good enough for us. No frou-frou-plastic-suction-eye-wash crap for us! No sir. Such overkill these modern doctors!
Also, I bought Thanksgiving food, including a branch of brussel sprouts. I don’t know exactly how to cook them on a branch. Should we just throw it in the over and gnaw at it? I did not buy a pie, though they looked good, because, what are two people going to do with a whole pie? If we want pie, you can go to the coffee shop the day after Thanksgiving. I’m sure we’ll be hungry again by then.
One more carload of stuff in the old place to get tomorrow…
Jeannine Hall Gailey served as the second Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington and the author of Becoming the Villainess, She Returns to the Floating World, Unexplained Fevers, The Robot Scientist’s Daughter, and winner of the Moon City Press Book Prize and SFPA’s Elgin Award, Field Guide to the End of the World. Her latest, Flare, Corona from BOA Editions, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. She’s also the author of PR for Poets, a Guidebook to Publicity and Marketing. Her work has been featured on NPR’s The Writer’s Almanac, Verse Daily and The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror. Her poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Poetry, and JAMA.
Collin
That is so weird about the eye thing. I also got something into my eye yesterday and it puffed up and I had to use an eye-cup (yes, I have one) and rinse my eye over and over with a saline solution. I’d rather have the flu than something wrong with my eyeballs.
Jilly
ps got the package this time
jeannine
Dear Collin, See, we are living parallel lives – except for your glamorous London trip, which sounds like a lot of fun! Seriously, I’m with you on the eye thing. Maybe those protective goggles are a good idea. You don’t think they’ll make me stand out, do you?
Jilly – Thanks! And glad you received the package this time 😉 Can’t let my fellow Tennesseans down!
Joannie
I can’t speak to sprouts on a branch because I shop at more boring stores, but I will share (unsolicited) my Brussels sprouts secret–otherwise known as the only way I can get anyone in my family to eat them. We cut the ends off and peel them until we have a pile of leaves, and then saute quickly them in a little oil and splash in some balsamic vinegar. For what it’s worth…