a daydream big enough for two...

i spent part of my doctoral-student days working on a study that saw me arriving to the lab around eight in the morning and heading back home at, near, or (occasionally) after midnight. said lab was located on the secure level of the building, which meant no windows... which meant no sunlight. my exposure to natural light was limited to the 15 minutes or so of driving between home and the parking lot. that number went up to 18-20 minutes if you count the occasional mid-day sprint to the cafeteria (a stone's throw from our building) to grab a slice of pizza or a cup of soup. that was the year i discovered that i belong to that tribe of folks who do not function well in the absence of sunshine. i mention this episode of self-discovery only as a means of putting my current mental state into perspective.

as i have noted on countless occasions, we keep really odd hours. this tends to mean sleeping through the only part of the day (at this time of the year) that could be described with any degree of sincerity as "sunny". it is a magical 10 (or so) minutes when the angle of the sun in the sky sends a flood of light through the south-facing kitchen window, ricocheting off every surface, and racing along the hall. the effect is so intense that it casts the pale walls in a wash of color approaching a brilliant orange. then, as if someone turned off the "warmth", everything settles into the many underwhelming tones of mid-winter. it is enough to make you understand why some animals choose hibernation over having to look at that much grey.

i decided to distract myself from the seasonal blahs by daydreaming about gardening... which led to looking at gardening videos... which led to looking at seed catalogs. it is a slippery slope made that much more treacherous when i got my favorite animator involved. so, now we are awaiting the arrival of the seeds ordered a few days ago, and i have been elected Chieftain of the Balcony Garden Project. okay... so i gave myself the title, but it was understood from the beginning that this would be my domain. he volunteered to provide "gorilla strength" (lug soil up many stairs, carry/move around full pots, and all the rest) if and when needed, but the planning and propagation is all up to me (and my special brand of OCD). luckily, this task is smack dab in the middle of the center of my happy place. bliss!

oh... and i dug up a bag of cat grass (it's actually a mix of grain seeds) and planted a little pot for my two best girls, but the little one pretty much pounced on it and claimed it as her own. after many attempts at climbing into it, she finally gave up and settled for rolling around on the floor with the pot. there was a great deal of much-needed laughter on my part.

she eventually drifted off to sleep. grass has that effect on some people, or so i'm told.

i was in no mood to (inevitably) walk around sweeping up clods of wet soil, so i eventually had to take it away, which was not well received. that is the 'i'm gonna knock stuff off the table while you're trying to fall asleep' look right there.

i placed the mangled remains on a sunny shelf, where it will (hopefully) survive long enough for them to get a few more nibbles in the coming days.

as for that grey and black cardi that was causing me much grief, i am about 72% done with one sleeve, and i have accepted the fact that it will get done when it gets done. i did, however, finally get around to washing some yarn that i spun up late last year. i may talk more about that process next week... maybe.

or... maybe i will be too busy rolling around in seed packets. daydreaming. just me and my best boy.