mandy is a 15 month old service dog we met at the lake. she took a great liking to atlas and chased him around & around & around.

(she and her brother were having so much fun in the water that i thought atlas might follow them in. nope. he looked at them bemusedly and then turned away.)

you belong somewhere you feel free.

(sometimes, i think i wound up here to learn about being wild and free, so these lyrics often spring to mind. thanks, tom petty.)

once upon a time, there lived a girl named lily. her hair was the color of flax, her blue eyes were as wide as the sea, and she was wiser than anyone realized.

one day, lily looked in the mirror and saw a flaxen-haired blue-eyed girl looking back at her. the girl in the mirror looked just as surprised and delighted as lily felt.

the two girls smiled at each other.

“hello gorgeous,” the girl whispered to lily. then she blew lily a kiss and waved goodbye. lily waved and blew kisses back.

as the girl in the mirror turned away, her whisper floated through the mirror and landed in lily’s heart and she knew that she was loved.

the end.

every night, savannah and i lie in the dark and tell stories. i thought you might like to join us, in case you have a 3 year old who wants “another story!” too.

(like this? it’s essentially a miniature version of the story club, so you might like that too.)

pellucid: a visual definition.

(this is the lake i grew up swimming in. isn’t the crystal clarity of the water remarkable!)

savannah and her new baby brother are here for a visit. i am quite sure she is the most adorable little three year old ever ever ever.

“good job, kiddo,” she said to atlas, while hugging him. (he was not doing anything at all.)

“yes. that would be awesome!” she replied to me, when i asked her if she would like puffins for breakfast.

“are you cracking eggs? well done.” she said to me, when she saw me cracking eggs for pancakes.

(it’s possible i feel about my nieces + nephews the way i feel about atlas, in that even their breathing is the cutest thing ever.)

atlas stayed with my parents while i was in rhode island.

the last time i left him with my parents, they taught him to sleep through the night. (i was beyond grateful.) this time, they taught him to eat his kibble without the addition of gravy.

it is clear there is a weak link in our relationship, and that weak link is me.

he’s just so cute!

i caught a glimpse of red + orange through the trees while taking atlas out for his night-time potty run. though i was pajama-clad – preparing to write about something else entirely – i ran back inside for my camera and drove the three miles to the lake.

lake superior was eggplant in color; waves crashed on the rocky shore; and a streak of color delineated the horizon.

i watched in silent wonderment.

so, with love, i offer this – my view of the unfolding of the night.

the thing that tripped me up the most, in the early days of finding my own style, was color. color was a complete mystery. how did one know whether one color went with another color? it’s a wonder i wore anything other than blue jeans.

naturally, i was always amazed by the jcrew catalog because they paired the most unlikely seeming (to me) colors together. so much color! and it looked so good.

i just noticed that these coneflowers are pink and orange, and it reminded me of those catalogs. their stylists must draw some of their inspiration from flowers. (i suppose it could be the other way around, but i doubt that coneflowers receive catalogs.)

i need to remember this. in truth, color is still somewhat of a mystery to me; however, i no longer care what other people think about my style choices, so i do manage to wear it.