Observables #74

on texture, slime and the colour of books

Where have I been? My brain has been too full with other projects to come to this place with the levity that makes this weekly writing enjoyable. Also, the world has felt very heavy. So many tragedies. It’s hard to be pithy when there’s so much hatred everywhere. But then my friend said, “Where’s your Observables?” and it was enough to remind me that I resist by paying attention to my own life. RESIST!

This bookshelf. The work of Violet and me one evening when Simon was away dislocating his elbow. Fun times!

Violet was extremely disconcerted by all the white books. WHY did I have so many white books. Why did I only have two purple books? Subtext: There’s something deeply wrong with the way you have lived your life, Mommy. My mission is now to buy up all the purple books. I’m taking suggestions.

“What do you think would happen if we mixed slime with sticky tack?”

Violet asks me on a Saturday morning when my forehead is especially heavy.

“I don’t know. What do you think?”

“I don’t know.”

Her eyes are wide, delighted by the prospect of this discussion, turning over the problem of slime texture. I just want to drink coffee and tend to the upper left corner of my eye.

“You know what sticky tack feels like?” she asks.

“What?”

“Gum!”

She expounds on the texture of gum for a while, which annoys me further. But I’m also thrilled to be in the presence of a young person whose worldview can go so small and specific that the only thing on her mind is the quality of squishy things in her hands.

Speaking of which…texture. My sister @

Good Enough

wrote a book and we went out to celebrate her years of labour. I leaned into texture.