Midsummer Nights

I. Wheat at Sunset

Below, the sky the other evening, on the sidewalk outside my living-room window:

Turns out, what I thought was native grass is wheat. Exactly what it looks like. (Marz had guessed it was wheat.)
A city worker came walking by the other morning while I was sitting on my stoop and explained that the wheat is a place-holder: it's protection while native plantings take hold.

I love the wheat, I told him, and am a little disappointed it's not permanent.
He said, "You are not in the majority."

II. Pink & Green Nights

I'm finally starting a new girlettes' costume project--A Midsummer Night's Dream (AMND). So far, I've got green and pink baubles from the thrift store to string for background fairy lights.

The girlette with the markings on her face, Ace, will play Puck.

(She just came home--
she was off being an orc at Marz's.
The markings, though, are because she's actually a Trill, a sentient non-Earth species from Star Trek, see right.)

I want my version of AMND to be candy colored, like Jordan almonds, which my Sicilian relatives liked.

Ha! Looking them up, I read that Jordan almonds are considered an aphrodisiac in the Middle East, and in Greece, female wedding guests place the almonds under their pillows to bring dreams of future husbands.
I didn't know all that, but it's perfect for the love-potion plot of AMND.

When I  was ten, my mother took my sister and me to see the UW-Madison theater put on a version of the RSC Peter Brook 1970-71 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The staging really struck me; I remember people hanging from ropes...

I was looking for photos from the RSC version and came across Julie Taymor's 2014 Broadway version. It's also on film, but while it's inspiring to see the stills, I don't want to watch either version--I want to make my own.

III. Concussed

Usually bink & Sister join me for Costume Day, but bink is still suffering from concussion from hitting her head on a beam three months ago.
Crazy it lasting so long! But it's not unusual...
She's better, but her vision remains ever so slightly off, which causes her dizziness and nausea if she concentrates too hard.

She's been seeing an OT and a PT, and I'm happy she's finally seeing eye specialist today--a neuro-ophthalmologist.
If bink improves dramatically, she can join in too, but it seems the norm is this trickly slow progression.
Because she can't read much (a few minutes makes her sick) or move a whole lot, mostly she's been watching reality TV shows, which she tells me about. I had no idea they had progressed to this point.

I'd wanted to watch Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night with Marz, who's never seen it, but she leaves for Seafarers School on Monday at 7 a.m.--no time now.

Marz will have her own unique summer nights, standing watch on deck. (Well, there's no deck at first: the student are on land for the first three months, but they are still assigned to stand night watch.)

IV. Paper Mail

I've been here a week now at Apartment 320, and I am starting to believe I truly get to stay. It's such a perfect place for me.

Thanks to everyone who sent me housewarming cards! I've sent some cards too--clipped them onto my mail box for the carrier to pick up. Nothing like paper mail in the mailbox to make it real: I LIVE HERE.

I've put the cards on the fridge. There's room for more, if you're in the mood to send mail...

Love ya'll!