(no subject)

My new (old) stove got delivered and installed today. Doors propped open, new stove brought in through the back and wheeled to the kitchen, hooked up and plugged in, tested. Old stove wheeled out to the alleyway; it took less than a few hours for that monstrosity to be gone. It may have taken fifteen minutes, for all I know; it was a gap of a few hours between the appliance guy and his assistant leaving, and my going out to get fresh produce and other foodstuffs for dinner tonight.

The weather was unbelievably pretty today. The sun shone brightly and gently, the air stayed fairly cool, and felt soft in the breeze. There was a clear gentleness to today that I think had as much to do with me sleeping until I woke up naturally (woo staying home from work) as it did with the sudden push and rush towards spring.

The new stove is smaller, in width and depth, than the old one. It's a seventies sort of yellow, but not the kind of yellow you mind much. The round oak kitchen table is now crowded with the contents of a box and a half of kitchen items. The dish drainer is filled with pots and pans and strange spatulas and other accoutrements. I broke in the garlic press eeyorerin sent to me as a housewarming gift months ago. I have spices and oils and vinegars and cooking wines. I have one plantain banana, a bunch of asparagus, green onions, potatoes, yellow onions, eggplant, tomato paste, cloves of garlic, a jar of tahini.

It was a real pleasure to watch my apartment pass the hours of the day, to feel and hear and see the rush of a weekday without me being holed up in my dark little office at work. I think I needed this break, serendipitously placed right here at the beginning of this week, when I was feeling a little more tired than usual, a little more hyper-aware of my surroundings.

There's so much sunshine here. I was so worried and sad about leaving the last apartment, for it was so huge and airy and on the second floor and nearly full to bursting with large old windows. I really shouldn't have worried that much. Both sides of the day keep me rich in light and reflected sunshine. The plants are thriving, and I don't have to keep lamps lit during the daylight hours. I hardly ever think about the old place any more. I've got some good karma going here, and I add to it a little every day, like a well-practiced recipe, tasting here, substituting there.

Next up in the budget: a good, quality, new mattress and box spring.

(no subject)

I also got my hair trimmed today. I went to a cheapo chain salon, one that I've been to a few times over the last several months. Each time, Tootsie's cut my hair. Her name's actually something else, but the red hair, the glasses, the makeup: very Dorothy Michaels. I got just the ends clipped off, but it seems like such a difference, so much shorter. It feels good with the hair mostly off the back of my neck again.

I have so much grey hair. My god. I haven't re-dyed my hair in a while because it's such a hassle, and I can see at my temples a flare of shiny silver. At the crown of my head there's a few strands making themselves known. That's what I get for tinting my hair so much - I don't realize how much everything's changing. It doesn't make me look older, though, just odd. You think I'd be used to it, having found my first grey in high school. Ah well.

It's almost a challenge now, to see how long I can go without bottled color.