beauty and thrift

i found a couple billy collins books at the fleamarket this weekend for a dollar each.  i left behind a painted yellow late 1800s table which was sadly out of my price range.

also found: 2 old incomplete scrabble games from the swap shop with which i'm hoping to create one complete.

blueberry picking season will end soon here.  i want to go one last time.  we recently picked about 14 pounds in a hour or so at a new favorite pyo.

the peaches are perfect now...drippy and sweet.  

the poison ivy is growing so tall and green i hardly recognized it by the elderberry i was collecting for dyeing.  last night my itchy arm kept me awake for enough time i was able to read a joyce carol oates story.  her writing is perfect 3 AM material.

i bought a $500 car this weekend.  it sticks out in a parking lot.  bondo-ed, painted flat black, window not working so i have to open the door to pay the toll on the highway.   

the image above is from this tumblr.  there's nudity and sexual reference therein so click the link only if that won't bother you.  i think it's a beautiful collection of images.

apple season

beautiful world we live in.

wanderlust

Jeezum Crow, people! The beauty. So, what I do sometimes is laze around at the computer thinking of places on the map and then google them. Then I sit and think about how much I don't know about the world. And because I'm a sensitive sort this thought often brings tears to my eyes. Because I'm thinking, Oh My God, the beauty, the ugliness, all the people and their families and their lives and the raging monsoons and the migrating butterflies and the violence and the babies being born. I get overwhelmed. I sometimes get this wave of love like I want to hug every single human being on the planet all at the same time. Sometimes I feel complete despair because people hurt one another. Does this sound like a really bad college application essay? hahahaha.

The thing is. I'm being serious. You know how cliches are so cloying and annoying but at the same time undeniably true?

Anyway, here are a couple pictures of rural China. Seen in the best most beauty-filled light. Because I don't want to ignore the despair but really, it's the beauty.

*images from here and here.