My partner Sara and I are both strong-willed women with clear creative vision.
(We both, also, happen to be bored.)
Lacking other action, we’ve “debated” in the past few days how best to present her photos on my blog. Do we publish them each day in separate posts or in weekly bundles?
This time around the notion of packaging a week’s worth in one post, clearly, won. We’ll see how this works. If anyone has another suggestion, we’d love to hear your way-more-brilliant-than-either-of-ours (not to mention, objective) ideas.
As evident from the photos below, it hasn’t been exactly what one would call an “eventful” week.
Here in Kentucky, we remain in a holding pattern, waiting either for news of another massive international disaster (likely to translate, sadly, into more immediate work) or for some other employment opportunity to be concretized in the form of an actual offer.
(My partner is an international aid worker who specializes in disaster response, for those of you new to my blog.)
In the meantime, Sara is still working on a short-term project for the NGO she’s been with on and off for two decades—a project that can obviously be done with little—as in NO—travel.
Sometimes we desperately drag our laptops to bed and work from beneath the covers, not only to stay warm, but also for a change of scenery. There’s more to be said than you might realize for even the most minimal variation in geography.
We are definitely going nowhere (and I mean NOwhere) at an alarming rate—though that could change in an instant—and usually, in Sara’s business, does.
Action-less as they are, however, we offer below Sara’s images from the past week.
10 January 2012 (Tuesday)
At the gate. Even little Lucy wants to go somewhere.
11 January 2012 (Wednesday)
Ralph, waiting for snow—
12 January 2012 (Thursday)
Remembering Haiti on the earthquake's two-year anniversary--the kind of action we're actually accustomed to. (A painting we purchased on the street in Port-au-Prince--)
13 January 2012 (Friday)
Snow on the ground, finally!
14 January 2012 (Saturday)
With nothing else to do, we eat. Sara’s spicy sauce is Kathy’s favorite!
15 January 2012 (Sunday)
We ACTUALLY leave the house. (Celebrating birthdays with Sara's family--)
Let’s face it, folks. Our life–exciting as bran flakes–
–(or sometimes Sara’s spicy sauce.)
What’s the most mundane or (if your life is even a wee bit more exciting than ours) fun thing you’ve done in the past week?
Note: If you are new to my blog, you might like to know that I am writing a memoir and blogging about growing up in an organized crime family. (This post, however, is not part of that series.) To read one of my memoir posts,”Kids Make the Best Bookies,” click here. If you are interested in reading any of my protected posts, please email me at kownroom@yahoo.com or let me know in the comments below, and I will gladly share the password with you.
Kathryn M. McCullough 
I love the photos.
I have had that kind of week, as well – I believe everything that I had accomplished was mundane, but sometimes there is comfort in that. I hate that disaster is likely required before some excitement comes into your lives…
LikeLike
So true. It all adds up to something bigger. And it’s important to be able to find meaning in the mundane. I believe it’s there. Right now I’m just amazed how mundane it has become, especially compared to what our life is often like. Thanks for reading!
LikeLike
I love the photos. Of course, my past couple of weeks have been full of adventure, but before that I had months and months of the mundane so I certainly relate. Perhaps it is time for a Road Trip?
Hugs to both of you
Lisa
LikeLike
Thanks for reading, Lisa. I’d say your life has, indeed, been full of adventure recently. Maybe a road trip would be a good idea. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm will have to ponder that—————
LikeLike
Hope things pick up soon for you two…I hate that sense of being bored to death.
LikeLike
I’m afraid we hate it, too. Probably most people do.
LikeLike
Of, course my favorite photo….wait for it………is of my man, Ralph. I’ve got snow up to my butt here in Ohio now. He could come and play in it with Rosie if she wasn’t such an antisocial snow hog……….I am sorry that the world has to fall apart for Sara to find work. On one hand, you’re happy to have work, but, on the other, so many have to suffer to make it happen. Thank God for folks like Sara who spend their lives literally making the world a better place for those less fortunate.
LikeLike
Sara reported your comment to Ralph. It was an occasion to remind him how special he is. Ralph definitely loves both of us, but he was originally Sara’s dog and remains especially attached to her. I thank you, Ralph thanks you, and Sara thanks you, as well.
LikeLike
We’re normally pretty boring here, but we did go to the Getty Museum last Wednesday. That was fun. 🙂
And I have to ask … why doesn’t Sara start her own blog?
LikeLike
Your museum trip sounds wonderful.
And actually Sara doesn’t start a blog, as she doesn’t like to write–almost hates it–does it only because she has to. I think she’s a good writer, though. Plus, as soon as she gets back overseas, working in the field, she would never have time for a blog. Taking one photo a day is all she thinks she can handle. And she’s right. She works crazy-long hours ordinarily. That’s why this feels so weird right now.
Great question!
LikeLike
That sauce looks delicious! I can understand why it’s your favorite.
I hope Ralph is having a great time romping in the snow.
Mundane can be good. There is sacred in the mundane.
LikeLike
Actually, I was just writing about the sacred I sometimes find in the mundane this morning–a really important truth I’m glad to be reminded of.
And Sara’s sauce–AMAZING! Thanks for reading, Jackie!
LikeLike
Well I am happy to view when ever you choose to post…and yes the January Blahs are temporary. Hang in there!!
LikeLike
Thanks, Chris. That’s a great reminder–TEMPORARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you have a great week.
LikeLike
I think the weekly bundles are a good format– the excitement for them can build up as the week progresses (and, selfishly, my inbox won’t get as full!) 🙂
I really like the photo of the painting you purchased in Haiti, and a warm sauce always sounds great on a colder January day!
LikeLike
Managing inboxes was actually one of the very reasons I thought a weekly post might be better. I don’t want folks to burn out on my blog–which I know from my own experience can happen. The more blogs you read, the more of an issue this becomes–as you know!
LikeLike
I love your photos! I am also in a bit of a holding pattern, waiting to return to Italy in a few weeks. It is difficult to start things, but I have made a shirt and a dress, I have seen the Iron Lady and Albert Nobbs and have been visiting friends I won’t see for the 4 months I will be in Italy
Life can’t always be wildly exciting, sometimes we need to go slow.
LikeLike
Oh, I so want to see the Iron Lady!
But, yes, when you are in a holding pattern, there are things you can’t start–the very reason I have not taught writing the past 2 semesters. If Sara gets a job overseas tomorrow, I don’t want to be suck here in Kentucky teaching until May. I’m sure you understand this better than most people!
LikeLike
I love the photo of a very determined looking Ralph, too, and I sooooooo wish I could still eat Sara’s spicy sauce that looks SO delish! The most fun thing I did last week, I did repeatedly between the hours of midnight and 4:30 am Sunday before entering a coma. My neck has finally recovered. As for the most mundane thing, that would be anything I do when I am sitting at my desk at the grind while my mind drifts to fun things I would so much prefer to be doing with my time instead.
LikeLike
Aha, I know what time this comment came in. Are you reading blogs while you should be working? Bad, bad!
And, Saturday night–had a bit too much to drink, did you? These vices are going to catch up with you, my friend–or lead to some more Lame Adventures–which I love.
Believe me, if you lived closer we would have you over for pasta. Sara’s sauce is to DIE for!
LikeLike
Today is MLK day — a holiday even at where I work, Get Rich Never.
I’d rather follow Richard Burton’s lead and check out at 58, a well pickled horndog, than living to be a 90-year-old toothless piece of grizzle pathetically lusting after 20-something tail in a motorized wheelchair.
Sara’s sauce would definitely kill me!
LikeLike
Good God, I’m sorry. I should have known you wouldn’t have been hard at work at Get Rich Never. By the way, Sara’s sauce wouldn’t kill you. I promise.
You ALWAYS make me laugh!
LikeLike
It can be good to have a non-exciting break every now and then to catch your breath. The photos are great. I love the one of Lucy. I was just thinking that I would like Arthur’s hair to get a little longer, but it gets in his eyes. Problem solved.
Here’s an idea, Sara can take a picture and you can write about it.
Or, you could just physically divide the blog in two on the days you both have something to post. Put the unrelated photo at the top or bottom. We’re fast learners.
LikeLike
Love your ideas Christine. Thanks for sharing them. I especially like the notion of writing about the photos. I think that’s what I did with this post–tried to weave the story the photos told. But I suspect you are talking about writing on each one individually. And, actually, that sounds interesting, as well. I’ll have to talk to Sara about this. Thanks again.
Oh, and about Arthur–the top knot works well for us. My only problem with Lucy’s hair when it gets this long is the amount of grooming required. I’m hoping to have the hair on her body cut soon. I like to leave it shorter and her head and face longer–that I can manage.
LikeLike
I enjoyed this post; I’m weird and boring like that 🙂
The most exciting thing I’ve done of late is Lysol the you know what out of my relationships cupboard (think friends and some relatives), gleefully cutting away the the moors of negative energy vampires and .. in the wake of their departure .. sign up for classes I’ve always wanted to take. And buy tickets to a cool Broadway show coming through town … and agree to meet a friend for lunch at a place I’ve never been to because I can.
I woke up and thought, “what am I waiting for?”
And the mundane? I’m, at heart, a homebody. Yesterday I cooked … 3 meals for the week … because I could. And we rolled int .. The guys meandered in and out of the kitchen and I think old dog even smiled. It was glorious 🙂 I really didn’t want to get up and leave my cozy nest today but I did.
Ralph looks quite serious, doesn’t he?
MJ
LikeLike
Goodness, that’s a lot MJ! I have to admit–I’m kind of a home-body, as well. I tend to want to travel big or stay home–one extreme or the other. And even when we travel, we are not big into going out at night. Sara tends to work long hours, come home, and collapse. I tend the home front and write. Seems like we go to cool places and manage to NOT do the one “to-do” thing to do at that destination. For example, we lived in Haiti and never vacationed in the Dominican Republic–lived in Vietnam for a year and never went to Laos or Cambodia.
Yes, Ralph is serious sometimes, but not always.
LikeLike
Sara’s spicy sauce looks amazing. What do you use it on, other than pasta? Or is it only pasta?
I like the idea of grouping the photos together like this.
LikeLike
We use it on pasta, but it has way more hot peppers than any sauce I’ve tasted in the US before. It has a bite, which we both like. I never liked hot foods until I lived in Vietnam. And I don’t even know what I ate there that was hot. Maybe my palette evolved.
LikeLike
Kathy, please take comfort in the fact that if I photographed a week in my life it would look a lot like me napping on the couch, face down in a bowl of Fruit Loops while wearing a XL men’s Snuggy. It would look a lot like that because, well, that’s what it is 🙂 I thought your “slow” week looked like fun!
LikeLike
Thank God we’re not the only ones! Sounds JUST LIKE US—-minus the Fruit Loops. How funny! Hope you week is fewer Fruit Loops and more, oh I don’t know, CAKE. I know we both like that!
LikeLike
Oh I liked this! I like grouping the photos together for a week’s worth. It was fun to scroll through. I like the Remembering Haiti picture, the family dinner, the chili, the fact you got some snow. Don’t you discover sometimes that when you look at photos and remember what happened during a boring week that it sometimes turns out to be not-so-boring? That often happens to me. Like today–it really could look like a very boring day. But when I wrote about it, it seemed like it was suddenly magic. Does writing make ordinary things magic for you, Kathy?
LikeLike
Gosh, writing absolutely makes the ordinary more magical. If fact, once you write about it, it almost no longer feels ordinary. I believe on some level there’s something sacred about it. Glad you like the grouping. I think we do, too.
LikeLike
I love the photos, and the way they are grouped together. It’s like scrolling through a story. 🙂
I’m mostly not bored, but I have a lot going on lately. February is just around the corner, though, and that’s my month to want to break away and do something new.
LikeLike
I know what you mean about February. That’s just far enough into winter to get really sick of it, at least for me. I, too, like building a story around the images! Thanks for reading, Robin!
LikeLike
Personally, I love the look of Lucy’s white fluff mixed with the hard straight and colourful lines of the gate. I also love the Haiti painting.
Sacredness of the mundane is an important lesson. Generally, when life’s a little boring it’s not painfully bad, so that’s something! I like the weekly format too and have no other brilliant ideas to suggest.
Topping my list of mundane activities would probably be the activities I’ve been doing to make sure I haven’t been a victim to identity theft – good times!
LikeLike
You are right to point out that boring is not excruciating. Things could certainly be worse. I try to remind myself of that and meditate on the sacred nature of the ordinary. Mostly here, however, I’m making fun of us–mocking myself–mocking us.
LikeLike
Of course! Particularly in comparison with your usual life of excitement, adventure and intrigue. The dogs are probably wondering why they haven’t had any multi-day travel adventures lately.
LikeLike
Gosh, you are SOOOOOOOOOOO right about the dogs. Ha, Ha! You have them nailed, my friend!
LikeLike
Pingback: We Interrupt your Regularly Scheduled Program to Bring you—another Kathy? « Lake Superior Spirit