That Gum You Like is Going to Come Back in Style

The woods are wondrous here, but strange.

We lost visionary, otherworldly artist David Lynch this week. I loved his impish vibe, his amazing hair, his staccato speech, his unflinching weirdness.

The cinematic language of David Lynch has been lighting my way since I watched Twin Peaks on network television as a teenager and was changed forever by it. I wouldn’t be the artist I am without him. Thank you, David Lynch, and if you find yourself in some kind of transcendental Black Lodge place, godspeed.

Highlights

I watched a lot of great stuff this week.

I saw The Shining, one of my all-time favorite movies, on the big screen. It was the late night finale of the second annual Astoria horrorfest, Shiver on the River. I was with my horror-obsessed teenager. When the film opened with that yellow volkswagen winding its way up Going to the Sun Road, and I heard the first booming notes of that terrifying score, I felt a jolt of electricity go through my whole body.

Colin and I watched two early films by Ruben Östlund, who wrote and directed Triangle of Sadness: The Square and Force Majeure. They are both Scandinavian black comedies exploring male fragility. We loved them both.

We also watched the first episode of the second season of Severance. Three years have gone by since season 1 and this show is so byzantine, so Lynchian, that we had to watch a 37 minute youtube recap and the whole season 1 finale before we felt prepared for season 2.

Weekly piano lessons are going well. Jenny Conlee is my teacher. This week I learned about dynamics.

Hi Jenny!

Practicing piano is a highlight of my week. It’s great to play a song on a piece of furniture that has been sitting untuned and silent in my home for so long that I forgot it was a musical instrument. It’s just great to play a song, something I didn’t know how to do a month ago.

This mysterious photo was another highlight. I bought it in an antique store for $15.

This misty walk was a highlight.

And after years of putting it off, I’m taking steps to get rid of a stupid, incredibly steep front lawn. It’s too steep to hang out on and too steep to mow. I made a sign.

Then I made islands of straw to kill off some areas of grass that I’ll plant with yarrow, foxglove, and other flowering native plants in the spring. The idea is that I’ll smother the lawn bit by bit, at the rate that I have the energy to replant it, and eventually it will become a beautiful wildflower meadow. I’ll let you know how it goes.