I don’t mean to sound like an old lady, but sometimes I hang out in Brooklyn for days, and then I go into Manhattan and it’s some kind of mindblowing whirligig, and I am reduced to standing to the side, saying “What is this?!”
In Union Square this afternoon, the wind blowing up Broadway thought to blow up my skirt, too. I would have shrieked, except I was silenced by all of a sudden devoting all facilities to reinstating my modesty.
(The public service announcement is, I just went to Merriam-Webster to check that I was using “whirligig” correctly, and I have just learned about the whirligig beetle:
any of a family (Gyrinidae) of beetles with two pairs of eyes and clubbed antennae that live mostly on the surface of water where they swim swiftly about in circles.
I will repeat, just to be sure that you are paying attention. TWO PAIRS OF EYES. THEY SWIM SWIFTLY ABOUT IN CIRCLES. People: the world is an amazing place, full of amazing things.)
In the Village, ’ino was packed full with people talking very loudly to each other in close proximity. The barkeep was rakish, with grins and a wink, oh, it is just not possible to not like boys. (Hé, Maud, are you reading this?, that double negative goes out to you.) We had a table by the open window and the flowerboxes, me and Kat and an antipasti plate, with panini to come. Everyone likes an antipasti plate, especially if one is of that ilk called noncommittal, because here is a dish with caponata, sweet onions, roasted red peppers, marinated fennel, olives, sopressata, on and on and on.
There was a walk later, for the night was made for that sort of thing, and then cake, for cake was made for that sort of thing.
When I got out of the subway back home, the storm was picking up. The treetops were rustling somethin’ fierce. Cold pinpricks of rain on bare skin, and my skirt billowing about my knees in the dark.
In Union Square this afternoon, the wind blowing up Broadway thought to blow up my skirt, too. I would have shrieked, except I was silenced by all of a sudden devoting all facilities to reinstating my modesty.
(The public service announcement is, I just went to Merriam-Webster to check that I was using “whirligig” correctly, and I have just learned about the whirligig beetle:
any of a family (Gyrinidae) of beetles with two pairs of eyes and clubbed antennae that live mostly on the surface of water where they swim swiftly about in circles.
I will repeat, just to be sure that you are paying attention. TWO PAIRS OF EYES. THEY SWIM SWIFTLY ABOUT IN CIRCLES. People: the world is an amazing place, full of amazing things.)
In the Village, ’ino was packed full with people talking very loudly to each other in close proximity. The barkeep was rakish, with grins and a wink, oh, it is just not possible to not like boys. (Hé, Maud, are you reading this?, that double negative goes out to you.) We had a table by the open window and the flowerboxes, me and Kat and an antipasti plate, with panini to come. Everyone likes an antipasti plate, especially if one is of that ilk called noncommittal, because here is a dish with caponata, sweet onions, roasted red peppers, marinated fennel, olives, sopressata, on and on and on.
There was a walk later, for the night was made for that sort of thing, and then cake, for cake was made for that sort of thing.
When I got out of the subway back home, the storm was picking up. The treetops were rustling somethin’ fierce. Cold pinpricks of rain on bare skin, and my skirt billowing about my knees in the dark.
posted by stellou at 4:58 AM
4 Comments:
i'm glad to hear i'm not the only blogger who "researches" her posts :)
i've never heard of the whirligig beetle! incredible!
I know I'm coming a little late to the party, but CONGRATS on finishing ye olde postgraduate degree. You are now almost officially more qualified than me ;)
(Actually, you always were, when it came to cooking, and French, and Singlish, and whirligig beetles, and so on...)
Hullo Hannah: Totally research is important. Who wants to be out there on the Interweb calling things a whirligig if whirligigging topsy-turvyly means "going in a straight line"? :-p
I am impressed by the whirligig beetle, but also a little concerned, because, let's say we were in a conversation, WHICH EYE DO I LOOK INTO?
tym: Eeyur! What is this yours-is-better, mine-is-better? Are you a CHINESE MOTHER??? Hngh!
Now I am thinking of two Chinese mothers sitting about talking about their kids: "My daughter is in a top girls' school located at the corner of..." (Ho ho.) "Oh yah? My daughter told me that whirligig beetles have TWO PAIRS OF EYES."
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