Monday, November 23, 2020

Reflection With Big Face


Here's a self-portrait for you -- Olga and I on our walk yesterday, passing this kitchen fixtures shop on Finchley Road. It's kind of a weird place, with that sculptural face in the window, which as far as I can tell is purely a design element with no connection to what the shop actually sells. I love the layers in photos like this -- it's hard to tell what's in the shop and what's across the street.

That was on our way to the Heath, where we had a relatively uneventful two-and-a-half-hour walk.


Here's Olga, barking at me: "STOP TAKING PICTURES!"

You wouldn't know it from that photo, but the Heath was pretty crowded. It was a nice day with sunshine and intermittent blue skies, so I should not have been surprised.


Otherwise, it was a day of domestic duties: vacuuming, cleaning the bathrooms and the kitchen, watering plants, that kind of thing. I got the dahlias tucked away in their compost for the winter, so that job is done.

Did you see that the novel "Shuggie Bain," about a boy growing up in Scotland, won the Booker Prize? By coincidence I'd bought a copy at our local bookshop just a week or so before the prize was announced, and though I haven't read it yet, I'm going to give my copy to the library so we'll have one available. I'll get around to it eventually. I've been so distracted from reading lately -- I haven't even cracked the covers of "The Pickwick Papers," which has been on deck as my next novel for a couple of weeks now, and I've got David Sedaris' new book, too. Plus several others. Plus my New Yorkers. Argh!

19 comments:

Moving with Mitchell said...

Once you get to reading again, you'll quickly run through all that and be begging for more. The Pickwick Papers was the one Dickens novel I didn't like (and I love Dickens) . Have you read it before? I'll be interested to hear what you think. That photo is great and entertaining. You can see Olga sitting impatiently, too.

gz said...

I love reflections with depth!
How often does one catch one's reflection unawares and think..is that really how I look?!!
Good to be able to read a book then find it a good home.

Anonymous said...

I heard about the Booker winner and I probably would not have otherwise, but the I would have read your post, so I would know about it.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

At first I thought that was a dummy or mannequin in the shop window until I realised that it was just a reflection of you and your squirrel hound.

The Padre said...

Bad A$$ Window Shopping Photo - Olga Girl Is Such A Classic - Also, How Did Your Hinge Out Work Itself Out - Be Well

Cheers
P.S. Please Hide An Uncle T Treat Under Olga Girls Pink Blanket

Sharon said...

I recognize that face in the window. Not your's or Olga's but that white face. Last year when I was on that trip to Italy, our little group stayed for three nights in an Italian villa overlooking Lake Como. There were two chairs, exactly like that strange face sitting on the patio. In fact, the chairs are featured in the Air B&B photos for the place.
If I get too many books piled up it makes reading somehow harder. I get discouraged that I'm way behind. I just ordered Obama's book and it will arrive today but I still have two ahead of it.

Ms. Moon said...

I'm not reading as much as I should either. Even with my audio books I've taken to listening to ones I've listened to before and liked because I'm so tired of starting books and finding them to be rubbish and sending them back. I'm still reading the book about music and diplomacy in Cuba and I am determined to read it all the way through before I start Obama's.
And my poor New Yorkers! They sit so patiently with all that information between their slick covers.

Red said...

Your first photo is a little busy and the valcucine name is puzzling as it takes a while to get what it means.

Anonymous said...

I am always a bit envious of how much you read, all the novels and the New Yorker. I have long ago forgotten how much comfort there is in being completely immersed in a well-written story.
Love the reflection window photo. So multi-dimensional and interesting.

ellen abbott said...

it was a beautiful day here too, spent it all outdoors but not in a fabulous park, just my yard. I usually only have reading time in the evenings and then I fall asleep over my book.

Margaret said...

I love the photo with the various reflections; it plays a bit with reality. I'm reading the long Robert Galbraith and you were correct; it's an excellent book and I'm enjoying it a lot. I have the opposite problem in that I'm already stressed about having enough reading to get me through a quarantine in New York in December.

Ellen D. said...

My son hands down the New Yorker after he has finished it so I am always a few issues behind. I end up skipping some of the features but always read all of the comics! So many interesting items to read in that magazine. I like the photo of your reflection! Well done you!

Catalyst said...

Good photos!

The Bug said...

I love that photo of Olga barking at you. Girl knows what she wants!

I've been trying to read the same Harry Dresden book for two months now. The problem is that I purchased it, so if a book I have on hold at the library becomes available I have to switch to that. But seriously, I need to put my iPad down & finish that sucker!

jenny_o said...

Like another commenter said, I get stressed by not having enough to read, not by having too much. I go to the second-hand place usually twice a week and see what they have - probably buy five to ten books per week and read two to four, for a net gain each week to hold me "just in case". lol We didn't have the annual local used-book sale this year due to Covid, so I have to make up for it somehow.

There's no doubt in my mind that you're right about what Olga is shouting at you :D

Ursula said...

That Reflection with Big Face, and you and Olga part of the whole, took me some doing to take in/apart.

As an aside, wasn't it you who came across a Beethoven (when I went off on one at length) in a Barber's shop window?

What is great about that particular shot that it has so many layers to sift through. And, yes, eventually, I did arrive at you and Olga. The modest centre piece.

Are you sure Olga was shouting at you? Looks more like "Where is the moon? I want to howl at it."

U

Linda Sue said...

wow, they can make your dreams come true!!! ^^^

anyway, photo of Olga being impatient is so OLGA, so doggo, love it!

Debby said...

If you've got to have a problem, having too much reading material is a good one to have. I love the picture of Olga telling you off.

e said...

Gotta love that barking girl, was sorry to read about Queens...It looks like you had plenty of space for your walk and a beautiful day. I am working my way through the TBR pile and enjoying every minute.