Ancient Pastels

shovel the roof, shovel the deck -
repeat...

Today's word of the day is vicissitude (vuh-SISS-uh-tood noun - 1: the quality or state of being changeable : mutability ; 2a : an unexpected change or fluctuation b : a difficulty or hardship usually beyond one's control). We have a large selection of coats due to the vicissitude of the weather. One day its sunny and above zero, calling for a heavy sweater and a vest, the next day the temperature had dropped down to minus 20 something with the windchill so a big down winter coat with a hood was required.

I got into my closet today for some preliminary cleanup. I have a big problem - I cannot seem to throw out an old t-shirt, therefore I have tens, maybe even dozens, of worn out or partially worn out logoware, plain, pretty patterned, etc t-shirts, most of which are too worn even for Sally Ann. Both Carm and I have the same problem of wearing things until they absolutely cannot be worn again - its like we refuse to believe that things can wear out and don't last forever. And then there's all the old turtlenecks - which I no longer wear as they make my head look like a bowling ball, however there might be a really cold day when I need one. I did manage to throw out three t-shirts and one turtleneck though - gasp! Okay - I'll admit it, they didn't actually get thrown out, they got cut up and put in the rag bucket.

During all the closet angst I did find some ancient pastels from school, probably grade school. Which then reminded me that I had an old package tucked in the back of my desk that I got when I was 5 years old. I got out a piece of paper and had some fun making a couple of little drawings. The school pastels don't smear and smudge the way that proper pastels do, but the really old ones do. I'll play around with them over the next few days to see if I want to head out and get myself a new box and a book to go with it - it would be fun to try my hand at a bit of drawing and they are very portable so I could even bring them along camping.

My pleasures today: not getting out of bed as soon as I woke up ; finishing a crochet square with no mistakes ; finding a package of old pastels ; going outside to the raw wind and then equal pleasure coming into a warm house ; smelling roasting vegetables.