Five Fails For Friday

1. I had book club last night - second part of Don Quixote, which I finished reading at 2:15 yesterday afternoon. It was at Carolyn's new house, which I had never been to, and I was giving our new member a ride because she had shoulder surgery and can't drive yet and she was closer to me than anyone else. It turned out that it was helpful to have Laurie with me because she grew up in Ottawa and knew the area we were going to better than I did. I dislike night driving more and more, especially when I don't know the route, but we made it to the area and parked on a side street about five minutes away. The house fronts on a beautiful park, so we were walking down a really pretty lamplit sidewalk, looking for number 128.

I have a bad habit of not noting down people's addresses in an easy-to-locate place, and then having to ask for them again every time. The night before book club I had very carefully put Laurie's address and Carolyn's with their contact information in my phone. I found Laurie's house easily. But we got to the end of the lamplit path and were not yet at number 128. Because Carolyn's house is actually number 28 WITHOUT the 1, because I... didn't check that carefully, I guess?

Sometimes you try to make a Good Impression on a new acquaintance and instead end up vividly demonstrating Exactly Who You Are.

2. I'm really  happy with how my Disrupt the Clutter project this fall has gotten the main floor to the point where it's quick and easy to get it back to clean and serene condition. Did I still have to hide some stuff in weird places when my parents were coming over for Thanksgiving dinner? Yes I did, but, like, eighty percent less stuff.

This morning I was tidying away a few things that had collected on the dining room table. Unfortunately, two of those things were bowls full of Halloween candy.

Sometimes you try to Clean and Organize your living space and just end of Organizing a bunch of Mini Kit-Kats into your face.

3. On our walk today we walked past a driveway where a little girl and a younger boy were playing, the younger boy on a little scooter. When he saw Lucy he yelled "DOGGIE", and started scooting down the driveway directly toward us. Lucy seemed interested in meeting the small human, so I stopped and said "do you want to pet her?", whereupon he abruptly about-faced the scooter and booked it back up the driveway. Okay then.

Sometimes you try to be a Nice Lady and end up being Stranger Danger.

4. Suzanne mentioned crunching acorns in her recent post, which reminded me of how Eve always loved collecting acorns from under a giant oak tree on the way home from the bus stop or while we were walking around the block. She would make a hilarious little "ah!" squeak when she saw one, would pick up a few, turn around and see more and go "ah!" and throw the ones she had up in the air to pick up new ones. I tried to get some pictures on our way home from today's walk, but you know what, acorns are just not that photogenic.

Sometimes you try to be Artistic and you just end up looking like a Weirdo with a Thing for Acorns.

5. Special thanks to Elisabeth for the Cool Bloggers Walking Club, because I have been taking my walks with Lucy in different directions so I'm not always taking the same pictures. I've been a bit anxious lately, and some of the walks have had an undercurrent of obligation and slight fretfulness, but today was sunny and the perfect cool temperature and the walk felt like pure pleasure. AND then I realized I was fairly close to Eve's BFF's house. The BFF is in Vancouver, but I haven't seen her mom (also my close friend) for months, and I texted her on a whim to see if she was home and she was. This was amazing for me and for Lucy, who loves Di so much she literally looks like the heart eye emoji when she sees her (to be fair, so do I). She also gets along well with their dog Piper, and they ran around in excited lockstep.

Sometimes you try for Five Fails and end up Failing to Fail on the last one because the day is Actually Awesome.