Cut beneath the surface screen of what we say and what we seem/Is a trick to be seen

I'm sitting here, putting off doing any real work (like crafty things, business things or putting together my radio show) and instead listening to Guy Garvey's Finest Hour on BBC 6. I suppose one could call this research of sorts, since I've generally been stealing at least one of Guy's selections for my own show each week. Guy is, of course, the lead singer of one of my favorite bands ever, Elbow. (Keep your fingers crossed for a US tour soon.) Honestly, though, I don't always like his musical choices much; our tastes don't always mesh. He is unfailingly, however, a lovely lovely man, giddily enthusiastic about the music he loves. He gushes over his weekly interviewees and confesses to often being star struck even though he's quite the star himself these days. And his Mancunian accent is dreamy. Let's have a photo, shall we?



It's been an interesting weekend. On Friday night it turned out I would be on my own as all my people had plans. For some reason I decided to, for only the second time in my life, go to a movie on my own. I chose La Fille Coupee en Deux, directed by Claude Chabrol. I enjoyed it; it made me think about some of my own motivations and desires and it put me in a melancholy mood, which was not necessarily a bad thing.

Saturday was a day of grocery shopping, cooking, planning, and delirious chatting. The hours flew by and before I knew, it was time to get ready to go out and meet Steve, Roy and Dana at Pi for drinks and pizza. I still have garlic on my breath, which is a good thing. It was a lovely evening full of talking and laughing and pinot grigio. See? I was having so much fun I couldn't be captured by a mere mobile camera. It appears as if I'm telling Dana something dubious, but I don't remember what it could have been.



Today I woke up before 6am to the sounds of grackles chittering, chattering and fussing non-stop in the backyard. I could tell I wasn't going back to sleep so I got up and took my coffee, the laptop and my Iain Banks novel (The Wasp Factory) out to the deck to enjoy the cool, sunny morning. The birds never shut up and it turns out they were battling with three squirrels over the bowl of dog food on the deck next door. I took this photo as the sun finally made it over the tall building at the end of the block. By happy coincidence, my Scottish Correspondent was also sitting outside, reading, laptop at the ready and we got to have a chat.



And now it's time to do some real work for my show and then get to making dinner: chicken breasts; and sauteed onions, tomatoes and squash over polenta.