Good morning, Bluesky. If I could have it this way I know I’d I’d wanna live where it’s like today I’d wanna live where it’s always this way I’d wanna live where it’s always Saturday. (Photo from 53 weeks ago — a Saturday — because rain and because I “slept in” after a really tough week.)

Good morning, Bluesky. When I was the age my daughter is now, a love song came on the car radio and my dad said he liked it and I remember at least once a week how I wanted to hurl my body onto Frederick Road into the path of an oncoming truck.

Hey, everyone in Baltimore we need to be ready for our “I am Spartacus” (I am Buzz) moment.

Very glad to have been able to write about this essential book on the criminalization of spousal rape in America by @sarahweinman.com for @jezebeldotcom.bsky.social. This topic has not been written about nearly enough and this book is a necessary corrective.

Good morning, Bluesky. O GREAT STARRY SKY Where our thoughts go Like door-to-door Bible salesmen, Only to have the doors Slammed into their faces. —Charles Simic—

Good morning, Bluesky. “Wise guests wake early at the Royal Karnak Palace Hotel.” Havoc, Christopher Bollen, recommended by several friends, and oh-so-good so far. (Photo from yesterday because today is meh, although I’ve already clocked 3.2 miles at an average speed of 3.8 mph.)

@emmastraub.bsky.social A Very Jonas Christmas Movie is only the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, I am going to watch this every holiday season for the rest of my life, it is the only thing that could keep me up during worst jet lag of my life.

Creeping on my kid’s Pinterest board for holiday gift ideas, turns out she has really esoteric taste.

Good morning, Bluesky. Wildfires, bamboo, just going to sit here and await the capital-M metaphor of the day.

Once upon a time I wrote my future now ex spouse that: “Writers should be forbidden from dating, if not by law, then at least by social custom,” and early aughts me was onto something.

This is paywalled for me (again, I dropped my subscription after @karenattiah.bsky.social was fired), but it’s always nice to be on a best-of list. Thank you, Scott!

What perfect album came out the year you turned 16? (OK, I’m fudging my age, but can you blame me?)

Good morning, Bluesky. Back on my bullshit.

I’m in a lounge at Heathrow and as a SUPERB eavesdropper I just need people to be having far more interesting conversations.

Good morning, Bluesky. And goodbye to London, which takes Christmas quite seriously.

Good morning, Bluesky. Last full day in Tuscany. Veni, vedi, vici. (My students might tell it differently, but I did my best and I’m very proud of how open they were to critique, the possibility of big changes in their work.)

Good morning, Bluesky. A checklist: A comfortable bed, doesn’t hurt my back Food to fill me up Warm clothes Full house, rock and roll band Pens that won’t run out of ink Cool quiet/time to think Six out of eight, not bad!

Good morning, Bluesky. Mine’s blue, too.

Good morning, Bluesky. This is why they pay me the big bucks.* *They do not, in fact, pay me big bucks, but the compensation is fair and just.

Good morning, Bluesky. Of course people do go both ways.

Good morning, Bluesky. Do I dare to eat a clementine?

Good morning, Bluesky. He hates his job He loves his girl He dreams his dream Futures unfurl The sun collides with night and hey He talks to his dog Watches the big game on Saturday (And sometimes he sings)

In packing for my trip, I had to make a tough choice — cute (bulky) black knit dress or warm (bulky) Harold-the-Purple-Crayon onesie. I chose the latter. I was correct. (This old stone cottage holds a chill.)

Good morning, Bluesky. There are people who have done me true injury who have shown far less remorse than the flight attendant who had to serve me the vegetarian option today. Photo from August ‘22

Landed in London this morning, opened up Bluesky, the first thing I saw was @radiomukhers.bsky.social promoting his book-signing/whisky tasting tonight with John Sutherland. Checked the location, it was a 27-minute* walk from my hotel, so I went and it was lovely. *21 minutes at my pace.

Good morning, Bluesky. Sitting in London, wishing I could talk to 14-year-old me on her first visit here. Young LL, you won’t believe how things are going to go, but that’s what Kierkegaard was trying to prepare us for with the whole “lived forward/understood backwards” thing. Photo from 11/1/24

The British Airways check-in attendant just asked me if I knew how to find the Chesapeake Lounge and I was like, OH MY GOD MRS. BLOSSOM, C’EST MOI.

@legroff.bsky.social — my hero yesterday, my hero today, my hero tomorrow.

Good morning, Baltimore. Ten years ago this fall, I headed to teach at Spannocchia for the first time. If you had asked me then, I would have insisted I was happy, but I was lying to everyone, including myself. Heading back tonight, genuinely happy, maybe happier than I’ve ever been in my life.

Managed to update my newsletter, free and almost worth the cost, as it is the first Tuesday of the month. Please give me a participation trophy. open.substack.com/pub/lauramli...

Good morning, Bluesky. “Enfettered, these sentences repress free speech. The text deletes selected letters. We see the revered exegete reject metred verse . . . He rebels. He sets new precedents. He lets cleverness exceed decent levels.” -Eunoia, Christian Bok- (Oh, ModPo, how I will miss you.)

Good morning, Bluesky. It’s so blah out that I’m going to share a photo from the magnificent Amy Sherald show that opened yesterday at the BMA, a painting whose title was inspired by the Baltimore poet Lucille Clifton. (Listen, you a wonder. You a city of a woman. You got a geography of your own.)

Good morning, Bluesky. When you find strange hands in your sweater . . . (Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal I’d still own the film rights And be working on the sequel. This is just literally true.)

Kid: Is there any food in this house? Me: There's always food in this house! Kid: (disdainfully) All you have are INGREDIENTS.

Good morning, Bluesky. Rabbit, rabbit. Also, Oct. 1 feels like a bazillion years ago and yet I really could have used an extra week of October. November is going to be wild! Photos from Nov. 1, 2024 because even today is complicated.

First thing I’m going to draw is an enormous glass of wine.

Good morning, Bluesky. I have 20-25 pounds of candy, an amount determined by 20+ years on this busy South Baltimore street*, and my hunch is that I will be closed for business by 8 p.m. *It’s a complicated calculation that includes weather/weeknight/whether I open any bags before the 31st.

Halloween costume ready to go. (Purple crayon is what matters, but I am stitching my name to the back of my blue onesie for the inevitable philistines.)

Good morning, Bluesky. “There was a hole left in the wall From some ancient fight About the size of a fist Or something thrown that had missed There were other holes as well In the house where our nights fell Far too many to repair In the nights we were there.” —Jackson Browne— Photo 10/31/2021

Good morning, Bluesky. I’ve lost my second journal in less than a month, it’s beginning to feel like some kind of kink. (Pretty sure this one is in the house, however.) Photo from two years ago because of rain.

Karen is a dogged, versatile journalist who will kill it no matter what, and your publication would be lucky to have her.

I often begin my writing mornings by pulling a card from my Oblique Strategies deck and propping it up in my typewriter for inspiration as I work on my laptop and today's is, um, a banger.

Good morning, Bluesky. Genius in bed, why don’t you have a badge for that, Spelling Bee? Just kidding, I ain’t got no badges, I don’t need no badges, I don’t have to show you etc etc. I’m a grown-up, Bee! (Photo from 364 days ago because I had to walk so early today.)

So it turns out my kid thinks John Oliver (her crush) is 60, but in her (and his) defense, she has a very hard time judging the ages of anyone because I am freaking vampire.

The liquor store didn’t have my favorite gin, so I had to buy my second-favorite. Clerk: That’s the title for your next book, The Botanist. Me: That sounds like the most boring book in the world? Clerk: No it would be good because it would be about . . . flowers. Me: You can write this one.

Good morning, Bluesky. So it turns out that my assistant has an email folder marked “weirdos” and there is some correspondence that goes straight there without me ever seeing it. Should we get drunk at our two-person office Christmas party and open the weirdo file? (No, we should not.)

The ideal man is Joe Mantegna in Celebrity, I will not be taking any questions.

Pre-orders help so much and this book is so good.

Finally put up the Halloween decorations but I think my kid is too cool to care now.

Good morning, Bluesky. Good news: There is actually an episode of Columbo I have never seen. Bad news: It’s from the ABC years.