Vanishing, Violets, Vision

That alliterative title thing was a bit tricky this time but I finally found something that worked near the end of the alphabet.

Vanishing

We'd gotten rid of the snow after a long month of constant "sky dandruff", only to get another foot or so dumped on us over the weekend. Fortunately this last storm was followed by a weather warm up, so here's the front yard now. I like finding shapes in it, like finding boats or dragons or dachshund clouds floating across the sky. The other day, when I didn't have my camera, of course, I found a a perfect heart of dry cement in the icy sidewalk. What do you see in the photo above? The longer I look the more I see, but what pops out at me immediately is the person lurking in the right bottom corner - just the shadow of his head and shoulders.

Violets

And the vanishing snow reveals the first flowers of spring. Look! You can't see it? Well, let's have a closer look, shall we?

A wee violet poking out from it's blanket of autumn leaves in a south facing flower bed. There were a half dozen or so of these harbingers of a new season. I had my hands full so I left them there, but I'll have to pop on out today to eat one. Ahhhh, the taste of spring.

Vision

I have never really settled into my current pair of glasses. They were my second pair of bifocals. The first pair worked really well for me and so I was frustrated that this pair didn't work as well. Too, they managed to get scratched up almost immediately even though I'm excessively careful with my lens. I decided that my habits and vision had changed enough that I wanted to switch back to a regular single focus lens and use this current pair as my reading glasses, which they'll work as just fine. I got a new prescription last fall only to discover that my insurance wouldn't let me buy a new pair until February 2008.

Well, February 2008 it is, so I went to my eye doctor's office yesterday afternoon and spent a good hour and a half trying on new frames. I was thrilled to see that I liked the new styles (glasses have fashion seasons, just like everything else) much better than what was available last fall. Yah! I need new glasses so I can look "tres cool" while wandering down the Champs D'Elysee. And by that I mean I want to look "chic" and "fantastic", not that I want to look like the drummer for Green Day.

Actually, who I want to look like is Lisa Loeb. I mean, I want glasses like Lisa Loeb's. Sure, I'd like to look like her too, but since that's not gonna happen, I'll settle for trying to recreate her cool eye style. I thought I was the only person who obsessed over her "look" until I went to her website and found a whole section just on how she picks out her eyewear! And here I thought I was unique - just like everyone else.

So, I tried on glasses. I really wanted this pair that had only a top frame, with little curliques on the tips that were from a company called Tres Jolie. How cool would that be - my own little french lace glasses named after my granddaughter. But it's like the whole paint color name thing - I can't buy "Tuscany Sage" because it sounds cool if "Moldy Lettuce" is really the color I was looking for. I wish they wouldn't name paint colors. Or eyeglasses.

I tried on another pair but they made me look like Elvis Costello. Another talented musician, but not one I want to look like so much.

The trouble with trying on eyeglasses is that without my prescription, I can't see more than a few inches from the end of my nose. I have to try on glasses and then stick my face right up to the mirror and then I can see all my pores and pimples and wrinkles and honestly, NO glasses can make me look good that up close. So I took my camera with me this time and I tried on glasses and then smiled or looked studious or pensive and clicked away from this angle and that, while occasional staff and other clients walked past and pretended to ignore the crazy lady doing her own photo shoot in the frame room. What a woman won't do for beauty. And then I put my glasses back on and viewed my images.

It was one of those days where no matter what pose I struck my eyes looked puffy and my freshly washed hair was still sort of damp and drying wrong and I haven't seen sunlight in about four months so there was this aura of vampirism (and not in a hot, sexy way, but in a hideous night creature way) and it was about as fun as trying on bathing suits in February would be. Yeah, I know. You're shuddering at the very thought.

I was just about to give up when I found this pair.

NOT a good picture. In fact, I look a tad cross eyed for some reason. But still, I think this is the pair. They aren't what I thought I wanted but they end up giving me the look I was aiming for. I only found them after going through all the glasses that appealed to me on the rack and started wildly picking out glasses I didn't think I liked. I should have remembered the lessons learned from remodeling the living room - what I thought would work and what gave the room the right mood weren't always the same thing.

I almost didn't share the photo because, like I said, not a good face day for me. You'll just have to trust me. I think I'll like them even better when they get in the color I want - the pair I have on in the photo are a matte brown. They're really nice about ordering different sizes or colors if you want to try them before you order. The pair I think I'm going to buy is called "Eggplant". Or, as we say in Par-ee, "aubergine". I think they're gonna be tres cool!