Guess where this mitten has been
Now every time I see something on the ground (and there’s a lot on the ground, I’ve been studying it all for weeks) I wonder if someone is looking for it and if it has a family of items in a home somewhere it wants to get back to. I see a LOT of Chick-Fil-A trash even though we live nowhere near a Chick-Fil-A, and I don’t assume that has anywhere it’s supposed to be, but I wish I could get the toddler boots and bracelet charms and stuffed animals and keychains and still-pretty-dry notepads back where they belong.
Have you found anything you’ve lost lately? How long do you hold onto socks, mittens, and earrings when their other half is missing? Have you had any good finders-keepers scenarios? I found a necklace charm that said SATURDAY on it on the ground near my work dumpster once (gosh is this whole post making me sound gross) and wore it for years before it got lost again, hopefully someone else is wearing it now. A few days after I found my mitten I lost my hat, and I think I’ve given up on finding it.
Do you like picking up litter? I used to like doing it and even have a litter-grabber, but going on walks looking for litter made me start noticing litter everywhere. When I stopped looking for litter I started noticing leaves, animals, interesting shadows, and things that make me happier than waterlogged to-go cartons and gray plastic bags stuck in trees. I thought picking up trash might feel like a game and I wish it had, I’m grateful for people who clean it up. Once in Leeuwarden I saw a man drink a juice and then extend his arm and drop it in a canal after he finished the last sip, as calmly as if he were setting it on a table. I think about it every day. The way he opened his hand in the air and just let that bottle fall.
Next week will be for paid subscribers, but regular programming will be back the week after. Thanks again to everyone who’s a subscribed, paid or otherwise. It makes me happier than finding a mitten I thought was gone forever.
I hope your week is nice and that you find everything you’re looking for, that you don’t loan me anything, and that you’re able to see beautiful things while taking care of as much litter as your mind can stomach. Maybe you’ll find a really good necklace in the process. (Also, send me your tips on how to wash a white wool mitten.)
I once lost a glove on a walk but I didn't realize I lost it. I walked out into the woods and then came back the same way and I said oh look there's a glove someone lost. And then I thought wow it looks really familiar. And I checked my pockets and it was my glove. I swear I could hide my own Easter eggs too. On another note I do keep all of the spare earrings who've lost their mates because I figure someday they might make an interesting tiny Christmas tree or other jewelry they could be turned into. And I have a bag full of tie-dyed single socks. I just keep thinking I could make something with them. That's been a problem my whole life is the "we might be able to make something with that" idea. I've had to really curtail that impulse over the years. But I cannot throw out tie-dyed socks. They're too beautiful. So are the earrings actually. I'm really glad you found your mitten.
I lost an earbud the other day, minutes after I set it down. I looked for it for hours, convinced one of my cats had stolen it and stashed it somewhere weird. I eventually found it in the fridge, tucked away with some cheese I had snacked on earlier.