It's Not All Fabulous Glamour All the Time Chez l'Artiste

It's trash night here at Moving Right Along.

No, really, I'm not making a metaphor or anything.  It really is trash night.  And I am in charge of getting the recycling down the stairs and out to the curb.

Do you know what happens when the one-legged person who happens to be having a lifelong private war with gravity is put in charge of getting the recycling down the stairs and out to the curb?

Yep, pretty much that.

You know what, though?  Moths are neat.  So are reflections.  (Click to enlarge.)

Please don't make me explain what this has to do with Love Thursday.  It just does.

Comments

[Bipolarlawyercook]

I have come out to my car every night this week only to see it COVERED in moths. Not a fan-- I find them creepy.

[Kay]

I hate trash night. Seriously, I am not the one who ever has to commit to it anymore, but I still hate it with intensity.

Gravity = also evil.

[elizabeth]

Only comment I can make is - did you put DOWN the camera while trying to take out the trash? Or did it just HAPPEN to be there to take a picture of the disaster - or does this happen weekly? If so, ick, there is no way I am crawling up those stairs.

Also, I have observed from your trash that you use toilet paper - just wanted you to know that I am a big supportor of that, for everyone! Not planning to get eco friendly when it comes to toilet paper - have already stashed my year's worth supply for when the eco police take over Victoria (I actually pack some in my wheelchair - for those public restroom moments - and yes, I'm anal about it).

[alphabitch]

Ruby helps with the recycling by tearing up large things into smaller, more manageable pieces. I only remember to take the trash/recycling to the curb about every three or four weeks, and even then the enormous city-issued trash bins are never full. The recycling bins do sometimes overflow and I have to get a third plastic bin out.

I do worry that the neighbors and/or the recycling crew are going to think I'm some kind of lush, or if they even notice that the bin that's not full of Tab cans is full of wine bottles.

I, um, entertain a lot.

[magpie]

Oops.

[Sara]

BLC -- Let me guess: You park under a streetlight. ;)

Does it help when you know that moths sip nectar from flowers at night just like their sister lepidoptera the butterflies do by day? I learned this when I planted a bunch of buddleia (aka "butterfly bush") at the last place we lived and then would hang out in the yard in the moonlight watching the moths come for the flowers just like the fritillaries (Monarchs, etc.) had during the day.

If I had been using my real camera instead of my sickly digital, or if I'd had my tripod on me to stabilize even the digital in low-light conditions, my photo would also have revealed the delicately veined wings and articulated bodies of these little ones on our glass storm door, who were taking a break from trying to kill themselves in the lamp hanging over the outside landing.

Kay, yes, trash night turns the whole house upside down, even when it's not you gathering it up. People get all weird and stressy about it, myself included.

Also, I am starting to think that gravity has a crush on me and is constantly trying to get my attention with stupid tricks. Yet this doesn't make me like it more. I wish it would get a clue.

Elizabeth, I am a big fat nerd, and my boyfriend is a geek, and this camera used to be his, so when I rescued it from the trash, I was also given the black ballistic nylon case he'd bought for it, the one with the snap AND velcro strap that hooks it onto my beltloop. Consequently, if I am wearing pants, I am almost always wearing my digital camera. Consequently, it is conveniently on hand to document even the most boring events of my life.

And yes, this happens every week, but it is clean recycling, not filthy trash. Soiled paper cannot be recycled, and there is no place in my home to store dirty hard recyclables where they won't grow maggots, attract mice, etc., so I wash them -- which we're all supposed to do anyway. Also, we have a vacuum and, even though it disturbs the dust mites, every once in awhile we do wave it over those steps a couple of times. But I did say that I sucked at housekeeping, did I not?

Meanwhile, I am gratified to know your views on toilet paper. I am also very much in favor of toilet paper and of other people using toilet paper, especially if they use the kind we use which is the kind which has been recycled from other formats.

Alphabitch, that is really great of Ruby to be so helpful. ;)

Magpie, yes, oops. The embarrassing thing is that, as noted, this happens one way or another every single week. It's because I'm incompetent and impatient. Because I have to be very careful going down these very narrow, steep stairs on one living and one mechanical leg, my process is slightly different than that of someone with two living legs who would just pick everything up and carry it downstairs, maybe making two trips. What I do is gather it all together at the top of the stairs, then go down about five steps, then reach up and bring it all down to where I now am, then go down another five stairs, etc. For me to do this successfully, without tipping anything over, all components of the transfer must be narrow enough to sit on one of these narrow stairs without being easily toppled. There's always one overstuffed bag, though, always. I am too impatient to crush the cardboard down and stack it neatly in the bag, so the bag bulges, so it doesn't get a good position on the stair, so the slightest little bump or breeze pretty much throws it down to the bottom for me, and never closed side first. (sigh) So that just makes more for me to pick up as I go.

If gravity really liked me, it would protect me from my own stupidity and cut me some slack every once in awhile.

[alphabitch]

Gravity loves no one.