the squirrel has got my back

Oh, hello! It's been a little over a week since I've posted anything here, but I realize that's an eternity in internet time. Where have I been? In Transitionville, my friend. We came back from the forest, where we were more in danger of drowning (from the constant rain) than freezing (we stayed in a cozy cabin with a fireplace), and the next day I started my new job on the 30th floor of the office building of milk and honey.


It's like my new employers wanted – are you ready for this? - to create an office space where people would feel comfortable and happy and provided for so they would like being at work! And it's working! I like it!

As a foundation that supports, among other things, arts and culture, my new workplace has an art collection, curated by my boss. She said I could pick a piece from the collection for my office. Well, I went to look at what was left and it was clearly the dregs: a few old newspaper engravings of Ye Olde Steel Workers and Ye Olde Blast Furnances – you might think that I, as a historic preservationist by training, would jump at these, but actually, not so much – and one great big oversized photograph of a squirrel.*

So I said, "I'll take the squirrel!" and such a commotion broke out! Everyone, it seemed, had an opinion about the squirrel, from "I knew I was going to like her! She picked the squirrel!" to "It's so creepy! I couldn't have that in my office!" If it was a litmus test, I guess everyone now knows where I stand on pictures of suburban rodents. Bring 'em on!

If you want to know what it's like to spend three days in a cabin in the forest with two toddlers while it rains relentlessly outside, there are more pictures on Flickr. None of squirrels, however.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: my plans for the rest of the afternoon. A hot mug of tea, leftover Christmas emmy-ems, as Iris calls them, and the East Village Inky. Bliss.



* For some reason I couldn't link directly to the picture in question, so if you want to experience the squirrely goodness, you'll have to do a little navigating here: first to "color," then to "chipmunk," which is on the second page. You say chipmunk, I say squirrel, but let's not call the whole thing off because I love having this larger-than-life little guy in my office.
Thanks Sarah for the direct link!