fall can’t come fast enough

‘It is typical of Oxford,’ I said, ‘to start the new year in autumn.’

Everywhere, on cobble and gravel and lawn, the leaves were falling and in the college gardens the smoke of the bonfires joined the wet river mist, drifting across the grey walls; the flags were oily underfoot and as, one by one, the lamps were lit in the windows round the quad, the golden lights were diffuse and remote, new figures in new gowns wandered through the twilight under the arches and the familiar bells now spoke of a year’s memories.
Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh

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rose-lipt maidens

“With rue my heart is laden
For golden friends I had,
For many a rose-lipt maiden
And many a lightfoot lad.

By brooks too broad for leaping
The lightfoot boys are laid;
The rose-lipt girls are sleeping
In fields where roses fade.”

With rue my heart is laden, by A. E. Housman

metal

clean (kln)
adj. clean·er, clean·est

1. Free from foreign matter or pollution.
2. Not ornate or intricate; spare: “the clean lines and exquisite proportions of early modernism” (Judith Thurman).
3. Sharply defined; clear-cut.
4. Thorough; complete.
5. Blank: a clean page.

visits to the opera, the theatre & the uni library

(If life was perfect.)
Listening to Goldmund & Martha Wainwright this evening.

clear liquid

TV series: I’ve been watching a lot of The West Wing lately and I would love to think that this is what I would wear to a day of work in the Oval Office. The clutch being for all the little things like keys, my phone, a lip balm etc. to carry around all day for all the for Sorkin typical walking-and-talking.

Wallpaper: I found this, which is just one of the standard Mac wallpapers and have truly come to love the sense of serenity it gives me.

Book: Nicholas & Alexandra by Robert K. Massie, which after a hundred pages I can highly recommend to everyone interested in the Romanovs or Russian politics. It’s a truly fascinating read and reads just like the best of fiction.

Music: Loads of neo-classical music like Max Richter and ambient music like Swod or Balmorhea. Fly by Ludovico Einaudi being a big recent favorite with it’s both sad but uplifting sound.

Beauty: I brought back two large bottles of Klorane oat milk shampoo because of how good it is for my hair (it doesn’t damage my scalp & at the same time gives my hair a nice soft quality) and I basically never want to depart from it again. For my skin, I currently use Avène‘s Cicalfate repair cream which is just the right thing for all the hot/cold going on now that it’s proper winter.

Happy Holidays everyone!

sundays

Montezuma, Fleet Foxes