(Almost) The Mud Season of Our Discontent

There was a day, a part of a day, when the universe felt perfectly in balance, so that every single person I love was, at that moment, utterly content. Even though there's no possible way I could know that to be true, still I believe it.

These two are adorable. I like when he says, "It's a weird life, to travel around singing every night and have people look at you."

We've been watching season two of The Americans and slowly working through True Detective with Jason. Both are hugely satisfying, much better than our previous attempt at family TV night (the terrible American Horror Story: Coven, and the genial-but-sleepy Life on Mars).

I can hear Mark cleaning something upstairs.* There is a cat looking at me. I made pumpkin waffles this morning, unwisely following a recipe that was heavy on the cloves and light on the ginger and called for probably a third of the amount of flour necessary. Still! They had chopped toasted walnuts in them and tasted pretty good, once I added lots of flour, with just the slightest numbing clovey aftertaste. Isaac is out with his sweetheart.** I love when I get happy texts or Book-of-Faces messages from Zoë at two o'clock in the morning.***



*It's the bathroom. It is totally my turn to clean the bathroom--he's done it at least the last three times.

**He would object to my vocabulary and the very fact of this sentence. Let's see if he still reads my blog, shall we?

***Usually it's a Tamil or Hindi song/video/poem/joke.

Rabbit rabbit!

If March had a tagline, it might be "Well, it's better than February."

12 Years a Slave

It deserves to win
Every award, including
"Made Me Cry Hardest."

Nebraska

I sat, hating this,
As the audience guffawed.
It felt false and grim.

The Longest Shortest Month of All

It's funny how things slow down over at Overheard in Portland this time of year. It sort of makes sense, when you think of everyone hibernating, huddling inside by their wood stoves and televisions, no strangers to eavesdrop upon. But things go on in restaurants, coffee shops, ski...lodges. Or whatever. I can't do it all myself, especially with my measurable hearing loss and a big fuzzy hat on top of that, covering my ears, rendering me even more handicapped!

Around here, it's a whole bunch of animal antics, running low on pellets for the stove, sitting constantly so close to the aforementioned stove that I am always thirsty and itchy from its drying effects, drinking hot drinks, eating hot bowls of oatmeal. Shoveling snow, walking in snow.

I've been reading lots and lots, especially enjoying I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place, a memoir by my former grad school teacher Howard Norman.

We've been watching season two of House of Cards (!!!!!!! is all I can say without spoiling anything for anyone), and Mark and I can't shake our Revenge addiction as we wait for our other favorite lowbrow show, Scandal, to start again (and yes, as you might guess, we started Revenge because Netflix thought we might like it based on our appreciation for one-word melodramatic noun titles). Plus, Isaac worked on a movie set last summer, and the movie starred the star of Revenge! So! Two degrees of separation, basically.

Eating my low FODMAP diet, but it's not doing much for me, digestive-wise. I did hit on a FODMAP-friendly cookie recipe that makes me happy. You can make it with either peanut butter or almond butter, it's super quick, and really delicious.

Drinking coffee with foamy milk thanks to my little milk frother thing my mom gave me--I am so hooked on this gadget!

Listening to the new Beck (aka my favorite Scientologist) album, which you can hear on NPR right now.

Thinking about the fact that my littlest baby will be a high school graduate in three months.

See ya, lazy kitties.

Crystal Anniversary: I Got You a Unicorn Figurine, Portland

I keep starting to write a blog post and realize it's basically nothing but a list of wintry complaints, so then I delete it because that's just...so bad.

It's our fifteen year anniversary of moving to Portland! This is the longest I've lived anywhere--in one state, not to mention one house. When we moved here, the Bean was only six, and Isaac was going on three. So little. I really do love Portland, and Maine, and have friends I love here, but sometimes I feel like my attachment to this place, this house, is tenuous. Like, we could pick up and move easily. But then I think about all the crap in our basement, and how it probably represents much more heaviness and attachment then I'm letting myself acknowledge. And anyway, for now, we're not going anywhere. Also, while I wouldn't miss my neighborhood much, I would miss this ocean if we left it.

The winter is stealing my words. I need a news/information cleanse, probably, because I keep Googling things like "buy an island" and "remote farmhouse."

Today I was thinking "My get up and go has got up and went." Maybe what I need is a hunk of cheese.


Yep. Basically, my ten gallon hat's a-feeling five gallons flat. And yes, I can eat cheese on my Very Special Diet.

BUT, okay, here we go, almost halfway through February, and I got to spend a January weekend in New York with Ellen visiting Zoë, who's back at school in these United States, luxuriating in a fancy hotel room (thanks to David and Ellen!), drinking good coffee, eating good food, ducking out of the cold into cozy shops and museums and cafes. It was so lovely.

I've seen tons of movies and read many books already in 2014. See sidebar for details! Not listed there yet is my beloved pal Melissa's poetry chapbook, Girl, Giant, which I am savoring like a box of very expensive, beautiful handmade chocolates. It sits by my bed making me blissfully happy. Movie-wise, my goal is to see all the Best Picture nominees and then as many of the others as I can. Mom and I are hosting another intimate* Oscar party in a Boston hotel room with a TEE VEE and CABLE. Come and join us for a sleepover, unless you're afraid our snoring will keep you up all night.






*possibly just me, Mom, and snacks.

Inside Llewyn Davis

So quiet and sad.
Oscar Isaac and the cat
are both haunting me.