inside/outside

dog on bench.

dog in snow. minnow and i are getting kind of really really sick of the wintry weather. somehow i allowed the whole weekend to pass without going outside at all. until i walked out the door at seven p.m. sunday night with the dancer to obtain snacks and watch the oscars in front of her cozy wood stove.

please give

i didn't expect

such graphic mammogram scenes --
it's still haunting me.

thoughts on my funeral

caveat: i don't actually care too much about it, since i won't be able to make it myself,* and i should emphasize that i plan to stick around for about fifty more years, but here are my current thoughts on the matter:

+for my gravestone, if i have one, which i probably won't, but if: "exit, pursued by a bear." with an engraved bear, perhaps, like this one.

+play these songs at the service or whatever: heaven, by talking heads, "this must be the place," by talking heads, naked as we came, by iron and wine, maybe "the age of adz" by sufjan stevens, and "my life," by iris dement.

+here's where i start to get bored and think, "oh do whatever you want! cry a lot and have fun too!" but i don't have a special church-type place, and funeral homes are pretty grim. could you do it outside, like a picnic or something?


*i will be indisposed.

exit, pursued by a bear

that quote, above, is from the winter's tale, and it's nothing but an excuse to post this photograph, lifted from tumblr (click on it for all the proper credits,* etc, i'm no thief).

that's me, sleeping over at my mom and dad's in cambridge with my imaginary bear friend. actually, it was a hound dog who shared my comfy bed. mark and i took isaac to boston and put him on a plane sunday so he could join my bruddy and his family who are skiing in tahoe for winter break -- lucky boy! we get him back on sunday, just in time for him to be thrust back into the grind of school and daily non-tahoe winter life. but he's having a wonderful week. mark and minnow left me to return to portland after another day, but i lingered in cambridge, lounging around, working a little, and generally being spoiled and pampered by my parents, until thursday afternoon.

we all went to see the king's speech (which i'd already seen with the checkout girl and emily, but was more than happy to see again), and then mom and i also saw the fighter and blue valentine (both were great).

dad took me out for crepes at canteen one morning, and another time i bought him a coffee at clear conscience cafe. the three of us had lunch one day at flour (YUM), and dinner at one of my favorite spots, veggie planet (i am so excited because they're opening a new restaurant in central square called veggie GALAXY). mom and i had a really tasty lunch at life alive, a new healthy-type spot in central square with an unfortunate font choice but good food. before we put isaac on his plane, mom and dad cooked a zoë and max recipe -- dal and cabbage curry, and they were absolutely delicious. so yes, i guess you could say i ate really really well this week. to top it all off, after he picked me up at the bus station and took me out for a coffee, mark took me to green elephant (okay, we took each other there), where we not only ate amazingly delicious food, but we had a quite cheerful waiter. we picked up some dark chocolate peanut butter cups from trader joe's on the way home and watched 21 grams, which we've both seen before, but is a necessary stop on mark's current personal death trilogy film festival. it's sweet to be home, and i feel incredibly lucky to have my parents for parents.

*but be advised, it will eventually bring you to a vintage pornography tumblr site. it's vintage, and thus kind of adorable, but there's nakedness there. but isn't it cute that this lady and bear photo is considered porn in any sense of the word?

jammies

observe, my poll on the right side of this blog. by a good, healthy margin, your partners sleep in their pajamas. which seems correct to me, because so does mine. but i see that there's a significant minority of naked sleepers, which just sounds cold, to tell you the truth.

liz's tips for staying warm

1. buy flowers. it's a splurge, sure, but just looking at these pink tulips raises my body temperature by .5 degrees.

also, these were $4.99 at trader joes, and they're still gorgeous almost a week later.

2. drink endless cups of tea.* not only does it keep your hands warm, the repeated trips to the bathroom to pee are great exercise, and also warming. note also, fingerless gloves, and three sweaters (okay, you can't see that i'm wearing two more sweaters under that one, but i am).

3. not pictured: toaster waffles. so warm in the hand, preferably one waffle per hand. remove fingerless gloves before eating.

*coffee works too, but only one or two cups: any more than that results in a jittery, tooth-clenching anxiety that ultimately only makes you colder.

minnow would like you to be his valentine

brothers

this was just awful;

the bad guys had beards. also,

the script was wooden.

there is time for work. and time for love. that leaves no other time!*

my mom sent me a link to these stunning australian mug shots that were taken in the 1920s. they're unbelievably stylish; criminals dressed so fashionably back then, and had such fabulous hair and accessories. in australia, anyway. there's a link to the sydney justice & police museum's larger collection of crime photos from a period between the 20s and the late 1950s, and they're amazing. above is the one i'd like to use on a business card or resume for myself. or, not really, but for something! look at that sewing machine just behind that dead body!

*coco chanel

my indian girl

i chatted online with this girl today! she and max have been farming near karkala for about two weeks now, and they are doing well but they are hot. i want to let her tell her own stories, when they get a chance (i.e. a reliable internet connection) to update their blogs, but i have to mention two animal tales she told me. first, the sad one: their neighbor's dog killed a monkey, and they had to bury it. she said, "its mouth was full of eggplant, which it had just been eating."

in happier animal news: "there is an adorable lizard that lives in this house. it's huge and it's so, so cute. i like it so much."

the listener, who listens in the snow

i know it, but i manage to forget every year. the way to come to terms with winter and the weather that comes (constantly) with it, the way to answer the question, "why do i live in maine of all places?" is to go outside. i mean, to expand my horizons beyond my driveway, where i spend plenty of time.

to be able to jump in the car, drive ten minutes, and be here, just mark, minnow, me, and one lone photographer balancing his tripod precariously at the edge of the jagged rocks? how many people are that lucky?

we wore our snowshoes, and i wore gaiters (which i'm usually too lazy to put on, but they are pretty magical when i do wear them). minnow found himself up to his furry armpits in snow several times. it was quiet and bright and gorgeous.

winter's bone

forget the squirrel guts --

this film is bleak and gorgeous

and well worth seeing.

miscellany

okay, when i get a "letter" addressed to "melizabeth," it makes me laugh scornfully. for some reason, it's always these faux "real" pieces of mail, with imitation "handwriting" on them, whose senders think my name is "melizabeth." ha!

mark was gone for a week (stranded in new york during the latest snowpocalypse), and the entire time our bed looked like this. when he's home, the bed actually gets made in the morning, all tidy-like. in many aspects of housekeeping, i am much neater than he is, but when it comes to the bed, i'm a slob. also, when i have it all to myself i sleep sprawled across it, arranged in my special pillow nest (at least four pillows, in answer to your unasked query). oh, and that's minnow's stuffed animal, not mine.

the sun! when it deigns to shine, it comes in at such a nice angle in the afternoon, just walking into the kitchen can cheer me up. and it's still light at 4:45pm!

we don't live here anymore

i hate these people.

i don't care who stays married

and who gets divorced.

my kingdom

doubtful but dutiful dog.

my chicken dreams are tempered when i imagine digging a path out to the playhouse chicken house through the snow.

i was standing in snow up to my thighs when i took this picture.

note: depth of snow = deep. observe the passing car in the background.

inception

because i love dreams

and joseph gordon-levitt,

i liked this movie.

rabbit rabbit

oh february.