every flower enjoys the air it breathes

such a lovely weekend, and i'm kicking myself for my lack of documentation. i.e. i have been bad lately about taking pictures with my picture-ma-phone* (i also made somewhat of a resolution to learn how to use mark's actual camera, but as usual i am all about planning things out in my head and not doing them in real life). anyway, on friday night we took the freshly fifteen year-old boy out for indian food at tandoor, where we met up with m. meiklejohn. we then had a bit of a poker party, complete with isaaccash, bills printed out with isaac's face where the president should be.

anthony and jason and leander also joined us, and we had a great time and ate cake, vegan devil's food with creme filling and a thick ganache to be specific.

we also skyped with zoë and max and got some glimpses of their generous host in tokyo, josh. zoë was happy to get to chat with her pals jason and david (pictured below in the rabbit costume, for zoë's amusement).

there's been rain and rain and rain, but there was some sunshine this weekend, and digging in the dirt and grilling pizza outside on the actual grill and open windows. saturday our great friend heather was in town, staying at eva's house, and we attended a fun party there, with (again) grilled foods and little kids running around and party tricks (specifically, the chair trick, which mystified everyone and was performed a dozen times as we tried to uncover its mystery, unsuccessfully). and once again, i took no photos (except for a couple of strange unflattering ones of party guests standing with their heads against the wall, their bodies bent into a ninety degree angle, and holding a small chair...never mind, it's a long story). mark and isaac played tennis with leander and megan, bowled with anthony and karen, and then played tennis again (i pulled something in my neck, so i stayed home working on my pile of library books and enjoying the breezes through the open windows. oh, and i gave minnow a haircut).

so many words, to make up for the lack of (my own) photographs! i filled up the ice cube trays. a sure sign that warm weather's on its way.

zoë and max's adventures continue, only in japanese!

*two-thirds of these photos were stolen from mark

happy birthday, isaac!

somehow my little boo is fifteen years old today. fifteen. he is still as sweet as pictured, above and below. he is just not as easy to pick up and squeeze.

blue true dream of sky

sunshine and blue sky and flowers and green.

so much depends upon*

home! after a wonderful week in north carolina with the sweeties. here's one sweetie, david and ellen's long-suffering oldest child, miles. i like this picture because he looks so happy and silly. and look at his racoon-ish paws.

the newest sweetie, little ben. i want to call him "small baby," or "this baby," the way zoë's hindi teacher, rita, referred to her own baby. as in, "here, you take this baby."

my stella, who only paused briefly in front of the butterfly house sign before running to the dinosaur exhibit when we visited the fabulous museum of life and science. check out her jazz hands!

i always love to go to caffe driade when i'm in chapel hill -- they have such good coffee (they know exactly how to make an iced americano, for example, with perfect espresso shots), and this time we got to interact with the scary CHAI GUY, who yells at you if you order chai, to make sure you know that they don't serve the kind that comes from a box, and that if that's the kind you want, you're stupid. i identified him because of this interaction:

david: i'd like a latte, please, but not in a bowl.
chai guy: oh, you don't want it in a bowl. well, what do you want it in, then?
david: oh, whatever -- a glass, or a to-go cup.
chai guy: well, i'm not very good at making decisions. so...
david: a glass, i guess.
chai guy: okay. you want a latte. in a glass.

so then, after you've recovered from something like that, you get to sit outside on their beautiful woodsy patio, surrounded by twittering birds, by which i mean actual birds, making bird sounds. all the birds in north carolina are loud and bright.

one night, david and ellen's friend joyce had a party at her house in durham. she has a vast backyard full of perennials and vegetables and chickens. below, joyce and baby oliver. below that, gratuitous photos of various chickens.

you know what i like about where david and ellen live? there are so many places to sit outside while you eat or drink coffee. we did that many times last week, including parker and otis in durham. here are ellen and ben sitting on the porch.

many more photos here. and here's my advice, re: train travel. if you have the extra time, DO IT. just bring good snacks and your dad's ipad. sometimes i had a seat mate, but at other times i had the whole thing to myself. talk about leg room.

so, back to wearing sweaters for a while, but i apparently missed an entire week of rain, so things are green and kind of glowing here, through the fog. and on friday, my baby boy turns fifteen.

*red wheelbarrow, white chickens, et al.

carolina

i'm in north carolina visiting my sweetie stella kate and her new baby brother ben.* rumor has it that i'm missing some cold, gray, damp weather back home in maine, which is nice, but the nicest thing is waking up every morning to this smiling face, hearing her sweet voice say, "IZZIE!" she's a sunshiney girl, for sure. and her baby brother's pretty cute too - below, ben with his superhero mom.

i'm here to "help," although there have been plenty of moments i've drawn a complete blank on all things baby-and-child. what DO you do when both kids are screaming simultaneously (that only happened once)? etc. it was a long time ago that i slung isaac over my shoulder while sitting on the floor playing with zoe and her lion king guys. anyway, i'm doing my best to be helpful, but mostly it's just fun to hang out with these two and their amazing parents.

*i traveled here on a train, which was awesome. dad loaned me his ipad, i packed exactly the right snacks, my seat was incredibly comfortable, the view was lovely, and the hours flew by.

fêtes des mères

mark spent mother's day with his mom in kansas, and zoë spent mother's day with her romantic friend in changsha, china, and my mom spent the day with my dad making the most delicious-sounding pancakes in cambridge, massachusetts.

i spent the day with this boy, who not only fulfilled my dreams of owning a squirrel buster bird feeder, but also pretty much spent the entire day with me. we had a lovely lunch at silly's, where we ate sweet potato fries, shared a milkshake, and i consumed 3/4 of the drippiest wrap ever in the history of the world. we sat outside! it was so lovely.

and also, we lazily watched hours of freaks and geeks episodes, with and without commentary. that show still makes me laugh out loud -- it was so fun to watch it and laugh all afternoon with my boy.

happy mothers day!

♥♥♥ i love you, mom! ♥♥♥

sundry

it's a foggy day, and there's rain too. but it's not thirty degrees out -- i don't know how many degrees it is, but my fingers tell me it's not thirty. though i did spend yesterday (though the sun shone) shivering with my hot bag of corn in my lap.

i took minnow to the vet, and he and i are like soul mates because he could stand to lose five pounds and his hips are a little stiff. only i don't cry like a baby when i'm having blood drawn from my furry arm. also, i read this article in national geographic while i was in the waiting room, about animal domestication. there are some amazing photos here, and now i'd like to have a domesticated fox as a pet. and probably an enormous pig, too.

there are adventures being had in china! gorgeous scenery, a bit of farming, cities and villages, interesting food, encounters with the police even. i will fill you in on details soon, but it looks like they won't be able to stay on their wwoof farm because the village is in a "military zone," according to the local police. i get the sense this is simultaneously not a big deal and kind of an official getting-kicked-out-of-town kind of thing. somehow.

i am finished with the writing portion of my freelance job, and now i'm getting paid to edit, and if you know me well you know that i LOVE THAT. editing = ♥

darkness cannot drive out darkness

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."


"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes...Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." *


Martin Luther King, Jr

*this is the authentic quote -- thanks, melissa!

rabbit rabbit

in Just—

spring when the world is mud—
luscious the little
lame bunnyrabbit*

whistles far and wee



*not really.