en route

the travelers are on their way! this picture makes me very happy, except for the fact that the little airplane icon is pointed in the wrong direction... anyway, in a mere twenty-four hours, we will be meeting the bedraggled adventurers in boston. i can't wait!

wayne's world

wayne's world, party time,

excellent -- on a rooftop,

on a summer night.

the tree of life

i have to admit

i was extremely confused

by the dinosaurs.

yellow bonnets garland all the lawn

you know what i always wanted? one of those dogs who just sit there loyally beside you on the porch, or lie in the grass while you pull weeds in the garden (see above, all my dreams have come true).

this is the song for this sunshiny month.

it is the summer solstice, a lovely long day, and it is also exactly one week until my girl comes home.

i think my dad has taken to sending me a book as a father's day gift every year -- a book about chickens, to be specific.* this year, i received alice walker's the chicken chronicles in the mail, and i am so excited about reading it!!

our nest is practice-empty this week, as our boy designs and bikes and swims on vinalhaven.

*last year, i believe it was raising chickens for dummies. i've got to get going on this chicken keeping project!

father's day

♥♥♥ i love you, dad! ♥♥♥

pride

today was the southern maine pride parade, and even though i couldn't talk anyone into going with me,* i had so much fun watching it and catching the free candy and frisbees that flew into the crowd periodically. in a funny coincidence, i joined the parade watchers after picking up a copy of tales of the city at the library (which i had to do since the checkout girl loaned me every book in the series except the first one, which she couldn't locate on her shelves).

*not because they don't enjoy a fabulous gay pride event of whatever kind, only because they were riding bikes, and building bikes, and acquiring bike parts, and whatnot.

sons are like birds

the last day of ninth grade for my boy, which makes me want to listen to this song and cry a little bit. but just a tiny bit. we've celebrated, so far, with otto pizza and frisbee and bowling. we're also celebrating the fact that he was accepted into an architecture and design camp this summer that looks amazing.

today we are also saying goodbye to zoë's childhood bed, moving in a better option (i.e. bigger) for guests who might stay in her room while she's away at school (yes, it's still her room -- we're not turning it into an official guest room or a studio or an office or a ping pong room or any of the other infinite options). and, even better, we get to imagine her actually living in that room for the summer!

in other news, my itunes on shuffle seems to want to play something by beck, like, every four songs. coincidence, or scientologist conspiracy?

happy bloomsday

some blooms from my back yard in honor of bloomsday!

"Open your eyes now. I will. One moment. Has all vanished since? If I open and am for ever in the black adiaphane. Basta! I will see if I can see.

See now. There all the time without you: and ever shall be, world without end."

james joyce, ulysses

ceci et cela

this was my horoscope one day. it's not particularly interesting, but i love how confused it made someone.

i met this dog and watched him eat many potato chips.

for one brief, hallucinatory moment i imagined i'd do one of those "what i'm wearing today" posts. you know the ones that show off the blogger's innate fashion sense in thrown-together outfits that usually include a low-slung leather belt and a pair of leggings? except, i work at home, i'm over forty, and i have no money. and while i very rarely remain in my pajamas, i do occasionally nap in my clothes. so they have to be as comfortable as pajamas, and they're often covered in dog hair and obviously wrinkled. i.e. they might as well be pajamas. also, i have a habit of throwing on the same thing i wore the day before (clean underwear, though, always).

oh, okay, since you insist, here's what i'm wearing today:

you'll want the purchasing details, of course. t-shirt by rogues gallery, purchased by zoë at a sample sale for me because she's sweet like that. i like how long it is. it has 3/4-length sleeves, which isaac recently observed is the most ridiculous length a sleeve could be, but then i am a compromiser by nature and so it is the sleeve length i am most attracted to, except in the winter when i want my sleeves to dangle several inches beyond where my arms end. my sweater, purchased on sale for, like, $4.99 at target in size extra-large (a.k.a. "extra-cozy") also has 3/4-length sleeves. it is soft and comfortable, but i haven't washed it since i bought it and i'm afraid it will lose its near-cashmere softness (it's cotton). my skirt also came from target, about six years ago, and i wear it way too often. not pictured, i am wearing very, very old l.l. bean silk long john bottoms in black-faded-to-gray which i think once belonged to my mom. they're probably 15 years old. my feet are bare and cold. and my hair is in a mid-height ponytail, so as not to intimidate anyone.

finally, the hidden important detail in this random list of things: zoë and max are coming home a few weeks earlier than they originally planned: to be specific, they are coming home two weeks from today!! two more weeks of japan adventures, and then we get our girl back for a whole summer.

please take note of the fact that i didn't complain once in this post about how freakishly cold it has been lately.

midnight in paris

yearning for the past,
the beauty of paris, and
sweet owen wilson

i think you look lovely today

sweet graffiti in the bathroom at the nickelodeon, where the three of us went last night to see super 8 (which was really fun) after grabbing a slice of otto pizza.

one more week of school for isaac -- yesterday would have been the last day if it hadn't been for a week's worth of snow days, which is a cruel fact to know. he is making plans for an interesting summer, but he's currently just kind of exhausted from year one of high school. he did really well on his freshman finale, a short speech of sorts that is the first step in the learning shack series of meaningful summings-up that culminates in the emotional senior year final word. next week is finals, fun, and racing cardboard boats.

it may rain all weekend, in which case there are some more movies in store for us.

pirouette and flourish

a toast to the green grass and the warm sunshine. it is officially iced coffee season, at last. i met my friend mama d for coffee this morning, and we sat outside, although i kept my sweater on and sat in the sun and my coffee was of the hot variety. by the time we departed (two or three hours later), i had taken my sweater off and sweated a little bit and imagined that an icy drink would taste good. somehow it surprises me every year when summer really comes.

are you listening to bon iver? do you know how to pronounce bon iver?

the best iced coffee, still.

trattoria pasta salad from appetite for reduction. may i recommend it? the dressing is heavenly.

if i had $15,000 and had to spend it today, i'd buy one of these, hook it up to my car, and drive around the country for a while, how about you?

howl

carl solomon! i'm

with you in rockland, where you're

madder than i am.

pleasures wag on in thy tail

whilst taking some boudoir shots* of my best friend minnow today, i captured him in the process of falling asleep. he's a sweet boy. click on the title of this blog post to read a poem by elizabeth barrett browning, who loved her dog nearly as much as i love mine.



*joking.

the speed of light

frisbee in the park, tennis as the sun goes down, staying up late with a heap of library books by my side. food cooked on the grill, or not, and eaten with friends.* digging in the dirt, playing with dogs. it's almost iced coffee time, and there are only two more weeks of getting up at five thirty. i sit at the computer and try to stay focused, but spring is happening outside!

*marinated portobello mushrooms and aparagus, vegan barbecue, coconut-lemon bundt cake, lime popsicles

keep searching, searchers

...and you will find those pretty indian girls and those naked mamas you're looking for. also, these things, whatever they might be:

nasty guinea pigs

cuter than a hedgehog

bruddy blog

what does goofus mean?

gentleman's pennies in the mouth of an indian lady

(and, as always) daniel pepice

work some voo-doo magic

i didn't realize this had been captured on film--the chair trick, mentioned here, and numerous times before, being performed at isaac's birthday celebration by a bunch of men in my kitchen. "captured on film." i guess i took this photo, unless it was taken by jason using mark's phone. have you tried this trick? i'm serious, you should. but wait and let me show you how it's done, since watching people be amazed is my favorite.

we are babysitting miss lulu, who really hates the ice cream truck. i am attempting to teach her the beauty of sitting in the back yard, just hanging out. we don't have to go anywhere, lulu. we can just be.

settling catan, eating too many peanut butter cups. staying up too late reading about mormons. dogs and coffee, opening the window. the sunshine and glowing green still seem unfamiliar and gift-like.

the pavement under me, reeling with feet

this truck drove by my window. i like the goats pictured on it, and i like the fact that it says "our animals are vegetarians and don't do drugs."

i took a walk with the dancer through evergreen cemetery, which was so summery. the walk, i mean, and the talk. and the cemetery too. poor little freddie.

spring is definitely here, the windows are open more often than not, and both my favorite redhead and my favorite gentleman farmer have celebrated birthdays recently. we attended graduation at the learning shack yesterday, which was extra enjoyable since i don't know many kids in the class of 2011 and thus didn't weep. that school puts on a pretty wonderful graduation, though. eleven days of school left for the boy, and about seven weeks until the return of the girl!

rabbit rabbit

happy june, friends!