mean mama

the stranger who has loved you

2012-02-14T05:30:00.000-05:00

"Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart."

from love after love by derek walcott

my valentine's day playlist, for you:

my heart's an autoclave, the mountain goats
lion's mane, iron and wine
true love will find you in the end, daniel johnston
jeane, if you're ever in portland, casiotone for the painfully alone
maps, yeah yeah yeahs
let's stay together, al green or barack obama
the reasons, weakerthans
after you listen to those, just put 69 love songs by the magnetic fields on repeat.

also, minnow would like to be your valentine. this means he wants to kiss you on the mouth for an hour, which...that's really all any valentine wants to do.

like the color of sleep

2012-02-11T14:14:00.000-05:00

well, i seem to keep working on this blanket/miscellaneous item. i'm a little addicted to it, to tell you the truth. a secret fact about me is i love repetition, i love work i don't have to think about. and i came across a garbage bag full of yarn in the basement, so.

also, once this is done and is a beautiful handmade blanket* on the couch** that everyone fights over while watching movies, i won't even worry about it getting dog hairy, as i am crocheting the dog hairs right in as i go. i mean, accidentally.

*maybe?
**i must admit, i imagine it on a new couch, maybe this one. only in charcoal, i think.

men say brown by henry seiden

a dream in which

2012-02-09T15:39:00.002-05:00

i won a beautiful brown horse at some kind of fair. i worried about how i would ever get my horse home, until the dancer pulled up in a pickup truck, towing a horse trailer. i was so happy.

*image copyright la porte rouge

weekendy

2012-02-05T10:01:00.000-05:00

i could kiss our pellet stove, but then i'd burn my lips. but it keeps our house (well, half our house) so warm and cozy.

the checkout girl came over for lunch on friday, a perfect early start to my weekend. again i made nothing but peanut butter and jelly, but i put it on pretty plates and also whipped up an isaac tea latte for my friend. look what she's stitching, below. amazing, right? we watched bill cunningham new york too, which was wonderful. i could've sat on the couch with her for six more hours, if only she were less conscientious (back to work and all that).

meanwhile, i am crocheting along wildly without really knowing what i'm doing. i've crafted a few more granny squares with the help of some bossy ladies on youtube, and i finally decided to make something (either a scarf or a blanket, depending on when i get bored and stop) with the random piles of yarn that we've somehow accumulated around here. the ultimate compliment (in my book) was when isaac said, "i would totally wear that if it were a shirt."

meanwhile, meanwhile, it is cold and crisp and blue-skied outside.

now we're having fun

2012-02-03T05:30:00.000-05:00

i have been plagued by a series of extremely boring dreams lately. a dream in which i drop my cellphone on the ground and a smiling police woman hands it back to me. a dream in which our car is making a funny noise that makes us very nervous. a dream that we are out of wood pellets for the stove. and so on.

please watch the video below and let's pretend that this is my dream instead:

Let’s walk together
Let’s run together
We’ll ride on the back of an elephant
I’ll hold its tail you hold the tears back
I’ll hold its tail you hold the tears back
And we’ll go somewhere warmer
And we’ll go somewhere new.

he exceeds even the tallest grass

2012-02-02T08:40:00.000-05:00

granted, he made me stand half a step behind him for this photo. but still, i think my boy grew bigger and taller while i was away over the weekend.

which is fine with me as long as he stays sweet. isaac and i made a wonderful discovery this week, which is that our immersion blender (a new year's gift from my bruddy) does a nice job of foaming milk. we have been making all kinds of lattes together. isaac's favorite is a chocolate tea latte, made either with chocolate chai from a southern season or red velvet tea.

the history of mothers of sons by lisa furmanski

rabbit rabbit

2012-02-01T05:30:00.000-05:00

"And you will be ablefor once to lie down under the small fireof winter stars."

from Lines for Winter by Mark Strand

i like slow things, the way they happen again and again

2012-01-30T10:16:00.000-05:00

scenes from my perfect weekend in cambridge, massachusetts.

mom and dad have a pied à terre in this lovely old house, under that pretty blue sky.

we went to the isabella stewart gardner museum, which was packed with people but so much fun to see. it's full of art, luxurious silks and velvets and leathers, (wall coverings, furniture) faded tapestries and books and paintings and crumbling sculptures. it's a wonderful combination of grand and cluttered-eclectic. plus, you can get so close to everything (which makes for some high-strung security guards, not to mention the history of thefts there). also, no photography is allowed, but i snuck this one picture of the lush courtyard at the center of the house.

here are two of many many delicious foodstuffs we shared this weekend. boston cream pie and banana cream pie (both vegan) at veggie galaxy. so good, i can't even tell you. we also had amazing meals at red lentil and thaitation.

oh, wallace. he held my ring for me whilst i was receiving a paraffin wax hand treatment from my maman, and despite the fact that i took this picture, i forgot to put it back on. so here i am in portland, maine, sans wedding ring. in addition to the wax museum hands (i wish i'd taken a photo of them--they looked so weird, but felt so good), i also had a massage and was generally spoiled in every conceivable way. we walked in the sunshine and met up with my sweet old friends scott and michael for coffee and watched 30 rock and i got to read books and sleep in and see a great movie. see what i mean about perfect?

trees, their legacy of green, by paavo haavikko

your humble and silky life

2012-01-26T16:10:00.000-05:00

emily came over yesterday for a little tea party. also, she taught me how to crochet!

note emily's gorgeous (gorgeous) blanket (above and below) and my humble (and very first ever) granny square.* she is an extremely patient teacher, and i was pretty proud of my square, even though i'm dubious about my ability to make another one on my own. but that's okay--it's a great excuse for another tea party.

*i bought yarn in melissa crowe blue!

peonies, by mary oliver

a little birdhouse in my soul

2012-01-23T18:48:00.000-05:00

don't mind me, i'm just messing around with my blog template a little bit. i want to make my pictures bigger, maybe. especially the following, which should be entitled, "well hello! and welcome to my bathroom."

ugh, don't ask. well, okay, since you ask: we have one of those house issues that i think of as a twisted kind of rube goldberg machine, all impossibly interconnected. there are pipes in the bathroom that are leaking a bit into the kitchen ceiling. they are old, made of lead, and basically dissolving. and in a tricky place to get to, so we need to rip up the bathroom floor to deal with them. meanwhile, the bathroom, which was "redone" in a really sloppy way right before we bought this house, needs to actually be redone. here's where it gets boring, so let me just wind this up by saying we needed to scrape off all the old floral wallpaper, and we did. and beneath that are walls of utter weirdness. story to be continued.*

below, i present exhibit a, me at work in the wintertime. i don't think i've ever actually taken a photo of my beloved hot bag of corn, made for me years ago by my maman. november through may this thing is my security blanket, constant source of warmth, and pretty much the only reason i can't get along without a microwave. i made isaac and mark each their own hot bags of corn this year for christmas, because they were both stealing mine all the time.

ah, the birdhouse in my soul. have you ever seen a more gorgeous thing? this was a christmas gift from my sweet (absent) brother and sister-in-law. i don't know if it will live here permanently--i keep moving it around trying to find the perfect spot. it is way too gorgeous to go outside, by the way.

*this story might involve paint. or it might involve beadboard. or tile. or all three! it might involve happy hours of working together to make our (only) bathroom lovely, or it may involve the wringing of hands and great cries of despair. i'll keep you updated.

yes i'm cold

2012-01-21T07:30:00.000-05:00

this is my official song of january. i love it so much.

and now for a dream i'm going to call semi-lucid, since at one point i looked around (i was sitting on the hood of my car in my driveway in the sunshine with mark), and said, "hey. hey. is this a dream? seriously, is this a dream?" (mark shrugged.)

i saw some far-off birds in the sky, and said, "if this is a dream i'd like one of those birds to fly down here and land on my finger!" i kind of mentally manipulated a bird-like thing to hop up to me on the ground, but it wasn't quite...right. "that's more like a dog than a bird," said mark. it sort of had fur, and it was remarkably minnow-colored. "that doesn't count."

just then, a bird, a very real bird, tiny and with blue and gray feathers, landed on my finger.

but later, having proven to myself that it was a dream, i forgot. isaac was in fifth grade, and i kept counting on my fingers trying to figure out how many years he'd been at his (elementary) school. the kitchen was full of weird-looking leftover baked goods. there were several squares of a beige-colored birthday cake isaac had brought home from school (the birthday kid's name, he told me, was lucid jonathan*) there was some kind of spun-sugar decorative stuff on top that shattered like glass when i put a fork into the cake.**

*my subconscious was trying so hard to remind me that we were dealing with a dream here! also, i've been listening to bbc radio too much, on which they're constantly talking about the president of nigeria.

**i'm a little embarrassed about how often my dreams involve baked goods.

the way life tosses you around

2012-01-20T10:21:00.000-05:00

it was a long week, but a sweet one. i had lunch with two of my very favorites.

my copilot took pictures of this murder of crows for me one afternoon.

i discovered a new (to me) meat substitute, jackfruit! i used it to make tacos one night and then vegan "pulled pork" sandwiches the next.

(unless you are the person's child and possibly his or her spouse) you can forgive a person for being tempted to refer to this guy as "mister fuzzers." right?

biography by amy dryansky

a world she has no language for

2012-01-18T05:30:00.000-05:00

a dream in which:

•i ask a large group of teenagers in my backyard, very nicely, not to hold an enormous wood chipper over the compost while other teenagers are inserting things (a baseball bat, a lawn chair) into it.
•i go inside only to discover that the guinea pig's cage is open and minnow is standing in front of it, swallowing. i begin to shriek, "april ate minnow!"
•i go back to the mysterious, dark, teenager-filled back yard and find isaac, who is literally like nine feet tall, and i sob, "april ate minnow." he pats me on the head very sweetly.

my dream about time, lucille clifton

melancholia

2012-01-17T08:56:00.000-05:00

bleak and beautiful.
also, no mutilation!
merci, lars von trier.

cedar rapids

2012-01-17T08:51:00.000-05:00

life is much too short
to watch unfunny movies
like this piece of crap.

they go and you stay

2012-01-15T12:11:00.000-05:00

you're going to be so jealous when you see our collection of...plugs.

and what household couldn't use ten old cellphones?

amirite*? with the boys away for the long weekend (well, the boys except for my loyal compatriot dog), i am organizing things that probably don't desperately need to be organized (again with the tea shelf, etc). if i could gather and photograph every cord of every sort that lives in my house, you would be tempted to call hoarders and book us on the show.

this poem, oh my god. by fay zwicky.

i could live very happily for a long time on coffee, kale with tahini dressing, and roasted potatoes.

*my sources predict that this will be an actual word in the dictionary one day in the not-too-distant future.

the world fallen under this falling

2012-01-12T19:27:00.000-05:00

the first snow day of the school year was actually unwelcome to isaac, who is midway through intensives week at the shack. he is having a great time making a short post-apocalyptic film with a small group, assisted by chaperons extraordinaire, mark and david m. check out mark's photos from the shoot here. also, thursdays are ski club day. so despite the lovely snow outside, my boy can't slide down a mountain in/on it. he did outfit himself in winter gear and hike a mile to a friend's house. and mark and i outfitted ourselves as well and shoveled the driveway. our neighbor across-two-streets was singing something, and i could've sworn it was crazy train. it seems a little early in the season for that, n'est-ce pas?

snow day by billy collins

all that we see or seem

2012-01-11T11:23:00.000-05:00

a dream in which the following things happen:

•i curl up on the floor of a bathroom stall to cry.
•i escape from a vague cubicle-bound job by climbing out a small window. i land in water up to my knees, but my feet don't get wet.
•i have to walk up an endless hill. it is exhausting, but i find i make slightly better progress when i turn around and walk backwards.
•i adopt not one but two abandoned children.
•i am so upset upon learning that my brother* has been in maine for two weeks and hasn't told me that i slam dents into the hood of my car with a can opener.
•i learn that my parents are planning to retire and "live out of (their) car."

oh, and so much more! the joys of a surreal, endless nap-dream, let me tell you.

*a conflation of both my real brothers into a dream brother.

and everything is going fine

2012-01-10T16:55:00.000-05:00

i miss you, spalding.
i'm still surprised to realize
that you're really gone.

there is winter to heed

2012-01-09T07:50:00.000-05:00

well, she's off again. after a whirlwind winter break, the girl headed back to school by way of oneonta, where she'll enjoy a week with max in his new (to him) cabin at pine lake. for him, it's the start of a january term, and for her it will be a week of cooking, reading, banjo practice, walks in the countryside, and no doubt a visit or two to the sauna. zoë's classes start january 17th, so at some point before that she'll hop on a bus back to the city. it was wonderful having her here, and i miss her. i had to buy some stuff at target yesterday, and while i was there i missed her (why at target? i don't know! i just imagined us strolling through target, laughing together at absurdities and so on). this morning i sadly threw out the tiny bit of indian rice left in the fridge from our new year's feast, which was marked on the top with a label in hindi, and missed her. over the next few months we're going to move isaac into zoë's (bigger) bedroom, which is great and makes sense and all, but... oh, you know. i am surprised when i feel at all sad about her moving off into the world, since i am such an old hand at saying goodbye to her, and since i (consciously) feel purely joyful about her happiness, her enthusiasm, ideas for the future, plans, hopes, ambitions. it's so happy, and it's so hard.

a sunset of the city, gwendolyn brooks

sleeping in the cold

2012-01-07T09:46:00.001-05:00

snow, sunshine, dinner with friends, a house full of boys, movies and sleep, scrabble, toast, reading in bed together, melancholia, the history of india, coconut cream pie, catching up, falling behind.

winter trees, by william carlos williams

the small fire of winter stars

2012-01-05T09:30:00.000-05:00

moss, kefir, cold fingers, books, baths, four plates on the table, a limping dog with soft ears, more cups of tea, the grocery store, static, big band jazz, bollywood.

lines for winter, mark strand

it would first taste bitter

2012-01-04T08:08:00.000-05:00

there's been a reprieve: zoë's coughing, snuffly cold resulted in a rescheduling of the wisdom-tooth-yanking until "spring" break (it's in march, so. spring, really?). in the meantime, she's been having a lot of fun for a girl with a cold, seeing movies, reading, hot tubbing, dining on tempeh reubens, etcetera. isaac is back at the shack, where intensive week starts on monday, when he'll be making movies to his heart's content.

he has also, as of january fourth, spent all of his christmas money on skiing.* luckily, there is the learning shack ski club for him to look forward to, as well as a february break trip to tahoe, thanks to his amazing california uncle and auntie. lucky boy.

pellet stove, bbc radio, grapefruit, cold, colds, dog arthritis, words written and read, light and dark. ah, january.

at the fishhouses, elizabeth bishop

*oh, my friends, that is a sport for the well-off!

holding on comes easily

2012-01-03T07:22:00.000-05:00

today i'm loving the evidence my girl leaves around this house, proof that she's here: pretty dresses; teacups; books; used tissues; sheets of notebook paper covered in hindi and urdu text; the smell of indian food in the kitchen; her little shoes; the sound of her laughter. tomorrow, i am sorry to say, she will have her wisdom teeth removed. i don't know which of us is dreading it more.

"We need, in love, to practice only this: letting each other go. For holding on comes easily; we do not need to learn it.” -- Rainer Maria Rilke

here there is no place that does not see you

2012-01-02T10:06:00.000-05:00

on new year's day i made hoppin' john, southern greens, and skillet cornbread for lunch. just think of all the good luck i'm going to have this year, with my rabbit rabbits and black eyed peas! also, it was delicious, and we ate it cozily in front of the pellet stove, so wintery. i am loving having zoë and isaac both home and relaxed (isaac is skiing for the second time today), sleeping in, staying up late, watching movies with mark, wearing my new bean boots, and even cleaning and organizing post-holidays. although if i had my way, i'd pack up half of the stuff in this house and take it to goodwill. another lovely thing is not throwing up anymore.

archaic torso of apollo by rainer maria rilke

rabbit rabbit

2012-01-01T05:00:00.000-05:00

i wish you all a happy new year, friends!

"With what stillness at last
you appear in the valley
your first sunlight reaching down
to touch the tips of a few
high leaves that do not stir
as though they had not noticed
and did not know you at all
then the voice of a dove calls
from far away in itself
to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you
here and now whether or not
anyone hears it this is
where we have come with our age
our knowledge such as it is
and our hopes such as they are
invisible before us
untouched and still possible"

W.S. Merwin, "To the New Year"

out of a thousand invitations

2011-12-31T13:54:00.000-05:00

i hope you have as much fun celebrating the end of 2011 as minnow is planning to have! it's the end of a year, the end of a month of dogs, and the beginning of a bright new year.

"...Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
Whispering ‘It will be happier’…”

--Alfred Tennyson

xoxo

my heart is returned to sister winter

2011-12-30T09:43:00.001-05:00

hello. i am sick, and that is my excuse for the dearth of dogs around here. i selected two dogs for today, in an attempt to make up for the past few dog-free days. first, nurse minnow, guarding the sickbed.

and second, the long-suffering miles, who after being rescued from the dog spa was apparently forced to wear the handmade hello kitty crown and cape that stella received for christmas from her uncle mark. what a good sport.

you love what you are*

2011-12-28T14:57:00.000-05:00

a wintery walk at two lights with mark and zoë this morning. the waves were huge and frothy, and the clouds were crazy too. such a beautiful warm wintery day, and such lovely quiet company.

it was pretty perfect for this bittersweet post-holiday week. we're cleaning, slowly, and trying to eat food other than leftover cookies and mashed potatoes and chocolate (not all together, ew), and fitting in some actual work hours and gradually getting back to normal life. although it's life with our girl home from college, and our boy out of school too, so it's way more sweet than bitter, much as we miss having the extended family around to play games and drink coffee and laugh and watch movies.

did you notice that i neglected the dog-of-the-day? yes, i was thinking that those dogs in the manger might tide you all over for a while. several days, at least.

*from mark strand's lines for winter

only at christmas time

2011-12-25T19:41:00.000-05:00

merry christmas to you from a bunch of very patient dogs and me. ♥

santa claus is coming--hear the banjo strumming

2011-12-24T23:29:00.000-05:00

holy smokes. i just came SO close to forgetting your dog-of-the-day. this dog is adorable, but this post is lame because here's what i can tell you: he is a male dog. he sleeps and hangs out in the window of a shop on middle street. i forget which shop, and i forget what his name is.

merry holidays, friends!

everybody's waiting for the man with the bag

2011-12-23T20:17:00.000-05:00

reindogs-of-the-day. i love how dubious minnow looks in this picture.

right down santa claus lane

2011-12-22T18:50:00.001-05:00

did you think i'd forget today's dog? never fear, here is santa's helper, ~~patiently awaiting instructions as to how he can be of assistance~~ begging for a piece of my pizza crust.

and we're also waiting for our girl, who arrives tonight, driven back from new york by mark* with her banjo and bags in tow!

we had a near miss, but christmas can proceed as planned, now that my brother david found the essential ingredient. seriously, it's just not christmas without the traditional almond-filled bread.

*best dad award, 2011

give it to someone special

2011-12-21T10:06:00.001-05:00

although this dog-of-the-day* will be vacationing at a north carolina dog spa over the holiday, i will get to see his buddy stella the day after tomorrow!

*miles, redux. as i mentioned, i am running out of dogs!

in time the snow will rise

2011-12-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

corey templeton, of portland daily photo fame, has been rallying portland bloggers to write about their favorite local good-doing organizations and causes this week. what popped into my head is the one group i've supported financially this year. my financial contribution may have been a paltry drop in the bucket, but my enthusiasm for this organization is enormous.

it's blunt youth radio at wmpg, and here's how they describe themselves:

The Blunt Youth Radio Project produces a weekly call-in talk show that airs Monday nights from 7:30-8:30 on WMPG, Greater Portland Community Radio. High school age youth from the Portland area, both free and incarcerated, staff the show. Blunt Members are trained in all areas of radio production: interviewing, hosting, reporting, editing, and engineering. The show has won several Gold and Silver Reel Awards from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters and a number of First Place Radio News Awards from the Maine Association of Broadcasters.

blunt is in my top five reasons-why-i'm-glad-my-kids-grew-up-in-portland-maine. there are only a couple of other programs like it in the country, and it's played an enormous part in zoë and isaac's lives. i probably can't even begin to summarize what they've gained from blunt, but the list includes responsibility, independence, how to say no, how to work collaboratively, public speaking, critical thinking, and the deliciousness of japanese curry. and that doesn't even include the technical radio skills they've learned, recording, editing, interviewing, live hosting, and engineering. and that's just my kids--blunt is a resource for every high school-age person in the portland area, including those who live at long creek youth development center. blunt has basically given teenagers a (loud) voice, a forum in which they demand (politely) to be taken seriously.

here are some ways you can support blunt:

financially. a donation to portland, maine's amazing community radio station, wmpg, is a donation to blunt. when you donate, be sure to mention blunt specifically.

blunt embarked on its first kickstarter campaign this fall. they will only use this kind of fundraising for specific projects, like their trip to the 2011 new york city audioslam. check their website, listen to the show, and like them on facebook for updated information.

listen to the program, and if you're braver than i am, call in with questions and comments. it airs every monday evening from 7:30 to 8:30pm on 90.9 and 104.1 fm locally, or you can listen online at wmpg.org.

thanks for taking the time to read this, and thanks to corey for the inspiration!

(did you think i'd forget your dog-of-the-day? not a chance.)

bringing good cheer

2011-12-19T09:19:00.000-05:00

vegan gingerbread stars!

a colorful christmas tree!

pine cones!

and your dog-of-the-day, sweet mabel, who lives with max's family and is difficult to capture on film, due to being either constantly in motion or rendered invisible by her black fur.

(photo by max)

their favorite time of year

2011-12-18T15:50:00.002-05:00

mele kalikimaka is the thing to say

2011-12-17T18:33:00.000-05:00

first of all, a tableau i like to call "debauched crèche." surprise: this photo was not taken at my house. i shall say no more.

we finally got our christmas tree! on the recommendation of the checkout girl, we went to a new tree farm in cape elizabeth, and it was lovely. there were friendly people, snow-dusted trees, a sweet little hot chocolate hut, and an outdoor fire for marshmallow toasting.

today's dog is a sleepy minnow, whose look basically says, "excuse me, i was sleeping. would i take a photograph of you in your pajamas? no, i would not."

the stars are brightly shining

2011-12-16T06:53:00.002-05:00

today's dog is gracie, who lives with my mom's great friend judy. she's a rescue dog, one of those magical best dog friends, and though i haven't met her yet, i can tell she's a good girl.

you know what you can do? you can take spoonfuls of speculoos spread* (mom, you can call it "cookie butter" if that word still seems a little too close to "speculum" for comfort), you can roll them into sticky balls and you can dip them in melted chocolate. then you can place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and put it in the fridge for a spell. then you have a delicious candy treat that you can refer to as either "speculoos truffles" or "cookie butter truffles," as per your preference.

*buy it at trader joe's!

**update: this just in from gracie herself!

Gracie Pearl Gilhousen is soooo honored to be Dog of the Day. Gracie hails from West Virginia, where a dog rescue group found her wandering alone, homeless. She now lives in Pleasantville, NY, and is looking forward to Santa bringing her treats.

collecting little kisses that are due me

2011-12-15T14:45:00.000-05:00

this dog-of-the-day comes to you from christmas in carolina 2010. that's jonah, enjoying some quiet time with minnow, who is enjoying some quiet time with a tennis ball.

i am in that weird holiday stage of feeling like there are a million things to do, but not being sure where to start, exactly. i am organizing and baking and hoping that's what i should be doing.*

several days ago i purchased some boxes for mailing things at walgreens, and i had the following exchange.

cashier: oh! mailing some last minute packages?
me: no. no, it's december twelfth. it's only december twelfth.
her: oh.

i think i came across as kind of mean, which was not my intention. but i'd been thinking i was way ahead of the game. which, really, i was.

*i am working too, but i must admit i jump up from my work with great frequency to rustle around in the basement, or make a cup of tea, or mix up a batch of cookies.

fa la la la la la la la la

2011-12-14T06:34:00.001-05:00

did you think i'd forget miss lulu, hound extraordinaire? mais non!

she's a pretty little pony, and she's your december fourteenth dog-of-the-day.

*cookie update, because i know you're dying of curiosity: speculoos bars are nearly to the taste testing stage (they require many steps). today's project=almond macaroons.

i'll hold your hands, they're just like ice

2011-12-13T10:30:00.000-05:00

dog-of-the-day, your pal minnow.

it's finally getting cold, and while i like to complain about my chilly fingers and toes (and nose, and the insides of my very bones), it actually strikes me as appropriate to need a winter coat and gloves when one ventures outside. you know, in maine. in december. and maybe it's because of my new bean boots, but i find myself eagerly anticipating snow.

in the meantime, it is vital to keep up an almost constant intake of tea and toast.

and all of your kin

2011-12-12T06:51:00.000-05:00

today's dog is my german shepherd cousin, ze, who lives in kansas. here he is, shopping for treats at three dog bakery with my uncle chuck.

yesterday i made maida heatter's recipe for ginger almond biscotti, and my house smelled so good. i love her quotes about baking, like, "happiness is baking cookies." i am slowly filling my freezer with cookies (isaac is also slowly eating them, but with any luck i will outpace him).

you know what else i made that was delicious? vegan fried chicken.

as i cooked and baked, i wondered, "why is sufjan stevens so sad about christmas?"

do you see what i see?

2011-12-11T08:59:00.001-05:00

happy sunday to you. last night i made a batch of chocolate-peppermint bars, to add to the almond toffee bars already in the freezer. yesterday i also attended a meeting of the very tiny book group,* listened to christmas music, hung around with isaac, and ate what may have been a pound of kale with tahini dressing for dinner (it was so good).

meanwhile, mark is in new york this weekend, where he is visiting zoë, doing some christmas shopping, and enjoying new york at the holidays, when it is so festive. for example, dozens (hundreds?) of santas walking down the sidewalk, suddenly. he thought it was a santa pub crawl, but it turns out to have been santacon. of course.

*the group is tiny, but the book is endless.

once again, as in olden days

2011-12-10T15:09:00.001-05:00

why yes, i am running out of dogs--but never fear, i've got plenty of minnow photos lying around. and he is a photogenic fellow. thus, your dog-of-the-day is minnow pretending to be a merdog, from a couple of years ago.

every time i go in the basement (usually to do/adjust laundry), i bring up a handful of holiday decor. also, i am constantly trying to develop the perfect pandora christmas station (i want it to be jazzy, classic, but it must not play smooth jazz, nor should it ever play the little drummer boy). i am always setting pandora straight when it strays off in some objectionable direction. also, the baking has begun.

just like the ones i used to know

2011-12-09T06:32:00.001-05:00

i got to eat lunch with my sweet friend the checkout girl yesterday (and though we had specified "a cheap lunch," i sort of swayed us toward green elephant anyway, where i talked so much, neglecting my hot and sour soup, that they kept trying to take my food away before i'd finished. miraculously, it stayed hot. and it was delicious).

and i photographed sophie, your dog-of-the-day. what is she like, you ask? well, imagine if minnow slipped into a boston terrier costume and didn't lick you quite so much. that's pretty much what sophie's like.

follow me in merry measure

2011-12-08T06:16:00.001-05:00

introducing charlie the dog, minnow's san francisco cousin and the newest addition to the family. my mom is visiting him (and his humans) right now, and she sent me a few snapshots.

he is a little guy, about ten pounds, possibly a jack russell terrier/chihuahua mix, with a big dog personality (according to my mom, and that's the ultimate compliment). i can't wait to meet him!

they looked up and saw a star

2011-12-07T06:44:00.001-05:00

i painted my fireplace white! i keep forgetting to take a picture, and i also neglected to do a "before" photo.* imagining thirteen stockings hanging there is making me very happy (everyone gets a stocking, including my grandfather ribby, my mom and dad, the four of us, my bruddy and family, and the two dogs. we will sadly be missing our four family members who are adventuring to switzerland this year. so yes, that would normally be SEVENTEEN stockings hung by the chimney with care).

dog-of-the-day: a melancholy minnow, with last year's christmas gift.

*you can almost see it in this photograph, but not quite.

fall on your knees

2011-12-06T11:58:00.001-05:00

i am currently at the "thinking about baking some things" stage of my holiday preparations. also, today i bought a box of candy canes.

yesterday i had lunch with my good friend mama d, and i was able to take a picture of your dog-of-the-day, maisie. she is an older lady who loves to sleep on mama d's lap and occasionally springs around her yard like a little deer.

please have snow and mistletoe

2011-12-05T06:06:00.001-05:00

your december fifth dog-of-the-day is none other than...

miles! buddy miles is minnow's north carolina cousin.* he is a sweet, soulful dog. one time i blew gently on his nose and made him pee. i guess i was expressing my dominance over him without realizing it. he has since forgiven me.

*photo stolen from my brother.

let your heart be light

2011-12-04T08:55:00.000-05:00

today's dog comes to you from friday night's art walk. mark had to restrain me from dognapping this adorable dog, who was waiting patiently outside local sprouts for his/her person to emerge.

i love the december art walk. portland's holiday lights are the best.

these trees always remind me of dr seuss, somehow.

the hap-happiest time of year

2011-12-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

firstly, your dog-of-the-day.

secondly, my family and i are not exchanging gifts this year (we're only shopping for kids, and yes, you're still a kid when you're nineteen). but i can't help hoping to find the following three items in my stocking:

isn't he the sweetest? look at that bite out of his ear. aw. i want him.

i know it isn't true, but i keep daydreaming about how my life would be perfect if only i had this sofa.

maybe santa will bring me some pretty little bird tattoos.

listeners and singers*

2011-12-02T06:37:00.001-05:00

your dog-of-the-day, plus a photo of my new butterfly shirt. mark's mom bought it for me!

*from dog music by paul zimmer

dog-a-day

2011-12-01T07:56:00.001-05:00

it's dog-a-day december™! not really, i just made that up. maybe i'll post a dog photo every day this month, and maybe i won't.

also? if i drank beer i would totally try mmm hop.

rabbit rabbit

2011-12-01T05:00:00.000-05:00

where did december come from, suddenly?

thirty

2011-11-30T08:07:00.001-05:00

not a recipe, exactly:

and thus, i doctor isaac's ramen in a delicious manner, and prove myself to be a domestic genius.

twenty-nine

2011-11-29T17:27:00.001-05:00

there is only one more day left in the month of november! and then it's december. i need to get in the holiday spirit:

baking things
getting a tree
cleaning things
listening to festive music
crossing things off my work list
and so forth.

twenty-eight

2011-11-28T19:01:00.001-05:00

it is as gray as november should be, but strangely warm. we'll be sad to send mark's mom back home tomorrow!

twenty-seven

2011-11-27T14:23:00.001-05:00

some elements of a happy life:

a good dog.

a nearby beach.

a couple of sweet college girls.

a banjo, and someone who knows how to play it.

the girl has headed back to school, lugging her books and banjo and a shoebox full of homemade scones and granola. the weekend went by too fast, but it was full of good food and great company, walks on the beach, cafes, late-night games, banjo concerts, angels in america, and doctor who.

twenty-six

2011-11-26T18:27:00.000-05:00

leftovers, naps, my kids and their friends, baking scones for zoë to take back to school with her, angels in america, new boots from the sweetest mother-in-law ever, dog walks and a silver sky.

twenty-five

2011-11-25T16:22:00.001-05:00

mulling over all that i have to be thankful for today. like birch trees, the ocean, a quiet walk around mackworth island.

fairy houses, a pet cemetery, the warm sun, and my friend mark by my side.

and my girl--beautiful and smiling--home for thanksgiving weekend with her sweet roommate flo.

twenty-four

2011-11-24T20:36:00.001-05:00

happy day of family, friends, and a fabulous feast.

twenty-three

2011-11-23T10:42:00.001-05:00

never fear, my boy cleaned off the table and the tofurkeys are in the fridge and there are cinnamon rolls and cornbread and pies a-baking and mark's mom has arrived and thanksgiving will proceed apace.

twenty-two

2011-11-22T15:36:00.001-05:00

i would like to report in an extra-calm voice that when i returned from a nineteen hour trip to the grocery store with my seventy-five bags of food, this is what my (previously) clean dining room looked like:

that table there is the one on which i plan to serve thanksgiving dinner. yep.

also, when i was driving i saw this!*

*calm down, i was at a stop light.

twenty-one

2011-11-21T14:07:00.001-05:00

my birthday present from my bruddy arrived!

he gave me a subscription to quarterly, a service that sends you cool things in the mail periodically. my very first mailing arrived today, two little notebooks and two tattly temporary tattoos by marc johns: I LOVE THEM.

twenty

2011-11-20T18:11:00.001-05:00

the latest music video from the team that brought you this and this. it is so much fun to watch and listen to, a belated birthday present to my girl (starring my girl, featuring her on voice and ukulele) from her pal.

nineteen

2011-11-19T09:23:00.001-05:00

this little bean is nineteen years old today. i am wishing the happiest of happy birthdays to one of the smartest, quirkiest, bravest, most stubborn and beautiful people i've had the pleasure to know in my life. i can hardly believe my luck: i get to be her mom!

eighteen

2011-11-17T13:45:00.001-05:00

three incidents from a dream:

1. i was eating tortilla chips out of a bag with a woman i know. out of the corner of my eye, i saw her take a bite out of a chip and then slip it into the pocket of her sweater.

2. on dream-npr i heard the statistic that in the next ten years, only two out of ten women will have babies. but those two will have, on average, nine babies each. later, at a party, a man with a german accent asked if anyone knew what the birth rate would be for the next decade.

3. i ate chocolate cake from a pan, spilling most of it on the floor.

seventeen

2011-11-17T08:01:00.001-05:00

don't these cookies just look so tempting? don't you just love the name so much that you want to buy a dozen boxes and hand them out for christmas presents?

update: i had a couple of ideas for names of food products.

wut now?
y not?

sixteen

2011-11-16T06:50:00.001-05:00

oho, it's day sixteen. i have now, midway through this month, officially given up on nanowrimo. i know, i know--lame. but who chose november to be national novel writing month, anyway? there's way too much going on in november for it to be the ideal i-think-i'll-write-a-novel month. plus, there are only thirty days in it. at the very least, it should be a month with thirty-one days. like march. note, i am able to keep up with national blog posting month, which is much more my speed.

i am sewing, sewing, sewing, punctuated by occasional vocabulary-quiz-writing and the drinking of coffee and the making of vegetable pot pies and suchlike. the sewing machine seemed to be dying, and mark proved himself to be a fixer of sewing machines (i should not be surprised, considering what i've seen him do with a dishwasher and a furnace).

at night, i read furiously, so as to make a dent in that famous pile o' books. sometimes i leave the house, most often to go back to the library and pick up more books. sometimes i go to trader joe's (man behind me, last night at trader joe's: "i BEG your pardon for staring, but i want to eat dinner at YOUR house tonight." me: "oh..." note: he was staring at my groceries, not at me).

often while i sew i watch things on hulu or netflix. i watched all the parks and recreation i could, and then i moved on to every movie made in the 1940s that is streaming on netflix. there was one called either the scar or the man who murdered himself or hollow triumph that was so ridiculous. it featured a man masquerading as another man who looked exactly like him except for a scar on his cheek. the man even had the identical german accent. which was especially odd, since the first man's brother did not have a german accent. i kept thinking, "wow, they made some really bad movies in the 1940s too."

fifteen

2011-11-15T08:06:00.001-05:00

funny story. i was invited to a birthday party this weekend (an 11-11-11 party, to be precise), and i made fauxstess cupcakes. i carefully royal icinged a cursive letter P on each cupcake (for peter, the birthday boy) and put them in the fridge. when i removed them later, however, the cursive letter Ps no longer looked like Ps to me. they looked like penises.

note, above, my hasty attempt to camouflage my accidentally inappropriate cupcake art. i wished i had a three year old child to explain the random flowerish squiggles.

fourteen

2011-11-14T06:08:00.001-05:00

(Unknown photographer, Portrait of three women, 19th century)

14 is my lucky number.
yesterday, on day 13, my sewing machine broke and my dog threw up all night.
i am looking forward to some excellent luck today!

thirteen

2011-11-13T08:18:00.001-05:00

a ~~few~~ couple of my favorite things:

certain slants of light that take me by surprise.

the soft nose of my canine friend, especially when i'm sad.

twelve

2011-11-12T09:05:00.001-05:00

it wasn't this spectacular display, but it was my very own bayside murmuration* nonetheless. i got out of the car to take this picture and you should've heard the sound they were making!

*that is, if they were starlings. i actually have no idea, so let's just say that they were.

eleven

2011-11-11T11:39:00.001-05:00

waiting for our parent-teacher-isaac conference at the learning shack last night:

i always enjoy them, because i enjoy being with him, and it's especially fun to hear him talk about what he's doing at school. and i pretty much love his teachers at the shack.

happy corduroy appreciation day to you. does that mean it's also national picket fence day? world folks-with-skinny-legs day? international hug-a-telephone-pole day? why, yes. yes, it does.

ten

2011-11-10T08:06:00.000-05:00

minnow is worried. this pile of library books is not getting any smaller, partly because i mostly checked out 800-page novels, and partly because i apparently requested even more books than i originally thought, and as soon as i finish one, i get a notice that two more are ready at the library. and i keep picking them up and adding them to the pile.

nine

2011-11-09T15:34:00.000-05:00

hey, if you are a fan of breaking bad you might want to listen to this insider podcast (but be warned, it's chock full of spoilers!).

also, did you know there is a contest to win a walk-on part on the show? weird.* and a four-day trip to alburquerque. no, really. also, i spelled albuquerque right on the first try. and yes, i entered.

this gets funnier every time i watch it. mostly because i have observed isaac do nearly this exact thing.

i have also been watching parks and recreation lately, usually while i sew many scarves for this year's close buy catalog order. gosh, i love amy poehler.

i thought about having this post be a list of nine complaints, but i could only come up with four (and two of them were driving-related, which is particularly boring to read about). the first had to do with comic sans. come on, everyone. educators, especially. comic sans is not "fun." let's have a little dignity. also? learn to love the BCC option when you're sending school-related emails to hundreds of people. oh, i though of another one! you don't write a "blog." you write a "blog post." or you "blog," verb, though i'm partial to "write."

enough complaints.

*because...can you imagine what that part might be? a dead and partially dismembered body? a car wash customer? a dominican laundry worker?

eight

2011-11-08T05:00:00.000-05:00

"Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you." -- Hafiz

seven

2011-11-07T08:47:00.000-05:00

i saw this yesterday at target: camouflaged among the bottles of mouthwash was this method brand refreshing body wash. mint flavor. which caused me to speculate thusly:

*organizing things by scent
*organizing things by color
*deliberate prank by a mutinous target employee
*deliberate prank by a jocular customer
*accidental placement by an overworked, underpaid, red polo shirt-wearing target employee

six

2011-11-06T07:41:00.000-05:00

happy no more daylight savings time. i love falling back, don't you? what i love less is when it's dark at four p.m. although as i come to terms with impending winter, i will love that too, it's...cozy.

we drove down to cambridge yesterday so that isaac could attend project link and mark and i could walk around in the cold sunshine with mom and dad, eat pancakes and smoked tempeh bacon at clover, drink good coffee, give directions to russian tourists, observe dogs in sweaters, and sample the vegan ice cream and rosemary french fries at veggie galaxy.

oh weekend, you go by so quickly. and it's nearly the season for me to stop listening to the news on the radio and start listening to old-timey music. it's my personal precursor to christmas music--that, and old movies in black and white, those almost-christmas movies.

five

2011-11-05T06:40:00.000-04:00

“I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center.”

- Margaret Atwood, from Variation on the Word Sleep

four

2011-11-04T16:55:00.000-04:00

work.

wow, it's been a long week. not because of work, actually, just because there are weeks that feel like they last six months. oh, glorious hyperbole! next year for halloween i want to be that lady with the scissors up top. shoot, i found that image somewhere on tumblr, where i wasted many a minute looking at vintage pictures. i can't remember where i found it, but i think it's from an old movie.

there are long, soft scarves in my life, and cups of tea and chairs and many pens. mark got a foreign body stuck in his eye and had to have it removed with metal tweezers at the eye doctor. but it's friday.

three

2011-11-03T06:51:00.000-04:00

i came across so many bloggy references to panelle yesterday--which i'd never heard of before--that it was fairly clear the gods were instructing me to make some. i followed this recipe for sandwiches with spinach and bleu cheese. the actual panelle are little fritters made from chickpea flour (somewhat unattractive photo below) that are crispy on the outside, with a layer of chewy inside that, and then creamy. perfect for a sandwich.

two

2011-11-02T08:05:00.001-04:00

november is here, and i've decided to do this again, and also this. thus, a month of blog posts whether i've got anything to say or not. and also some frantic writing, in an attempt to make it all the way to 50,000 words this time. we shall see. there are a few other things that must be accomplished this month! note how i instinctively wrote that last sentence in the passive voice. hmmm.

i spent a few days with the girl in new york. the photos below don't reflect the realities of trudging through inches of cold, slushy snow-slop in my sneakers. and then, yes, the sun came out, and my sneakers dried. interesting fact: it snowed much more uptown than downtown.

rabbit rabbit

2011-11-01T05:00:00.000-04:00

you can do it, little rabbit!

“a wind has blown the rain away and blown
the sky away and all the leaves away,
and the trees stand. I think i too have known
autumn too long."

-- e.e. cummings

ma vie

2011-10-20T14:58:00.000-04:00

my life consists of photographing the adorable mushrooms in my yard,

engaging in hilarious exchanges of text messages (if you are a freaks and geeks fan, you will get the joke below),

as well as feeding my brand new pinterest addiction (i held out for a long time before giving in), heating up my famous bag of corn (it's chilly and gray), celebrating an anniversary (the brass and nickel anniversary!), reading those library books (though i've admitted defeat when it comes to a couple of big fat ones--and by defeat i mean i'm surrendering a few books, but they will go back on my "books to check out of the library" list), and having dreams about well-known literary couples. oh, and also working!

different from what any one supposed

2011-10-17T12:43:00.000-04:00

some birthdays happened last week! first mark's, featuring pumpkin waffles for breakfast.

and then mine, which had more of a doughnut theme...

there were many other celebratory events, in addition to the consumption of waffles and doughnuts. there was pie, for example. and a feast at asmara. my gift from cousin-uncle meiklejohn was like my very own make-a-wish dream come true: foley for a day on his latest film. not to mention sweet emails, tweets, cards, gifts, lunches with friends, and book-of-faces messages, which i love love love. also, now, i am an even number of years, my favorite.

and on saturday i got a second feast, this one with my mom and dad at green elephant, and then a birthday hike up my favorite little mountain. it was far more treacherous than usual because it was wet -- think 1300 feet of slippery rocks coated with even more slippery leaves. but as usual, it was worth it when we got to the top ("like childbirth!" said my mom).

maman et moi.

mon papa.

(mark was there too!)

as a little birthday present to myself, i bought this poetry app for MYphone. it's called poem flow, and it's free for a limited number of daily poems that flow "in a gentle reading application" which is actually much more wonderful than that description makes it sound. it's a really organic way to read a poem. the words appear on the screen sort of in the rhythm you might read the poem aloud. it's nice. i bought myself three months' worth of extra poems.

(from song of myself by walt whitman)

back when wildflowers would come right up to your hand as if they were tame

2011-10-11T08:39:00.000-04:00

apparently, while in some kind of fugue state, i requested a ridiculous number of books from the library (twelve? fifteen? something like that). now i've got a pile beside my bed as tall as a toddler and a reality show inside my head in which i have to read each and every one before they're due back at the 'brary. most challenging will be 2666, which i'm reading with my tiny book group, and which is 900 pages long, and which i've already renewed twice.

this morning i watched a bunch of little kids watching a worker who was standing in a deep hole wielding a shovel. i love how fascinating that kind of thing is to kids. i miss reading you can name 100 trucks!, even.

i love this dog, even though he barfed very quietly on a pile of my clothes the other night.

(above, his tiny serving of kefir, intended to stop the horrible gurgling sounds emanating from his stomach. it worked!)

today is picture day at the learning shack. i think i've finally shaken off the parental guilt that comes with not buying the resulting photos. i used to order the very cheapest package every year, even though nine times out of ten the picture is just bad, one way or another (an awkward pose, a defiant refusal to "show some teeth" resulting in a weird grimace. etcetera).

i made my mom laugh recently by referring to the white satin-uniformed women in a feminine hygiene commercial during project runway as "menstrual scientists."

i moved some plants around and drew pictures so next year i (maybe) won't make the mistake of pulling up perennials and allowing weeds to flourish, fooled into thinking they're legitimate.

we have such nice dirt in our yard. it was pretty great to dig in it all weekend. also, i finally turned the compost!

October, by Don Thompson

I used to think the land
had something to say to us,
back when wildflowers
would come right up to your hand
as if they were tame.

Sooner or later, I thought,
the wind would begin to make sense
if I listened hard
and took notes religiously.
That was spring.

Now I’m not so sure:
the cloudless sky has a flat affect
and the fields plowed down after harvest
seem so expressionless,
keeping their own counsel.

This afternoon, nut tree leaves
blow across them
as if autumn had written us a long letter,
changed its mind,
and tore it into little scraps.

50/50

2011-10-06T11:18:00.000-04:00

i was surprised by
how warm and funny this was.
you know: "you'll laugh/cry."

rabbit rabbit

2011-10-01T05:00:00.000-04:00

"How suddenly

the woods

have turned

again. I feel

like Daphne, standing

with my arms

outstretched

to the season,

overtaken

by color, crowned

with the hammered gold

of leaves."

- from The Months by Linda Pastan

"go to the fair, templeton. you will find that the conditions at a fair will surpass your wildest dreams."

2011-09-27T08:57:00.000-04:00

remember how last year we finally went to the common ground fair? well, i for one am hooked on it now, and i can hardly imagine letting september get away from me without going. this year we were sans zoë, isaac, and jason "pie cone" read, but we were accompanied by mom and dad, who were also won over by the charms of organic potato chip fries, iced coffee from rock city roasters, organic wild maine blueberries, adorable rabbits and strange chickens and brilliant border collies and personable farmers.

what you can't quite see is that these guys, above, are both looking at cell phones.

our fair day last year was chilly, and we huddled beside fires and drank hot coffee and ate indian food. this year it was hot: cold cider and lemonade weather. still wonderful, and i still kind of want to live there forever.

“'I'm staying right here,' grumbled the rat. 'I haven't the slightest interest in fairs.'
'That's because you've never been to one,' remarked the old sheep. 'A fair is a rat's paradise. Everybody spills food at a fair. A rat can creep out late at night and have a feast. In the horse barn you will find oats that the trotters and pacers have spilled. In the trampled grass of the infield you will find old discarded lunch boxes containing the foul remains of peanut butter sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, cracker crumbs, bits of doughnuts, and particles of cheese. In the hard-packed dirt of the midway, after the glaring lights are out and the people have gone home to bed, you will find a veritable treasure of popcorn fragments, frozen custard dribblings, candied apples abandoned by tired children, sugar fluff crystals, salted almonds, popsicles, partially gnawed ice cream cones, and the wooden sticks of lollypops. Everywhere is loot for a rat--in tents, in booths, in hay lofts--why, a fair has enough disgusting leftover food to satisfy a whole army of rats.'
Templeton's eyes were blazing.
'Is this true?' he asked. 'Is this appetizing yarn of yours true? I like high living, and what you say tempts me.'
'It is true,' said the old sheep. 'Go to the fair, Templeton. You will find that the conditions at a fair will surpass your wildest dreams. Buckets with sour mash sticking to them, tin cans containing particles of tuna fish, greasy bags stuffed with rotten...'
'That's enough!' cried Templeton. 'Don't tell me any more, I'm going!'"

-E.B. White, Charlotte's Web

delicious autumn

2011-09-27T07:42:00.000-04:00

it's that apple acres time of year again! on saturday mom and dad picked mark and me up on their way to a quick l.l.bean reconnaissance (isaac was busy helping to film the first episode of food coma all day), and then we drove in the direction of south hiram seeking apples and cider donuts. we were surprised to discover that there was some kind of apple festival going on, complete with a bluegrass band on the hill and what appeared to be a town-wide yard sale throughout the little village of cornish.

we ate dessert first, delicious warm donuts right out of the fryer. then we had sandwiches on the porch at krista's, where we could enjoy the attractively babbling brook that runs behind the restaurant and the colorful paper lanterns above . the food was okay--not too many vegetarian options, and towering heaps of not-quite-hot french fries--but my salad was fresh and green and enormous, and our shifting team of waiters were all extremely friendly.

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.”- George Eliot

the old things go, not one lasts

2011-09-22T08:49:00.000-04:00

and there's something i should say about troy davis's execution last night in georgia, but what is there, really, to say? every once in a while, i come face-to-face with the fact that i live in a country where we kill human beings who might not be guilty.*

however, in more cheerful news, have i mentioned the chicken haikus? no, i don't think so, and today is the day to do it. my bruddy** adam and his family have a tradition of texting each other haikus about the chickens they sometimes see and sometimes don't see on their way to and from the sweeties' school. these are san francisco chickens, to be clear. sometimes the rest of the family gets involved, also via text. the poems that have resulted are absolutely amazingly wonderful. here, for your enjoyment, is yesterday's chicken-related exchange:***

adam:

count the humans: three
chicken watch chickens: zero
humans win again!

me:

near the white mountains,
chickens scattered through a yard.
"wild chickens?" asked mark.

adam:

oh, wild, wild chickens
migrating from place to place
can wild chickens fly?

david:

no chickens at work.
maybe these are ag students
studying poultry?

mom:

chickens are scarce here
in cambridge, but yesterday
i saw a turkey.

*"but what then is capital punishment if not the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated, can be compared?" --albert camus

**"bruddy" = six year-old oona-speak for "brother"

***and yes, i am aware that i have the best family ever.

i like the maps and the instability of the geography that situates places in my head*

2011-09-22T05:30:00.000-04:00

mark and minnow and i went to grafton notch state park on saturday, a two hour drive through pretty little villages like harrison and waterford, into the white mountains (which make me say, "ooh!" even as i recognize and immediately feel apologetic for how relatively little they are, mountain-wise. they are still pretty impressive to a coastal girl like me).

as you can see, adventures ensued, many of them involving minnow sitting patiently in scenic locations while i took his picture. we saw hills and waterfalls and lots of moss, and we hiked a very little bit of the appalachian trail. minnow was an enthusiastic hiker, forging through streams and up rocky hills with fortitude. then he fell sound asleep on the back seat the whole way home. jeeze, this state is a lovely place.

*from memory of water, by reina maria rodriguez

holy donut!

2011-09-21T12:45:00.000-04:00

my original plan was to wait until mark's birthday and surprise him with a donut extravaganza from the holy donut, which until this morning i'd only read about, hungrily. but his birthday is still three long weeks off,* and donuts were on my mind, and five dollars were in my pocket, so i headed over to the east ender after i dropped isaac off at school. weekday mornings after 7:30 it turns into a magical donut and coffee bar. i restrained myself: i only bought two of them, a ginger-sweet potato and a dark chocolately cocoa.

below, donuts for two. the flavor of the sweet potato donut wasn't as gingery as i'd expected, but the texture was light, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth--similar to a cruller. the chocolate donut was rich and decadent, more cakey. yum.

*and also, he's spent about forty hours** in the last four days fooling around with our stupid wireless router-something-something and other silliness*** and we both needed a DONUT, you know?

**not hyperbole, though i wish it were.

***that thing where when one thing gets fixed, something else breaks. and did i mention that mark fixed the broken furnace the other day? have you ever actually met someone who could repair plumbing, take apart and reassemble a furnace, install a dishwasher, re-whatever the computer network, and fix the brakes on the car, all while working sixty hours a week and even being the one to wake up in the night and clean up dog vomit? if you knew such a person, you'd want to buy him a donut, n'est-ce pas?

all overgrown by cunning moss

2011-09-15T08:45:00.000-04:00

last weekend mark and i drove up to the josephine newman wildlife sanctuary in georgetown, where we walked past warnings about deer ticks and braved a field of poison ivy before taking a peaceful hike along a rocky wooded path. we saw so many mushrooms, so much brilliant green moss, but not a single other human being.

i sort of want to live in the woods.

all overgrown by cunning moss, emily dickinson

you smell like plums and garlic!

2011-09-11T17:38:00.000-04:00

wow, what a block party last night. the video below demonstrates possibly the best thing that ever happened in portland.

that's what cheer! brigadefrom providence, and they helped turn congress street into new orleans for an hour or so. it was magical (and watch for a plaid-shirted isaac dancing past at the beginning).

my other favorite thing was the analog tweets project by pickwick press. people could submit "tweets" and have them block printed on fabric and hauled up the side of the building. mark and i hung out with the dancer and chatted with some of our favorite people, while isaac danced down the street and assisted oliver, who was filming the whole thing as part of his intern job at pickwick.

we finished up the evening by sharing a three-taco plate at taco escobarr. the price was right (three for $7.50), and they were delicious (vegetable tacos, crispy-style), but the atmosphere was...weird. sports bar-weird, i guess. stools and high tables, kind of bad music. maybe it's just me. most likely (well, not just me, but me and my two cheap-date pals).

the trip

2011-09-11T09:05:00.003-04:00

funny and simple:
two annoying guys driving
through the countryside.

gratuitous dog photo and granny's burritos

2011-09-08T16:30:00.000-04:00

minnow, napping with a ball, above. note enormous muppet paws.

today i lunched with the checkout girl at the newly re-re-opened granny's burritos in the public market house. i enjoyed her company way too much to complain (at the time) about the actual burrito, which--despite claims at the counter that it was the real, authentic granny's, complete with the original recipe book--was a little disappointing. i can't entirely put my finger on why, since part of the granny's experience was a je ne sais quoi that may very well have been connected with the stoned and friendly staff on fore street. they didn't always put what you ordered in that brown paper bag, but everything tasted so good. even when ordered with "no cow," which is how melissa and i requested our sweet potato (her) and guacamole (me) burritos. here's my basic breakdown of the experience:

1. they were smaller than the old granny's, not stuffed as messily full of stuff. my first couple of bites were all flour tortilla, with a strange taste of cilantro (this wouldn't necessarily be strange in a burrito, but i don't remember it circa 2002).
2. they were bland and cold. they weren't always this way, were they? are the beans not cooked the same way? is there not as much salsa?
3. i often ordered granny's vegan style back in the day, and as long as there was something creamy in there (i.e. guacamole or sweet potato), they were full of flavor. i'm not positive there was any guacamole at all in this one, maybe just a dollop. melissa reported a similar sweet potato situation.

i'm not giving up--i will try the new granny's again. but i felt a little crestfallen at first taste. good thing i was with one of my very favorite people, because i had a lovely time catching up with her and solving all of the world's problems.

it is almost the season for cloaks*

2011-09-06T09:16:00.000-04:00

i found myself in such a terrible mood last night, almost certainly due to my reluctance to let go of the summer and give in to the school year, which officially begins right now. even though fall is famously my favorite season of all.this weekend i cooked some delicious food and even documented it: penne with vegan vodka sauce, no vodka required. the creaminess comes from ground almonds, which blows my mind. and garlic roasted brussels sprouts, mmm.

and i made a complicated, ultimately disappointing dessert that involved one pound of melted chocolate. see below if you wonder what that looks like. it was a pumpkin cake with ganache, except the cake was too heavy, kind of like a muffin, and the "ganache" was more like mousse, albeit a delicious mousse. hazelnuts were involved.

oh, and we went to the pride's corner flea market too, so that isaac could obtain the vintage game system he'd been yearning for. i was attracted to collections of things like such as this bouquet of crutches.

and this nest of baseballs.

as well as this guy's makeup.

.

maybe he's weird doug?

and finally, my boy just before he walked out the door toward his first day of tenth grade. he paused for a first day of school serenade (he can play this song on that thing, for real). it's also zoë's first day of classes as a college student!

*"Tonight I stitch. The breeze off the bay smells of aria. It is almost the season for cloaks." from Waiting on the Reading by Samiya Bashir