Raindrop Tea

The 10 List

2012-02-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

Here's what I'm grateful for this week:

1. That we found a caterer for our wedding who serves organic, local food that is simple, in-season, and delicious.
2. That certain causes of stress in the past few days turned into sources of excitement and joy! Sometimes uncertainty leads to positive outcomes.
3. For my new walk-in closet, made by my man!
4. The library. I love the library.
5. That I do not have to proctor the state writing test again for at least another year.
6. That I'm getting a message tonight!
7. Being able to look at things in a new light.
8. Friends who make me feel calm, positive, and loved.
9. Celebrating the success of a loved one!
10. Crossing things off of the to-do list.

What are you grateful for today or this week or this month?

Aspire

2012-02-06T14:22:00.000-08:00

This week, I ran! I cycled! I danced! I did not go to yoga, nor did I meditate, but I went to cycle class on Monday; I biked 8 miles on Wednesday; I ran 3 miles on Thursday; I danced my booty off on Friday (80s dancing! So much fun!); and I biked over 30 miles on Sunday!

So I am pleased as punch and craving more: tonight, swimming and cycle class; next weekend, Worst Day of the Year Ride; and definitely some yoga this week, because my poor knees might need a break from the running. Although, when we're having clear skies, sunshine, stars, and moonlight, it's much more enticing to go for a run than to go sit in a yoga studio.

Financially, I made some positive steps. Just have to stay diligent on that score.

This week:
Finish reading Swamplandia! and get a decent start on the latest book-club novel.
Cycle class, swimming, Worst Day of the Year Ride
Yoga
Meditate at least twice
Keep on top of finances
Sew something!

Tend

2012-02-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

Today's warm and sunny. Not only are we Portlanders going mad with glee, but the bees are happy as well. We had to move the hive in October, which was a bit of an adventure. After nightfall, we closed off their entrances using tape, being careful that none of the sticky side was facing them. Then we lifted the hive, put it in the back of our friend's truck, and slowly drove the four miles to our new house. We lifted the hive out of the truck, positioned the hive in its new spot, and hoped they were okay. And while I never really was too worried about them, today they were out and about, coming home with full pollen baskets, their back legs plump with yellow pollen! This means that they are finding sources of pollen and adjusting well to their new location!

I really like the spot that we've decided to place the bees. It's in the back corner of our yard, under a cedar tree. I can sit on the back fence and watch them from one side, and I can also easily access their viewing window. And, from my kitchen window I can see both bee hive and chicken coop.

Speaking of the ladies, they love the new house. Since there's not yet a garden for them to terrorize, they get to go out and play whenever we are home to let them out.

speaking gratitude

2012-02-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

1. Not only is it Friday, but it's blindingly, spectacularly sunny!
2. The sun is slated to last all weekend long!
3. People are smiling and friendly and exuberant...maybe because it's sunny!
4. Going dancing with friends to 80s music!
5. A weekend slated for projects, crafts, cooking, bike rides, and kite flying.
6. The smell of artisan chocolate on my runs past Moonstruck Chocolate Co.
7. The Willamette River reflecting the twilight on my runs.
8. Being healthy enough to run.
9. That my handyman fiance is building me a walk-in closet!
10. Sipping coffee in the sunshine with an enticing novel.

What are you grateful for?

Enjoy St. Johns

2012-02-02T21:58:00.000-08:00

More and more, I love my new neighborhood, where I can walk to anything that I need; where there's a park a mere three blocks from my house that's named "Cathedral" because of the archways of the beautiful St. John's bridge overhead; where I can see the lush, green Forest Park across the river from my house.

Here's a shot from my run the other day of the St. John's bridge and Forest Park, taken from Cathedral park, a brief little walk from my house.

bookish

2012-02-01T10:23:00.001-08:00

Angels by Denis Johnson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Denis Johnson is a master of hauntingly beautiful imagery in the midst of plain-out fucked up situations involving under-privileged characters who have little to hold onto. Someone said in a review that this book is magic realism: I disagree; it's the imagery of the high, the drunk, the desperate, and the dying. This book is so carefully crafted that although it's only two hundred pages long, it feels like an epic, taking the reader on a drunken Greyhound bus ride through Ohio and Pennsylvania, a brutal tour of Chicago, and a crime-ridden and drug-filled spree in Phoenix. Johnson is able to zoom in, like a camera, intensely on a moment, as we do sometimes in life, where suddenly we stop and notice the most minute and beautiful thing: the sulfur snap, lighting, and burning of a match before lighting a cigarette, for example. Everything goes into close focus, time slows, and then, suddenly, everything speeds up again.

This book reminds me of the film Requiem for a Dream, filled with madness, sadness, and sometimes a tender love, an understanding of the beautiful, and a mourning of what could have been but never really was.

View all my reviews

move, breathe, dance!

2012-01-30T20:37:00.000-08:00

For my Monday blog posts, I would like to attempt to continue with reflection on my goals and aspirations; while I practice setting realistic goals with achievable steps to fruition. I also need to practice self-forgiveness for those days when I just don't complete my goals. Like yesterday. I woke in Seattle; I helped some kids with their homework; I made breakfast for five people; I shopped; I drove home; I did some school work; I hung out with one of my dearest friends the whole day long; we did a face mask; we made stir-fry and noodles; we went to a potluck; and none of my goal goals were completed--and yet, what a wonderful day!

But I do need to focus my attention on two particular areas: finances and physical health. Between buying a house, moving into that house, planning a wedding, and taking classes, my finances are in a state of slight disruption, but I am at a point where I can make some sound decisions and start cutting the fat a bit, and I'll be fine. But that is goal one: Get my shit together financially.

Secondly, I am out of shape! I'm not overweight, and I'm not self-conscious about how I look. I just feel lazy. I hate saying no to activities because I feel like I'm not fit enough. I despise feeling tired and sluggish and old. So I am going to start incorporating more movement into my life.

For the financial goal, I'm going to rethink some things, but obviously, just trying to live on more of a set budget and cutting back on some of the holiday thrills and frills. Perhaps another frugal February, like last year, with no eating out, no drinking out, no unnecessary expenditures.

Physically, my plan is to do cardio at least three times a week, to meditate twice a week, and to do yoga once a week. I've been on a fairly strong start: last week I ran three times, went to yoga once, and meditated once. Tonight, I went to a cycle class at the PSU gym, where I get in for free, and already am formulating plans for yoga, swimming, eighties dancing, and snowshoeing.

Finally, and probably a bit impossibly, I want to read Swamplandia! by Karen Russel and Under the Skin by Michel Faber by mid-February, in addition to trying to read more essays and poetry. I always want to read more, but I feel that now, with a PSU class that requires little energy, one of my best friends gone for six months, and the move over, I have time to set some tough reading goals for myself. And of course there's the reading on chickens, ducks, permaculture, homesteading, and bees that I want/need to do to plan the new yard/garden!

So I will report back next week on how I'm doing, with the ultimate goal being that they become an essential practice for me and I can then incorporate new aspirations. I can say that even after only one week of being more active, I feel my mood uplifted and I feel exponentially more hungry for running, biking, walking, riding, snowshoeing, and dancing!

Other goals for when these become habits: writing more, planning the wedding, sewing curtains, embroidery, maybe finally learning to knit, more photography, and turning our yard into a little urban farm with ducks, chickens, bees, maybe rabbits, cats, veggies, fruit, Novella Carpenter style.

speaking gratitude

2012-01-27T11:43:00.000-08:00

1. being able to listen
2. being able to offer help or love to friends
3. chickens squawking for attention
4. greeting my flaws as if they were friends rather than enemies (they're easier to work with that way)
5. waking up next to someone you love
6. fog on the hills
7. hot coffee with real cream, rather than milk
8. making new connections with people
9. homemade potato pancakes with Greek yogurt and Siracha
10. inside jokes, like "glorified butter"

What are you grateful for?

bookish

2012-01-26T21:07:00.000-08:00

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Finally, I succumbed and read this fast-paced, compelling story about Katniss, the girl on fire, and her journey into the arena for the Hunger Games, and I'm now considering pushing for this as a novel for freshmen year, with a female hero and plot and writing that, I would argue, is as sophisticated as Ender's Game (a book that I do not enjoy teaching) with its futuristic dystopia and first-person narration from the point of view of a young girl who is driven to survive and terrified to love, as she deals with the violent death of her father, the emotional breakdown of her mother, and the conflicted relationships that she encounters during the Hunger Games. A lot of interesting topics to explore in a 9th grade classroom, with students who are being taught to truly understand characterization and theme.

View all my reviews

speaking gratitude

2012-01-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

It's Friday, and time for reflection on gratitude.

1. books, words, stories, poetry
2. friendship; friends who provide a sense of safety. they won't manipulate you. they won't tell your secrets.
3. raindrops dripping from green leaves outside the window.
4. being inside in the warmth and light during a cold rain.
5. having the freedom to make one's own choices.
6. being told that someone was saying something nice about the work i've done as a teacher.
7. pizza nights, caramelized onions, bleu cheese, pear slices, bacon, cheese, sauce, homemade crust
8. welcoming those who need a place into my home
9. sleeping in on a saturday morning
10. happy, happy hour on a friday!

2012!

2012-01-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

Happy new year! It's now 2012, and my twelve goals have been completed successfully!

1. Blog: update and rethink blog with steps taken/initiated toward new design for the new year. Done!

2. Academics: Complete my grad. level PSU class with an A and a possible publication. Done!

3. Painting: Finish painting the bedroom sky blue, the guest bedroom hazel green, the hallway a turquoise/teal and the downstairs a creamy latte/chocolate brown.

Done--repainted craft room in hazel green and twilight, painted dining room and upstairs hall a soft yellow, and painted downstairs hallway in Divine twilight.

4. Donate old clothes and books. Done!

5. Host a friend's Thanksgiving: Invite people over for a Thanksgiving potluck the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. Done!

6. Host some thank-you dinners for friends who have been super helpful in the past month of stress and madness. Done!

7. Unpack. Done!

8. Buy a washer and dryer. Done!

9. Buy a new phone and get set up on family plan and teacher discount. Done!

10. Take real steps for wedding planning.

Done. And of course, not done. The wedding's in August, so the work continues, but I spent quite a few hours on this over break.

11. Start taking photographs and publishing them again. Done!

12. Go to yoga at least 7 times. Done!

Now, how do I structure my continuing goals and what are they? If I were to simply brainstorm, I would say that they are:

to continue yoga practice

to exercise regularly

to stencil my house

to make curtains and pillows for my house

to build a bedroom closet

to host an awesome wedding and reception

to take the time to meditate, read, craft, and eat well

Maybe this week, I should try for the following:

Cardio 3x

Yoga 1x

Save the date cards

Stencils

What are your goals for the year/the month/the week?

Mad About

2011-12-29T17:48:00.000-08:00

We're still mad about our red lipstick, inspired by Mad Men and the bright berry colors the ladies wear. Here we are sporting our own Red Zin from Bare Minerals. My girl Ada and I are finding the red an inspirational color for hunting a Christmas tree.

And of course, red goes wonderfully with cocktail hour in Seattle at a dark little bar/restaurant called the ZigZag.

A very very very fine house

2011-12-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

So, at long last, some photos of our new house and and the move! October was a month of ceaseless work in anticipation of moving in.

We ripped up the carpet and re-did the floors. Notice, under the tools, the amount of paint and dirt to be removed, not to mention oodles of screws and staples. And then there were the holes that had to be replaced with new boards.

We color tested, primed, and painted!

Here's the upstairs with refinished original hardwood and fresh paint (although I just redid the yellow).

We installed our Brian-made shelves!

And we made it home!

4 by 2012!

2011-12-19T10:19:00.000-08:00

A few steps closer from accomplishing my 12 by 2012 goals. This week, I hope to get the downstairs painted completely, my yoga goal completed, save-the-date cards published, and a few caterers in mind. I am planning on using a 10-day pass to the gym every day this week, grade for a little while every day, and read for the pure joy of reading.

1. Blog: update and rethink blog with steps taken/initiated toward new design for the new year. Done!

2. Academics: Complete my grad. level PSU class with an A and a possible publication. Done!

3. Painting: Finish painting the bedroom sky blue, the guest bedroom hazel green, the hallway a turquoise/teal and the downstairs a creamy latte/chocolate brown.

In progress. Yesterday I painted first coat of downstairs hallway in Divine Twilight.

4. Donate old clothes and books. Done!

5. Host a friend's Thanksgiving: Invite people over for a Thanksgiving potluck the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. Done!

6. Host some thank-you dinners for friends who have been super helpful in the past month of stress and madness. Done!

7. Unpack. Done!

8. Buy a washer and dryer. Done!

9. Buy a new phone and get set up on family plan and teacher discount. Done!

10. Take real steps for wedding planning.

We have three houses rented and the wedding spot rented, and I've started to look at dresses. Photographer is confirmed. Need to call caterer and print and mail save-the-date cards.

11. Start taking photographs and publishing them again. In progress.

12. Go to yoga at least 7 times. In progress.

The 10 List

2011-12-16T12:27:00.000-08:00

It's Friday. Here are ten things for which I am grateful.

1. Oh, so grateful for the fact that it's almost winter break and I have two weeks off to work out, to read, to paint my house, to decorate my house, to spend time with friends, to sleep in, etc!
2. I'm grateful that our friends got us 10-day gym passes to use over break! My lazy butt needs some exercise!
3. That I am healthy right now (even if I'm out of shape).
4. That my mom, dad, and sisters are healthy.
5. That I found two great and affordable photographers for the wedding.
6. I'm grateful for my family, all of them, even though I miss them a lot right now.
7. Grateful for our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Hopefully I will be able to upload pictures soon.
8. Coffee. I am, every day, grateful for coffee.
9. Grateful that I have someone in my life who loves me a lot, even when I don't love myself that much.
10. I'm grateful for having such an intense, challenging, fun job that keeps me connected to kids, creativity, intellectual growth, and forces me to examine how I treat those around me--and that I always strive (though don't always succeed) to do so in a compassionate, patient manner--on a daily basis.

Wow. Some big, some small. What are you grateful for?

6 by 2012!

2011-12-12T11:59:00.000-08:00

Setting goals on Monday, I've been finding, is a great way to focus myself for the week and hold myself accountable to what I want/need to accomplish. Knowing that I am publishing this, and writing a weekly reflection has also helped me be mindful of exactly what I can/did get done. I feel excited about being able to report that I completed one of my goals, and I purposely schedule in ways to check other goals off the list. I think that I am going to continue this Monday habit in the new year. I want my goals to reflect a variety of areas that are important in my life: academics, career, creativity, health/exercise/diet, home, and socializing (doing things for others).

This week: publish some photos, take some photos, go to yoga at least once, buy a new phone, host birthday party, look for a wedding caterer, settle on photographer.

For winter break: finish painting interior, stencil interior, settle on caterer.

1. Blog: update and rethink blog with steps taken/initiated toward new design for the new year. Done!

2. Academics: Complete my grad. level PSU class with an A and a possible publication. Done! Not sure of my grade, but the class is over.

3. Painting: Finish painting the bedroom sky blue, the guest bedroom hazel green, the hallway a turquoise/teal and the downstairs a creamy latte/chocolate brown.

In progress: finished the second coat of hazel green in the guest bedroom and finished the blue in the bedroom.

4. Donate old clothes and books. Done!

5. Host a friend's Thanksgiving: Invite people over for a Thanksgiving potluck the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. Done!

6. Host some thank-you dinners for friends who have been super helpful in the past month of stress and madness. This one has morphed a bit, but I have tried to return the karma. I am hosting a birthday party for one friend, another stayed at my house this weekend because she needed a place, and we hosted our Thanksfriending. So this one is in progress.

7. Unpack. Done!

8. Buy a washer and dryer. Done!

9. Buy a new phone and get set up on family plan and teacher discount.

10. Take real steps for wedding planning.

We have three houses rented and the wedding spot rented, and I've started to look at dresses. Plus, I think we found our photographer! Still need to find the caterer.

11. Start taking photographs and publishing them again. In progress.

12. Go to yoga at least 7 times. In progress: I am going for the 6th time tonight!

10 Things

2011-12-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

It's Friday, a good day for reflection. Here are 10 things I'm grateful for.

I'm grateful

1. ...that it's Friday.
2. ...for all of the dear friends I have who are willing and able to help me plan and coordinate my wedding.
3. ...that I live a 3-minute walk from my favorite and affordable yoga studio.
4. ...that the sun is shining.
5. ...for the enthusiasm and curiosity of my students.
6. ...that winter break is only one week away.
7. ...for my lovely new home.
8. ...that I'm actually enjoying wedding planning.
9. ...for Elijah-Six Toes, my sweet purry kitty.
10. ...for the Mad Men-a-thon that I'm having tonight!

Mad About

2011-12-06T16:25:00.000-08:00

So, I'm totally mad about Mad Men. I've finally caught the bug. Can you guess, from this picture, one aspect of Mad Men that I adore?

Photo courtesy of AMC

Here's another hint (and it's not Joan's curves, although those are nice).

Here's another clue:

The candy red, cherry red, strawberry red lips of the Mad Men women! So this weekend, I treated myself to Bare Essentials Red Zin (seen above). It's such a yummy, bright red. What a great way to add a bold color to a gray sweater, black slacks, gray boots...or just a gray Portland day. Also looks pretty amazing with turquoise or red.

Hmmm, the theme song by RJD2 just started playing on my Pandora station. Curious.

7 by 2012!

2011-12-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

Here's the 12 by 2012 update: I am making some real progress, and a few of my smaller goals are rather small. One of the largest has been my academic goal: much of my time has been spent working on this goal, and I am so close to being there. I don't know if I'll receive an A, but I'll be as close as I possibly can.

1. Blog: update and rethink blog with steps taken/initiated toward new design for the new year. Done!

2. Academics: Complete my grad. level PSU class with an A and a possible publication.

Final draft of introductory essay completed. We also presented a panel discussion on our work at the Multnomah County Library that we got some great feedback on, including from our professor. Just have to write a 3-5 page reflection.

3. Painting: Finish painting the bedroom sky blue, the guest bedroom hazel green, the hallway a turquoise/teal and the downstairs a creamy latte/chocolate brown.

In progress: finished the second coat of hazel green in the guest bedroom and finished the blue in the bedroom.

4. Donate old clothes and books. Done!

5. Host a friend's Thanksgiving: Invite people over for a Thanksgiving potluck the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. Done!

6. Host some thank-you dinners for friends who have been super helpful in the past month of stress and madness.

7. Unpack. Done!

8. Buy a washer and dryer. Done!

9. Buy a new phone and get set up on family plan and teacher discount.

10. Take real steps toward the next big project (to be clarified later).

We have three houses rented, the wedding spot rented, and I've started to look at dresses. That's some progress, but I'd like to find a caterer and photographer by Jan. 1.

11. Start taking photographs and publishing them again.

12. Go to yoga at least 7 times.

In progress: I am going for the 5th time tonight after work!

welcome to the neighborhood

2011-12-04T16:18:00.000-08:00

As you may have surmised, we've moved into our first home, and one of the reasons that we fell in love with our house is the location. Here are some cell-phone images from a dusky stroll I recently took.

In this last photo, beyond the bridge, you can see Mt. Hood. On a clear day, from the St. John's bridge, Hood, Adams, and Helen's are all easily visible!

never say never when it comes to "i do"

2011-12-03T14:57:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I am learning that there are some things that I have to eat my words on, and that number one thing right now is:

I will never spend more than $500 on a wedding dress.

Yeah, well...I am totally in love with a dress that's, ahem, a bit more than that. Two dresses, actually.

And so, I am trimming the fat elsewhere. And one way to do that is to buy flowers and make our own bouquets, which brings me to...

A Beautiful Mess: what a darling blog. Crafty and whimsical and funky and cute. And filled with DIY wedding inspiration. She has a post that I might use on how to make my own bouquet, since I want to cut costs.

As I visualize my wedding, I picture sunflowers and lavender rather than roses and lilies, pulled pork sandwiches and beer rather than caviar and champagne, checkered table cloths on picnic tables rather than silk table cloths and table settings. I picture flying a kite, strolling on the beach, dancing barefoot in the grass, and walking down the aisle to the sound of the waves on the surf.

Portland Composts

2011-12-01T10:50:00.000-08:00

So, the entire city of Portland is rethinking trash. Or at least, I am. For the past month, Portland residents have only had their trash picked up twice. We all have rather small trash containers that are now only picked up every other week, and in exchange, our yard and food scraps are picked up every week. So now, all food scraps, including meat, go into the yard debris bin and are taken to a facility and composted. Our recycling is still picked up weekly as well.

I didn't initially think this new program would be a challenge; but sometimes it's really difficult. Especially when you've just moved. Or when you're hosting a party of some sort. Or just when your trash is full three days after they've picked it up, and you realize you can pay money to leave it at the dump or cut down on what you throw away indefinitely.

Ideologically and financially, I prefer the latter. So I literally find myself looking around and thinking of ways to reduce my waste, to buy compostable items instead of disposable, and to attempt to recycle more. I already did all of those things before, so it's actually a bit of a stretch of the imagination. However, it's exciting to think that other households are facing the same challenges.

Here's what I find myself doing: intentionally buying compostable paper plates if I'm having a larger party over; intentionally putting all scraps of food into the compost, emptying my vacuum bag and dustpan into the compost, feeding vegetable scraps to my chickens, putting meat scraps in the fridge until they're ready for the compost. Anyone else have other tips?

grateful

2011-11-29T19:32:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving, I went to yoga and was asked to reflect on someone in my life who filled me with a sense of gratitude. Whoever resonated with me that day.

On that day, it was my mother.

Yesterday, I found out that my college roommate's mother passed away; she had a heart attack.

So I'm writing a thank-you post to the mothers out there. Think of your own mother; let yourself feel grateful, sad, homesick, happy--whatever you need to feel.

I feel grateful, undeniably grateful and homesick and happy and a bit sad.

Thanksgiving should be everyday, except for maybe the gross over-eating. I want to focus this blog more on ways of bringing serenity, grace, and gratitude into my life while also reaching toward my goals, be the reaches baby steps or giant bounds.

Today, I feel gratitude again to my mother, beautiful, healthy, loved.

8 by 2012!

2011-11-26T11:20:00.000-08:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all. Today, Brian and I are hosting our first Thanksgiving in our new home; some of our favorite friends are joining us and we're having a pot-luck style feast. We're roasting an obscenely large turkey, slow cooking three home-culled chickens (yesterday's big project), making stuffing, and baking some pies. Friends are bringing the rest.

Here's the 12 by 2012 update:

1. Blog: update and rethink blog with steps taken/initiated toward new design for the new year.

In progress now that I've posted about our engagement!

2. Academics: Complete my grad. level PSU class with an A and a possible publication.

Progress continues here. Final draft due in one week, so this week I will focus on this goal.

3. Painting: Finish painting the bedroom sky blue, the guest bedroom hazel green, the hallway a turquoise/teal and the downstairs a creamy latte/chocolate brown.

In progress: finished the second coat of hazel green in the guest bedroom and finished the blue in the bedroom.

4. Donate old clothes and books.

Done!

5. Host a friend's Thanksgiving: Invite people over for a Thanksgiving potluck the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend.

Done-ish! Or this will be done all too soon.

6. Host some thank-you dinners for friends who have been super helpful in the past month of stress and madness.

7. Unpack. I still have lots of projects and decorating to do, but I feel safe to say that this is done!

8. Buy a washer and dryer.

Done!

9. Buy a new phone and get set up on family plan and teacher discount.

10. Take real steps toward the next big project (to be clarified later).

We have three houses rented, the wedding spot rented, and I've started to look at dresses. That's some progress, but I'd like to find a caterer and photographer by Jan. 1.

11. Start taking photographs and publishing them again.

12. Go to yoga at least 7 times.

In progress: Went four times!

10 by 2012!

2011-11-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

Compared to last week, I am feeling rested and wonderful, frankly. Of course, there's still a lot on my plate, but my first quarter grades are done--whoo! And the big move is over! I feel like less of a crazy person when I have a place to come home to that's neat, homey, and semi-organized.

Here's another Monday update on ways I've chiseled away at my list this week.

1. Blog: update and rethink blog with steps taken/initiated toward new design for the new year.

In progress now that I've posted about our engagement!

2. Academics: Complete my grad. level PSU class with an A and a possible publication.

Progress continues here. Need to revise my rough draft tonight for a meeting with my professor tomorrow, but have a thesis that seems to be shaping up nicely. Professor seems to not hate our first draft.

3. Painting: Finish painting the bedroom sky blue, the guest bedroom hazel green, the hallway a turquoise/teal and the downstairs a creamy latte/chocolate brown.

In progress: finished the second coat of hazel green in the guest bedroom.

4. Donate old clothes and books.

In progress: The pile is in the trunk of my car!

5. Host a friend's Thanksgiving: Invite people over for a Thanksgiving potluck the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend.

In progress: I invited folks! I ordered a turkey! Now I just need to tell people what to bring!

6. Host some thank-you dinners for friends who have been super helpful in the past month of stress and madness.

7. Unpack. I still have lots of projects and decorating to do, but I feel safe to say that this is done!

8. Buy a washer and dryer.

Done!

9. Buy a new phone and get set up on family plan and teacher discount.

10. Take real steps toward the next big project (to be clarified later).

So, this is the wedding plans, and we are making progress. We've found a wedding party house and a location for the wedding itself. My parents have also rented a house on the coast. Now I have to start seriously looking for a dress, a photographer, and a caterer. Ah!

11. Start taking photographs and publishing them again.

12. Go to yoga at least 7 times.

In progress: Went twice!

Engaged!

2011-11-10T10:27:00.000-08:00

So, I've been hinting at some big changes going on in my life since about late July, and the first one is the fact that we're engaged! Brian asked me on the coast, at sunset, in late July. We were sitting on a bench, surrounded by trees, home to deer and elk, with an amazing view of the waters and the colors of the sunset. I've been meaning to post, but I wanted to use an engagement pictures and other big life changes got in the way (more on that soon!). So here is the big news, at long last!

Thanks to Amy for taking this incredible photo of us under the St. John's bridge. The lighting is so romantic and perfect, and as in life, he is supporting me and making me feel as though I could fly.

I have a graphic design student at my high school designing our save-the-date cards. I can't wait to see what she comes up with, using other amazing photos by Amy.

11 by 2012!

2011-11-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

In a moment of total stress anxiety, with deadlines looming, it feels really great to look at my 12 goals and see how productive I've been in the past week! It's easy to forget what's been accomplished and be hard on oneself when expectations are high, time is short, and the piles of grading, reading, writing, etc. seem to grow rather than shrink.

1. Blog: update and rethink blog with steps taken/initiated toward new design for the new year.

2. Academics: Complete my grad. level PSU class with an A and a possible publication.

In progress. Worked extremely hard almost all weekend on classwork, but now feeling behind with school (teaching).

3. Painting: Finish painting the bedroom sky blue, the guest bedroom hazel green, the hallway a turquoise/teal and the downstairs a creamy latte/chocolate brown.

In progress: finished the second coat of hazel green in the guest bedroom.

4. Donate old clothes and books.

In progress: The pile is growing!

5. Host a friend's Thanksgiving: Invite people over for a Thanksgiving potluck the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend.

6. Host some thank-you dinners for friends who have been super helpful in the past month of stress and madness.

7. Unpack. In progress: only a few straggling boxes remain!

8. Buy a washer and dryer.

Done! Washed about 20 loads this weekend!!!

9. Buy a new phone and get set up on family plan and teacher discount.

10. Take real steps toward the next big project (to be clarified later).

Definitely in progress!!!

11. Start taking photographs and publishing them again.

12. Go to yoga at least 7 times.

In progress: Went once!

12 by 2012

2011-10-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

I'm still here! I'm still alive! And today, for the first time in a long, long while, I felt inspired to blog. In part, because I need some space from work, work, work, work, work, which has been my life for the past six months. And for another, I discovered Twelve by 2012 and felt motivated to create my own list.

1. Blog: update and rethink blog with steps taken/initiated toward new design for the new year.

2. Academics: Complete my grad. level PSU class with an A and a possible publication.

3. Painting: Finish painting the bedroom sky blue, the guest bedroom hazel green, the hallway a turquoise/teal and the downstairs a creamy latte/chocolate brown.

4. Donate old clothes and books.

5. Host a friend's Thanksgiving: Invite people over for a Thanksgiving potluck the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend.

6. Host some thank-you dinners for friends who have been super helpful in the past month of stress and madness.

7. Unpack.

8. Buy a washer and dryer.

9. Buy a new phone and get set up on family plan and teacher discount.

10. Take real steps toward the next big project (to be clarified later).

11. Start taking photographs and publishing them again.

12. Go to yoga at least 7 times.

I will post back with progress. I'm looking forward to Goal 1. I probably have no readers anymore, but I have a lot to write about and share.

Rejuvenation

2011-09-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

Here are recipes for a mini-facial that you can often concoct from your own garden and pantry. I recommend using cucumbers on the eyes while doing the face mask, and if you wanted to extend this process, you could make a medley of lavender, chamomile, and other herbs (perhaps rosemary). Steep this in almost-boiling water and then steam your skin to open the pores for at least 10 minutes. Then proceed to the face mask. Your skin, body, and mind will feel refreshed and rejuvenated.
Enjoy!

Gentle Face Wash

1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup vegetable glycerin
1 T. pure castile soap
10 drops of favorite essential oil

Apply with sea sponge in circular motion and rinse with warm water.

Herbal Salt Scrub

1/4 cup grapeseed oil or other oil
1/2 cup fine sea salt
1 T. coconut oil
1 T. diced fresh herbs
a few drops of essential oil (optional)

Apply to exfoliate skin after facial cleanser. Substitute sugar for sensitive skin.

Face Mask (great for rejuvenating dried/sun burnt skin)

1 cup natural yogurt
1/2 cup oatmeal

for oily skin: add 1-2 drops lime juice
for dry skin: add 1-2 T. honey

Mix and apply to skin for 10-15 minutes. Rinse.

Chamomile Toner

1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
2 T. dried chamomile, crushed
4 cups water

Boil water and then let cool slightly. Add herbs and let steep for 15 minutes, at least. Strain into a jar and keep in fridge for 2 weeks. Apply with cotton balls. Good for oily skin.

Rosemary Toner

1/2 cup chopped fresh rosemary
4 cups water
several drops rosemary essential oil

Follow ingredients above, adding oil and a sprig of rosemary when finished. Great for healing damaged or dry skin. Works for all skin types.

herbalicious; or, yogurt face

2011-08-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

I like to run. It's not my sole exercising venture. It's not my top pick. But, running can be really good to me, like today, when I was zoning out to bouncy dance beats and later, when the beats and melodies weren't quite as enticing, when I began to process some ideas that I'd had. I'm headed to a certain festival on Thursday, and at this festival, the spirit seems to be about creative freedom without the complications of commerce or greed. Creativity for creativity's sake. And also, giving for the pure sake of giving. Not everyone who attends this festival believes this or can/does follow this credo. But many do. Many, many do. And I realized, on my run, my own creative gift. So, upon returning from my run, I cut a basket full of herbs that I'd grown in my garden, I visited my local New Seasons, and I got to work.

Here's what I now have in front of me:

Cleansing facial wash: Made from my bees' honey, pure castile soap, vegetable glycerine, and lavender. So gentle and soothing. Honey is both cleansing and healing.

Salt scrubs to exfoliate: I made scrubs from lavender and rosemary; chamomile and lavender; bee balm and lavender; hyssop, mint, thyme, and rosemary; rosemary, citrus, lavender, and cloves; and one sugar scrub with basil, cloves, and orange zest. Making these was addicting, especially since I was working with my friend Amy. I can't wait to use them on my skin and to give them out as gifts to others. If any of these entice you, let me know, and I will send some your way.

Facial masks (not exactly sitting in front of me, because that would be gross): I plan to mix together yogurt and oatmeal, adding honey for dry skin and lime for oily skin. These masks, which should help rejuvenate skin that's been exposed to the sun and elements, will be applied for 15 minutes with cucumbers on the eyes.

Toner: A rosemary and rose hips toner spray, and a chamomile and mint toner for especially oily skin.

SPF 30 moisturizer, not made by me. And SPF 25 chapstick.

So next weekend, I will be giving free mini-facials in that order: cleansing, scrub, mask, toner, and SPF moisturizer, as well as a foot bath in minty carbonated water and then a minty foot lotion. I kept having these half-assed ideas: maybe I'd make bracelets or maybe I'd make tea. But this will be so soothing and fun and meaningful for people. And the fact that so many of the ingredients come from own yard is empowering.

2011-08-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

Overall, this summer's garden has been more bountiful and more satisfying than last year's garden. Since returning home from our road trip, I have regularly been harvesting early wonder and chioggia beets, green beans (that are purple until cooked) and pencil pod golden wax beans (which are now about done), poona keera cucumbers (also almost done), and an occassional carrot and artichoke. My sunflowers, grown from collected seeds from last year's flowers, have grown taller and with more success than last year. And now, my tomatoes are ripening, and tonight we enjoyed a large salad of cherry and isis tomatoes with basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Yum. I'm still full. I did prune the tomatoes violently today, in hopes of focusing the energy on the green tomatoes before our days of 85 degrees and sunshine fold over to cold and rain.

Tonight, while watering, I noticed that the borage that I planted by seed is blooming in my strawberry patch. Borage is supposed to grow well with strawberries, and of course, the honey bees LOVE borage. Love, love, love it. Plus, the flower is edible and supposedly has a cucumber-like flavor.

I attribute my successes not to weather but rather to better planning and better soil (thank you, chickens and composting). I mapped out my entire garden on graph paper, really considering the light and the hardships and fails of last year.

Sorry about the crappy photo above, from the cell phone. My camera got caught in the nude in a rainstorm in Montana and hasn't been feeling up to working since. I have another and better camera that I am trying to learn how to use, after having misplace, then found and simultaneously replaced the battery. So, I'm hoping to improve my understanding of photography with that venture when there's time.

Life's about to get crazy. There are many changes afoot. I will be updating soon, but this blog, likewise, will probably undergo some changes as well. Until then, let the mystery continue.

Oregon Coast: a love story

2011-08-19T19:31:00.000-07:00

Sun, salt, waves, wetsuits, surf, and sun, sun, sun! August on the Oregon coast.

Wednesday Excursions

2011-08-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

The blur of the sky as we return west.

The sky gets smaller as the mountains grow closer.

Wispy white and deep blue.

Feast!

2011-08-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a description of my kitchen right now: in addition to my laptop on kitchen table, there's an open bottle of Rhone style red wine, a handful of nasturtium seeds, two organic nectarines, two organic peaches, a basket of freshly harvested yellow and purple green beans. On my kitchen counter, a homemade butcher block littered with cucumber, shallots, and basil from the garden. Down past the dirty dishes sit six jars of cooling and thickening blueberry jam, made from blueberries that Brian and I picked yesterday and Willamette blackberry wildflower honey from 2009 before I had bees. It tastes like (guess what?!) blueberries and honey!

This is the best time of year for food. A significant percentage of our meals are from our own backyard. This morning, I made scrambled eggs with shallots, thyme, sage, and goat cheese. Everything was from our backyard except for the butter and goat cheese. It's time to pick your own fruit at farms (raspberries and peaches are next!), forage for figs and blackberries, and harvest from the garden. Soon, we will be traipsing through the woods for chanterelles and lobster mushrooms, boating for Dungeness crabs, and with any luck, feasting on our heirloom tomatoes!

Wednesday Excursions

2011-08-03T13:42:00.000-07:00


Alicia's Garden, Chesapeake City, Maryland

In the interest of sharing some of my summer adventures and in the hopes of motivating me to edit and cull through my hundreds of photos (and per request from MIL in Minnesota), I want to share some of my photos from my trip. So every Wednesday (hopefully), I will try to publish a few photos with captions of where they were taken.

Alicia's Garden, Chesapeake City, MD 7/10/11

honey man

2011-08-02T14:52:00.000-07:00

This summer has been one intense adventure after another, from camping by a glacial stream under Mt. Hood with amazing people and music to an epic trip around the country via Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta, Chesapeake City (the apex of the trip--my beautiful sister's wedding), Carlisle, Erie, the St. Croix River, Minneapolis, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Devil's Tower, Montana, Spokane, and then home again; but only briefly, because then we were off to the coast for four days of sunshine, spectacular views, pelicans, cormorants, sea gulls, starfish, sand, surfing, friends, and sunsets (more on this adventure to come), and then a weekend on our friend's boat on the great Columbia River, camping on Government Island--a state park that is only accessible via boat--and soaking in the rare Oregon sun (soaking in a bit too much in my case on Sunday) and again enjoying spectacular views of Mt. Hood.

It's been a summer of travel, of reconnecting with old friends and family, of renewed love, of falling in love with the mountains and the water, of building dreams and setting solid goals--and of course, a summer filled with my garden and reading.

When I got home from the trip, my garden seemed brilliant to my eyes. My friends who watched over it for me had tied up my tomatoes and everything looked lush and spectacular. Still no ripe tomatoes, but I heard yesterday that we have not yet had one day over 90 degrees yet this summer and only seven days in the 80s. Still, my garden grows: for lunch we had a salad of greens, beets, carrots, berries, and cucumber all from the garden, with a tarragon dressing. My herb spiral is lush with mint, oregano, sage, thyme, calendula, and Chinese hyssop. My peppers have many little buds and flowers on them. My tomatoes are green and growing. My artichoke is tall and ripening its 3rd artichoke heart; the sunflowers started blooming today.

The chickens are healthy, although baby has a bald spot from being pecked by the older witches. Poor baby. Still, they get by and we continue to eat eggs from our own backyard. The bees seem healthy and they certainly seem happy in my backyard with the lavender, vegetable and herb blossoms, and blackberry bramble that my neighbor lets grow wild in his untended backyard. However, there is an ant colony that wants to live with the bees, and we are working to fight that off.

The honey man, Allen, came by yesterday. He comes by door-to-door in the summer, carrying plastic bags filled with a delicious amber honey that he sells for about $12. We bought honey from him the first time we met him (before we had our own), and since then, we've often talked to him about beekeeping. He's an odd fellow, always overdressed and looking over heated. He seems far more at ease discussing bees when Brian is around; perhaps Brian is better at putting him at ease. The honey man understands and keeps Langstroth hives, so he's always curious about our top-bar hive. Yesterday, we showed him the hive, and this is when we discovered the ant issue. We wiped away the ants and promised to look inside of the hive today. Then, we gave the honey man a spoonful of our bees' honey, and he thought it was "really, really good." So good that we traded with him for a jar of his. This was high praise coming from the honey man.

Today, Brian and I opened the hive, brushing away ants and just nosing around. It looked as though the bees were doing all right and managing to keep the ants out of their beeswax. We're going to keep on peeking an try to keep that colony away from and off of the hive.

Hiatus

2011-07-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

On the road, reading novels aloud and watching the scenery change, the climate change, the temperature change. The clouds and humidity disappear and then reappear with a vengeance. The hills turn to canyons and the canyons turn into mesas and the mesas turn into mountains and the mountains turn into prairies. Old friendships are rekindled along the road: Phoenix, the White Mountains, Austin. We drive four-lane interstates where the speed limit is 80 and small town roads at 30. We eat; we feast: the flavors and tastes of this vast country. We are fat and stiff and dusty and wondering, where are we going today? How many miles do we need to travel until the next location? We've gone through two coolers, many refills of the tank, two RV parks, friends' beds, a state park, and we're not half way.

Until then, look for more blog posts post July 20th. Peace.

Plein air day

2011-06-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Brian and I took some wooden backers for frames, paints, brushes, wine, cheese, and crackers to Cannon Beach on the coast, and then we parked ourselves on the beach and painted.

Here's the Rhode Island Red and Elijah, surfing. They're both coasting along pretty well, but behind them is Leno, who just wiped out and is swimming to retrieve is board.

Then we sat in the rain and watched an amazing sunset beneath the clouds and on the clear horizon with this couple who joined us at our fire. We ended up drinking wine and stoking the fire and getting to know them for a couple of hours and have since gotten together with them here in Portland. That was our plein air day at the coast.

And then there were 3

2011-06-18T16:53:00.000-07:00

On Monday, our little Rhode Island red laid her first little egg. The darker one is from the Americauna, the big one in the front is from the Speckled Sussex, and the little dirty one is from the Red. Since, she has laid four eggs, living up to her breed's reputation. Our other chickens had a much slower start at laying; her breed has laid as many as 365 eggs per year. Here's our little girl, all grown up.

Thinking about her eggs and her struggle to fit in with the other chickens makes me miss our little black autralorp. Red had a tough go at it with Sussex and Americauna; I spent their first evening all together in the coop with them, trying to break up violent and excessive pecking. Red decided that she wanted to roost on my head, and it took over a week before she was allowed to sleep in the hen house with them. She still gets an occasional peck, but oddly, she seems to be more respected now that she is laying eggs. There appears to be a more peaceful acceptance amongst the flock.

Here she is taking a dirt bath. Chickens love and need to take dirt baths to prevent lice, mites, and other parasites from setting in. We let our chickens "bathe" every other day or so. That seems to be the only time they need a bath; sometimes I'll let her into her dirt bath area and she won't bathe but rather she'll munch on the comfrey leaves and peck out the ground.

My garden is growing despite our cold spring. The salmon berry bushes are taking over and will need some serious pruning after the first crop of berries is done. The sage, thyme, oregano, and mint are getting huge.

I'm quite proud of my foxgloves that I grew from seed. They are so tall. The hollyhocks are also getting rather huge and covered in buds. I've been grading and grading and grading, but school's out for summer. So now I need to spend some heavy duty time in the garden, weeding, pruning, staking, harvesting. We harvested two of our first ripe strawberries two days ago. I planted some beet seeds last week and want to plant the rest and some more beans and beets to stagger the crops.

I also plan on doing some self-indulging, errand running, party planning, trip planning, and wedding planning. I have a work meeting and a knitting lesson (my second one! Here's my first planned project. By the way, this blog is adorable) on Tuesday, a message and haircut and book club on Wednesday, Brian's thirtieth birthday on Friday, and my sister's wedding on July 9! Whew! Adventures galore!

We put some of my photos in Brian's honeycomb frames in the living room. They look pretty rad. I would also like to alternate some with cool textiles or paints or collage. There are so many fun options.

bibliomania!

2011-06-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon is now, perhaps, my favorite of her novels due to its simultaneous accessibility and complexity. Morrison has crafted this novel with painstaking care, and yet, it does not feel over-worked. Everything seems to act on multiple levels: the names, the Biblical allusions, and even the ending of the novel which sparked debate at our book club discussion. Morrison tackles issues of race in America, with characters who are former black slaves and Native Americans; class and social status, especially when complicated with race; coming of age; gender; community; and family. And the fact that she so carefully and purposefully deals with these issues is one reason that the novel is accessible: the book seems to work for everyone on some level, even if read in a non-political light as the story of a young man's hero's journey into the abyss and redemption. I find that I would like to read this book again, perhaps in a class, and perhaps in conjunction with a study of the Song of Solomon and the Book of Ruth and certain other texts from the Bible.

John Connolly's fantastical narrative takes a young boy during WWII into parallel life and world. As I was reading this novel, the 9th grade lit. teacher in me kept thinking: Hero's Journey. That's what this is; the classic tale retold. The protagonist must go on a journey and fight literal demons and his own demons and flaws before he can return home, changed for the better and better prepared for the worst. Connolly seems to be quite intentionally using the structure of the hero's journey as a metaphor for life and mortality; as the character faces challenges and fights for things beyond his own wants and needs, he learns to forgive, to heal, to grow, and to accept death as a painful but natural part of life. This novel reminded me a bit of Neil Gaiman's Coraline and Pan's Labyrinth.

Another book that I've read recently was The Coming Home Cafe by Gayle Pearson. This is a sweet story that I would gladly give to young readers about the Great Depression and a girl with an adventurous and altruistic spirit who decides to jump on a train and live the life of a hobo, traveling from city to city across the country in search of work. One of my freshmen gave it to me, still feverish from how much she loved it, and as I read it, I rather wished I was young enough to be captured by its magic. Am I too old? Or was the fire just not in the writing? I am not sure. Perhaps this is why I recommend the book for young readers only.

Next up for book club: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.

pollen

2011-05-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

I have observed honeybees and a female hummingbird feeding off of my collard green flowers in my vegetable garden. I love how covered she is in yellow pollen. I wonder, if I let the collards go to seed, if they will reseed and sprout in random places. I have some random kale starts growing in my garden, and I've let some of them flower as well.

Honeycomb Frames on Etsy

2011-05-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

Brian has an Etsy! He has designed and started to sell honeycomb hexagonal frames from reclaimed wood. One of my summer projects is to fill a set of six with photographs and paintings. Check out his Etsy! You can click on the link or search for honeycomb frames or restored wood.

Sunday morning

2011-05-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

As I sat down to blog, I witnessed Elijah-kitty, aka slut kitty, get a nice ear rub from some passers-by. Then, a lovely little toddler toddled up my driveway, followed by one of my best friends, her toddler son, and her sister, come to visit the farm.

We fed the chickens seeds and both of the little ones were fearless about letting these dinosaur-esque creatures peck from their hands. Then, after a few minutes of chickens, the boy said, "Bees!" and they made their way over to the bee hive, opening the observation window and staring joyfully at the spider and ants living outside of the hive and the thousands of bees living inside.

As they got ready to leave, my friend said to her son, "Looks like everything's going well on the farm," and I had this moment where I saw my home from the vantage point of these children and remembered when I was a child, going to visit my uncle's dairy farm, chasing barn cats, searching for kittens, and gawking at the calves, and I felt as though my home, that Brian and I have created together, was providing some of that wonder and joy to these children. So I responded, with more meaning than they knew, "Yes, everything's going well on the farm. Thank you for visiting."

gardening notes

2011-05-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, May 15, despite drizzle and mud, I planted my garden, with more planning and more caution than last year when I believe I certainly had planted everything by early May and had absolutely no map or plan of where anything was going. This year, however, I mapped out where everything is going using a companion planting guide. The first box has kale, beets, and lettuce. the second, larger raised bed has (from left to right), a row of poona keera cucumber starts, green bush bean seeks, pencil pod golden wax bean seeds, hillbilly potato leaf heirloom tomatoes, carrot seeds, Ukranian purple plum heirloom tomatoes (of which I had one fatality and need to replant) and a row of Hungarian heart heirloom tomatoes mingling with lettuce. Salmon berries in the background are going crazy and will need to be pruned after their first fruiting. Strawberries are in flower at their skirts.

Above, I have artichoke, scallions, pea seeds, spinach, strawberries, and kale.

Here's my herb spiral. Sage, thyme, oregano, and mint are all thriving. In front of the sage is a small French tarragon start. My lemon verbena is slowly making a comeback (in container) after wintering in the basement. The tall flowers in the background are collard greens that I'm letting flower.

I also have a chamomile start going strong, from which I have already harvested these flowers.

In this bed with the overgrown collards, I have marigolds, shasta daisies, chives and leeks reappearing from last year, a row of chocolate bell peppers, a row of red habanero peppers, and another row of chocolate bell peppers. Then I want to plant another row of leeks for which I have started.

Paul Robeson tomatoes and thai hot peppers are in containers in the sun near the fence, and in the patch near the fence are the rest of my tomatoes: cherry, isis candy, black from tula, along with marigolds. Basil will be added to the tomato gardens. Lots of basil. Along the fence behind the tomatoes are climbing hidasta beans.

My foxglove is blooming and front bed is dense with foxglove, lavender, thyme, daisies, buttercups, and other perennials.

Alicia's Shower

2011-05-19T17:24:00.000-07:00

In March, I co-hosted, with the indispensable help of my mom, my sister, my cousin, and her friend, a bridal shower for my baby sister. Here are some of the pics, taken by my funny and talented cousin Liz, because I literally could not fit one more item into my carry-on luggage, including a camera.

Liz make whoopy-pie cupcakes that we decorated with pansies; they turned out delicious and beautiful. She also made chocolate-covered strawberries while I was making quiche, quiche, and more quiche, including one with butternut squash, caramelized onions, and goat cheese.

As a time-saver for the bride, guests self-addressed envelopes for thank-you cards that my friends and I made when we made the invitations. Then, as a memento, guests wrote messages and notes to the bride on decorative pieces of paper that I'd cut out and then modge-podged onto the collage that is framed in the background of this pic. I should have the bride send me the after picture.

Here's the beautiful bride kissing her inflatable husband, one of her gag gifts from my always hilarious cousin Liz. And here's a great pic of my sisters and I laughing at the giant underpants that Liz also ordered for Alicia, thanks to Alicia's love of an old Pee Wee's playhouse sketch about all the things you can do with giant underpants.

R.I.P. Migas2

2011-05-08T18:45:00.000-07:00

Our black australorp was brutally killed by a racoon early Friday morning. She was my new favorite, docile and gentle with black feathers that were teal in the sunlight. I was really looking forward to seeing her as a fat, feathered hen, and we were anticipating many delicious eggs from her. Now she is no more, and our little Rhode Island Red is all alone, trying to survive against two bitchy hens who seem like they would gladly peck her to death.

While we don't name our chickens in life, this one has been named in death Migas2, after my neighbor's black australorp who was murdered by the neighbor's dog two years ago. I remember her being a dazzling chicken in the sunlight, and I chose this little bird in anticipation of seeing another chicken like the original Migas. Sadly, neither chicken lived for long.

Tend

2011-05-04T19:24:00.000-07:00

I have not written or published about my own world of petals and roots in a long while. Here's a blurry shot of our little white house, my mister heading up to the side door. The white cherry blossoms are still in bloom, the old cherry tree in our back yard in regal beauty. But these pink, early blossoms are long since done.

Early tulips are also finished, although shaded ones or later varieties are still blooming. I've noticed that purple tulips, like purple crocuses, seem to bloom later. These pictured above are some of my earliest tulips to bloom and are now just headless stalks next to some budding lavender.

Daffodils had a wonderful run in our cold spring, although they may be finished by now.

Pansies and violas are and have been flourishing. Lavender is starting to bloom. My foxglove is growing tall and healthy. One of the joys this spring has been wandering around my garden, discovering that which is still alive or made it through the winter: my hawthorn and ginko trees, my echinacea, Chinese hyssop, lavender, lupine, hollyhock, salmon berries, strawberries, lemon verbena (over-wintered in the cellar), goldenrod, calendula (reseeded), peppermint (reseeded), chives, a sole leek, collard greens and kales (the flowers of which the bees love), sage, oregano, a variety of thyme, pansies, and columbine.

Right now, lavender, lilac, and bluebells are blooming which means I can plant my cucumbers and beans. In the woods, I found lots of wild columbine, bleeding heart, this mysterious yellow flower:

And a dozen wild orchids:

"Margarita-love and destroy"

2011-04-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

I just finished Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita. I feel a bit intoxicated from it; I want to turn back and reread it with more care and attention. This first time through was mostly for plot. I had to struggle with who was who and how they were connected. I still don't understand all of the connections and relations. I need to let the book settle within me a bit, but I want to include some enticements and some support for the curious reader.

Margarita's flight:
Margarita gave the broom another upward prod, and the mass of rooftops fell away, replaced by a lake of quivering electric lights. Suddenly this lake rose up vertically, and then appeared above Margarita's head, while the moon shone beneath her feet. Realizing that she had turned a somersault, she resumed her normal position, and when she turned to look, she saw that the lake was no longer there and that in the distance behind her there remained only a rosy glow on the horizon. A second later and it, too, had vanished, and Margarita saw that she was alone with the moon, which was flying above her to her left. Margarita's hair continued to stand up like a haystack, and the moonlight whistled as it washed over her body. Judging by how two rows of widely spaced lights below had merged into two unbroken fiery lines, and by how rapidly they vanished behind her, Margarita surmised that she was traveling at monstrous speed and was amazed that she was not gasping for breath.

The Queen:
The march was being played in Margarita's honor. She was given the most gala reception. Diaphanous mermaids stopped their round dance over the river and waved to Margarita with seaweed. Their moaning salutations carried out over the deserted, greenish shore and could be heard from far away. Naked witches jumped out from behind the willows, formed a line, and began to bow and curtsy in courtly fashion. A goat-legged creature rushed up to Margarita and kissed her hand. Spreading silk on the grass, he inquired whether the queen had enjoyed her swim, and suggested that she lie down and rest.

Satan's ball:
Margarita's head began to spin from the smell of the wine, and she was about to leave when the cat performed a trick in the pool which detained her. Behemoth cast a spell on something near the maw of Neptune, and hissing and bubbling, the bubbly sea of champagne drained from the pool at once, and Neptune started spewing forth a foamless, bubble-less, dark-amber wave. The ladies shrieked and squealed, "Brandy!"--as they rushed away from the edges of the pool and took refuge behind the columns. The pool was filled in a few seconds, and the cat, after turning three somersaults in the air, landed in the billowing brandy. He crawled out, shaking himself off, his necktie shrunk, his opera glasses, and the gilt on his whiskers gone.

The Moon:
Night began covering the forests and meadows with its black kerchief. The night ignited sad little lights somewhere far below, alien lights that were no longer of any interest or use either to Margarita or the Master. Night overtook the cavalcade, spreading over them from above and scattering white specks of stars here and there in the saddened sky.
Night was thickening, flying alongside the riders, grabbing at their cloaks and pulling them off, unmasking all illusions... And when the crimson full moon rose up to meet them from behind the edge of the forest, all illusions vanished and the magical, mutable clothing fell into the swamp and drowned in the mist.

Cast of characters (I compiled this for my own sanity while reading. It is not exhaustive and may not be 100% correct):

Berlioz: literary editor (Mikhail Alexandrovich Berlioz or Misha)
Ivan: poet (Ivan Nikolayevich Ponyrov or Bezdomny)
Rimsky: financial director of theater
Varenukha: theater manager (Ivan Savelyevich)
Latunsky: the Master's editor
Styopa: theater employee; Berlioz's roommate (also Likehodeyev)
Andrei Fokich: bartender at Variety Theater
Vasily Stepanovich Lastochkin: bookkeeper of theater
Prokhor Petrovich: chairman of the commission
Anna Richardovna: Petrovich's secretary
Nikanor Ivanovich Bosoi: chairman of the house committee
Maximilian Andreyevich Poplavsky: Berlioz's uncle
Woland: Satan
Korovyo: black magician, Woland's retinue
Hella: Woland's witch
Abaddon: figure Woland's retinue
Behemoth: the cat; Woland's retinue
Azazello: Woland's assistant
Natalya: Margarita's maid
Nikolai Ivanovich: Margarita's downstairs neighbor

the woes of a lazy gardener

2011-04-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

My Catholic guilt is trying to poke out it's ugly little head. I will let the guilt speak for one line:

I am a lazy gardener.

Now, I will defend with this: I dream of a lush garden brimming with vegetables but have found no time to do anything to get there, because I've been too busy trying to host a shower on the East coast, work, be a part of a book club, exercise, and socialize with friends. Third quarter grades were due Monday which resulted in a weekend of grading rather than planting last weekend as well as two nights of being able to do little more than decompress afterwards by running, cooking, watching movies, and going to hear some free bluegrass.

This weekend, I am going to snowy Mt. Hood to camp out in a look-out cabin, hopefully surrounded by snow since there won't be much or any sun. So while I hope to read, read, read, I will not be able to dig, dig, dig. So, where does that leave my garden?

In a sad, neglected state. That's where. My seedlings are somewhat pathetic looking this year, in part because we attempted to put them under grow lights in the basement. I do not like this arrangement. I feel alienated from my plants, because I do not particularly like my basement. Plus, I think it's too chilly down there for them to thrive, and they seem rather stunted and plagued with powdery mildew. Ugh.

I have to read over 200 pgs. of our book club book by Thursday, which I'm hoping beyond hope to kick out this weekend, but after that, my project is to plant seeds outside and baby my little seedlings. I want to move them upstairs and repot them in newspaper. Hopefully, they will be okay.

Boo. I should be posting pictures of tulip magnolias and cherry blossoms. Instead, I rant. Next weekend, I will redeem my little garden.

frenzy

2011-04-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year. The sunshine is more potent, more plentiful. The wind has less bite. The earth smells musky. Everything seems verdant. And there's a frenzy to produce, to do, to make, to get done. Suddenly, everything still needs to be done, the job, the chores, the loving, living, laughing, plus the fierce energy of spring: the planting, the sewing, the tending. Then there are the moments when one must sit, sphinx-like, in a sunny spot. And just sit. In the sunshine. Totally in repose, surrounded by warm light, totally at peace, totally happy. Rare, blessed moments indeed, until it's back to the frenzy. Life seems to be so much about trying to do to do to do; that unquenchable thirst to try and taste everything (youth?) and that desire to sit in the sunshine and rest and soak every.thing. in.

dine out for japan

2011-03-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

Tonight, a city near you may be participating in this fundraiser for relief efforts in Japan. A bunch of local restaurants here in Portland are participating in Dine Out for Japan (click link for a list of locales). I am trying to cornswaggle some of my friends into joining me, perhaps for some tacos at Porque No? or a delicious Tasty and Sons burger. Mmmm, burgers. Considering that I flew back into Portland last night at midnight and had to be at work today by 7, I am too tuckered to cook. It's either participate in a good cause or pb&j for me!

A Night with Jane Eyre

2011-03-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

For her honors project, one of my freshmen read and submitted an essay to Multnomah County Library sponsored contest for the Focus Features 2011 adaptation of Jane Eyre. She read the novel, wrote a draft, revised, submitted, and was selected as one of the winners. As a result, she and four guests were invited to attend "An Evening with Jane Eyre," and she chose a 9th grade friend, her mother, her brother, and me to accompany her.

First, we went to the Heathman Hotel, where we supped on Stilton cheese, cucumber sandwiches, and other delicacies that Jane and Mr. Rochester might have enjoyed back in that era of wind-swept moors and gothic romances. Then the author Chelsea Cain read to us the opening of Charlotte Bronte's novel, and I was reminded of how much I've coveted having a window seat to hide away in and read ever since reading that particular passage of the book. The two freshmen girls and I all took home a brand new, free copy of the book, which was perfect, because I was sitting there thinking, "I am definitely going to want to re-read this (for the 3rd time!) after tonight." I had such a good time with these young minds, so excited and passionate, lovers of books and learning! Both girls agreed that the fact that they'd won a free copy of a book had made their entire night! Their entire week! I concurred!

And I do want to re-read it! Especially after the film. I've rarely seen such chemistry between two people on screen. There was so much tension in their unquenched desire; there were whole scenes during which I didn't move or breathe. Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska were so well casted in these roles and the cinematography was so stunning; I want to wander on the dusky, wind-swept moors in a cape and return home to my brooding lover. Or, maybe just revisit my two favorite Bronte novels, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights while curled up in a window seat.

Cupcake fever

2011-03-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

Here are some ideas in the works for my sister's shower.
{via: Allen Heberger and oh! cupcakes}
I am on the prowl for cupcake mastery and creativity for the cupcake tower!
This cupcake suits me. I like the little green ribbon and apparently simple design incorporating the edible flower. I've thought from the beginning that edible flowers would be a sweet touch. Pansies, especially, since they're one of my favorite spring flowers. My cousin is also making chocolate covered strawberries, so those might be a nice addition to the tower or may be beautifully arranged on their own.

{via Kelli Boyles at My Garden Diary}

{viaLife with Cake)

the story of the little lost bee: a hero's journey

2011-03-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

On Sunday night, a bee flew from one of our shoulders or knees or arms or somewhere up to the light in the kitchen. On Monday, we found the same bee, exhausted, near the kitchen sink, drinking from almost invisible little drops of water. Since it was already after dark, Brian and I fed the bee some honey, dropping little droplets nearby so that she could suck them up (like the bees are doing in the above photo, cleaning the mess I made). She ate hungrily, enough to make me wonder how a little bee could eat so much honey. Eventually, she got full and left the rest of the honey behind. Yesterday, we could not find little bee. Our hope was to catch her during daylight hours and return her to the hive, but instead, we feared she'd died of exhaustion.

But no! Today, when I got home, she flew up and buzzed at me! I gently brushed her into a jar and walked her out to the hive, rather fearing that she could no longer really fly. But as I walked her out, she climbed out of the jar, so that by the time I got her to her home, she was ready to fly out and quickly return.

This is the little bee's hero's tale, of leaving her home, facing obstacles, falling into the abyss (the kitchen drain from which we rescued her), and then finding her way back home again.

how to filter honey from a top-bar hive

2011-03-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

First, you want to carefully brush the bees from the honey comb back into the hive. Then, place the bars over a bucket or cut the comb into a bucket. Placing the combs is maybe better, since you may lessen the amount of bees that end up getting stuck in the honey. You can brush them off later but brush off as many as possible immediately. Make sure that your bars are clearly marked and your false back is ready for when you want to close the hive.

When you have the honeycomb ready, you need to remove all of the bees. If the bees have died a vainglorious death, drowning in their honey or staying heroically with the comb, remove them. Then, with your hands or with a potato masher or some other tool, crush the comb and honey. I prefer hands, since it rather forces me to check for bees or other foreign ickies that I might want to remove.

Do so until you have a paste-like substance.

Now, here's the part that takes a wee bit of planning. You need to have a bucket with a spigot or, in our case, a conical fermentor that you can filter the honey into. You will also need a 5-gallon paint-filter bag (aprox. $2.00 for 2 at Lowes) and then some way to attach the bag, be it a giant sieve or the top of a bucket after it's been cut in half with binder clips or clamps.

We used a busted conical fermentor, a giant sieve, and a paint-filter bag. I dumped the crushed wax and honey into the bag that was carefully placed in the sieve and then into the conical fermentor.

And now it sits and filters.

We have aprox. 1 quart of honey. Harvested more today. The bees were on the defensive, poor girls. I have 5 stings and still standing, barely.
The rosemary is in bloom. This is good early season food for them.

First Honey Harvest!

2011-03-05T17:12:00.000-08:00

Today, I went outside to find an active hive, hundreds of bees on missions, returning with pollen baskets full of orange pollen. So I spent some time reading about swarm cells, mites, hive management, and so forth, and then I decided I had to go into the messy, messy hive with horribly crooked comb. I knew it wouldn't be pretty, and it wasn't.

The comb was not, as I knew, built along the top bars. Here's a summary of what happened: I went to a class and was told that the first year, you leave the hive alone. There's no management. You may harvest some honey in September. This was not great advice. My bees went renegade, and I made the executive decision, late summer, that it was too late to fix the situation. I would leave them alone until spring.

Well, when I saw them returning home with such a bounty of pollen, I decided that today was spring, and I went in, armed with a chicken tail feather, a bread knife, my bee suit, a large bowl, and a bucket. I started removing bars, brushing away bees with the feather, and cutting out comb; it was all honey and nectar or bare comb. I worked until they were in an absolute tizzy. I don't know how many times I got stung. I noticed that I don't really feel stings until later. I believe maybe three times, as I noticed something on the back of my left calf and on my left arm near the elbow and maybe one other spot. I'm not done. There's still crooked comb, but they were having a conniption, poor girls. I had to relieve them. Today, I didn't use any smoke, but next time, I believe I will have to. Especially since I believe that it would be better if I went in and finished the job tomorrow.

In the meanwhile, I have honey to process and comb to melt into wax. I removed as many bees as I could from the honey. After harvesting comb, a few fly back onto the combs. I really did my best to brush as many off as possible. I might try to melt the wax tonight. I read something about doing it in water and that it would float. Need to read up a bit more. I will be sure to take photos and blog about the processes as I figure them out and try them. So excited to have honey.

A big day for the chickens as well. The hens went into their dome and clucked away, and I took the little halflings and put them into the outdoor coop. It was the longest they've been outside. I'm not sure how big of a deal scent is with chickens, but the shared territory might be of service later when I have to introduce the younger two to the big mammas. Eventually, I moved them back (babies to basement and hens to coop) because the americauna started squawking like she wanted to lay an egg.

I think I'd like to plant some peas and maybe some kale tomorrow as well as continue the beekeeping mission. Camillas, crocus, and daffodils have all been in bloom for a couple of weeks. Dandelions also starting to appear.

A winter in images

2011-03-04T18:07:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here drinking an amazing chocolate porter that tastes like coffee initially until the chocolate finish that Brian and Kris brewed a few weeks ago, reminiscing while I look at photos long overdue for my blog. So here are some highlights and summaries.

We had an amazing weekend of friendship, dancing, rain, hot-tubbing, and feasting for my birthday in mid-January at Arch Cape.

In February, we harvested our Plymouth barred rock. Rather the bully of the bunch, the alpha-hen, we decided we would live up to our word and harvest and feast on our first chicken.

Brian was really good at the slaughter, very calm and fast and sure. We did make some rookie mistakes, however. For one, we cut off the feet right away, a huge mistake as you want to tie the bird up and let it hang and rest for as long as a day. Then, even more careless, we buried the feet with the head. I would've liked to have used the feet to make broth.

I used my Riverside cookbook, and we slowly roasted the bird in white wine, water, fresh herbs, and vegetables. The book's directions were also helpful in the actual butchering of the meat. The meat tasted fresh and a bit like turkey, perhaps because it was roasted. It was more tender than I expected, and the flavor was strong, delicious. We had friends over and played music and drank delicious wines from Spain and Italy.

We also bought, on the same day, two new chicks; the one on the left is a black austrolorpe, a record layer, and the one on the right is also known for its egg-laying, a Rhode Island Red. Unlike last year, these chicks live in our basement.

In the past two days (including today), we've gotten four eggs! Which means that the Speckled Sussex and the Americauna are both now laying. The Sussex has been laying sporadically for a month or so now, but to get four eggs in two days is a lot for us! Crepes! Cookies! Scrambles! Frittatas! Quiche!

shower inspiration

2011-03-03T17:39:00.000-08:00

As the date of my sister's bridal shower nears, I am finally finding some inspiration on the internet. Here are some of the images that are making me ooooh and ahhh.

All of these images are from The Sweetest Occasion, a blog I plan to spend much time exploring between now and March 26. Already, I have ideas for fabrics, crepe paper garlands, cupcake paper garlands, flowers in tea cups and mason jars, etc. etc. I want to create a lovely lovely little party.

book fervor

2011-03-02T14:20:00.000-08:00

After much hesitating, I finally went ahead and read The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I saw the movie and was not impressed. I was more impressed with the book, although I wouldn't rave about it to anyone as great literature. Looking for a good story that will make you cry? Read this book. Looking for great literature? Skip it. The writing was sometimes painful (obnoxious similes), and some of the characters were mechanical. As I read, I knew they were characters. I didn't believe in them (e.g. Gomez). But here's what I liked: the allusion to The Odyssey and the allegorical nature of the novel, representing how people manage (or don't manage) stress, the danger of getting stuck in the past, and the struggle to overcome loss.

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat (love that name!) is a beautiful but sad, difficult book about a young Haitian girl who immigrates to the U.S. to live with her mother. She learns that her mother conceived her through a brutal rape, and her mother still suffers from the trauma. The mother and daughter's relationship derails, and it takes all of their strength and will to come back together again. I wouldn't recommend this book to many; it's saturated with pain, poverty, abuse, and death. However, it's well written with strong, believable, and often fierce characters.

P.S. My 11th graders (7 out of 10 of them will tell you they do not like to read at all) and I are enjoying reading aloud A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. If you haven't read it, do so now! Then watch the film version starring Sidney Poitier.

frugal february: the pits and the peaks

2011-02-28T14:39:00.000-08:00

Frugal February ends today, and I'm glad that I did it. And I plan to continue the habits I have developed this past month. Even though I'm still not on a precise budget (next step, perhaps?), I have learned a few things about myself.

First: spending and not spending are contagious. When I'm carpooling with my frugal mister, I spend less on gas, on groceries, on happy hours. We go to work, and we go home. We don't stop at attractive and expensive grocery stores filled with organic veggies, free samples, local meats, and money vortexes (which I do when alone). We occasionally stop at a local produce market with fair prices or at a cheaper (and less sensorily pleasing) grocery store. Plus, having someone to wake up with at 6 makes it easier to not buy coffee, because he starts making the coffee and I finish it and off we go. We don't tempt each other with happy hours, because we're going home to make dinner together and spend time together anyway, so we don't need to pay for that privilege.

Second: I've gotten better at making food based on what I have at home, not what I crave or want to have. I've found that as long as I have a fair variety of veggies, I am satisfied and able to make something delicious for dinner. Case in point, last night when I made a quinoa salad from the veggies on hand, including an awesome spicy peanut butter, ginger, tomato, and cilantro dressing.

Third: I don't mind not going out to eat, but potlucks and spending time with friends can also be quite expensive if you're doing so 3-5 nights a week (I love my friends and we live close to each other) and it's always a wine and food fest. If I always feel obligated to bring wine and food (which I'm not obligated to do; it's in my head), that can be $50 a week just on wine!!! Outrageous! So that needs to change. Basically, I need to shift my thinking. Meaning, I need to stop feeling obligated, and stop partaking in the snacks and drinks. Don't contribute, don't indulge, save money. Choose two nights a week, perhaps, where I do contribute and indulge, and the rest of the time, drink tea or stay home.

Fourth: I'm not going into a fabric store in March! I have some amazing fabrics, and now I need to use them up. When used, I will return to a fabric store, but not until then. And Fabric Depot is the place to go. The smaller boutiques are money traps, and Fabric Depot has awesome brands and fabrics with major monthly sales and coupons.

I would like to persevere in March with these financial goals and habits. Any suggestions for contributing to potlucks and gatherings without feeling like a miser or breaking the bank? Any savings ideas that have worked for you? I would love to hear some tips.

friday fantastic

2011-02-18T15:08:00.000-08:00

What is fantastic about this Friday?

It is the start of a 3-day weekend, and I have exceedingly few plans, which means I may be able to conquer some of my many goals, including grading 9th grade honors essays, finish reading The Time Traveler's Wife, start re-reading Lolita, take walks and pictures, go for a run, start my seeds, finish two current sewing projects and start two new ones, and clean my house. My grin will be fantastically wide if I manage all these. Perhaps I should close down and go get started!

I think I may spend some time planning my garden. I think I will need to scale down a bit this year, due to teaching 6 classes this spring. However, I do want to have fantastic heirloom tomatoes, lush teas and flowers, and an eclectic variety of peppers so I can quadruple (at least) my output of the dank hot sauce I made in December. I want to grow more of what I enjoyed, such as chamomile, lettuce, kale, sunflowers, and peas, but I also don't want to spend the money I spent last year on starts and seeds (so I say now). Must have self-control (something that's quite difficult for me when it comes to books, flowers, seeds, and starts).

Happy week ending!

raindrop tea

2011-02-16T09:58:00.000-08:00

Peach Pie Tea

2-3 tablespoons dried peaches
1/2 t. cinnamon (crushed bark preferred)
4 cloves
1/4-1/2 t. ginger
pinch of lavender

This tea is one of my favorites. Spicy, lightly and naturally sweet, fruity, and calming. Yum.

Frugal February

2011-02-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

Frugal February is going fairly well, although there are some bumps in the road. I sometimes feel like money and me are like oil and vinegar. But I haven't gone out to eat at all, and I've only been out for a drink once, yesterday, and those were cheap. My friend compelled me, oh vixen, oh temptress! And I haven't bought coffee, although I was sorely tempted the other day!

Here are some of the things I've spent money on:
A plane ticket home in March. This is the big one. I am hoping to pay this off after payday.
$28 at the local nursery on two 5 week old chicks (more on these later), feed, and potting soil.
Wine. I am not drinking out. I am drinking at potlucks and dinner parties.
Groceries, gas, bills, etc.
$10 on Lolita. (Despite my love of Powells, where I did spend some of my gift card, I had to order Lolita from Amazon. A five dollar price difference on a paperback is a big deal.)

Things I haven't spent money on (but wanted to):
I didn't go to the bargain boutique sale at the Crystal Ballroom and spend money on clothes and accessories from Portland boutiques. I went snowshoeing instead.
I am going snowboarding this weekend and am being gifted the lift ticket!
Gas money on going to Seattle for a friend's wedding reception. We decided to spend that money on a gift instead.

I think that Frugal Feb. may have to turn into Moderate March. I feel like I am building some great habits. I need to keep going with these new behaviors so I can save for a house, traveling to South America, driving across country, and all the other things that take, ugh, money.

for the love of books

2011-02-14T11:07:00.000-08:00

It's been quiet on the blogging front, although there have been adventures galore to write and report on. Here's what I have been doing instead of blogging: reading!

This novel, set mainly in Portland during the 1980s, is so freaking sad yet beautiful, about a young biracial girl who struggles because she feels unaccepted by both whites and blacks while simultaneously struggling with the tragic death of her family and the guilt of being the only survivor. This might be a hot contender for lit. circles with my American lit. students next year. Apparently, the author wrote the book with teens in mind as it reflects her own background, upbringing (she grew up in Portland in the 80s), and that there were no books targeted to her.

American Lit. students are about to read A Raisin in the Sun, which I just reread for the 4th time, maybe. Maybe more. I love, love, love this play. I don't think I've ever taught a piece of literature that I love more than this play. Every page reminds me of how much I love it. Hansberry's characters' struggle for integrity and pride is overwhelming, and this play has such a strong message of empathy and love. I cannot wait to share it with students.

A few friends and I have also started a book club. Our first pick: Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov. I'm the only one in the group who has read it before, which is a travesty. They all must read it, and I will gladly read it again. Nabakov is a genius. Stay tuned in March for more on book club.

What are you reading?

raindrop tea

2011-02-08T07:30:00.001-08:00

Sleepy Tummy

Equal parts:
chamomile
mint
ginger

a pinch of lavender

Steep for at least 4 minutes and enjoy!

Frugal February

2011-01-29T18:03:00.000-08:00

It's almost February, and I'm challenging myself to a month of frugality!

Here are the rules of engagement:

No eating out.
No drinking out, including coffee.
No shopping for non-necessities.

Here are the pre-set exceptions:
My bridesmaid's dress for my lovely sister's wedding (kind of a necessity, actually)
Anything amazing and affordable that I find at bargainhuntingpdx (if I go)
Buying material for a gift that I desperately want to make but know I don't have the material for

How to curb shopping jitters/anxiety:
Pot-lucks with friends
Big delicious dinners with lots of left-overs for when I'm feeling lazy
Using Christmas time gift certificate for Powells books
Sewing, crafting, and gifting with materials I already have
Preparing French press/mocha pot the night before so that I make coffee every morning
Having granola bars/bagels/fruit at hand so that I don't buy breakfast

If anyone wants to join in Frugal February, let me know! What's your savings goal and how are you going to reach it? My goal is really just to observe the difference that doing the above things makes. I will update along the way.

Friday Fantastic

2011-01-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

This book is one that I would probably turn my crooked nose up at. Look at that title! I can't even say it! The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society! What? But my mom recommended it and offered to mail it my way, and I trust my mom's taste in books, and here's why: she loved The Glass Castle and hated Eat, Love, Pray. Two excellent examples of my mom's taste.

So, I read this book, and the best adjective I can think of for it is "darling." Yes, I'll say it again, this book is absolutely darling. The characters are enchantingly real, which is what makes this book so charming. Told through a series of letters written back and forth amongst friends and strangers, this book is set immediately after WWII in London, primarily in Guernsey, and is about building community through a shared need to support one another in a difficult time and a shared love of literature and eventually, a shared love of neighbor. Not overly saccharine nor dark and often funny, I'd recommend this read to anyone who needs a darling, darling story to carry them into another place and time.

"blograstination"

2011-01-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

(Thanks, Emily, for the title to this post!)

I am blograstinating right now, in the midst of finals week, with 100 some junior essays and freshmen lit. papers to have graded and entered by Monday, and reminded of my trek to the Andes via stifled bus and long hike at lung-clenching altitudes with my girl Avery. We chanted mantras to ourselves to get us through the physical discomfort of both that long day and some of the difficult, yet exhilarating hikes on the days that followed. Our mantras went something like this: vistas! saunas! brownies! Not really mantras at all, they were little wish lists: items or aspects of the trip that we were really looking forward to relaxing into and enjoying.

Here are some of the little things that I'm putting on my mantra-list right now:

happy hour
Last Thursday art opening
yoga class
a run
starting seeds
sewing more gifts for lovely people
playing with the camera I got for my birthday
a Valentines' making tea party at Danielle's
christening the snowshoes I got for my birthday
sitting around and reading

On a professional note, put on the list being done with grading and planning some exciting new lessons and units. I'm thinking of doing a black studies unit called--working title--"From Blues to Hip-Hop: Black Resistance through Art, Literature, and Music." If anyone has any suggestions that would be 11th grade appropriate, please let me know! Here's the short list so far:

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury
Poetry and essays from the Harlem Renaissance, including, of course, Langston Hughes
Billie Holiday
Miles Davis
"President" by Wyclef
"Buffalo Soldier" by Marley
"The Revolution will not be Televised" by Nikki Giovanni
Richard Wright
Rita Dove
Maya Angelou

What's stressing you out right now, and what's your mantra? How are you getting through?

raindrop tea

2011-01-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

A variation on my favorite sleepy time tea: the recipe has the combined benefits of being a stronger sedative for us humans while (after giving kitty a nibble) causing laughs as Elijah runs around the house, scratching and sliding and chasing and rolling.

Perfect after grading and drinking coffee until 6 p.m. to use to mellow out and sleep well.

Elijah's Tea

2 T. chamomile
1 pinch of lavender
1/2 t. catnip
1/2 t. rosehips

I drank this last night, fell asleep in a cocoon of blankets, and didn't budge until my alarm sounded this morning (and then reset my alarm for an hour later because I didn't have students until 10:30 today!).

friday fantastic

2011-01-21T09:50:00.000-08:00

Hulu this: Portlandia, with Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen, airs tonight on IFC, but many have already scoped it out on Hulu, including me, last night, with a living room full of friends. Some of the favored scenes:

When a special male guest uses the bathroom at a feminist bookstore and catches hell for it from the two sandal wearing, kombucha drinking proprietors. The bookstore was a spoof of In Other Words, a mere hop and skip from my house. While I've sadly still not made it to the bookstore, I did attend a raging fundraiser that my next door neighbors threw for the place when I lived over in the Alberta Arts District. Yes, the girls wore sandals and long skirts (like in the skit); they also knew how to throw a killer party, had great senses of humor, and their shelves were full of wonderful wonderful books. (The store has community yoga classes that I should really go check out.)

When a couple asks a million questions about a chicken before ordering lunch at a Portland and then decides to drive out to the farm to scope the place in person (when the chicken's file with a picture is not acceptable proof of the chicken's peaceful and happy life before the hatchet) before committing to ordering.

When a local group plays hide-and-seek at the PCC library, also near my house. This was funny in that Brian has spent countless hours studying in that library. That and the team's name was the "Sherlock Holmies."

The major question we had to ask after watching: Is this as funny to non-Portlanders as it is to us?

raindrop tea

2011-01-19T22:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a new, random column for my blog, which I will hopefully update once a week and that will celebrate the title of my blog, Raindrop Tea.

Here's today's sip of herbal tea or tisane with memories of the summer harvest, the energy of the sunshine, the fall of the rain, the colors of my garden.

2 t. chamomile, hand picked and dried from my garden.
a pinch of dried lavender from a local lavender farm.
dried organic peaches, hand picked from Sauvy Island
dried blueberries, also hand picked from the island

This is tonight's tea, designed to be a naturally sweet sedative that will send us off into dreamland after a day of long hours and hard, good work.

friday fantastic

2011-01-14T13:49:00.000-08:00

Clever Nettle had this posted on her blog the other day, and I thought it worth copying and sharing. It's from another blog called sighs and whispers, where vintage photographs are published. The lady is “Forest Piece at Schnaitsee,” 1972. Photo by Holger Trülzsch of Veruschka (Vera Lehndorff) from Trans-Figurations. She looks like a forest sprite, somehow eerie and whimsical at the same time.

I'm off to coast for the three-day weekend to sleep, read, grade, walk, fly kites, take pictures, eat, laugh, drink wine, sleep, soak in the hot-tub, listen to/dance in the waves, rain, and wind, and perhaps practice knitting or crocheting. What are your three-day weekend doings?

trying on new clothes

2011-01-13T20:13:00.000-08:00

So, as you might see, I am playing around with how this little old blog looks, so don't be surprised if she's a horse of another color and then another color for the next little while. Until I get satisfied or bored (or no longer have grading to procrastinate). Ho, hum. I'm a long way from where I want to be, but now at least I have my own picture up and a simpler, cleaner look, which is what I want.

Minnes-OH! OO! Ah!-ta

2011-01-12T17:02:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos that I took while in snowy December Minnesota, wandering along the frozen Mississippi River.

Here's the red-tailed fox who sunned himself in the snowy back yard. Photos by Brian. We were able to watch him for quite a while while he ate at a dead goose, cleaned ice from his paws, scratched his ears, and rolled around in the snow. Finally, he saw something shiny and scampered away.

handmade holiday pt. 1

2011-01-12T09:43:00.000-08:00

Here, finally posted, is my first handmade tote bag. I selected materials that I thought my mother would like. The sage material especially looked like a print she would love, and the pink complimented it really well. I appliqued a little bird on the bag, because in Portlandia, "you can put a bird on something and call it art."

Here's my second tote bag that I gave to Brian's mom for Christmas. I really like how these two fabrics go together. This one turned out slightly better since it was my second round at the same pattern, but I must say, whether it's a yoga bag or a tote, I hate handles! They are a pain in the arse!

Save the bees!

2011-01-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

Sign the petition to block chemical companies from continuing to profit of off toxic chemicals that are threatening the honey bee population! Read more and sign here.

Portlandia

2011-01-02T21:09:00.000-08:00

Portlanders are bending over with laughter over the music video preview for "Portlandia," a new IFC show that airs January 21st. This counter-culture satire busting on Portland hipsters, burners, and unemployed artists is so hilarious that I had to share it. After all, Portland is the city where "young people go to retire." Check out the video here.

2010 restrospective

2011-01-01T20:01:00.000-08:00

New Year's Day seems to be a rather quiet day. Perhaps because so many of us are fighting hangovers from the debauchery of the night before. But there's also a reflective quality in the day. I looked up my resolutions and goals for last year, and it's interesting to reflect on how far I've come in the past year.

For arts and crafts, I wanted to continue knitting and crocheting, which I didn't do. But I did sew: curtains, pillows, tote bags, stuffed animals, yoga mat bags. I had fun with it and I'm still enjoying it, and I'm confident that I will keep it going. I have a long list of projects, including curtains for my bedroom, new turntable curtains, tote bags for friends, and more stuffed animals. Plus, I do want to learn to knit, still, and make hats, scarves, and fingerless gloves. Plus, I became a better photographer this year. And looking back at my photos, I realized that I'm quite hard on myself, but I've done some good work this year.

I went further with my garden/homestead than I'd originally planned, but in many respects I also fell short. I have dried tomatoes, figs, and chanterelles, but nothing canned from my garden. I do have frozen kale and berries, peach jam, apple butter, and green tomato chutney. I have garlic bulbs wintering in stockings in the basement. We have drunk most of my own chamomile, and we haven't bought eggs since June or July. This year, I want to grow even more teas and herbs, more lettuce, peas, carrots, beats, leeks, tomatoes, garlic, etc. My bees need more management, so I will need to take some classes and do some work with them this year that may involve collecting wax and making some candles and finally harvesting some honey. Fingers crossed! My hens are fat and happy, and my garden sleeps under blankets of straw from their coop. My compost is lush and wonderful.

As for career goals, I got my full-time teaching job! At the school that I most wanted to be working at! That's been everything, really, having a job that I can put my heart into and apply my creativity and love of reading and writing and education. I can be organized and analytical and creative and weird. I can sing songs to my freshmen about conjunctions, and I can ask my juniors to create their own class agenda. Time to rev up. Back to work on Monday!

If I were to set some goals for myself for 2011, they would be to grow as an educator and continue my work with rewriting the way we grade and measure our students' progress, to create a book club with a few fellow book-loving friends, to learn to knit, to keep on sewing, and to grow another wonderful garden with happy honey bees and plump egg-laying chickens. Plus, I want to backpack and camp, including biking around the base of Mt. Adams and then summit in a two to three day adventure!

Happy new year!

Aminals!

2010-12-31T17:38:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas, I had so much fun making little stuffed animals for kids in the family. The above owl, monster, and elephant went to my cousin's kids, and today, the oldest girl called and thanked me for her owl. Then she asked, "Did you make Jake a monster?" I told her that yes, I had made a monster. She then yelled, "It is a monster!" And then I heard Jake going, "Rhaa! Rhaa! Rhaa!" in the background. When I asked what he was doing, she said, "That's his monster noise!" My cousin (their mom) then got on the phone and told me she was a bit jealous and wasn't sure which one she liked best.

I made this sock monkey for little Elliot, my friend's little boy. We always joke that he's a little monkey, and he dressed as an adorable one for Halloween. Plus, he has sock monkeys on his curtains, so it seemed like a good fit. I bought these tights at the Bins over a year ago and finally got around to making them. Here's Brian's niece posing with her owl, pretending to be one herself.

I still have more Christmas presents I want to make for people! I wonder if I'll turn into one of those dreaded grandmas or great-aunts who always gives homemade gifts rather than the cool store bought stuff. Like the aunt who made Ralphy the pink bunny pajamas in the BB gun movie! Ha!

tramping through the snow, oregon-wisconsin

2010-12-30T20:16:00.000-08:00

Last week, Brian, Claire, and I went snowshoeing up on Mt. Hood. We found a small winding road that meandered up a hill, and we tromped up that until we saw a patch of amazingly bright sunlight. We followed it to this incredible view of Mt. Jefferson. Breathtaking.

Then we snowshoed across Trillium Lake, with the ice shifting below us and people watching us critically from the shore. But Ice Boy (aka the Minnesotan) said he'd stake his life on the security of the ice (wasn't he?), so I snapped pictures, enjoyed the view, and kept my distance from other 135 lb. or plus creatures.

It was an amazing walk. I've never snowshoed before Thanksgiving, and now, I've gone three times this year. The third time was yesterday, in Wisconsin. Brian and his climbing buddy did some ice climbing on the cliff behind their amazing home where he farms ice. Meanwhile, the non-ice-climbing girls snowshoed across the field and down to a train bed that runs along the St. Croix River.

Eventually, we found the boys on their ice trails.

Then we turned around and walked back along the trail and up the hill, back to the road.

Above is the cliff edge down which the boys went for their climb. And here they are, finishing their adventure.

We went inside and ate delicious homemade Indian food, rice and beans and spices and pickled veggies. It was amazing and inspiring, as was our snowshoe walk through the quiet Wisconsin fields and woods.

from lunar eclipse to winter solstice

2010-12-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

Tonight, I am hosting a solstice celebration with a few close friends, food, drinks, fire, and candlelight to celebrate the longest night of the year. Yesterday, I cleaned and sewed, cleaned and sewed, like an elf trying to get everything ready for Christmas time. It won't be, I believe. I have a keen sense that most of my packages will be arriving after the Dec. 25th date, perhaps on the third or fourth day of Christmas?

I am eager to post photos of my little creations, but that must wait until presents and packages have been opened. Until then, I must snip and sew and wrap and mail and shop and cook.

Pictured above is a black orchid, part of the Catasetum family that grows in South America, grown by my uncle Jim Pluskota.

Have a wonderful solstice today. Eat dinner by candlelight with friends. Feast on winter foods and cider and wine. Sit by a roaring fire. Enjoy the darkness and the light.

december swimming

2010-12-16T18:15:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, we rented a yurt at Cape Lookout on the Coast. The wind howled and the rain fell most of the weekend. We went out on the beach and pretended we were human kites in the wind until we were soaked through, and then we went back to the yurt and watched movies (we set up the projector on the top bunk and hung a white bed sheet from the wall) and cooked food. On Sunday, I put on a borrowed wetsuit with hood, booties, and gloves, and I waddled out to the beach like a penguin. I was dreading getting into the water, but I had to try it out. Skeptical of the ability of this wetsuit to keep me warm, I walked gingerly into the waves. The wind was still fierce and the rain was sideways. The water on the Oregon coast is horribly cold. I'm used to body boarding for hours at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I've never gone swimming here. Until Sunday. As soon as I stepped into the water, I realized: I want a wetsuit!!!! I jumped in the waves and frolicked and played while Brian laughed at me from the surf. He warned me that I would want one, and he's right; I do, I do, I do!

wintering bees

2010-12-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

I checked on my bees today, and their population looks healthy. More than I would have expected for early December. I am considering insulating the hive a bit. One reason for that is the fact that I did not move the false back forward.

The bees built a large amount of comb, but they built it crooked, making it impossible for me to go in there. So my game plan is to perhaps add some external insulation around the top and to pray they survive to spring. Then, in late February/early March, I'm going in there with a bread knife. I am going to cut all crooked comb, clean comb off of the bottom, harvest all over-wintered honey, and let the survivors start fresh in spring.

It was due to the crooked comb that I didn't harvest any fall honey. Let them keep it all for winter, and then if they don't make it, I won't have to feel bad about stealing their winter supplies. Plus, I was terrified that if I did try to cut and harvest comb and honey, I would destroy a bunch. So, they have their world as they created it until spring.

Here are the bees in the front of the hive behind the observation window. Still quite a few. They look healthy to me, and I could see no signs of mites. There were a couple of ants in the hive, but I've never heard of that being too much of a problem.

Santa Baby

2010-12-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

Dear Santa,

When we talked on the phone on Thanksgiving, I promised you that I would post my Christmas list. Well, Santa, here it is. Read on, have a few chuckles, and enjoy!

Of course, beautiful prints from the QiQiGallery on Etsy would be much loved.

However, a gift card to Sock Dreams would be dynomite! Especially as I'm still thinking about these gorgeous crocheted tights.

Then there are these sick boots from The Frye Company to wear with the tights.

A girl can dream, can't she?

Of course, snowshoes would be well worn and well loved as well, especially in the magical forests on Mt. Hood.

I will leave you to ponder this also, Santa: Helping out financially with plane tickets home for bridal shower and wedding would be much appreciated. Any of these gifts would be loved, but are not necessary.

Much love,
J.

Pride and Prejudice vs. Pride and Prejudice

2010-12-02T22:21:00.000-08:00

The other night, I watched for the second time only, the 2005 version of "Pride and Prejudice," which is lusty and romantic.

Sometimes too lusty and romantic. Sometimes the characters seem too wild. They're made to do things that seem alien to the time in order to fit into the romantic mood the movie tries so desperately to establish.

However, the film is so gorgeously shot that despite the moments when it seems like the story moves in fast-forward or when Lizzie's best lines are chopped from the screenplay or Darcy has lines that are foreign and new, the film is still a lovely thing to watch.

But I must say, for character and pacing, I still love, love, love the BBC version.

This look alone has made hundreds of girls become fans of Jane Austen. For my sister and I, my mother made us watch this movie with her, and from that point on, there was no turning back. Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park...I became fans of them all.

And yes, Dame Judi Dench is wonderful (and surprisingly sexy--but then, as I said, the movie is lusty) as Lady Catherine de Bourg, but I love the subtle wit and emphasized stupidity of both Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine in the BBC version.

So for wind-swept, soap operatic romance, go for the 2005 version with Kira.

Otherwise, it is, it is, its is the BBC version all the way.

this was all before thanksgiving, oh my!

2010-12-02T21:21:00.000-08:00

I have put away my gardening gloves and picked back up my fabrics and threads. These new kitchen curtains above I redid from a single curtain I made for our hobby room. Those were miserable curtains, despite the cheerful print. Just a single dull panel with a crooked cut. I cut them in half and turned them into two new curtains.

I have been working for well over a year now on a braided rug. Actually, I worked on it a bunch over a year ago, and then I didn't look at it again until recently when I spent the day watching "Pride and Prejudice" (the Colin Ferth version) and sewing the braids. Not finished yet, but here's a preview with Leno modeling.

And here he wonders over Sock Monkey, still unfinished. Starting projects is such a joy. Finishing projects is also a joy. It's the middle part that's a wee bit of a slog.

We had a snow day last week, although in Portland, snow days are more like ice days. Here's what it looked like on my garden.

And for the fans of the chickens, here they are in their first ever bit of snow.

And here's what a snow day should look like (says the hardened former up-state New Yorker).

We drove up to Mt. Hood to hike and ski, but the snow was too fluffy and the air was too cold for me to do anything without snowshoes or cross country skis, so while Brian skinned up the mountain, I read Alice Walker short stories by the fire in the lodge.

Portland has no way of dealing with snow or ice. There are no snow plows, salt trucks, or sand trucks. Black ice is deemed the deadliest of threats, and when there's nothing more but some slick roads and a dusting of snow, schools are closed and we head to the mountain where the real powder is. We went for a lovely snowshoe tromp in the woods Thanksgiving weekend, but we used Amy's camera, so pictures must wait.

I love that I can just drive up to Mt. Hood for a snowshoe in the woods or to snowboard.

Pixy

2010-11-30T08:47:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking this second look might be my new look. Something super textured yet feminine with short bangs just like I love to wear mine. Haircut tomorrow! If I like it, I'll post a pic of how it turns out.

Buy Nothing Day

2010-11-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

In protest of superficial materialism, thousands of people are participating in Buy Nothing Day. I am not a big shopper and plan on saving my shopping energy for Sunday's Give Handmade Sale, so I'll gladly participate. Here are some ideas of things to do on Black Friday other than shop.

Make something. Knit a scarf. Sew curtains. Paint. Collage Christmas cards. Be creative.
Have a potluck.
Go on a hike. Avoid the crowded malls and go to the forests/mountains/gorges/rivers/beaches.
Read a book. Read aloud to someone.
Make music. Or play music and dance.
Take photographs.
Sleep in.
Spend time with someone special.
Do yoga.

Have a wonderful Buy Nothing Day!

Give Handmade

2010-11-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, I may head over to the Give Handmade Sale to get my holiday shopping on. I'll gladly hand over some of my cash to local artisans who have agreed to donate 10% to the Oregon Food Bank. This way I can purchase unique gifts for a good cause. Who wants to go with me?

dress your family in corduroy and denim

2010-11-22T16:38:00.000-08:00

I have finally read a David Sedaris book. I believe I attempted to read this book several years ago, but it didn't catch my interest. Did I not get his wit? Perhaps. Here's how most of the chapters go: David acts like a selfish prick; David repents. Either that, or it's a strange encounter, often with members of his own family, like his brother whose dialog is unlike anything I've ever heard (with corny jokes such as: "This coffee's like making love on a canoe. It's f***ing near water") or his self-employed sister who tears the linoleum off of her kitchen floor and sells it. A lot of the stories are funny, but sometimes they're simultaneously sad as he addresses peoples' loneliness, insecurities, irrational and bullying behavior, bigotry, and other foibles.

It's the school year, so I spend a lot of time reading for work, including Ender's Game, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and student papers, so Sedaris is a great read during the school year. Intelligent without being taxing; amusingly sharp and witty; and each chapter is its own little story rather than a long, ornate plot to try to untangle after a day of being intellectually drained.

Tasting Italy 101

2010-11-20T13:44:00.000-08:00

On Thursday night, my friend Steph and I made our way down to inner South East, where there appears to be nothing but warehouses, but inside of 107 SE Washington, a building has been revamped into chic industrial with an acupuncturist and massage therapists and wine bar and Red Slate Wine Company, where we met up with my friends Emily and Sarah and Sarah's boss Deb. Normally, Steph, Sarah, Emily, nor I would pay $20 for a wine tasting, but Deb hooked it up and we were able to go for free. Or, well, for the cost of the bottles that we ended up walking away with.

This tasting, in looks, was sophisticated and classy with olives, pecorino cheese, almonds, salami and squash roasted with onions and cranberries and herbs and funky glass pitchers of water and long tables elegantly set. But in feel, it was relaxed and with "no wine snobbery" allowed. We tried seven wines from single estates in Italy where the quality control is so high that one grape vine yields approximately one bottle of wine. Tom, one of the hosts, has a personal relationship with all of these makers, and so despite the quality and the rarity of the wine(some of these wines are only available in 3-4 states--including Washington--and only 200 cases of some were even made), prices ranged from only $14-$32 per bottle.

Some of the wines instantly reminded me of people. The Cesanese immediately reminded me of my friend Amy, and the Tom Langhe, a Barbera blended with Merlot instantly reminded me of my dad. The Marzemino was a complex wine that smelled sometimes briney and sometimes like slate but then was surprisingly gentle and ever-changing. The Montepulciano smelled like berries and chocolate with a delicious finish. In addition to walking out with some presents, I also bought the Fior d'Arancio Spumante for Thanksgiving. This sparkling desert wine that literally means "orange blossom" smelled like orange, pear, and subtle spices and tasted sweet yet not overpowering, as some desert wines can be. A delicate blend of citrus and oranges. We decided that this would be a classy substitute for mimosas at brunch.

So maybe instead of eating it with pie, I'll invite our Thanksgiving day host over for brunch and we'll share the bottle between the three of us before we get cooking!

Here are a few interesting things that I learned:
You can compartmentalize the nose, so when smelling wine, if you imagine that you're breathing in through the top part of the nostrils, this is where you will smell the berries or the fruit. The bottom part of the nostrils is where you will pick up on minerals/woods/earth.

In Italy, it is often considered insanity to drink without food. Wine is made to pair with food, so don't be afraid to take a few bites of cheese/olives/stew/whatever and then sip your wine and slosh them both around together to see what one does for the other.

When trying to pair wine with food, look up the primary ingredients from that region. If that region is known for tomato dishes or seafood or mushrooms and cheeses, those are the foods that will go with the wine.

The most famous wine regions were once under the sea. Shells have lots of calcium carbonate in them, and calcium carbonate give fortitude and structure to wine.

All of these wines are organically and sustainable produced, but are not labeled as such because, as one of the wine makers says to Tom, "It's 2000 years of common sense."

on a dark and rainy day...

2010-11-17T22:06:00.000-08:00

...when one drives to work in the darkling rain and returns from work in the darkening rain, a girl wants, craves, needs art! Such as the above print by Timothy Karpinski.
Or perhaps some aurora borealis:

Or a reminder of the color pink.

Or maybe just a warm fire, a purring 10 pound gray tiger, no weeds to pull, and time to daydream.

light of the mind

2010-11-13T19:44:00.000-08:00

My friend Avery is having an exhibit of her photos, and she asked some of her friends who have been or are writers to contribute a written piece for a photo of their choice. I love the photo selection which you can view here, but I chose this one because it reminded me of my role as an educator. Here's the poem that I sent off to her the other day (of course finding much fault with her a day later, but oh well, tis what it is).

The Light of the Mind

The teacher seeks to lead her students
out of the darkened room--
out of the closed spaces
that breed ignorance and beget fear—
into a world vast and surprising.

There is a key-hole,
a portal,
a chamber door into the sun
that even she seeks.

Sometimes, the darkness encloses her.
Sometimes, the sun warms her soul.
Sometimes she feels as though she's lost the key
or the magic spell.
Or that there is not just one, but many
riddles to unravel.

There are constants in this life.
Change. Oscillation. Growth.
Set backs. The fluttering of wings.
Heartbeats.
The constancy of learning
when the mind's doorway is open:

the constant journey
towards illumination
and enlightenment.

yes, please

2010-11-09T19:12:00.000-08:00

On my long shopping list, in addition to a new school bag, I have socks and tights. Here are some that make me swoon.

I love these burgandy codori crochet tights. The olive and black are also cool, but the burgandy seems the most eye-catching.
These charcoal diamond rib knee highs look soft and warm.

Um, yeah, love these Phoebe Over The Knee in petrol. Love the color and the pattern and the quirkiness of them.

These Derra Over The Knee are also lovely.

As are these ruffle topped leg warmers that can be worn as arm warmers as well.

All images and socks are from Sock Dreams. I think that I'm going to have to play Santa for some people at this little store, and perhaps, treat myself to a pair of something adorable. Of course, having great socks necessitates having great skirts and boots, but that search will have to be come later.

the breakfast club

2010-11-08T19:13:00.000-08:00

So, our friend Matt proposed that we start our own version of the Breakfast Club, since Portland has oh-so-amazing breakfast spots. This town has got a lot of amazing, delicious cuisine, and Portlanders excel at their locally roasted coffee and at breakfast. So the first official meeting of the Breakfast Club was Sunday morning at Hash.

We waited on comfy leather furniture for our table for six while drinking locally roasted coffee that was nutty and not too bitter or biting. I ordered (along with over half the table) the corned beef with potatoes and a poached egg, brioche toast, and jam. Everything was delicious and the portion sizes were reasonable, as were the prices. We discussed what exactly corned beef was, and I learned that the salt they brine the corned beef in is actually shaped like corn. The atmosphere was clean, well-lit, comfortable. The only thing that didn't impress me were the paintings on the wall, large colorful acrylics that looked like paintings any one of us could have done ourselves.

Next month, we're considering for our second Breakfast Club outing Jam or the La Petit Provence.

baggage

2010-11-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

It rather shocks and astounds me that some people go shopping for fun.

"What should we do today?"
"Let's go shopping!"

In my house, it's, "Shit, we really need to go buy ___________________." (Unless the item is a book, a bottle of wine, or a new tool/craft supply)

However, there is a long list of items that I do indeed need to buy, one being a new school bag (i.e. purse big enough to hold my journal and a few books and a water bottle). My ancient bag, purchased at The Gap about 100 years ago, is tattered and ragged and much loved and crawling towards retirement.

Here are a few I've found on Etsy that are possibilities:

This one is from Tesage on Etsy. I like the simplicity, the size, and the unique print.

Not really my color, but I love the style and practicality of this one from FuchstBags. I would be able to convert my favorite bag into a backpack whenever I commute via bike. Of course, it wouldn't do much good in the rain, but then, I don't bike a whole lot in the rain anyway.

I think I'd go with the red.

Or perhaps the blue.

I'd really like a vinyl bag with applique. Something water proof and whimsical, in the messenger-bag style. I just met a woman with an adorable one from Kitty Empire.

I like the last two the best. Vinyl, water proof, messenger bags with whimsy and cherry blossoms and the gray one is on sale. Time to stew this over.

little winter market

2010-11-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

This weekend in Portland there is the Little Winter Market at the Cleaners with a pre-party tonight. I'd like to try to make it over there at some point to see the hand-made items on sale. Perhaps I'll do some early Christmas shopping or find some inspiration for my own Christmas presents and handmade crafts. Even if it's inspiration to get off my bottom and finish some of the projects I've started and never finished (braided rug, tote bags, embroidery projects...).

This weekend needs to be about refocusing my energies in many ways: I need to get some fresh air, plant some bulbs in the warm earth, take some photographs, seek inspiration, and rest. Oh, yeah, and grade a bunch of papers.

Happy weekend!

blogs, bee, teas, and things

2010-11-04T19:53:00.000-07:00

I just discovered two lovely blogs. Tospann has an assortment of random photographs of lovely people, yellow thread and fabric, wine, and tea: a few of my favorite things! The above photo is from Tea For Joy, also a wonderful blog of art and photos with tea themes.

I'm thinking about taking this bee-keeping class. Yes, it's 101, but I feel like I could use a refresher course. Plus, my plans to build some bee-keeper community last September got derailed, so the class would be a way to make some connections. Also, I think that at some point I'd like to try a Langstroth hive, so there's yet another reason for the class. I just hope they're not Langstroth snobs who disparage top-bars and all hives that aren't Langstroth. The hive worlds have difficulties agreeing, somewhat like Republicans and Democrats in our current Congress.

All I want for Christmas is photoshop, I think. Or some sort of photo editing software. I'd like to continue to take photos throughout the winter, but it's rather difficult to take pictures at night with my craptastic flash or perhaps it's my limited knowledge of my camera that's to blame. I'm hoping to get oot and aboot with my camera this weekend, perhaps on a tromp through the woods to hunt for wild mushrooms and some digging in my own garden to plant those garlic and scallion bulbs.

Here's some loveliness from Tospann. It makes me want to sew.

food and other inspirations

2010-11-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

So, blog. What are you and I gonna do all fall and winter, until it's catalog and seedling season? I can't just let you disappear forgotten into the internet ether. So instead, I'm going to look, once again, beyond my garden and yard (but still there too) for inspiration and humor and love and laughter to share with the world.

And food, this time of year, is a big part of that. I claim that it's my instinctual need to fatten up for the cold winter. I need that extra pudge to get me through, so suddenly, after months of not really wanting to be in the kitchen, I'm looking at recipes for pumpkin gnocchi, macaroni and cheese with mushrooms and sage, butternut squash soup, and fried green tomatoes. And I think that tonight, I'm going to go ahead and make this green tomato chutney from Gayla Trail.

As for eating out, Portland is a mecca for fabulous happy hours, and my new favorite is a place called Tasty n Sons, not too far from my 'hood. Happy hour cocktails aren't exactly cheap at $7, but the food is not only cheap but uh-uh-amazing! $1 bacon wrapped dates with almonds, $4 panna cotta, a $5 bleu cheese or cheddar bacon burger that drips delicious grease and really just might be the best burger deal in the city. I'm getting hungry writing about it. Is it time for lunch?

pumpkin season

2010-11-01T21:37:00.000-07:00

Last night, while handing out candy to the few trick-or-treaters that we had, Brian and I carved pumpkins that the pumpkin fairy had delivered to us during the night. We used an amazing wood carving tool that made carving much simpler and quite easier to be creative. My pumpkin is the one above and the one on the left below. Brian's is on the right.

Here are Amy and Rob's awesome adult-themed pumpkins:

Tonight, after making fig stuffed chicken in a cream and tomato sauce with sliced brandywine tomatoes and steamed green beans, I roasted the seeds in lots of olive oil, sea salt, and some chile powder for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. They were so delicious, Brian, Amy, and I gobbled them all up while we filled out our Oregon ballots.
Happy election!