Do I Dare to Eat a Peach?

Googling: "Do wolves have eyelashes?"   "How to get a bird to eat out of your hand."

Lunch: leftover strawberry/peach pie (this was yesterday. Today no lunch because my stomach was rebelling against something, possibly that pie...)

Mulling: It's hard for an introvert to shop at Trader Joes sometimes. I will deliberately avoid certain lines because I know I'll have to discuss how my day's going and what I'm doing this weekend and what I'm making for dinner.

Packing: Things for the girl! Zoë flies to Bangalore out of Logan on Monday. She'll be in Cambridge for the weekend, where we will meet her for the day on Sunday, armed with bags of saris and salwar kameez and electrolyte tablets and hand sanitizer and (most importantly) her passport. Have you ever sorted saris and tried to figure out which little blouses go with which gorgeous silky sari fabric, and folded them into a tidy, colorful pile? I recommend it.

You'll Freeze Out There

I enjoy watching people gesture wildly when I can't hear what they're saying. The other day, at the Harvard Art Museum, my parents and I enjoyed several long minutes watching from a balcony as a woman below us gesticulated in an animated way in the direction of a marble statue. She seemed to be explaining or commenting or lecturing for the benefit of her companions. Her hands moved in pointing, slicing, chopping motions. Just now I watched two women across the street walking together in the cold, stopping periodically so one of them could wave her arms about and move her mouth. Was she angry at the other woman? Telling a funny story? Why couldn't she keep walking while she told it? It's really cold out today.



Among today's words I've so far blurbed: plutocrat, podcast, pocketbook, poach, plywood. I wanted to go overtly political all over "plutocrat." I wanted to gesticulate wildly, in fact.

I love podcasts.
I have a strong feeling about plywood, too.
I have learned to poach an egg pretty well, if I do say so myself.
The word "pocketbook" makes me think of my grandmother.
The word "plutocrat" makes me angry.

Home

Or nearly home, paused in Cambridge until I get fetched (along with the loot I bought at Ikea) in the car by Mark. Mom and Dad treated me to so many delicious meals on this trip, and the sweet potato sandwich I just ate at Clover was one of them.

Overhead, at Clover Central Square. Why oh why don't they come to Portland?

Three

Home again, after a happy/sad weekend, including a quick visit with my girl in Cambridge.  I drove there from Holly's house in Connecticut partially in a swirling sudden snowstorm, the kind that makes you grip the steering wheel a little bit tighter and constantly re-adjust the windshield wipers.

Now I've got a few days' worth of catching up to do. There is sun slanting through the window at a strange, post-Daylight Savings Time angle. There is snow in the grass, but there are also pink beach roses still blooming in the yard.

Winter Gets Cold in Ways You Always Forget

Yawn. We're bored of slush and snow and gloves and boots and itchy socks and cleaning the pellet stove and scraping the car. Actually, I lie: Gus loves the snow so much, he would be happy in Antarctica, I'm sure of it. We persevere, we venture out in our layers and enjoy the sun when it appears and appreciate our warm waterproof footwear and one of us rolls in the snow and eats the snow and buries his whole head in the snow with joy.

And then we all come inside and take a nap.

My brother David was in Boston for work briefly, and he brought the sweeties with him to hang out with my mom and dad. I drove down there on Saturday to play with them for a day, and it was wonderful.

We had brunch at Clover Food Lab, where Stella and Ben got to work drawing pictures and we all ate delicious popovers and fruit salad and drank perfect coffee. We strolled around Cambridge in the sunshine, played at a funky playground, and got some quality hide-and-seek time in back at Mom and Dad's condo.

 (That's my sweet brother, not standing in front of a dart board or modern torture device.)

Okay, March, let's go. Let's march together in the direction of sun and growing things and finally putting a different pair of shoes on our feet.

Ten Things That Help

1. Pie.*

2. Friends and family, their kind words and sweetness.

3. This fella.

I like to imagine I'm writing an obituary for Minnow (a real one, published--in my imagination--in the New York Times), in which I refer to Theo the Cat as his "protégé."

4. Mom and Dad, and the Caribbean parade that went down their street on Sunday.

5. Taking a walk, the sky, the ocean, people being weird, birds, the smell of burnt toast.

6. Books.

7. Coffee.

8. Work.

9. Naps.

10. Puppy porn.

*Ooh, that pie photo is blurry because I was like "HURRY UP HURRY UP PIE, PIE FOR ME." Here is the recipe, and I swear this was the best pie I've ever made and one of the best I've ever eaten. I whipped crème fraîche with a little sugar to dollop.

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

scenes from my perfect weekend in cambridge, massachusetts.







































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







































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







































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







































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


trees, their legacy of green, by paavo haavikko

six

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

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

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

half nested again

while this bird gets herself settled back into life at home,

spending time with this guy, and time alone, and time with friends,

oh, and digging through the box that finally arrived two months after it was mailed from china (minus many books, most of them illegal dalai lama contraband),

(max acting out his fury at the chinese government, below)

reviving the old scrabble club, meditating with the buddhists, making plans, eating delicious food, worrying about life a bit, taking walks, and reveling in clean-smelling clothing, comfortable beds, and western-style toilets,

this bird has flown to cambridge, where he's spending most of the month of july attending an architecture/design program at harvard design school.

so the boy is off to a great start, living the urban life with the coolest grandparents ever, commuting to harvard square, and designing things all day. he'll have a new project each week, and he's planning to come home on the weekends for some maine breezes, bike riding, frisbee throwing, and hanging out with friends.

above, his very own desk. below, something cool looking that he made.

so we're down one kid again, at least during the week. luckily we've got some extras from time to time, in max, adrienne, miss gliss, lilly, anthony, and more. stay tuned for the highlights of max and zoë's welcome home (maine-themed) party this weekend.

pied à terre

scenes from 36 hours in cambridge (mom and dad are visiting stella and her family right now, as everybody gets ready for the arrival of stella's baby brother -- so we lounged around their empty condo for a couple of days).

colorful cacti.

isaac says this to me a lot.

smart bookstore.

punjabi dhaba for lunch!

mark and i took a walk through harvard square, got coffee and cookies from crema cafe, and sat in the sunshine with a view of flowers.

one of many buddhas.

art by me, circa 1972. this is "sunny day," and on the flip side is "rainy day," which is done hastily with a blue ballpoint pen. to depict the grimness of a rainy day? or because i ran out of enthusiasm for the project? "sunny day," as you can see, illustrates the joy of a sunny day, complete with the sun's rays shooting through the air, and bunches of insanely happy, big-eyed people wearing hats and smoking pipes.

home from cambridge. minnow's ear was in the cup holder.

exit, pursued by a bear

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

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

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

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

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

2011, thus far

new year's eve with mom and dad at river gods, my favorite irish pub.

two thums up for 2011! indian cola at shalimar india food & spices in central square.

2011 is the year my girl explores india. she is packing. she is almost ready to go.

happy new year!