Showing posts with label dog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dog. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Twenty-five

The day went from warm to cold, but stayed glowing gray. Mark and I finally cleared all the summery things from the yard, and then his mom and I quickly cleaned out the car before he drove to New York to pick up three kids and bring them back.

So now it's me and Jonah and Grandma Nancy and a dog and cat, in a clean, quiet house. Waiting for the travelers, waiting for the snow.


She bought us pumpkin ginger donuts this morning, and we sat in the park and ate them happily.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

The Longest Shortest Month of All



It's funny how things slow down over at Overheard in Portland this time of year. It sort of makes sense, when you think of everyone hibernating, huddling inside by their wood stoves and televisions, no strangers to eavesdrop upon. But things go on in restaurants, coffee shops, ski...lodges. Or whatever. I can't do it all myself, especially with my measurable hearing loss and a big fuzzy hat on top of that, covering my ears, rendering me even more handicapped!

Around here, it's a whole bunch of animal antics, running low on pellets for the stove, sitting constantly so close to the aforementioned stove that I am always thirsty and itchy from its drying effects, drinking hot drinks, eating hot bowls of oatmeal. Shoveling snow, walking in snow.

I've been reading lots and lots, especially enjoying I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place, a memoir by my former grad school teacher Howard Norman.

We've been watching season two of House of Cards (!!!!!!! is all I can say without spoiling anything for anyone), and Mark and I can't shake our Revenge addiction as we wait for our other favorite lowbrow show, Scandal, to start again (and yes, as you might guess, we started Revenge because Netflix thought we might like it based on our appreciation for one-word melodramatic noun titles). Plus, Isaac worked on a movie set last summer, and the movie starred the star of Revenge! So! Two degrees of separation, basically.

Eating my low FODMAP diet, but it's not doing much for me, digestive-wise. I did hit on a FODMAP-friendly cookie recipe that makes me happy. You can make it with either peanut butter or almond butter, it's super quick, and really delicious.

Drinking coffee with foamy milk thanks to my little milk frother thing my mom gave me--I am so hooked on this gadget!

Listening to the new Beck (aka my favorite Scientologist) album, which you can hear on NPR right now.

Thinking about the fact that my littlest baby will be a high school graduate in three months.

See ya, lazy kitties.





Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Friday, November 08, 2013

Eighth


It's that time of year--dark, dark, dark at 4:30pm. Crunchy leaves, pellet stove, gloves, my famous hot bag of corn.

We had what is likely to be Isaac's last ever conference at The Learning Shack this week. This is our final autumn of high school as a family. Weird, this time passing thing. We also learned this week that Zoë is definitely coming back to these United States next semester! She'll spend her winter break (which starts December second) gallivanting around Europe, and then she'll head back to New York in January to dive back into the challenging classes she loves. I'm happy when she's happy, no matter where in the world she might be, but all three of us are pretty much jumping up and down with excitement about her coming back!

On a final note, please watch this lovely, lovely video directed by our friend Charlotte Royer (Zoë and Isaac's former babysitter of awesomeness and current filmmaker). Featuring many loved ones, including my boy and also my Maine. The best thing about this is that Zoë just coincidentally happened to watch it with some friends in Madurai--first, she said, "Hey, she was my babysitter!" And then, "Wait a minute, that's my brother!"

Monday, November 04, 2013

Fourth

I have been reading The Waves, listening to Daughter, eating almond butter on apple slices, drinking my tea with goat milk cuz that's how I roll.

Defining "gentleness" right now, as the pellet stove hums and Theo snores and Gus keeps watch upstairs out the window.

Have you noticed I'm giving NaBloPoMo another go? And another every day-type writing challenge is going on over here.

Bisous.

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Remiss

So much of September went unreported. I didn't even tell you about the Common Ground Fair!

There was some hooping.

Some tintype-taking.

Piecone eating.

This is a picture of a beautiful cane chair. I'm going to learn how to do this myself.
There were also herding dogs and bunnies and fancy chickens, great food, blue skies, bunches of people, honeycomb and native crafts and  elderberry tinctures. It was David M's first fair ever, and it took us so long to get there that it was a short one for him, but Mark and Isaac and I stayed on. We may have eaten our weight in potato chip fries.

And then there was a week when Isaac went off on a kayaking adventure with the Learning Shack, and Mark and I took a one-day field trip to our favorite peninsula with our favorite dog.*

Gus, King of the Blue Hill Peninsula.





I'm not even kidding when I say this is my current fantasy dream house.


We discovered this place, a trail that goes through this field and into the woods, much of it with breathtaking views over Eggemoggin Reach, the bay, and islands. And in season, you can pick blueberries here!

I love it up there. The air smells different, the rocks and water and hills are different. And when I say "different," I mean, not like around here, and here is already pretty damn gorgeous. I just like to fuel my rural/seaside dreams by imagining a little house (or a renovated former Oddfellows Hall, perhaps) way the hell up in Brooklin or Sargentville or Blue Hill. A big field for Gus to run in, a patch of sunshine to plant some vegetables in. Blueberries!




*I was going to say "favorite living dog," but that sounds weird. You must know we didn't bring the ashes of former dogs with us, and you may also know that Minnow was the dog of my heart, and that Gus really truly doesn't mind when I tell him he's my second favorite dog in the whole world.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Monkey

Some days the Internets are just such a distraction. My monkey mind is all over the place today, remembering and forgetting things I needed to look up: the phone number of the consignment shop so I can finally haul those bags of clothes away; the cost of an iphone speaker docking thingamajig; the doggie daycare we thought we might check out; movie times; what to make for dinner tonight; various people's grammar I must correct for them; the calendars of my family members; paint colors; etc etc etc.


Speaking of paint colors, can you believe the colors this world comes in, sometimes? I'm amazed, not every single day, but at least once a week. Even in February, which is like my arch enemy of the calendar year.

I know it's short, at least in number of days, but it feels endless, cold cold and gray and I don't even think it's entirely to do with the weather. Happily, my Academy Awards weekend with my mom looms toward the end of this month (we are staying in a fancy hotel in Boston so we can watch the Oscars on TV!), and Gus keeps me from hibernating, which is so good for my brain and my body.

Today I craved blueberries, so I bought some and ate almost the entire pint. Out of season, non local, delicious organic blueberries. For breakfast, I ate them on my farro/coconut milk porridge with almonds. For lunch I ate them for dessert after some little tomatoes and goat cheddar and avocado drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Yesterday I watched a good movie (Argo) and an excellent movie (Amour). If I see Les Mis and Django this week, I will have fulfilled a personal goal (to see all the best picture nominated films). I can already tell you this: Amour should win, and Lincoln will win.


Isaac's in New York this week--for fun and volunteering and visiting Zoë. This cat misses him! So do I, but I don't feel the need to climb on people's laps and purr incessantly and attack their hair and lick their noses. Well, maybe a little I do.

So it's me and these two sweethearts of mine this week.


Mark and I are cooking food and taking walks on the beach and guess what? We bought a new telervision, our first non-hand-me-down TV since 1989. It's a twenty first century television. Come over to my house and we can watch movies, okay? I'll even make popcorn.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Atlantic


Atlantic Ocean, my friend! I love you under blue skies, and I love you when the fog horn is calling out over you, and my dog is alone on the beach chasing driftwood and digging holes in the sand.

Crispy new potatoes for dinner, The Queen of Versailles, coffee with the Dancer, the weekend, new red mailbox, melting snow, clean laundry, wanting everyone I love to be at least content, if not full of joy.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Thursday


They are pals, shown here gnawing on Gus's leash together. Gus doesn't know his own strength, nor does he realize Theo is a cat. Theo may not realize he's a cat either, and he doesn't ever, ever scratch Gus, even when his entire head is inside the dog's mouth.