"Ida B." by Katherine Hannigan

"The Yellow Prison of Propulsion dropped me off just where it had picked me up that morning."

p. 109

Jenn's note: Yellow Prison of Propulsion = the school bus. Ida names things. Like Gollum. Or like Areon climbing the stairs thinking of the Goddess Who Climbs Eternally. It's so awesome. :)

Book Quotes

I've been meaning to do this for awhile, start a series of quotes from the books I've been reading. You know, the lines I'd read out loud to you if we were hanging out in a cafe. Look forward to this being a recurring item.

"The street was only just wide enough to permit the passage of a moderate-sized elephant. Catherine was able to determine this because a moderate-sized elephant came along and, obedient to the orders of its mahout, came to a stop just outside the window, its pink and grey spotted ears slowly flapping." ---- pg. 386 of Not Yet Drown'd by Peg Kingman

Last Weekend's Exploits

Last weekend, Veteran's day weekend, which could be considered two weekends ago now, depending on how you count it....Nathan and I had the good fortune to host BOTH Jean AND Heteo for a whole evening. Then H traveled on to see other teos, and Jean braved the trek to Pacific Grove to visit the Who-Whos. H and J experienced the daily Laredo Hike, though sadly, they didn't really get to see our totem dog, Barkie. AND, Jean watched both the Fellowship of the Rings AND the Two Towers, which, as you can tell, excites me to extensive use of capital letters.

A delightful weekend all around, though perhaps under photographed, and I am STOKED we'll be doing it all again in just a few weeks, in the East Farthing.

Enjoy the pics of our kitchen, with Jean knitting, Nathan reading about making ice cream, Heteo arriving, and the bunnies doing what they do best. The second link is for the Pacific Grove pics, which I stored in a separate album. Somehow, two slide shows running at the same time seeemed almost dangerous. :)

From Who Whos, 2007

Semi-Homecooked Meal

Last week a co-worker and I took our lunch hours together and went to a place called Just Dinners. You may have heard of these sorts of places...the gist is, you go there, you select some dinner items, they have all the ingredients set out and prepared, you throw the food together, then take it home, and cook it in your own oven. That's the boring definition. Here's the truth: It's like being on your OWN COOKING SHOW!! It's fantastic!!! You look at a recipe, and it says something like "Add two cups of chopped pears." You look around your workstation and AHA!! A whole container of beautifully sliced and diced pears!! AND! You don't have to do the dishes!! I know, I know, purists might not call this "cooking." In fact, Heidi and I were rather conscientious about referring to it as "assembling." But, it was SO MUCH FUN! And! Nathan and I have been enjoying "home cooked meals" all week. I LOVE coming home and heating something dazzling, and then serving it as though I had worked really hard. We're definitely going to do this again.

the 100th journal

Several weeks ago, I unloaded all my journals on the kitchen table and sorted them. At one point I was very careful to number them every time I started a new volume, so I would know when I hit a landmark issue. The 50th volume has a lovely golden themed cover. But I've gotten out of that habit. I knew I was probably closing in the centennial journal...but I wasn't sure how close I was. Turns out the current volume is the magic volume one hundred. I was a little bummed I didn't select a particularly stunning book to write in, for this momentous occasion, but probably, this is better. It snuck up on me, and this journal is just like all the others. Serviceable, portable, reliable, and precious.