penelope lea

painterly...

2012-01-30T19:01:00.001-08:00

i painted for hours today. one hundred and four years

ago whoever built our house put a small metal fence

around the property. i'm fairly certain that was the last

time it was painted. hoping that i can finish in

one more long day.

so long, january...

2012-01-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

green is the color...

we spent more time outdoors than in this last

weekend in january. tired and content.

my smart friend....

2012-01-27T09:21:00.000-08:00

"I have found that when life sends you an invitation to a Pity Party it's always best to RSVP a decisive 'No, thank you.' Yes, the thought seems appealing...but the food, company, and attire are invariably sub-par. And they are Very Difficult to Leave."

this was my friend, susan's, facebook status this morning.

she's a (maybe)accidental genius at knowing where humor

is the best bandaid.

just made reservations to go back here in a few weeks....

loads to be thankful for.

against the wind...

2012-01-26T19:31:00.000-08:00

today was a long one.

i'm not even sure why. worn out and a bit deep down sad.

i fell asleep at a stop light

after picking up roxie. startled awake when someone

honked. what's that about?

i think i even drooled.

sometimes just moving my hands, keeping them

busy can ward that kind of thing off so i

made some soup and bread for supper.

this soup is always just right, especially

when the garden is full of kale. the bread is

'everything bread'.

i don't have exact amounts for the soup, but you can't

mess it up. the pic above is all washed out

and misleading.

it's actually rainbow bright.

Kale Soup

yellow onion, diced

couple serrano peppers, minced

2 Tbsp. garlic, minced

15 oz. diced tomatoes

potato; peeled, diced

sweet potato; peeled, diced

can cannelloni beans (or great northern) rinsed

1-2 bunches kale; stemmed, chopped

6-8 cups vegetable stock

parsley

3 tsp. italian seasoning

salt

saute onion, peppers, and garlic in olive oil. add remaining ingredients and simmer until potatoes are tender. top with parmesan.

i've added summer sausage and almost always add cheese tortellini the last 10 minutes.

summer sleeping porch...

2012-01-23T19:56:00.000-08:00

the old-lady house has a summer sleeping porch.

this spot was well thought out. it's very high up

to grab even the faintest whisper of a breeze.

it faces east; brilliant bright in the mornings,

aptly ducking out of the searing western summer sun.

it has more window than walls, superb for lying on the

floor and feeling perched in a tree. i recently

emptied the room, painted it white,(truthfully,

i painted it a burnt orange..blech ,

then dark red..eww, before realizing white was ideal),

found a plush wool rug, and a bean bag. for 11 months i sat

in this room as my favorite nursing spot with roxie.

i've watched spring buds

slowly emerge from the walnut tree that shouldn't

be thriving here, and pretty snowflakes fall slow-motion

past the window-walls.

i've decided i like it most spare. i'm on a search for

a low, round, wood table and that's going to be that.

a spot for my beer. a spot for my butt.

that's that.

my meditation spot.

winter garden..

2012-01-22T19:37:00.000-08:00

spring yearning. in winter, it seems like everything outside is

hibernating. sleeping. suspended. today i took time to walk slowly, glance carefully. there were bees on blooms!

who knew!? and there they've been only steps out the backdoor.

i'm sitting indoors; wishing for spring and missing sneak

peeks just under my nose.

buds on fig tree..

'freckles' romaine, dill, and beets

onions i missed harvesting last year, dill and rainbow chard

moss i picked up months ago in oklahoma and set in

the bird bath where it feels at home.

january spring...

2012-01-21T06:56:00.000-08:00

texas can be brutal in the summer. true.

but, for much of the year we have windows thrown

open on tuesday and fireplaces aflame on wednesday.

yesterday was 74. today 48. tomorrow forecast to be 68.

this schizophrenic weather suits me. easily distracted.

consistently inconsistent. embodiment of change out

each window. texas is surely a gemini.

(ps. best not to ask me about this during a texas august.)

(roxie rockin' the hopscotch)

(homemade 'stink bomb' from magnets and gathered junk)

sourdough pretzels..

2012-01-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

as if i don't have enough things to feed already.

dog, cats, kids, husband, fish, plants, me.

add to the list my sourdough starter. i try to

make something at least once a week from it. this

means it has to be 'fed'. feeding it requires

discarding a cup each time so you don't get

overrun with a fridge bulging with starter.

i have trouble throwing the discard away so i've been

finding recipes that call for the discard.

today was pretzels.

they were mostly eaten with really spicy mustard,

but i'm thinking a warm bowl of queso alongside

would have been perfection.

around the corner..

2012-01-08T06:36:00.000-08:00

i do this every year. you would think that all of the reminders

to 'be here, be now' i would do a better job of it. but, no.

i'm itching for summer again. looking out the upstairs windows down onto the garden. making dirt wrapped plans. leafy dreams.

texas is such a tease. she slips us peeks of leggy temps

beneath winter dresses. i'm just about ready for her

to strip it all off, full monty in all of her sunny glory.

indian blessing birthday...

2012-01-03T19:32:00.000-08:00

two beautiful things collided last week:

roxie's birthday and three straight days of spring-

like weather.

spending that time indoors would have been

criminal so we loaded up the camper (the nights

were cold and we were thankful to have heat) and

went to mother neff, texas' very first state park.

maybe you know this already, but if you visit a sacred

place on your actual birthday there is a very good

chance you will leave with a blessing.

this cave still has blackened ceilings from

tonkawa fires hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

the morning of roxie's birthday we packed a lunch and

hiked to the cave. she found a necklace made

from seeds and leather in a small woven basket.

the birthday blessing legend is clearly real(wink).

a chilly first night called for supper in the camper.

sweet joe, taking in the sun and quiet.

brother + sister

2012-01-03T19:03:00.000-08:00

hand in hand. a blessing to each other

and to me.

dramático.........

2011-11-16T19:19:00.001-08:00

we had dinner with some friends recently and

i stepped into the kitchen to peek at the proceedings.

this painting was hanging on the wall by the stove.

i couldn't peel myself away from it.

the cemetery in the background,

her stricken look, the sultry bared shoulder,

the possibly unintentional sexual aura

of it, mixed with an edge of feasible grief.

our host saw me staring and told me his grandfather

had painted and no one knows a thing about it.

muy sustantivo!

so long, summer

2011-10-24T18:14:00.000-07:00

cold-front coming thursday.

these things never inch up on you like the tide will when

you're preoccupied.

in texas, weather changes hit you like a rogue wave.

you can walk in the front door out of the heat,

then straight out the back into sweater weather.

no lie.

goodbye, summer. we had our moments but it's time

we both moved on. i hope next time we meet you've

taken some deep breaths, mellowed and tempered yourself a bit.

i'll do the same.

kisses,

penny.

oklahoma, take two...

2011-10-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

i would imagine it's the rare occasion that you hear

someone say, 'want to see my oklahoma vacation photos?'

all the same, here i am doing it for the second time in as

many months. i rented this cabin back during the oven

blast days of summer in anticipation of fall color and

the tease of frost in the mornings.

(we found a swing set tucked in the forest)

(handsome pops taking it in)

(hike to the river at dusk)

we were less than an hour from the arkansas border

in the ouachita mountains, which go against the norm

in north america by running east/west rather than north/south,

wrinkling the land through arkansas and oklahoma.

a combination of the drought and lack of cold snaps

had us missing any real autumn color.

all the more reason to go back soon.

each cabin is secreted in so that from the hot tub,

deck, bathroom window, you-name-it, there is not another

human sign in sight as far as the eye can see.

we hiked to the river after breakfast and lunch

and again at dusk to bid farewell to the day and

never saw another soul.

sweets for the bees..

2011-10-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

my mom and dad feed their bees each day.

she puts eight cups of sweetened well water out and

within 20 minutes they are buzzing

and swarming and thankful. each day they come from

the same direction and after guzzling their

fill return back to the south of the upper garden.

the hive is someplace in the woods below the house

but the exact spot is still a mystery. my imagination puts

it in a tall, grey, hollow trunk of of a long-dead tree.

we fed the bees and while we waited for them to come we

cheered on the tiny seedling of carrots, spinach, dwarf kale,

beets, and freckled romaine. for supper we had late

summer squash and a soup we made with rainbow

chard from my raised beds here in the city.

the brutal summer had made it a bit bitter but it

will start to sweeten now that the weather is turning cooler.

you can see they had more faith in their tomato plants after

our summer (i ripped mine out) and they are starting to

produce one last time.

grandpa's...

2011-09-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

i miss mine.

roxie loves hers.

community garden..

2011-09-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

i love my neighborhood. it earns that

title, neighborhood. most of the houses are

turn of the century to 30's. the houses

wear porches wide enough to be considered a

room. large enough to gather unexpectedly

when you spy neighbors with their coffee

in the morning or wine in the evening.

windows and transoms that can grab a fall

breeze and pull it inside like deep, slow

breath, whipping curtains around like batting eyelashes.

it only makes sense that a neighborhood

filled with homes built back when mother nature

set the thermostat would be

filled with folks of a like mind.

throwing open windows, dining on lawns,

napping on sleeping porches.

even though i have raised beds (i worry

about lead in the soil from 100 years

of paint scraping and sanding)in the back

yard, i decided to be a part of our

community garden. i grew up on a farm

where we grew a lot of what we ate

and it felt really new and novel to me

to ride our bikes to a city lot to grow

broccoli! the kids were more entranced

than they are here at our home garden.

i like looking around at other families

working their plot. i love feeling a part

of something..especially something that

helps make my neighborhood a community and

my community a part of my family.

texas theatre

2011-09-06T19:06:00.000-07:00

this weekend we went to see a band at the

texas theatre, where oswald hid in the moments

after shooting kennedy and where he was

captured. upstairs from the lobby and

bar area, there are great spots for chatting.

i wish i had gotten more photos of them.

the bands played behind the giant movie screen.

it was perfectly echo-y and you could see

older parts of the building that had

been partially covered over the past 80 years.

jason took us on a tour of the 'works' of

the building...the original boilers and

greasy iron machinery i won't pretend

to know the purpose of. it seemed like every

time i would stop to take a picture i

would glance up and everyone had already

descended the next spooky

staircase and i was left behind. hearing

their voices fading away from me,

i didn't take half the pictures i would

have liked, but here's a few i managed to

come away with.

(actually, i believe chris took this one)

sacred dusk...

2011-08-18T19:43:00.000-07:00

i'm from texas. i know heat. heat is my

soul's familiar. i don't shirk it. deny it.

curse it. though,this summer i cry, 'uncle'.

i give.

i anticipate dusk like no other time of day.

the horizon turning off the flame.

a) brazos around chick's bend at dusk

b)over the brazos after sangria

c)trigger watching the catfish eat

oklahoma IS ok.....

2011-08-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

with school about to begin, i was looking for a

quick, cabin get away that was within 4 hours of home.

we had only enough time to make a drink and send

the kids off exploring the woods before chris'

patronus appeared.

the evenings actually cooled to a reasonable hot tub

temperature. nothing but trees and twilight and cicadian

songs.

the river was the kind of cold that makes you holler

and nothing but gasps come out. we were

covered with perpetual goose bumps and

it was still hot enough outside to dry your

clothes before the next dash to swim.

mission accomplished: final summer send off.

road trip with three kids short enough

to avoid straight jackets and earplugs.

recharging that vital part of us

that can only be reached by the outdoors.

fall shadow boxes

2011-08-04T06:58:00.000-07:00

when the twins were much smaller than they are now

i had an idea that each fall i would take them on a

nature hike where they would

gather treasures and we would put

them all in a shadow box. i can still see their

tiny fingers picking up shells, leaves, and

sycamore bark from around our first home.

i remember joe being adamant that the

plastic fork handle be placed along the

bottom below the bird's wing.

hank's has tiny snail shells he

helped glue around the top of his

above the disintegrated leaf he loved.

my plans never went

beyond the first year (and i even have some shadow

boxes in a closet upstairs) but they still love looking

at them. maybe they helped fix an otherwise ordinary

day in their memories. it certainly

worked on me...

secret treasure

2011-08-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

several weeks ago, we went to visit chris'

folks at their farmhouse in independence, tx.

independence has exactly one store. and nothing

else. independence is old. it was

founded in 1834 and their house was built in late 1800's.

it's a spectacular part of texas

for the trees alone. centuries old

live oak trees with gargantuan branches

that sweep the ground like octopus arms.

several months ago one blew over. evidently,

it had a sad, secret rotten center.

when it fell, it pulled up earth with it's roots.

hank, who's nine, was poking around and

came upon a lot of very old bottles.

old enough that some of them had roots growing

through their disintegrating, metal lids.

digging a bit, he discovered this one.

looking carefully inside he saw money!

he ran to

show us and we gently opened it. carefully

rolled inside was exactly $21.00.

here's the brow-wrinkler:

the bottle is old. it was buried deeply, with

other bottles with roots growing through them.

i did some research on other bottles

that had names and most were used in the 40's

and 50's.

the money is dated 2001.

theories?

dog days....

2011-07-14T06:47:00.000-07:00

of summer...

(if you're going to be a stickler for things,

i think the actual 'dog days' don't begin

until august but this summer is turning out to

be a hot weather beating)

big rock falls...

2011-06-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

(one of my less-bad dives)

during the week in belize, we visited big rock falls

more than once. by horseback and then by mountain bikes.

if i hadn't made such poor lemongrass mojito decisions the night

before our final day there, we would have gone again.

no worries, the hot pool set me right.

big rock falls is within the mountain pine ridge forest reserve

and just downstream from our room on the privassion creek.

the falls certainly make it seem 'more river and less creek'

and it was one of my favorite things we did.

the pools below the falls are very deep and i was coerced by

our guide, melvin, and chris to jump in from varying heights.

the 15-20 foot jump was my personal finale and

i felt no need to do anything else but sit in the

spray below the waterfall and try to catch full breaths.

the spray was so thick and cool that it took some doing.

i may not have mastered rock diving, but i'm pretty

sure i brought home some of those falls in my lungs

and my heart. i. can't. wait. to. breathe. it. again!

(horseback to falls. the pines are just beginning to recover

from the pine beetle devastation.)

(bliss!)

Blancaneaux

2011-06-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

i'm not sure that i have the words to do justice to the

way i felt about belize and this trip.

i would stand on our balcony over the falls,

and get choked up and teary. chris would look at me

and nod his head that he understood.

then in the middle of a perfect silence a laugh

would burst out because if it stayed inside, well,

that would be silly!

3 kids, 40 years on earth, 10 years of marriage.

something to celebrate. and we DID!

we did so many things while we were there, so i'll not

overwhelm and will start with blancaneaux.

chris riding bike into the property. we took the bikes to big

rock falls for a swim. a great free excursion.

the view from our villa of the property.

that's the rice house by the falls where we had

dinner by candlelight on our last night.

our villa above the falls and the last villa

on the property before the hydroelectric dam

that supplies the electricity.

our private plunge pool. i could

look out over the falls from here. ridiculous!

a sweet spot half-way down our balcony stairs

looking down river toward....nothing but more falls.

one of our favorite places. the hot pool.

it's lush and the entire week we never shared it

with anyone. 100 degrees of complete joy. embryonic.

blancaneaux's pool. the entire week we were here we

only encountered two other people in the pool.

after hiking or biking, we would jump in.

if i did a loud enough cannonball, someone usually

heard us and would bring us a cold beer.

imagine that?! someone bringing ME something.

the organic terraced gardens where the veggies are grown

for breakfast lunch and dinner. smelly, buggy, and beautiful.

i could've pulled weeds there for days.

spring....

2011-06-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

summer has come on strong. it's like when you're

walking along, slipping around in your own thoughts,

and, suddenly there's a jarring sensation that

makes you clack your teeth.

you realize there was a step there; a drop-off.

that's the way the courtship from spring to summer has

gone in texas this year. normally, spring likes to flirt with

us a bit, giving us little flashes of what's to come. and really

that's always the best part, right? this summer has

arrived naked, with a one-track mind.

everything to offer right there on the table

like the floozy she is. kabam.

well, here's to being the heat.

i'm going to try to leave the complaints at the bedroom

threshold and climb right into bed with the randiest

season i know.

caddo...

2011-03-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

Civilization is the limitless multiplication of

unnecessary necessities.

mark twain

bat house

2011-03-16T06:32:00.000-07:00

how to install a bat house:

1. put a broken down old deer feeder in the bucket of your backhoe

2. put your smartest son-in-law in the deer feeder

3. remember you forgot the screws

4. retrieve screws and install facing south/sw

old flame

2011-03-02T18:42:00.000-08:00

really, i'm blushing just thinking of the things i have

planned for me and my old flame this spring.

it's gonna be dirty, randy, fleshy, and tender.

smokin'.....

she's a rainbow..

2010-12-31T07:55:00.000-08:00

roxie turned three and all she asked for

was a rainbow cake.

so, just ignore all the food coloring;

you only turn three once! make this cake

and cheer like we all did when we cut the first slice.

it tastes as good as it looks.

i used a different recipe for the icing.

the one is used was very sturdy and held up well.

(i'd be glad to share it if you like, it'll

look better than the photo. this was after some

cake butchering and warm evening)

happy birthday to the sweetest little being

i've ever known....

bed making extraordinaire

2010-12-20T06:01:00.000-08:00

when obama was elected, i told the boys that he issued a

decree (yes, like a king) that all children have to

make their beds in the morning. this morphed

into the"bed-making contest". while joe is more

of a traditionalist, hank prefers to explore beyond

the familiarity of the commonplace.

hank's most recent entry:

off kilter

2010-12-19T14:25:00.000-08:00

october garden...

2010-10-13T17:58:00.000-07:00

poking around the garden on sunday...

and i STILL have figs! good 'ol texas...

a people house.

2010-10-12T19:59:00.000-07:00

one brick at a time....

2010-09-30T18:59:00.002-07:00

every time i look out at the pathway i built a couple of days ago,

i think about that johnny cash song, "one piece at a time".

i hauled these bricks in a green plastic wagon, weekend

after weekend. a load at a time. before my morning coffee.

over and over till i had enough to cover the perpetual mud pit.

something outta nothing.

ancient chinese wisdom says.....

2010-09-26T05:45:00.000-07:00

so, i'm looking everywhere for my shoes to get the kids.

not. one. left. shoe. to be found.

surely there's a proverb, limerick, riddle, or tall tale

addressing this. i'm sure i'm missing

something profound.

seriously, i didn't buy THREE pair of

cheap flip flops and where are all of the LEFT ones?

i've looked everywhere and they aren't at this address.

hello to a river...

2010-09-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

last weekend we took a two day river vacation.

we dropped in our canoes at the possum kingdom dam

on the brazos river.

we paddled. and paddled. about twelve miles.

about an hour before dusk we set up camp on a perfect,

little island in the middle of the river. all sand

and barefoot-lovely grass. our friends made

butternut squash, corn, black beans, brussels, salsa

and honeyed pears on the fire. then we all passed

around scotch and ibuprophen out of necessity.

the coyotes made their living all night

and from every direction.

they would call to each other from each side of

the river. it would echo off the cliffs and settle down

into the river bottom.

i woke up many times during the night

and they were hard at work until just before dawn.

we had another giant meal for breakfast before shoving

off. taters, tempeh bacon, avacado, pico, beans, and tortillas.

the second day we stopped plenty, which was alright by

everyone. i feel like i gave my parts a good, solid

stretch....brain to soul.

and away......

2010-09-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

this past weekend we had dinner with

chris' friend, glenn. he is a careflight

pilot and has built a huge hangar and beautiful home

attached right to it. he really took advantage of the

views all around with an admirable number of

windows and cozy places to take in the

countryside. so why didn't i take more/any photos of the

house and hangar? i couldn't peel my attention

away from this!......what a neat guy to let kids treat

a helicopter like a jungle gym!

having a photographer for a husband can really

come in handy, too...

make your big toe shoot up in your boot!

2010-09-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

you will embarrass yourself if you eat these

biscuits in public! i substituted whole wheat

for half of the flour. that way, i didn't give a second thought

to eating (the exact number will remain unnamed)

so many of them.

saturday morning we had them with homemade

mustang grape jelly (thanks tata)

and pure-d butter.

Classic Buttermilk Biscuits

2 tbsp flour, for sprinkling

2tbsp cornmeal, for sprinkling

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

6 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter cut into pieces

1 egg

3/4 cup cold buttermillk

preheat oven to 425. Grease baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal and flour. in large bowl mix flour, baking powder, soda, and salt.

cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. add egg and buttermilk, stirring to moisten. dough should be shaggy, but not sticky.

turn onto floured surface. knead about 6 times. roll to 3/4" thick. don't add too much flour or will be tough. cut out with biscuit cutter....cutting straight down without twisting. bake 1/2" apart for 15 to 18 minutes.

it really helps to make sure your buttermilk and butter are very cold.

cookie snatcher.....

2010-08-04T06:05:00.000-07:00

roxie and I made the cookies from a cookbook i love, super natural cooking.

her blog is great, as well, and i probably cook from it at least once a week.

these are quinoa whole wheat cookies and they had trouble staying together.

i'm not sure that it's any fault of the recipe, but because it's 106 degrees outside

and not a whole lot cooler inside and the butter was just too warm and soft.

nevertheless, i couldn't even get a photo without sneaky fingers making a go for it!

these are the eggs that inspired the whole enterprise! i have a neighbor who

shows up periodically and drops off a dozen eggs at a time. we even got duck eggs this

delivery!

any help?

2010-08-04T05:55:00.000-07:00

chris and i noticed this morning that the text on my blog

is tiny when viewed from his browser (firefox). it's not tiny at all

when i look (safari). when you look is it tiny? or readable.

i'm wondering if i messed something up in my quest for

larger image sizes.

positively maybe

2010-07-26T17:55:00.000-07:00

we recently decided on a new color palette for our house and had it painted. i swear, it was a more difficult decision than naming our children. they seemed to name themselves but the 'old lady' house refused to be forthcoming with any preference as to what colors she would like to spend the next decade in.

in the process of trying to choose colors, i got in the habit of checking out other old house colors on my walks around the neighborhood. there was a particular house i really liked. all cool blues and purple-ish greys. the owner was standing the yard as i walked by the other night. i stopped to tell her how much i liked it.

"uck", she said. "i hate green houses", gesturing her hose towards the house while she watered. "the sun and weather faded it to this green and i can't stand it." so, i'm thinking, this house is blue. i mean, clear-as-day blue. "it seems like a nice blue-ish color", i said all diplomatic-like. "what?! worst. green. ever.", she frowned.

so this got me thinking about times when i don't have a shade of doubt about my position. my recollection. my idea. my knowledge. i argued for hours about whether or not a coffee table was alive, for christ's sake. you know, you're having dinner with friends and your husband/friend/lover. later on, the two of you discuss something that was chatted about that evening. how can he remember it like that?! that's not the way it happened at all!

well, what if you're wrong?

what if it didn't happen any particular way and how we each experience it is the end-all accurate truth? what if i spent a lot less effort and time defending my perception and more time hearing how everyone else sees it? what if i'm nearly always wrong?

my neighbor walks in the door of a green house every evening after work. i walk by her blue house and wave while she waters. what color house do the folks across the street see in the morning as they have coffee? what color house does the mailman deliver to everyday?

you tell me.

beach days...

2010-06-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

some dear friends had us to the texas coast last week.

everything we needed was there.

laughter.

good food.

sand.

waves.

drinks.

friendship.

soft beds.

and a surprising amount of calm,

even with seven kids running around.

trigger happy.....

2010-05-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

i'm in dog-love.....i realize now why we were finally ready for a dog again. because mr. trigger was there ready for us.

driptastic...

2010-05-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

things have been mad around here. we finally got around (ie. got enough money) to paint

our monstrosity of a house. don't get me wrong, i love her dearly, but i will never buy

another wooden house again. which, of course, means that my next house will be even

more wooden and older than this one.

anymoneydownthetoilet, there have been workers/painters crawling on ladders and

subtly glancing through second floor windows like incognito peeping-toms for weeks.

i brushed my teeth for them, made out with chris, fought with chris, picked my nose,

took a nap. and those are just the things i'm aware of them seeing.

i guess i felt like my indoor performance was enough and put off outdoor chores until

they were done.

they're done and i finally got my raised beds built and the drip system installed.

i'm running a bit late on the plants for texas, but they are still gonna be kickin' by

summer. this house is so old i know the soil is filled with lead from all of the old paint

over the past century. i had 3 cubic yards of organic soil delivered (too much) and

chris and i spent the next week wheelbarrow-ing it anywhere and everywhere we could

think of to dump it. now, the plants are home and happy.

and so am i.

next stop, salsa-ville.

2010-03-31T18:54:00.000-07:00

alright, well i don't blog in winter. i don't shave much or make fruit-type desserts, either. tonight i heard a cricket. a real, live, gorgeous, summer sounding cricket. watch out. i'm sharpening the razor, kickin' out the rolling pin and popping my knuckles to get back on the blog train.

japanese gardens

2010-01-31T06:53:00.000-08:00

i haven't posted in a while so these photos are like a make-up assignment from fall.

we try to always make sure to spend a day at the japanese gardens during the fall for all

of the maples' colors. peaceful. centering. serene. even with three kids.

recovery....

2010-01-05T05:57:00.000-08:00

i'm not nearly as funny when i'm in trouble.

maybe i should work on being more proactive.

arab bread

2009-11-20T17:42:00.000-08:00

my mom used to make this 'arab bread' when we were kids. i remember hovering around the

oven with my brothers and fighting over each piece as it came out. i loved popping the

bulges in the bread and seeing the steam pour out. we would fill the burst pockets with

butter and honey. one piece. then another. and another. i'm pretty sure we acted like

complete heathens, but clearly, this bread is worth the embarrassment.

arab bread

5-6 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. salt

1 pkg. yeast

2 c. very warm water

In a large bowl, mix 2 c. flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Gradually add water to dry

ingredients and beat at med. speed of mixer for couple minutes. Add 3/4 c. flour

and beat at high speed for another 2 min. Stir in enough flour to make a soft

dough. Turn onto lightly floured board; knead until smooth and elastic (@ 10 min.)

Place in greased bowl, turn to coat. Cover and let rise in warm place for @1

hour, until doubled in size. Punch dough down, turn onto floured board.

Cover, let rest 30 min. Divide dough into 6 equal pieces. Shape into balls. Roll each

into 8" circles. Place on lightly floured baking sheet. Slide circles directly onto

floor of very hot oven (450 degrees). Bake 5 minutes.

Brown tops w/ hot broiler for couple minutes.

chili domination......

2009-11-07T19:23:00.000-08:00

5:30 am involuntary beginning of day.

6:00 am feel like a slug crossed with a sloth crossed with a gharial

7:00 am thoughts becoming more appropriate

8:14 am decide to enter chili cook-off

9:16 am at store, list of ingredients at home

11:10 am chili complete, one eye is burning

2:00 pm internal debate to take a nap or eat some halloween candy

2:15 pm still awake, feel kind of sick

3:00 pm off to chili cook-off. quick stop at fiesta for bowls, good luck candles (cheating),

and beer

6:45 pm congratulatory photo taken with winner's ladle and two charming gift baskets

8:30 pm adoration from family trying to score chocolate from winner's basket.

8:32 pm hide chocolate in mud room

my adaptation of...

pierce street veggie chili

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

12 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tbsp. ginger, peeled and grated

3 tbsp. san antonio chili powder

2 tsp. cumin

1 serrano pepper, seeded and finely chopped

4 chipotle peppes w/ adobo, chopped (i also added as much of the adobo as i could spoon out)

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

8 cups broth

2 cans hominy, drained

2 1/4 cups black, brown or green lentils (i used combo of green and black)

2/3 cup pearled barley

2/3 cup bulgar wheat

1-2 tsp. smoked salt (i used alderwood smoked)

In large stockpot, over med. heat saute onions in olive oil. when translucent, add

garlic, ginger, chili powder and cumin. stir and cook until fragrant. stir in serrano,

chipotle pepper, tomatoes,and broth. now add hominy, lentils, barley, and bulgur.

stir. i began adding the smoked salt here and kept adding and adjusting as it

cooked. simmer for about an hour until grains and lentils are cooked. as it cooks

you might need to add additional broth or water. i needed to make sure this was

very chili-like and thick, but next time i make it for the family i will add more to

be a bit more soupy.

*i made chipotle guacamole to top it with. holy guacamole it was good. just add

some of the left-over canned chipotle peppers, chopped, of course, to your guac.

i also offered a dollop of crema if someone was scared of the heat. this is a pretty

spicy chili. adjust the pepper amounts as you feel like. you can get a little less

heat if you use only 1 or 2 chipotles and scoop out the adobo to add without the

actual peppers.

halloween......

2009-11-03T17:44:00.000-08:00

hank is a vampire. roxie is a lovely ladybug. joe's costume morphed during the evening. he

started out a hobo vampire. by the end of the night he was hobo terminator.

totally. scary.

loverly....

2009-10-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

i will be willing this into my dreams tonite....

there just aren't words....

2009-10-19T18:55:00.001-07:00

to describe how much i adore where i grew up. this sunday was the perfect

fall day and we embraced and loved every single second of it.

we went to my folks' place and promptly set off for a hike with the boys.

you could feel fall in the air, but it would have been impossible

not to strip down and go for a dip in the cold, clear pools left from all

the rain we've had. i've waxed poetic before about taking them places that

were sacred to me as a kid. watching them discover the secret caves and hidden pools

my brothers and i explored and swam in 30 years ago.

listen~ there is that satisfying click from the universe again.

blessed. lucky. thankful. that these places are still there, just like they were for me.

yellow is the color....

2009-10-15T18:55:00.000-07:00

of my true love's feet....

foolish of me! to think i could put on mascara while roxie quietly looked at books.

i have to admit,

she does look good in yellow and she did entertain herself nicely.

i'm so contrary....

2009-10-15T18:47:00.000-07:00

i miss summer already...

mug i love...

2009-10-12T07:32:00.001-07:00

my sweet friend, memory, gave me this mug years ago. it's my number one, rainy day,

cold snap, cup of tea mug. and i realized yesterday that many of the ailments that used

to just be funny from afar have come to fruition....

mortgages. warts. dandruff. ulcers. boils. toe itch. baldness. bloodshot eyes. rough

elbows. bad temper. athletes foot. mortgages. fallen arches.

goose pimples. headaches. termites.

let's not even discuss how many of those are relevant these days...

slow-motion sunday....

2009-10-04T19:56:00.001-07:00

gotta gate!

2009-10-04T07:40:00.000-07:00

living in a historic district has been a learning experience for us. nearly anything you do has to be approved by a committee and the city. anything that would alter the historic value of the home is scrutinized. although this can be an enormous pain and make things more expensive to repair, it's obvious that a lot of homes have been saved from god-awful attempts at restoration. many, many houses have been gutted and completely rebuilt with more that just a nod to the original structure. vacant lots get brand-new homes that are built to the neighborhood's guidelines and don't feel at all out of place sandwiched between older homes with not a 90 degree angle to be found. i LIKE being able to roll a ball in a perfect circle around the dining room floor without touching it, but can definitely see the appeal of brand spankin' new wiring and plumbing. i don't think i've ever lived anywhere where so many people put so much love and energy into where they live. this neighborhood has it's problems but i'm amazed at how much it's improved just in the last three years. now i'm rambling...when i began this post to proudly show my new gate. our house is one of the few in the 'hood that has the original fence around the yard. we spend a lot of time on the porch and roxie would inevitably head straight for the street. my dad built this sweet gate and he and chris installed it. our house has always reminded me of a plain-jane victorian farm house. i can see that gate keeping the cows out of the flower garden and chickens sneaking under to peck around in the beds.

before the gate.....

two good men installing the gate......my dad and chris

texas.......

2009-09-19T18:34:00.000-07:00

this was my backyard growing up....and not one broken bone. amazing.

obviously, hank and joe are as in love with it as i was. and still am. nothing makes my heart a flutter like this.......

she's mighty helpful.....

2009-09-17T17:58:00.000-07:00

it's just us ladies here for the next three days. we relaxed on the porch this evening, roxie with her milk (with some green grass stuff i added in hopes of wiping out her perpetually runny nose) and i, with my sailor jerry (because he fixes everything else). we watched the rain and imagined the sunset and listened to some jackie gleason. the birds defied tradition and sang an evening lullaby thumbing their noses at the drizzle. roxie thought maybe she'd sleep late tomorrow, 7:15 am maybe?, then some eggs and toast at paris coffee house. saturday we'll take a walk by the river and look around at the antiques at the 'swine barn'. sunday will be for looking forward to seeing the guys and baking them some of these.

the rain started winding down. bedtime upon us, roxie...the generous and thoughtful young lady that she is...fed all of the cats in the entryway so they wouldn't get wet. she makes st. francis proud. helpful lump o sugar.

rainy days all in a row.....

2009-09-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

...always bring oregon and richard brautigan to whirl willy-nilly around in my mind.

rain's been falling for days here. doors are opening that have been stubbornly stuck all summer. floors that were silent are creaking hello. streets are rivers and rivers are swirling lakes. frogs are tuning their instruments for their nighttime serenades. the birds have gone silent. and the fence is sprouting it's baby mushrooms again...

sunroom....

2009-09-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

our house, being a century-old, had a summer sleeping porch on the second story. at some point in it's secret past it was enclosed and a bathroom was added. when we bought the house this room was basically the color of mud with a yellow-ish painted wood floor. the bathroom had dated and peeling maroon wallpaper and a perfectly wonderful weathered and beaten floor. we gladly bid the wallpaper adieu and i sealed the distressed, peeling, imperfect floor in the bath just the way it was and chose blue for the floor in the sunroom. the hanging light fixture had been pulled up to the ceiling and it was a fantastic surprise to find that it had chains attached to allow it to hang.

these photos are a bit old, but i like looking back at what was on the walls right after we finished the painting and scraping. the windows look out over the backyard and directly into a walnut tree that is perpetually full of birds. and, need i say anything about that clawfoot tub?

before...and partly into renovation..

after......

treasure.....

2009-09-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

my parents were married in november of 1965. four days later, my dad left for vietnam. over the years my mom has given me a couple of things he brought back for her. an embroidered blouse that is delicate and feminine that i don't dare wear too often. funny enough, he also had black silk shirts made and monogrammed for each of them. his says, 'dirty rat sum' bitch' and hers' has a sweet and saucy looking kitty on it with, 'i love you'. there is no better match on earth than those two.

this past weekend she gave me my very favorite thing so far. my dad had gotten her a brass flatware set in bangkok. i had no idea it existed! it has never been used and some of them were still wrapped in tissue paper. anyone who has come by today has been asked to make guesses about what some of the more mysterious pieces could be used for. there are three different kinds of tiny forks that clearly won't escape roxie's attention in the coming years. chris and i soaked them all in soapy water, dried them and put them away.....most definitely to be used. forty four years later and here they lie...loved and cherished in texas.

fiddlin'.....

2009-09-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

i should have left well-enough alone, but being up before sunrise and two-too-many cups of coffee later, i started fiddling around with my image sizes. i wanted some photos that i post to be larger because they just don't come across as well small. i'm still not sure what kind of witch-magic tomfoolery is behind all of this html silliness, but i'm wondering what you think about the different sizes....the first one just seems so, well, big. check out post below...

maybe all four lovelies who read my blog will let me know what they think!

independence, texas

2009-09-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

chris' parents have a farm in independence, texas. it's a tiny, hilly, lush green slice of a ghost town. the kind of ghost town that feels alive with the past. not necessarily forgotten. maybe just left behind enough that you relish the time you're there because it's unusual and distinct and special. the air above and the ground below feels full of memories. there is one blinking light and one old stone country store where you can get gas and some essentials. the cemeteries are really beautiful with their century-old live oaks and weathered grave markers. chris and i love going there because it feels so removed from....well, today. with three kids i can't really think of many places that i can lose myself watching dust motes.

it's a really special place and i feel lucky to have it in my life.

pesto for winter.....

2009-09-03T18:22:00.000-07:00

i finally cut back most of my basil plants. i had around 100 plants that i got for free from a nursery out near my parents' place. they were leggy so i pinched them back and stuck them all around the house in all of the flower beds. some of them i pinched back and some flowered like crazy for the butterflies. i cut enough to put away several jars of pesto (and give some away) for the winter. being in texas, i think there should be plenty of warm days left before the first freeze for the plants to bounce back for another round to hoard away for winter.

some of the cut plants.....

toasting the pine nuts in a dry iron skillet....

ta da.............

can't get this off my mind....

2009-09-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

today i heard the most bizarre story. two brothers, homer and langley collyer, holed themselves up in their late father's mansion in manhattan. or as one author put it, 'they opted out' on everyday life. he thinks of them as 'curators of their life and times, and their house is a kind of museum of american civilization.' they simultaneously shut out the world and hoarded mountains of the mundane paraphernalia of the everyday life going on outside their walls. homer had become paralyzed and blind and completely dependent on langley. langely, meanwhile, had constructed all sorts of booby traps out of the mountains of junk and newspaper bundles that reached the ceilings. like a lot of my favorite stories, this one has it's own bizarre irony. langley became trapped in his own booby trap of newspaper while crawling through to bring homer food and died there. homer starved to death several days later.

sad story. but fascinating for the details. 103 TONS of garbage and 'things' were removed from the home after the brothers died. things like...baby carriages, rusted bicycles, old food, guns, glass chandeliers, bowling balls, camera equiement, paintings, the top of a horse drawn carriage, their mother's hope chests, rusty bed springs, more than 25,000 books, their father's collection of human organs pickled in jars, fourteen pianos, organs, banjos, violins, bugles, accordions, records and of course, the eventually fatal bundles of thousands of newspapers.

the mouth in my mind is just hanging open...i can't explain why i'm so fascinated by this story. i'm sure the slightly gruesome and ironic end to it all plays a small part but i really can't stop thinking about the living part of their lives. where did they sleep? did they wake up at dawn? was homer an amazing pianist after all of those years? what riled them up? did they remember their birthdays? did langley gently trim homer's beard? what was homer's favorite season? did langley describe the outdoors in detail to homer after going on one of his long walks for food?

no one will ever know. aha! that's the fascination! it's unknowable. i can fill in the blanks in any way i wish and it will never be validated. that's what i love. that heart-twisting desire to know and the mind-rattling excitement of mystery.

fresh from a southern garden...

2009-08-30T17:59:00.000-07:00

i went to visit my folks last week and, like always, they sent me home with fresh vegetables from their gardens. their okra plants are like small trees and the squash is so plentiful there is plenty to freeze for the winter. they have two really large gardens going most of the time. this will be the first year they are letting the lower one lay fallow for the winter with a cover crop of vetch growing to turn in early next spring. the upper garden is already planted with fall crops like the kale, more squash, fall tomatoes, spinach, and lettuce. every time i'm out there i have plans to take some photos of how pretty it all is and then time gets away from me and i get home sans pictures but with loads of food. the chard in this picture was bought at the market and i should have known better. it wasn't good at all and won't be until the weather cools off.

i love sauteing the squash with onions and a bit of cumin and lemon pepper and topping it with some parmesan. i know that spice concoction might seem odd, but that's how my dad did it and, trust me, it's worth a hot kitchen in august.

and everyone know there is nothing like cornmeal battered fried okra. i soaked it in whole milk for 15 minutes before dredging it in the cornmeal and it was fantastic. still crisp and fresh....not greasy at all.

she's made of firecrackers and honeysuckle.....

2009-08-21T18:39:00.001-07:00

roxie's first day of school was this week. she's only gone for two hours twice a week and it's such a loving and wonderful little montessori. but i still get this feeling in my throat, kind of like when you used to drink the pickle juice by the tablespoon from the jar, at the thought of her growing up. initially it's such a great idea and later there tends to be a bit of regret. sometimes i can't wait until she's a little older and we can travel more easily or she can entertain herself a little more. then i realize she helps me remember to pay attention to the moment. maybe joe's card game that is endlessly complicated with rules that morph by the minute is something i shouldn't blow off just because it's impossible to win or understand. or hank's story about vikings who really came from outer space on the starship enterprise to teach people all about some kind of goat called a star-rider should be listened to with rapt attention. i can do better and who says you have to have mascara on BOTH eyes. i don't have all the time in the world and the time i do have should be mostly for these guys.

knowing roxie like i do, i have the feeling she will embrace her independence with all she's got. she was born with an excitement to be alive that gets stronger every day and i can't wait to hear the things she has to say. but i will. and i'll do my best to do it patiently and with thankfulness for now.

warhol's time capsules...

2009-08-19T05:55:00.000-07:00

over 600 boxes. all the same size. all filled with crap and treasures by andy warhol. stored away.

maybe insect filled pizza dough or rotten wedding cake might not pique your interest, but surely some of the ephemera in these will. dig through a box here...

and read about it here...

photo: Contents of Andy Warhol's Time Capsule 44. Founding Collection, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh

"what you should do is get a box for a month, and drop everything in it and at the end of the month lock it up. then date it and send it over to jersey. you should try to keep track of it, but if you can't and you lose it, that's fine, because it's one less thing to think about, another load off your mind...i started off myself with trunks and the odd pieces of furniture, but then i went around shopping for something better and now i just drop everything into the same-size brown cardboard boxes."

andy warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol:

From A to B and Back Again

tuesday.....in the city

2009-08-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

morning glory mushrooms

2009-08-16T18:29:00.001-07:00

what a slow-motion.

cloud-headed. curvy-thinking.

mellow-bodied sunday....

my fence keeps making mushrooms...

my first....

2009-08-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

i found my first arrowhead. it's translucent and beautiful. when you hold it up to the light it has tiny little dark spots in it that joe thinks make it look like a tomato with the seeds. i love texas.

summer camp '09

2009-08-11T05:16:00.000-07:00

this past week a friend of mine, kristen, and i took the boys camping on the llano river. on the four hour drive home all i could think about was how whole. how at peace. how fulfilled. how lucky. how calm i felt in my chest. a lot of that had to do with kristen. she is a lesson in spontaneity, enthusiasm, acceptance, and plain old sugar sweet friendship. another part was the river. the llano is a spring-fed, cool, clear blanket of water that would rush over our shoulders, drowning out everything, arms flowing next to you like river grass.

i've been going to this spot since i was, to quote the spot's gracious owner, "an embryo". when i watch the boys running the rapids over and over, slipping on the rocks, i almost hear a satisfying click from the universe. that a piece of my life has been put in place. my kids getting to feel the same excitement, joy, and love of the moment that i felt as a kid. those feelings that as a kid feel like a bubbling in your chest. when i'm there i feel that way all over again.

each time i go there i am bowled over by how centered i feel. it always feels like home. when i die i want some of my ashes in that river. at that exact spot. thinking about that now doesn't seem morbid to me at all, but rather a sure sign that i'm blessed that i've had that place in my life from birth. and now i can sit on the rocks with my cold beer and watch my kids feeling whole on the water without even realizing it because they are so lost in the moment's joy. that's peace.

roxie's first room

2009-07-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

while i was thinking about what i was doing while chris and our sweet neighbors were doing the heavy lifting (see post below and that paul bunyan-sized tub) i remembered that i had taken a picture of roxie's room right before she came home. secretly, (can't tell hank and joe) i think she has the best room in the house. like all the rooms in the house, it's always bright. it's got those three wonderful windows.

she's a special, lucky, magical girl.

upstairs guest bath

2009-07-29T18:09:00.000-07:00

we knew there were going to be a lot of things we were going to want to/need to change when we bought a century-old home. rather than look at the big picture we've had to think of it in terms of one project at a time so we wouldn't get overwhelmed. everywhere you turn there is rotten wood, peeling paint, awful wallpaper, spontaneously appearing nails on the stairs. really, it's endless. and worth every bit of work, to me. after shoring up floors that might collapse upstairs and making sure she was solid we started on some more cosmetic re-do's. one of the upstairs bathrooms was an painted a dark maroon with two different kinds of wallpaper, silver and maroon stripes and roses with bows. very victorian, but more a 1982 version of victorian. the linoleum was a strata of decades of bathroom flair. clearly, previous owners had declared their decorating style through their choice in guest bathroom flooring. i wish i had taken more photos of before. i think the hardest part was moving that monstrous bathtub into the hallway so we could lay the tile. i was pregnant at the time and got out of that job!

chris found that little corner cabinet in the garage and rebuilt it, adding shelves inside in place of a medicine cabinet.

all in all, i love the way it came out and i can't wait to find some old oil paintings for the walls. i'm thinking ships and stormy seas. hank and joe would love that.

sweet!

2009-07-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

i have two close friends who share an august 1st birthday and i wanted to make them something. i had heroic plans to make them bags for school (they are both art teachers~interestingly enough) but having all three kids home put a quick end to that project. anywho, i had a bunch of strawberries that needed to be used and i found this great recipe for strawberry jam. it doesn't call for pectin, but the apple is supposed to provide enough to make it set along with the acidity of the alcohol. mine didn't set perfectly but i don't mind it being a little runny. better for pancakes. and i love that it has grand marnier. i cut the sugar by a third and probably could have used even less. it tastes great and they look like jars of jewels.

autographix kodakery

2009-07-12T05:40:00.000-07:00

we used to have this neighbor who's father was one of the photographers during the nuremberg trials. he knew chris was fond of old cameras and gave chris all of his vintage cameras. it was a really gracious act from a grumpy and sour old guy. several of them have a lens missing or the bellows aren't in great shape but this one caught my eye. it's called an autographix and it was probably made sometime in the very early 1900's. it came in a perfect little thick paper box and it has a special 'window' and metal stylus that you actually use to write notes on your negatives while the film is still loaded in the camera. we had written off ever being able to use a lot of these cameras since they use 127 film. after some sleuthing around on the internet today i found a company in croatia that still makes it! they have infared, too! i promptly ordered some rolls and they will be here this week. i can't wait to see how the photos come out....if they come out at all. it's this great little mystery that takes time to solve with an answer still yet to be decided.

here you can see the window open for writing. the stylus slips out of the door.

a tiny pamphlet that came with the camera.

the front of the box. vest pocket camera.

finally....

2009-07-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

this is a project that i've been wanting to do for a couple of years now. we wanted some privacy on this side of the wraparound porch because it is on a relatively busy street. i planted the vine a couple of years ago and according to the old saying, "the first year it sleeps, the second it creeps, the third it leaps", it should really take off this summer and i wanted to give it something to climb that would create a natural screen. i put tiny eye hooks every 10 inches and some small gauge wire between them. i can't wait to see how it fills in! i've got a lot of private things on hold waiting for just that spot.

you say tomato....

2009-06-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

i say weiner...

awww.....er, ewwww!

2009-06-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

so, there's a wild kitty at our house that i've been unable to trap who is perpetually pregnant. her litters don't usually make it but this time she found a safe spot for them and it happened to be under the floor of the old carriage house. three days ago, chris and i dismantled the floor to get the kittens out before they were too fast to outrun us. chris poked a broomstick in one end while i hovered over the other end with an empty cooler to drop them into once we caught them. there were five and they were so filthy, flea-ridden, crusty-eyed and stinky that it was hard to find them cute. plus, they hissed a lot. clearly ungrateful.

here's the ghetto they came from before they moved uptown to one of our bathtubs.

wondering what horrible fate has befallen them...

things only got worse....

today...(the third day) two baths, eye antibiotic, and many bottles later...

cute. for sure.

considering i have three kids, five cats (including the wild ones i feed who keep having kittens) and seven fish, surely there is some kind soul out there who would adopt one of these kitties. as soon as they can eat out of a bowl i'm going to have to take them to the humane society. adopt one of these little lumps of sugar and i'll throw in a bag of garden tomatoes and a two-dollar scratchoff!

cuteness guaranteed!

i won a major award!

2009-06-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

i have a very talented and beautiful friend named ashley.

i think she is really inspiring and sugar sweet, as well as being a fantastic jeweler.

she had a giveaway on her friend's blog, harrilu, and I WON this fabulous necklace that i believe looks like coral. roxie is convinced it is a horse.

it looks tough with everything and i love it so much i'm gonna kiss it...

strange skies kissing on an old lady

2009-06-17T16:58:00.000-07:00

this spring has brought with it the strangest skies.

usually in the afternoon out of nowhere and then ending in downpours that turn the streets into rivers. our old house will moan and purr from the wind running it's fingers around her. she's an arthritic and buckram old lady, but she usually gives in just enough to not topple over by adjusting door jams so their doors no longer close and the floors slant just so to help you in the door and down the hallway to say welcome home and come in from the rain.

(you can click on the photos to see the sky a little better)

mmmmmm.....

2009-06-14T07:54:00.000-07:00

This morning Hank and I made a batch of Blackberry Muffins. My sugar sweet neighbor went berry picking and shared the fruits of her labor with us. Actually, I think she was getting swollen gums from eating too many and had to get them out of the house. We definitely loved them and made them with organic everything and a ridiculous amount of streusel topping. Best. Neighbors. Ever.

loving the fort's bike trails....

2009-06-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

I've really fallen in love with a lot of things about Fort Worth and one of them

is the underused bike trails along the Trinity River. When I lived in Eugene, the trails

were always packed with people going to work, store, friends, wherever....I loved

that so many people used their bikes to get around the city but here I can go for miles on the trails and pass maybe three folks, a couple of dogs, a nutria and maybe a turtle or two. I've watched snakes play dead, herons fish, and hawks hunting. It's so peaceful and I just love it.

This first photo is the very end of the trail. You go under a bridge and suddenly it just dead ends into this pretty little wooded area. My twins are going to summer camp just on the other side of the river. Lucky boys!