November 2011
2 posts
3 tags
Long Overdue Fall Appreciation List
Fall can occasionally be a difficult time for me.
It can be a helpful exercise to pause and give thanks for all that is good:
spiced cider
making soup
many cups of tea
Bert Jansch (rip)
visiting family and friends
drawing with my Son
the crock pot and the possibilities therein
random appreciative text messages from good friends that I miss
new Inez Lightfoot and Sagas tapes to cook to
...
October 2011
2 posts
RUNNING
I used to be in good enough shape that I could go weeks without lacing up the sneakers and still be able to run a good 3 or 4 miles. That’s changed. I am starting afresh with the program that initially got me fit for running: the Couch-to-5K. It’s an interval-based, nine week program that starts you off light and eventually kicks your ass into gear.
When I first did this program, it was...
July 2011
3 posts
Rachel and I wrote a song tonight.
It is called...
RACHEL'S LIST
Reading fantasy novels on the front porch of my house with cold minted water.
Studying the organ systems of the body in preparation for the nursing school entrance exam: drawing diagrams of nerve cells, of the human heart.
Learning to swim
Wednesday nights drinking in the cemetery and talking about kids, husbands. Riding bikes with women late at night.
Assassin movies with Ian
...
Why This Summer is Awesome - Ian's List
- actually built and filled a raised bed - the little mini-vegetables forming in said bed - completing the copper pot rack that I said I would make - semi-regular dinners and cookouts with friends and family - watching the flowers given to us as wedding/house warming presents blooming - getting to know our neighbors and their dogs - previously mentioned dog neighbor getting two new puppies -...
June 2011
1 post
May 2011
1 post
April 2011
6 posts
On Step-Parents
My step-dad is a hero of mine. I have known him through great loss. I have known him through great work and strength. I have enjoyed the spoils of his hard work, embodied in the house where I spent 12 years of my life. I have eaten vegetables that he grew. I have worked on cars with him. I have mourned my Mother with him. We have laughed together and cried together. There are many...
Unpacking
The other afternoon, I was switching out our flannel sheets. Ian had told me he’d packed some spare bedding in the basement, including a duvet cover. I found what he described and brought it upstairs, and as I unfolded the fabric I noticed some tell-tale home stitching. I turned it over, inspecting it. Ian was in the bathroom. I called out to him, “Honey, where did this come...
I Live Here
Rowan has been saying that he lives at the new house with such determination and joy that it fills my heart. A heart that was broken and now is rebuilt stronger and full of hope.
When I came home the first night to find him sitting at the table, devouring a plate of noodles, and smiling from ear to ear, it was too much. I shed the tears that I have held in for a year. This is the first move in...
Square Footage
Yesterday, Ian and a crew of his friends loaded up a U-Haul and moved us into Antietam Street. Somewhere between teasing Ian for moving hiking sticks and talking about how our painter is straight out of a Coen Brothers movie, one of his friends said, “This house is the perfect size for a family. Not everyone needs 100 individual square feet of space.”
Maybe it’s just that the...
How to Steal Like an Artist →
March 2011
5 posts
On Moving
A major day of moving yesterday: three filled-to-the-brim carloads of boxes and bins and carefully wrapped kitchenware. I met Laura to exchange Rowan at the ice cream and waffle place, where we both dozily recounted our days. I told her I feel like I won’t know what to do with myself when all of this momentum ceases, but I realized swiftly that the momentum will never cease. We will move and...
After a variety of stops, starts, spouts and drips, the plumbing sagas have come to a triumphant close.
A working bathroom and kitchen sink. A toilet that flushes.
I have learned that the right wrench makes ALL of the difference.
Passing through the Spring threshold. Holding on to my intentions and hope and entering this time of new growth.
There has been a steady crossing off items on the to-do list. So very close indeed.
Ian
