10.27.09
Remains of the day, remains of the garden
Yesterday evening, I took the camera out to the backyard to try to capture the strange and beautiful pearlescent light that’s been hovering lately. While my eyes saw things as bathed with silvery light, it was just too dark for shooting without a tripod. These couple of shots are the least blurry of the bunch–the first is looking over the backyard to the west, and the second is of my asparagus berries. Pretty, huh?
I’m just waiting for the first killing frost–so far, the nasturtiums and the artichoke act like it’s still high summer, but wowsa–is it ever cold this morning! 36 degrees while I stood out with the kiddos for their morning bus a few minutes ago.
As we trudged up the hill toward the east, A. said, “Look at the fogwork! It’s beautiful.” The clouds were cresting and curling in that same amazing light as our teeth chattered and we kissed goodbye for the day.
10.23.09
What to do on a rainy night
Make brandied pear sauce:
approximately 8 pounds of ripe Bosc pears
2 oz brandy
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground cardamom
2 oz lemon juice
Peel and core pears. Put pears, brandy, cinnamon, and cardamom in a heavy stockpot and simmer until pears are soft. Add lemon juice. Pour into blender and puree, then pour back into stockpot to reduce for about 30 minutes. When it’s lovely and viscous, ladle it into containers (I’m going to freeze these jelly jars–which you can do if the jars are straight-sided).
With a scoop of vanilla ice cream, I bet this tastes like pear gelato. I’ll soon find out!
09.29.09
Exit
Overheard at 12:30 pm, bus 74
Guy in mid-20’s or so (suddenly very loud): What’s 4 plus 6?
Girl also in mid-20’s (matching him in volume): I dunno! 23?
Guy: Nah, girl. Four plus six.
Girl: 11?
Guy: No! It’s 10.
Me (looking out window in increasing despair): ?? Performance art? Two hapless souls navigating life with less than a full deck? I step over a used condom and exit the bus at Pioneer Square. The gusts have whipped themselves into a storm during my ride, and I button my coat as I walk north.
06.19.09
The life of the senses
In an 11-year-old who thrives on both order and free time, imagination manifests as fairy houses in the backyard:
The photographer at the beach, being pulled away by her small son (there are such interesting things to see, and they both see so much):
If you listen when the tide is coming in at Fay Bainbridge Beach, you’ll hear the sound of a thousand rain sticks. The water tumbles the smooth rocks over each other and the sound of them growing smoother yet is a beautiful thing.
Cracking pecans with my five-year-old (who’s a whiz nut cracker like no other) is a 5-sense immersion.
And on a rainy day in June, reading in warm wooly socks next to an open window makes me feel like I’m living in a tree house.
04.23.09
Delicate but tenacious
The rain yesterday couldn’t dampen the beauty of UW’s cherry trees:
Wet cherry blossom petals stick to your shoes like crazy. I found petals still stuck tenaciously even after walking a couple of miles through Seattle, and they made me smile.
04.02.09
Around here in April
You’ll find this little menage:
(It’s Basil’s empty bunny hutch, with a plastic egg waiting to hatch, and part of a chicken feeder ready for when the chick’s out and hungry) Artist: 5-yr-old A.
You’ll find me sifting through the skeleton leaves in the garden, cutting up a William Morris print on a card, and reconstructing cards on a blustery afternoon:
And in the garden, one leggy asparagus is way out ahead of the pack:
03.21.09
Wakeful
This morning was a Gustavian palette–a calm world of white, gray, and blue where the harbor held various wakes longer than usual.
03.09.09
Now that it’s snowing again…
What do you do with a cold snap, a bunch of extra fabric, and some extra time?
Make blankets for Project Linus.
11.25.08
A damp, drizzly November
And like Melville’s Ishmael, where else would my meanderings take me but down to the sea?
10.31.08
Ode to the sun, by a pale girl
A quick, self-indulgent post just to document the fact that the sun has shone on Bainbridge Island in the month of October, even enough to freckle my face and give me some pretty nice tan lines. Which are fading, as we speak…5 days in a row of rain forecast puts me in the mood to point out that even my lips are freckled. And happily so.
