free ween

so once the thumpity thump from the pavilion started shaking my windows i decided to go downtown to see what i could see of ween. yup, the "balcony seats" were just the thing. there was a whole line of people there enjoying the show for free. we could see the stage better than probably a lot of people in the audience. and the sound was just fine. not like being in the mosh pit right in front of the stage, but i wouldn't want to be there anyway. and for $27? forget it! i think i got there half way through the show, though i'm not sure. i arrived just in time for them to sing a bit of "redemption song" which i thought was an interesting continuation of my previous night at a reggae show. but then they went on to sing their landmark crude and thrashing varieties of rock, from punk to heavy metal to weird 70's style stuff. i have only two ween albums and didn't recognize most of the songs but for the bawdy sailor song. that was fun. dan swears he heard them singing the mollusk from his office window while i was in the car on my way down. i'm sad to have missed that one. but i'll have to find a set list to be sure.

full moon music

last night i went to star hill music hall to dance da reggae. burning spear was in town and his opening act was soldiers of jah army. it was very fun indeed.

the soldiers were a group of white boys that have the rasta voice going on. they also added in some mean guitar jams and warpy soundscapes. i sat in the geriatric section for most of their show because i wanted to conserve my energy for burning spear. i also wanted to peacefully drink my dark starr stout and people-watch. one of the people i saw dancing to the warm up band was burning spear himself.

once the audience was properly warmed up and full of anticipation, burning spear came out with all his legendary energy and a great horn section. he liked to call out every so often,"talk to me people, talk to me!" which sent the crowd into a roaring frenzy. i settled myself to dancing in what i perceived to be the good energy section of the crowd and apparently i was correct because of the sweet smelling something being passed around behind me. a good dose of aromatherapy was all i needed.

isn't it sad that i am happily married but have to go out to clubs by myself? we have no baby sitter. in ann arbor it was so easy with my mom living less than a mile away. now dan and i take turns going out individually to see what we want to see.

tonight ween is playing at the charlottesville pavilion. it's one of those shows i could hear just by standing on the overpass near the pavilion, but i'm too tired from last night. and in a few days wilco is playing in the same location. and somewhere at uva at this moment is free indian music that i'm missing because we're in the process of coloring easter eggs.

it's good music season in charlottesville. happy full moon!

a wee bunny is born

i did it! i made the wee bunny!



i am such an amateur sewer, i had to sew two and a half sets of ears before i got the zig zag stitch to look alright going around the tips of the ears. i guess it just takes practice.



there are many little flaws in my wee bunny but i'll just keep those to myself. tashi will love it despite its imperfections. even Loki the cat loves it. watch out bunny!



all the photos were taken with dan's logitech web cam which stinks for taking stills. but it's better than nothing. i think.

the golden border

in 2000 i went to india. upon my return i created a book about the experience. the book is a compilation of poems, journal entries, notes from buddhist philosophy and medical classes, prose vignettes and emails. every time i think the book is complete i pick it up and start revising it again. i hope to someday have it published, but in the mean time i thought it might be fun to share some of it here. so anytime you see a post titled "the golden border," you'll know it's an excerpt from my book.

the following is about our first morning in dharamsala, the village we lived in for a year.


Awakening


loads of beggars line streets hoping for cash on saga dawa, the buddha's birthday. entire families camp on roadside, huddle under one blanket, laugh and extend ragged limbs. man with thick black dreadlocks cooks dal over tiny open fire, his small children squatting close, gazing out.

rising at 4:00 am for sunrise puja, we have been in dharamsala just eight hours.

run into mark moore and dara ackerman at gates of temple, friends of dan's from previous visits, proprietors of khana nirvana cafe. mark, sharp and quick, dashing about casually. dara in comfortable chuba greeting us with lengthy smile and intelligent dark eyes.

on flagstones, blanketed by dalai lama's prayer, crawling through veils of dusk and light, morning dawns. we huddle close in cool mist. small skeletal trees grow in courtyard. areas of construction lie in disarray.

having understood little of what his holiness had chanted or uttered, we file out with crowds of jostling tibetans. mark yells to us from high perch. in two hours we'll join him and dara at cafe.

khana nirvana cafe is up steep numerous concrete stairs, a lofty room overlooking kangra valley. interior is comfortable, wooden, with khadi pillows and dusty pink walls that resemble adobe. there is an exhibit, fading photographs of local lepers, their histories included. already i recognize some. on bamboo bookshelves we find quirky collection of children's stories, tattered travel guides, various religious tracts and cryptic hebrew texts. barstools are piled with binders of volunteer information and fliers, near table buried deep with educational matter. there are a few shabby stringed instruments and several drums.

dara and mark serve us vegan muffins and huge plates of tofu scramble.

tashi wrestles with amma la, matronly tibetan woman who works at khana nirvana, and on this particular morning, sleeps there. her toothless grin and mad laughter stir us.

dan, tashi and i flipped from sleep deprivation.

it's official

i'm now graduate student coordinator in the department of religious studies at the university of virginia. my start date is in two weeks!

vacation ending

we spent most of saturday at virginia beach. the day was warm, windy, with impending storm. we lolled about on the long sandy stretch, tashi jumping about at the edge of the cold, cold water. we saw pelicans and ships and seagulls. it was wonderful to be at the ocean. no, the backdrop wasn't a redwood forest or a dramatic cliff. yes, there was an impenetrable row of tall hotels. but we still loved it. the boardwalk was pleasant, 42 blocks long, with groovy sculptures of turtles and shore birds and crabs and other sea creatures at each entrance. we particularly liked the towering sculpture of neptune and we made sure to pay him our respects.

we left the beach just when the rain started to fall and found our way to the recommended lynnhaven fish house where we had a delicious, reasonably priced lunch of fresh seafood. the ferocious storm worked its wonders on the sea outside the big picture windows and thunder drummed on the roof. we couldn't stop giggling about a family sitting across the room. while eating their lunch, the father and two small boys were all watching different movies on their separate laptops, each with headphones on. two women sat at the table with them looking glassy eyed and bored.

after lunch we drove through mostly unpleasant urban blight to the ghent district of norfolk (pronounced nor-fuck to all of you who aren't in the know) seeking espresso. we succeeded in avoiding starbucks and getting appropriately amped up at the "fair grounds cafe." while sitting there looking at local left wing polito rags, we realized tashi had left her bag with precious sketch book at the restaurant. so we had to make our way back across urban blight, past military zone and around inlet after inlet to the restaurant which by that time was bursting at the seams with saturday evening dinner guests in their finery. then we drove through more rain back to williamsburg where we ate subs in our hotel room and watched animal planet.

yesterday we stopped in richmond on our way back to charlottesville. we took tashi to the children's museum where we climbed and hid and pressed buttons and made shadows and built things and glued things and left. we ate another amazing meal afterwards at athens tavern. i was determined to find a greek restaurant and a greek restaurant i found. it was very yum.

and now we're back home. ho hum.

clarification

ok, so maybe the closing words of my last post -- about colonial williamsburg not being worth the price of admission -- were a bit harsh. but here is the deal. you actually don't need a ticket to walk around the historic area, to visit a handful of shops full of williamsburg crafts, and enjoy an overpriced meal at the taverns. the folk in costume are wandering about and are working in the shops and eateries and so you will see them as well. and, if you are so inclined, you can attend a choral concert in the chapel for free.

with a $34 adult ticket you can do all that, as well as tour a few of the houses and observe the blacksmith, the brickmaker, the cabinetmaker, the bookbinder and the basketweaver at work. we managed to visit the blacksmith who wasn't working but talking to a group of schoolchildren. and we visited the bookbinder who also wasn't working but having a conversation with another family. the line outside the basketweaver's was too long, and we were too tired by the time we reached the brickmaker and cabinetmaker.

with a $48 two day adult ticket you can tour the governor's mansion and observe several historical re-enactments. the governor's mansion was definitely impressive, mostly because the walls are completely covered with hundreds of rifles, muskets and various sabors. not that i like weapons, but it was a site to behold. and the historical re-enactments were educational and entertaining, i admit. but try to sit through them amongst a crowd of hundreds in 98 degree summer weather with 100% humidity. ugh.

but were i to do it all over again, i would not buy a ticket. with a somewhat bored, hot and exhausted eight year old, we could have done just as well walking around the historic village for free, popping into the shops and watching the folk in costume pass by. colonial williamsburg is a a very good living museum and reconstruction of the historic capital, and you can enjoy that simply by walking through. and there are some really pretty gardens.

if you're really into this kind of thing, i would highly recommend greenfield village in detroit. different era, but equally impressive if not more so. you get to see edison's workshop, henry ford's childhood home, glassblowers and woolspinners, working farms and historic inns, and robert frost's childhood home amongst much much more.

the good thing is that our visit to colonial williamsburg was practically free for us since dan and i scored tickets through the time-share session. if you can bear an hour and a half of sales talk, and you are as cheap as me, you should try to do the same when next you are here!

the price of free admission

yesterday afternoon we drove to williamsburg under grey skies. we settled into our nice hotel room which we had reserved online at a wildly discounted rate. on our way out for dinner we stopped to pick up a map from a woman named bunny stationed at an information desk in the lobby. bunny asked a few questions and after discovering that we would be visiting colonial williamsburg she asked if we wanted to learn about how to get two free tickets. of course we were curious, after all, tickets were $34 each for dan and i and another $17 for tashi.

as i suspected we would need to attend an information session and tour of a time-share resort. we would not only get two free tickets to williamsburg, we would get two free upgraded tickets that would allow us two day entry into certain buildings and shows the basic tickets wouldn't. at a $96 value, it seemed like 120 minutes at some time-share bullshit session was a fair trade. we also would get two free nights at any of several exotic resort locations, a nearly $500 value. not really our cup of tea but, you never know when you'll be stuck in hawaii without a place to stay.

in addition, bunny reassured me, a tour of the suites might give me some fabulous home decorating ideas. she recommended i bring my camera along so i could take these ideas home with me.

we signed some paper saying we had to be at the fairfield resort by 8:00 sharp or face lock up in the town pillory.

by the way, where did we plan to have dinner? bunny wondered. we knew she was going to try and convince us to eat somewhere that would give her kickbacks and when i mentioned that we were planning to go the indian restaurant she said she knew some people that had had a bad experience there. dan asked what their problem was and she said with the best-ever southern twang, "it wan'nt any gooood."

so we proceeded to the indian restaurant with only 45 minutes to spare before our 8:00 session. it took about 15 minutes before the waiter even came to our table and the amount of stress dan and i worked up in that time probably took a year off our lives. we bickered about whether we should just get up and go and whether we thought they'd ever get the food out to us on time and whether we were going to get strung up for possibly missing the time-share session. tashi was the voice of reason throughout, asking why any of it mattered.

we did get our food quickly and it was a damn good meal of chicken tikka masala and eggplant bharta and the tandoori chicken for tashi. we ate and burped and tore off to the twilight zone.

we had to sit through an hour of syrupy testimonies and sales pitch and manipulative jargon and then spend another 30 minutes with a dude who showed us the luxury suites. tashi drew surreal pictures in her journal all the while and during the tour gazed in awe at televisions the size of milk-trucks. these suites had a tv in every single room: the living room, each bedroom, the dining room, the kitchen. one of the suites had two of everything in the kitchen: two coffee makers, two blenders, two toasters, two stovestops, two sinks. it was very entertaining sociological study. part of the sales pitch involved telling us how americans don't take enough vacations and this leads to more heart attacks, statistics and all. if you "own" your vacation (ie. own a time-share) you'll be more likely to vacation and therefore live longer. you'll be able to travel the world, make all of your dream destinations real. but our sales guy hadn't ever even heard of nepal!

i must give aaron, our sales guy, credit. he was a good sport, somewhat soft spoken and not pushy at all. some of the sales men and women we observed with others were downright freaky, asking couples very personal questions about their relationships, their lifestyles, their plans for a future. i heard one sales woman ask a couple, "so, was it love at first sight?" the man answered, "not really," while the woman said an immediate, "yes."

i wanted to make aaron feel like he was doing a good job so i played up the interest factor by acting really impressed with the luxury suites and asking him all sorts of questions about where the resorts were located and how they decided on the decor and what the beaches were like and etc. apparently i was pretty convincing because dan said he was getting worried. near the end of our session aaron looked at dan and said about tashi and i, "well, i know they're interested but how about you?"

dan saved the day by telling him that we lived in a concrete box in the himalayas for a year with no heat or tv and that was just fine. aaron commented on how that might not be so fine for tashi and i. i just sat there looking doe eyed and having an internal battle about how i was perpetuating a stereotype. dan gave him a firm, "no thanks," while i acted a little more tentative and mentioned that we just weren't prepared to buy anything at this time. aaron wrote on his slip of paper "pleased," indicating our supposed feelings about it all. he let us go after saying, "i know you'll be back."

a creepy thug sat us down before we were about to make our escape and whispered to us discretely that he'd give us a special rate if we bought a share immediately. this wasn't an offer that they gave to everyone ya know. but we left promptly and unscathed, tashi high on sprite.

we got two free tickets to williamsburg and it's a good thing, because after our day in the colonial town today, my vote is that it's not worth the price of admission.

on the homefront

it is sunny and cool today. the bugs have hatched and the the leaves have sprung. i think i saw a dogwood in blossom yesterday.

tashi has spring break this week. on thursday we are going to head east to williamsburg, where we'll spend a day in the colonial town, and then we're going to check out virginia beach.

today tashi has her little friend phoebe over. they are singing in harmony, playing with dolls, hanging out in a tent outside. at one point boredom set in and the day was saved with shrinky dinks. dozens of shrinky dinks.

loki is sunning himself on the deck. luna is snuggled up in a drawer full of stuffed animals. i am about to drink a pot of chai.

goodbye!

a mash of clutter cake

today i was having a "the house is a catastrophe of clutter" crisis when tashi said, come outside and draw on the sidewalk with chalk. and so i did. sidewalk-chalk-drawing is good therapy. we drew flowers and peace signs and animals and no more war slogans.

and then i came inside and cleaned out tashi's closet for starters. i found this cool three drawer flat wooden thing at salvation army, pink and blue and it slides right onto one of tashi's long closet shelves. just a little more storage space for too much stuff. clothes too small off to freecycle. winter clothes for next year in the plastic tub. games and puzzles rearranged. the dress-up basket purged of tattered items. and tomorrow the summer clothes will come out of the basement.

but that's just a start. so much more needs attention. my office. our bedroom closets. the living room. somehow our coffee table is clutter central and no matter how hard i try to keep it clear, every few days it gets piled high with newsletters, ranger ricks, stones and twigs and bits of bark, hair ties, pens, keys, coupons and fantastic drawings.

but enough about clutter.

we're going to have a robert altman festival here because i've never seen any of his films, at least, not that i recall. so dan picked up three today: mash, 3 women, and short cuts. right now he's off purchasing slices of cheese cake from a deli that makes killer cheese cake. i've been so good about my diet (yes! i've been on a diet!) that tonight it's time for a treat. cheese cake, red wine and mash. sounds fantastic, eh?

the hawk leaves the nest to hunt for food

oh my!

today i had my second round of interviews for a somewhat high powered full time job. shortly thereafter i was offered the job. and i accepted.

i’m amazed.

i have been all over the map with jobs since i graduated from college a million years ago. i’m a certified CMT, a trained doula and i’ve studied herbal medicine with several amazing mentors. i’ve worked in the book industry, in the health food industry, in some public schools and in some private offices. after the birth of my child i tried my best to spend as much time at home with her as possible. i nursed her for three and half years and never had a single night away from her until she was five. i think she trusts me now enough to let me go a little.

despite all my training and interest in the healing arts, i’ve been unsuccessful at getting my own practices going. i’m at a point in my life now where i crave something steady, something challenging, something professional, something that ties together my many skills and something that will teach me new skills. i also wish to take the pressure off of dan who has been the main bread winner for so long.

i have some trepidation about this job. as dan said right before my interview today: it’s a win win situation. if you get the job, it will be a great new challenge. if you don’t get the job, you won’t have to bother with it.

i'm concerned about the learning curve, being able to rise to the challenge of this job. i’m concerned about childcare and being less available to my daughter. i’m concerned about the lack of time i’ll have for my creative passions. but i’ve also been concerned about our finances, my feelings of stagnation, my lack of ambition. and so not only is this job a gift to my family’s well-being, i view it as a great opportunity to learn things that might help me in the future to deliver my passions to the world with more skills and confidence.

today, right after i got the call announcing that the job is mine if i want it, i sat outside on our front stoop and watched a hawk circle above our house. i pulled out my animal oracle deck and the card face up and waiting for me was the hawk.

“when you have a sense of your roots and of the breadth of your life, you will start to feel pride and a growing sense of nobility and stature. once you know where you have come from and where you are going, your life will be filled with inspiration and enthusiasm, you will sense a new day dawning, and you will be able to make decisions with confidence.”

it is time to soar.

petnames

here are some nicknames that we like to call our cats:

loki (which is his real name)
lo lo
loka-booty
lokita
locomotive
loranger (because he's orange)
big guy
purn-hoo
mr. tricks
loco-motor
smokestack loki
mr. mooster
oh lo
big fella
locotropic
tough guy
lokester
jokester
loke-meister
great big orange cat
rabid rabbit

luna (which is her real name)
la la
loo loo la la la
lunar module
luna kahoona
kahoon
mooncat
lou
little sweetpea
la lou
lou la
lunar baedeker
ooo loo
lughnasa
ludicrous

either one:
kit kat kitty kitty kat kat
critter
critter cat

sunday drive

this morning we had breakfast at the bluegrass grill. i’ve been wanting to go there since i first spotted the place and finally, we made it happen. the wait for a table was long, and the wait for the food was even longer, but it was all well worth it. fairly priced large proportions of deliciousness. dan had the best corned beef hash i’ve ever tasted, i had a delightful “mediterranean fritatta” and tashi had some awesome chocolate chip pancakes.

afterwards we took a little digestive stroll and then decided a sunday drive was in order. we drove east to unexplored territory in fluvanna county. we landed in palmyra, the county seat, a place so small we drove right past it at first. we turned around and found the tiny tucked away main street, lined with a handful of quaint historical buildings. it was pretty darn cute but just screaming for an espresso bar. the old stone jail, built in 1828, was a particularly compelling piece of work. i liked the wooden bars on the windows.

and then we discovered the heritage rail trail. we took a nice walk on this trail-once-railroad-corridor, collecting stones, old rusty things and bones. we stopped often to the gaze at the rivanna river below. at the end of our walk we communed with some cows in a nearby pasture. one took a particular interest in tashi. it cautiously walked over to her and sniffed her outstretched hand and then just sort of lingered around gazing at her shyly.

we collectively decided that we want a couple of australian sheep dogs, a dappled brown and white horse and a few cows. but there are probably other things that need to come first.

we continued our drive eastward down winding country roads and past old homesteads. we passed lanes with such names as fox hunt, poor house, deep creek, running deer, boyd tavern, breezy hill and three chopt. and then we came home and played boardgames.

have a happy week ya'll.

taraxacum officinale

this is our first spring in charlottesville and we are having fun discovering the botanical offerings in our yard. today we saw our first dandelion. it drives me mad that so many people try to rid their yards of dandelions. they are amazing nutritional and medicinal gifts. the greek word taraxsos means disorder and akos means remedy. the leaves are loaded with calcium, iron and vitamin a. the roots are one of the best liver tonics around. and if you're not worried about your liver, then make dandelion wine. it will knock your socks off.

dandelions are good for so many things, that you should just clickity click and read. let them flourish in your yard. and love them. walt whitman did.

The First Dandelion

Simple and fresh and fair from winter's close emerging,

As if no artifice of fashion, business, politics, had ever been,

Forth from its sunny nook of shelter'd grass--innocent, golden, calm as the dawn,

The spring's first dandelion shows its trustful face.

(from "Leaves of Grass," by Walt Whitman)

on this particular

today a coyote was captured in central park.

today i saw a small swift moving falcon dip along the highway as i drove tashi home from school.

today tashi discovered many purple violets blossoming in our yard.

today i am distracted and nervous.

today i ordered some very cool t-shirts from threadless after reading about their sale in soulemama's blog.

today i wore my hair in braids and itched my poison ivy two or three times.

today i signed tashi up for gymnastics because she's been begging for it.

today i had my tenth cup of coffee at java java. that makes my next cup free.

today i made some lists.

today the doll house children were being very naughty so tashi and i turned one of the characters into nurse matilda.

today i planted some pansies.

today blogger is experiencing a server problem and an engineer has been notified.

today is now goodnight.

entertained

my desk is in front of a window which faces the neighbor's house. on the other side of the neighbor's house is a very tall pine tree. near the top of that pine tree is a huge nest where a red tail hawk roosts. next to the big pine tree is smaller pine tree where more red tail hawks reside. to sit here watching hawks swoop to and from their abodes is pretty incredible.

it was a good weekend. yesterday around 11am we decided to go to la taza coffehouse where a singer songwriter from pittsburgh was performing. we like to take advantage of opportunities to see music that don't require hiring a babysitter. we enjoyed brad yoder and his clever songs. we hung out there for a couple of hours, eating burritos and reading our books. it was disappointing that the first two menu items i ordered were unavailable, but i got over it quickly.

it's been a weekend of watching spooky movies about boys with super visual powers. on friday dan and i watched donnie darko, which i highly recommend. last night the sixth sense was on tv, so i turned on the tube and tuned in. it was pretty good too.

today i took tashi to see a stage production of pinocchio put on by enchantment theater company from philadelphia. it was a play of mimes, fantastic masks, magic and human sized puppets. very fun, well done and visually pleasing.

be it the hawks in the neighbor's tree, or a film about witnessing the walking dead, or a singer of acoustic songs, or a play about a good hearted fool, it's great to be entertained!

the wee folk win

tonight at dinner tashi told me about a dream she had last night.

st. patrick was standing in front of her. he gave her a halo. but on that halo was inscribed a lightening bolt. he said that a leprechaun engraved the halo with a lightening bolt. try as he might, he couldn't erase the lightening bolt.
and then he opened up a sack from which emerged a gaggle of leprechauns.

pretty cool, huh?

a note for mom

today when i picked tashi up she handed me a note that she had written. this is what it said:

dear mom!

you need to lrne how to shot my centaners for lunch. today at lunch allmallst all my grbonso beens had fallen owt of my centaner!!!

love tashi!!!!

i knew i shouldn't have used that container, its lid often pops off.

currently tashi is taking a bath while loki the cat sits on the rim of the tub watching with fascination.

my wrists, encased in ick, are unbearably itchy from poison ivy and typing isn't helping.

happy all-things-irish to you

happy holi!

holi is a hindu festival of colors that occurs on the march full moon. it is also a celebration of krishna. folks run around throwing bright powder at eachother. when we were in india we found a safe spot on a hillside from which to watch a band of holi revelers. they went from house to house making lots of noise with horns and drums and then a plume of color would fill the air. ah, those were good times.

the wind is a-blowing. the cat loki is meowling.

today dan was rear ended. on my two arms, poison ivy rash.

what i thought were cherry blossoms, are actually blossoms of the bradford pear tree.

it has been deliciously warm here. hot even.

tonight i'll be cooking fresh wild caught red snapper.

the best news i heard all weekend was that gail norton resigned. cool.

richmond for the day

as mentioned in a prior post, the in-laws are here and we are entertaining them. today we took them to richmond. it was our first time there too.

i had no expectations. or maybe i did. having lived in ann arbor for four years, i think i expected richmond to be somewhat like detroit. a depressed industrial wasteland with pockets of cool funk and danger. i was pleasantly surprised. richmond is chock full of amazing and well-kept old buildings and equally amazing old and quite-lively neighborhoods (i've since been told that there are some pretty rough pockets in richmond, but what city doesn't have its share of that. i've also been informed that it is ultra conservative).

we started out with the canal walk where we read historical markers, saw some locks and ducks and old boarded up warehouse buildings and the reynolds wrap distribution center (!). i loved all the old brick and paint.


we ended up in a neighborhood called shockoe bottom where we had lunch at a hip bookstore/cafe/eatery called cafe gutenberg. dan and i shared a huge house salad, a burger and homefries. tashi had an amazing waffle. and the inlaws shared some brats & sauerkraut. it was meaty and mighty. for $3 dan bought an interesting historical text on druids


the farmer's market pavilion looked really cool, but there was just one farmer there today, along with an antique seller. i also saw edgar allen poe's house from the outside. the train station is an incredible piece of architecture. while on our way to fetch the car dan and i discovered a cool cobbled road in the shockoe slip area. afterwards we checked out the capitol building under renovation.

the fan district was something to behold, an area full of incredible old houses and big monuments to notable men.


we ended our day in the carytown district, a busy-quaint-commercial shopping and dining district with vintage clothing shops, buskers, overpriced boutiques, magicians, antique shops, street peddlers, restaurants and cafes (and unfortunately some nasty chains like mcdonalds seem to have crept in).

it was mostly richmond's architecture that impressed me, and the liveliness of the place. i'm looking forward to further explorations of our nearest metropolis.

it was another gorgeous hot day today. the forsythia has sprung, as have the daffodils. the crocus bulbs suzanne gave me before she departed for nepal have sent forth their pretty little purple blossoms. thanks suzanne!

the opening of all things

this evening i pulled a bunch of vines down from a tree and bunched them into a ball. i wrapped it with christmas lights, plugged it in, and hung it from a tree. it's very festive and got me to thinking about all the things i might do with the abundance of vines in my yard.

as i was playing with vines, dan lit a big blaze in the firepit and burned off some of the fallen branches and sticks we've gathered up from the yard. we've been trying to clean our yard up a bit and make it more user friendly. it's a good size for a city plot and has lots of huge trees in it. we basically have a mini forest. this has its downside -- ivy, scrub brush, grapevines, fallen branches and a large population of bugs -- but mostly it's a blessing.

as dan played with fire and i played with vines, tashi played under the green skirt of a beautiful big pine tree. this seems to be her special spot, a club-house to be perhaps. i've also built her a lean-to, or fairy hut as we like to call it, in the back of the yard. this is sure to be the scene of many far flung adventures.

it was a gorgeous day today, well into the 70's. earlier we took a drive up into the blue ridge and then down to crabtree falls, a beautiful steep cascade in the tye river. we had a picnic of turkey sandwiches on sourdough, a salad of walnuts, raisins and mixed greens, and delicious homemade guacamole with chips. for desert there were grapes and homemade peanutbutter oatmeal cookies. at 8:00 pm we are still too full to eat dinner.

i noticed the cherry trees blossoming today for the first time. and when we got home, folks all over our neighborhood were out on the their stoops, in their yards, hanging out at the foot of their driveways. dozens of outdoor conversations drifted about on the breeze, along with the scent of nag champa and the thump of rap music. how i love the openings that spring brings: the opening of blossoms, of doorways and windows, of hearts and passions, the opening of vision and the opening of the sleepy mind.

what now

we're all getting over some sort of virus and the in-laws are visiting. today was monticello, tomorrow the blue ridge parkway. tashi has no school because of parent-teacher conferences. there is a great deal of chatter.

here is another poem by tashi, written just a couple of days ago.


The ants went marching
through the hills
The butterflies
did fly
The bees hummed
between the flowers
And collected nectar
for their hives


right now tashi is impressing the grandparents by counting perfectly by fives backwards from 100.

tashi's spring poem, circa 2003

i was going through some old stuff today and i came across this poem that tashi dictated to me about three years ago (she was five). i thought it might be appropriate to post as spring equinox approaches. emma bean, by the way, is a favorite stuffed rabbit.

The flowers bloom
In the spring
They bend and twirl in the wind
The crickets chirp
In the breeeze
The ladybugs dance
On the hill
The breeze is bending all the trees
The kids come out and pick the flowers
The cuckoo birds come out of the clocks
and say cuckoo cuckoo
The cats purr outside
Lamps light up in the street
Emma Bean stays in the house
Playing with her toys about
Tashi comes out and reads with her mom
After her mom has watered the plants
The chairs rock while people knit
And birds chirp in the breeze
Butterflies dance in the trees
Then night comes and takes over the sun

flash back forward

last night i went to a party. the only person i knew was the hostess. she is a very nice person. there were lots of smart folks there, writers and painters and musicians and aging skate board punks. the music went from grunge to funk to grunge to jazzy improv to grunge to the grateful dead to grunge to reggae. i loved it.

i talked to a girl who rides horses and a guy who manages the news department of a local weekly and photographer from a daily and a girl who was working at the jefferson theater the other night when i went to see a film.

another person i knew showed up and then i knew two people. her and i talked a lot about places i've been which are places she would like to be.

music stirs up the past.

i remembered that when in seattle i used to live above band members of the screaming trees. or was it mudhoney? or soundgarden? obviously it didn't matter much except that they used to wake me from my sleep when they cursed loudly at each other and threw furniture around. seattle was a place of intersections and dead ends, a place of downs and peaks. there was an overpass park and an island, a martini bar and an espresso cart. that was the year nirvana burst through the charts and i shaved my long hair off into a cute stubble. i had my first crush on a girl and my first date with a black man. seattle was full of watery reflection and blurry intention. it was a place of yearning and mosh pits. my rent in seattle was only $100 a month. my roommates were both painters. one was an alcoholic painter who used to come home at 4am and steam potatoes and garlic. the other was a recovered alcoholic painter who was a good friend until he asked me if i was physically attracted to him and i said no. boy-painters have big egos.

once, when i lived in seattle, a junkie gave me a bouquet of bright tulips. a few days later i caught him making a drug deal on my telephone.

the year i lived in seattle was one of the worst years of my life.

but the memories are good.

jilted

ok so here i am in downtown charlottesville using the community computer at the mudhouse cafe. i came down here with the original intention of seeing a $3 movie at the jefferson theater. but there was a sign on the door saying my movie wouldn't start until 9:30 because of technical difficulties. i've decided to spend the next couple of hours in the cafe, as it's an opportunity to read and write and pretend like i'm traveling alone in some strange town. besides, this computer is nicer than mine.

the movie that i will now see at 9:30 is "a history of violence." i'm a little nervous, because as the title implies, it is apparently quite violent. i am intrigued however, as david cronenberg is a good director and i have a thing for viggo mortensen. yes, i admit it. though i would certainly prefer to have dan at my side as i watch the unfolding of this particular film. he is giving tashi a bath however, while i fiddle around in a cafe on a wednesday night.

i did call dan to let him know that i would be home later than expected and the phone call was actually a source of amusement. the only payphone on the downtown mall seems to be the one in a dark, smokey bar called miller's. it is at the top of a mysterious stairwell in a phone booth. a real phone booth with a seat and a door that folds shut. i thought that was really novel. in a world of cell phones ye old phone booth seems to be obsolete.

my life must be pretty boring.

on other fronts, tashi announced today that she is going to be the queen in her class play. what could be better than that? she, by the way, is reading like mad lately. being a waldorf child, we weren't really sure when the reading thing would actually kick in. people admonished us and said our child would be illiterate because waldorf teaches reading so much later than most schools these days. but actually, she is far from illiterate. it is such an amazing thing to see her curled up on the couch with a nose in a book. she's already gobbled up one chapter book i picked up for her at the library, and now she is reading an old favorite, "ramona the pest."

i can't help but feel everyone waiting in line for their latte or chai or mocha is reading over my shoulder. it's a strange feeling. so i'm going to sign off now and read my book. write in my journal. sip tea. and eventually, go to a violent movie alone.