first weekend of spring

it seems at least a quick update is due. it was a lovely sunny weekend. we did lots of lounging around saturday, with a walk thrown in. the calves are out in droves, and we had fun visiting a flock of bovine at a neighboring farm. can you call them a flock? i have been corrected -- it is a herd -- all shortfalls in language and logic to be blamed on the pregnant mind!



on sunday we headed up to the far reaches of crozet, below buck's elbow mountain, to a house a friend is renovating.


this is the back of the house


this is the entryway

hawker cooked up a terrific batch of french toast, with veggie sausage and fruit compote.


very tasty with the zing of ginger & orange


hawker & aurora

blossom & aurora

aurora is a baby i was honored with seeing come into the world, just last may. she is loads of fun and had a magnificent natural birth.



the light was beautiful on sunday, and i had fun snapping some rustic shots of a house in transition.











yes, all things good in life: sentient beings, food, sunshine, mountain air and the renewal of a solid house.

and then at home, we had a tasty dinner too.


i've really been loving tempeh lately

today i am giving a presentation on cyprus to tashi's class as they are studying ancient greek history. there will be a slide show, a lesson of some basic greek words, some show and tell, and food of course!

i will save the tales and tragedies of greek food preparation for recipe wednesday however, a blog event that tifanie is kick starting.

see you then!

happy vernal equinox

the day has slipped through our fingers, but tomorrow the spring festivities will commence.











wishing everyone a sensational first weekend of spring.

thrift thursday

who says you can't have fun dressing boys? i scored some pretty sweet garments at the spca thrift shop on thursday. these items were in such great condition, and though they have a vintage look about them, the tags seem fairly contemporary. i think they came from abroad in a big steamer trunk. there were so many items, i really had to limit myself to just these. it will be a while before baby boy grows into them, so for now, i think they will hang on the walls (or against the sheet covering the huge mirror in my sewing room)!









the embroidery & smocking, oh so sweet.





visions of little toddler in these balloon pj's -- irresistible.

i also scored a bottomless box of pearly snaps from freecycle. these are just the snaps i love to use on the bend the rules bibs that i've been sewing. they are actually not cheap in any significant quantity, so to have a box full like this is quite a score.



this is a bib & blanket set i sewed up for a silent auction at our school.

lunch blog update

as i eat a steaming bowl of matzo ball soup and take a little lunch break, i'll let you know i've had a rough couple of days recovering from food poisoning! what was i thinking when i ate crab crakes friday night???

i will spare you the details, but let's just say sunday morning started with nausea which eventually ended up with a sunday night full of the awful things that happen when you have food poisoning.

my body at least held out through the "blessing way" gathering a couple of my kind friends held for me on sunday afternoon.



it was a very sweet passage of stringing birth beads, cleansing away my fears and concerns about this major change coming our way, admiring special items placed on a birth altar, hearing the birth and parenting stories other women had to share, laughing, crying, and being crowned.



i was also gifted with lovely items, including the above beautiful crochet blanket handmade by molly.



on the drive home, the food poisoning hit hard, but i had a plastic bag open on my lap to spare my mother's car a rather unsavory mess. you can imagine the rest of the night.

yesterday my body was done with the purge, so i slept. baby moved a lot throughout it all, and i kept myself well hydrated, so i think he fared well.

now we're on to matzo ball soup, and life as usual. no more seafood this pregnancy.

wetnest

snow today.



melting quickly though.



and the belly photo patrice requested. i had to play with it a little in picnik first, because photos taken in splotchy bathroom mirrors can be a little strange anyway.



so much on my to-do list, i'm trying not to feel overwhelmed. just when you've bounced back from the holiday expenses, things like car inspections (and inevitably repairs), cat vaccinations, tuition contracts, broken clothes washers and this & that needed for a baby-almost-due tumble into one's sphere. excitement and terror skip along on either side of you, while you try not to let either knock you off balance. just when you come out of hibernation, you find yourself wanting to retreat to the nest. but that is where the eggs are laid, and all possibilities born.

i hope that you have a great weekend in your nest, or swooping in and out of it if so you choose.

the waves

we had another remarkable spring day today, with plenty of sunshine and a warm breeze. when tashi and i arrived home we tramped straight out onto the deck and spent a good stretch of time there, reading. so lovely. but we must brace ourselves, as temps are expected to drop and snow is even in the forecast for tomorrow. at this point, i'm ready for sleeveless shirts, comfy sandals and flowing linen.

speaking of flowing, i had an interesting dream this morning. i was swimming in the sea, in deep water, when a huge wave came along that i was sure i would die in the throes of. but it washed over me, and there i was still, in the deep water, neither gasping for air nor fighting to stay afloat. another wave came along, and with it, certainty of death, but it too washed over me, and i remained unscathed, floating in the beautiful sea, under the radiant sun, stunned only by my good fortune.

might it be a metaphor for labor?

i just started reading birthing from within, and could kick myself for not reading it much sooner in my pregnancy. as a doula i have read parts of it here and there, but it has a whole other dimension when reading it for one's very own process. i think it's going to be a good journey.

and so i will get on with it, reading while propped up in a nest of pillows. patrice requested a belly photo, and so i will try to post one soon. for now i have this little collection of all things baby.

and a pretty flower, too.

knitterrific

today i received a package from my mom, full of sweet baby clothes and astonishing knit things. she sent tashi and i hats, beautiful hats.



and for baby boy, sweaters and blankets and a hat of his own.





i'm not sure what happened, but somehow it seems i didn't inherit the knitting gene. it could still happen, i suppose. but for now, my mom seems to provide. thanks mom!

sleepy sunny sunday

we are enjoying a gorgeous virginia weekend -- despite last night's insomnia -- in addition to the hour time loss.

as evidenced by the new blog banner, the daffodils have begun their blooming. dan and i are trying desperately to clear the leaves from the edges of the yard. two and half hours of raking yesterday may have taken care of a tenth of the job. if even. i found all sorts of plant tags as i was raking: clematis, helleborus, cinquifoil, geranium, aster.



today, more raking. another walk perhaps. the doors wide open. happy cats. chicken soup with stock from scratch.



i hope that you are enjoying a taste of spring, whether mild or wildly spicy!

my little craft room

hasn't much charm.

we haven't quite figured out what it was originally intended to be. it is a small rectangular room off of the kitchen. one wall is taken up by a sizable closet in which there a utility sink, a washer and a drier. there is a door to the garage. there is a nice window facing south. there is an interior window to the living room. there is a giant mirror and a nasty fluorescent overhead light. and the floor is the same awful mustard yellow linoleum that is in the kitchen. if i ever owned this house, the linoleum would have to go.



was it a mud room, a breeze way, a dining nook? or was it perhaps a craft room, as i have made it now? while it doesn't have much charm, i feel blessed to have this space. dan and i share the office, which is also a guest room, but really it is mostly dan's, as i always seem to set up my computer in the craft room.

i would like to make it a magical space, but really the linoleum kills it. as does the huge mirror, which i covered with an old thrifted sheet. i'm thinking about putting a curtain in the interior window, so that the living room doesn't have a view to my cluttered space. but it's nice to sit here and gaze into the living room at the windows and light and dan and tashi too.



today i hope to spend most of the day in this craft room. i am going to make * another * blanket and * more * bibs for a silent auction at our school.

tashi is yet again going home from school with a friend and spending the night there. so the day stretches onward. dan and i will probably try to catch a movie, though not much looks good right now. perhaps we will settle on the reader.

tomorrow is supposed to be in the mid 70's! i think some yard work is in order, and of course, the requisite country stroll. i hope that there is some loveliness in store for your weekend. . .

weekending

yesterday dan and i arose and, after a leisurely breakfast, took a morning walk. there is a side road nearby that i was curious about; it runs along the farm with some of my favorite animals: the laughng goat, the one eyed horse, the dreadlock llama, etc. this time as we approached the field all the animals came running over to the fence, even the llama, who is usually pretty aloof, and the laughing goat, who tends to stand back and smile. i didn't have food for them, but they remained friendly and engaged.



the one eyed horse (i have to give her a name of my own) and i shared another psychic moment, where she nuzzled up to my pregnant belly and let me give her lots of pats along her mane, snout and neck. i love this horse so much.



in addition to the farm animals was a dog, a sort of cross between a standard poodle and a sheep dog. she walked with us all the way up the road and back, and we had to keep throwing sticks to keep her from jumping on us and nipping at us. she was not very well behaved, nor the brightest bulb. we became more than a little impatient with her, but there was no real way to lose her.

it really became an adventure when we were headed back home on buck mountain road, and she continued to follow us. buck mountain road isn't exactly busy, but when cars drive by, they fly by. and this dog seemed to know nothing about road caution. we had to pull her back a couple of times, the drivers probably wondering why the heck we didn't have such a dumb dog on a leash. i became very upset, thinking that if she continued to follow us she would surely meet her death on her way home. so i insisted, somewhat to dan's chagrin, that we take her back to her house.

of course, no one answered the door when we rang the doorbell. the garage was wide open. the mercedes and the jaguar were in the driveway. but no one was answering that door. so what did we do the with the dog who was again going to follow us down to the busy road? we opened up the gate to the pasture where the farm animals roam, and hauled her in there, latching the gate behind us. it was a little sad seeing her run alongside the fence trying to figure out a way to get out. if she had half a wit about her she would have realized that there was a gap in the gate big enough for her to jump through. but i knew she was safe there, and her owners would see her eventually.

ah, countryside adventures. she kind of ruined that nice woodsy side road for us though. not sure if we will ever adventure to walk down there again.

this morning we arose to a blanket of snow. apparently, more is expected. will tomorrow be a snow day? we shall see.

what more appropriate to make on a snowy day but a penguin softie. tashi made this, with very little help for me. she has been dying to make something for the baby. i think it is about the cutest thing i have ever seen.



i also made another blanket. yesterday i stopped at the fabric store and saw this brown and cream colored bunny fabric which i thought would look good with the brown and white polka dot fabric i've had for some time now. it makes a nice light cotton blanket, for warmer days.





tonight we are going to watch surfzilla play at beer run. i haven't seen them perform in a while, and always like their acoustic sets. should be fun.

long stretch of blanket

a blanket for my boy!



did i really think i was going to achieve all sorts of things today? i guess the blanket took longer to sew up than i had anticipated. what with lunch, several bathroom breaks, and a cat who was imitating a toddler added in.



now it's time for a long warm bath and a nap, before date night! have a lovely weekend.

long stretch of friday

it is a dark and dreary day, with rain expected.

tashi is going home with a friend after school, and spending the night with her. that means i have a long stretch of day to do all sorts of things, and then dan and i get to have a date night! date nights are to be fully appreciated, as things will change considerably once baby arrives. i think we are going to have dinner at bizou, as i have been craving seafood, and they do wonderful things with seafood at bizou. and we are going to see milk finally. it has been coming and going from the downtown cinema, but once again, seems to be back. so i am very excited about all this.

i have been busy this morning doing house tasks, including laundering the fabrics i am about to make my baby blanket with. see you when it's complete!

does nesting = urge to sew

today i ordered two books from amazon that i'm looking forward to receiving, sweet booties, which is full baby stuff to sew, and softies only a mother could love, because it looks so totally fun.

i am not quite there with the knitting know-how. and since my little fella is going to be born in the virginia springtime quick to turn into roasty summer, knit stuff isn't first on the list. i also still have many adorable things that my mother once knit for a baby tashi.

right now, sewing sounds good to me. why has it taken me so long to get to this place where i want to sew things for the little mister?

i came home from work today wanting to sew. but so many of my fabrics are extremely feminine. why is that? even the vintage stuff. and while i have been waiting for the day i'd make my own boy a bend the rules blanket out of a sweet owl flannel i picked up a while ago, i didn't have a chenille piece big enough for the backing to make it today.

so i pulled out the star & moon fabric i've had for a while, and made a bib. a simple little bib. i was really pleased with how quickly i found i could make it. just enough sewing to soothe the urge, and plenty of time left to go out and enjoy the bonfire a neighbor had going. these bibs are great for practicing sewing around curves too.

and so there it is, my first homemade item for my own baby. i've made bibs and blankets for other people's babies over the last couple of years. but now the time has come for mine!

cosmic cotton on the front:


soft cotton chenille on the back:


and so hopefully there will much more of that. if my arms can continue to reach past my belly to the sewing machine, that is. i can't believe how * big * i'm feeling. and i'm a little afraid of how much bigger i might get. two months seems close, and ever so far. i can barely bend over these days! speaking of, time for some yoga, and then, bed.

suitcase poem XVII

who grasps
soft underside
both vulnerable and revolting
icy hand insists
a portal
where nightmares pass
& pass
drifting into ease
clinging apprehension dissolves
palms cup cleansing plash
stems fill clutch
color sky

lunchblog update

having a bit of a lunch break here at the workplace, and pondering.

feeling a lack of creativity in my life, and wanting to change that.

sure, i have been creating a baby within, but some of that process should feed into that which i create on the outside. there has been a lack of poetry, a lack of working with my hands.

so i think i will fall back to a prior poem series. and i would like to resume my short lived collage-a-week activity. this means, moving all my collage materials into the house: boxes and boxes of magazines and odd books that have been sitting in the garage since we moved in october. it will be a good thing to do before baby arrives, so that all those magazines are at my fingertips during nap times when i just may want to do a little cutting and pasting!

that is what i have been pondering, while eating this messy burrito, dropping beans and rice into my keyboard.