five things you don't know about me

a meme.

i was tagged by britt. i'm not sure if these five things are supposed to follow a particular format, so i'm just going to wing it:

1) greek was my first language. after moving to the u.s. from cyprus (i turned four in transit), my mother stopped speaking greek to me and my memory of the language faded into nothing.

2) the house i spent most of my childhood in was at the end of a dirt road in rural pennsylvania. our property was separated from a golf course by a creek. golf balls used to land in our yard and in the creek all the time. i would collect those golf balls, shine them up, and go and sit on the golf course and sell them.

3) my senior year in high school, i was one of three girls awarded "life of the party." ahem.

4) for entertainment, i like to read novels by indian women and travelogues about india. for scholarship, i like to read poetry. the odyssey is my favorite classic.

5) the siamese cat i grew up with was named aphrodite. she used to sleep on my back every night. she died of heartbreak when i left for college. i sure miss her.

i have to add this in,

6) i didn't know what meme meant, until i looked it up.

i now tag ladyman, molly, fire escape gardener, deevee and linda diane.

theatro tashi

this is the doorway puppet theater i made for tashi as a christmas gift. it fits into any standard doorway with a tension rod. it has inpsired much entertainment of late. we can't wait until the next show!

i live in virginia!

best gifts

a kiss and a digital camera

as the light returns a light passes

my favorite james brown memory is from halloween, 1991, when i lived in seattle. some acquaintances and i, all west coast transplants from buffalo, were at a crowded warehouse party. i was dressed up as a "fortune teller" and was carrying around my tarot cards, doing on-the-spot readings. at some point a joint went around and then james brown was blasting from the stereo. all at once everyone at the party started dancing. it was this magical frenzy of motion, when the music and the movement connect you with not just everyone in the room, but the universe. myself and my friends were in a semi-circle, all smiling at one another, locking gazes, sharing the love. it was a small moment, but has become my favorite james brown moment, when he arranged all of our spirits under one song, and through the funk, all funk was lifted and there was only bliss.

wishing you

we are enjoying vacation!

yesterday tashi and i made bubble wish bread, a recipe we found in the circle round book. after the dough has risen each participant pulls off a hunk the size of a golfball. you place a piece of dried fruit in the hunk to represent your wish. you do this until all the dough is used up. the balls are dropped into a bundt pan and a sweet blend of melted butter & brown sugar is poured in here and there, in between layers. after a second rising the bread is baked for about half an hour. out comes a delightful loaf of sweet bread, charged with wishes.

other activities yesterday included a puppet play of "the elves and the shoemaker" at the old michie theater. a long nap on the couch while listening to choral music. snugs with my loves. and the finishing of the fabulous homemade doorway puppet theater.

we are enjoying vacation. long hours beside a twinkling tree in a cozy house, playing, baking, snuggling, crafting and resting.

may your days be peaceful, bright and inspired.

christmas eve eve

the cats woke me up this morning with the usual scratching and meowling. some mornings they are so good and others. . . grrr! even tashi still sleeps.

there is thick fog between the trees and the ground is wet with recent rainfall. tashi is very sad that no snow is coming our way this christmas. it was a bit odd running my errands yesterday and having to carry an umbrella. four years in michigan was four white christmases.

we had a chimney sweep visit recently. a year ago when we tried to light a fire in our supposedly working fireplace it backed up. this year we decided it would be worth it to have it checked out. the chimney sweep discovered the metal guard at the top of the chimney had collapsed. he lifted it up and secured it, inspected the chimney which needed no sweeping and said we were good to go. so yesterday dan built a blazing fire in the fireplace. it was beautiful but made the mantle so hot i thought everything on top of it would melt. and then it backed up. the whole house was thick with smoke and ash was blowing out and landing upon nearby surfaces. dan separated the logs and the fire diminished. he didn't want to pour water in as it would create an even thicker plume so he picked up each log with tongs and, one at a time, carried them outside and piled them onto the walkway in front of our house. then there was a little fire on the walkway.

it took a while for all the smoke to clear out of our house and now the aroma of campfire sticks. i don't mind. but i do mind that our fireplace appears to be useless.

last night tashi and i did the annual solstice ritual of poking cloves into oranges. while we do it we think about the year that has passed and make resolutions and wishes for the year to come. sometimes we talk about our thoughts and sometimes we are silent. last night we were silent though in the end discovered that we both have the same wish.

Happy Winter Solstice

(a day late)

vacation begins today. glorious glorious vacation.

yesterday we celebrated the winter solstice as much as we could with me at work all day. tashi discovered presents throughout the house which would suddenly appear. the faeries deliver these. usually the presents are books as story telling is a great way to pass the dark of winter solstice.

when i got home from work we cleaned out our frig and put food out in the wild for the animals. and then tashi and i took a walk around the neighborhood, looking at the variety of lights (all these people who don't even realize they are trying to lure back the sun), admiring christmas trees in picture windows (that which remains green when so much else in nature is dormant) and counting wreaths (which represent the circle of life, don'tcha know).

before bed we lit the floating candles and talked about what we would like to see grow and strengthen in our lives. and then we read a sosltice tree for jenny to tashi before lights out.

once tashi was safely tucked in bed i completed the curtains on her puppet theater. i have only to attach the valance fabric and some dowels. it's a success! and then dan and i cracked open the delicious dandelion wine my friend laura bottled at midsummer. a magical mist rose from it and it fizzed with joy. we enjoyed a small glass of it, wanting it to last through the days.

now there is last minute shopping, a gingerbread house to assemble, cookies to bake, presents to be wrapped and relaxation to be had. one floating candle still burns.

wishing you all resfulness and peace, feasts and good fortune.

we vishnu a merry christmas

i know that i should be working on the puppet theater right now, but at least i got a good start the other night. it took me two hours to do what an experienced sewer could do in half an hour, but hey, at least i progressed. i'm intimidated by the actual cutting out of the window where the puppet show will be displayed. and so your are staring at my procrastination effort.

plus it's late after a long grouchy day.

it started out with my cat luna scratching at the walls endlessly before sunrise. she has been very interested in my bedroom closet lately. but when i found that-which-shall-not-be-named in there the other day, her closet forays came to an end. so she has been scratching at the closet door and the walls around it at ungodly hours. we threw pillows at her and she finally stopped. i was pretty tired when i awoke to tashi smiling at the bedside, dressed up in sparkling things and weilding her wooden sword and shield.

dan, tashi and i eventually went down to the holiday artisan market. it was a frightfully beautiful global warming day, and we were able to walk around in nothing but our long sleeve cotton shirts. the market was bustling and there were some fun things to gaze upon and some delicious thigs to digest. but tashi decided to be tired and cranky and pestered dan the entire time to carry her (she knows better than to ask me). she is two weeks away from being nine years old; carrying her around for an hour just isn't an option. we all became snarly fast.

afterwords i ended up going to the dreaded indoor mall by myself. sometimes i actually get a little kick out of the mall. it's warm, there are comfortable plush seats, each store offers a different atmosphere, you can buy really yummy giant pretzels, and the people watching can leave you both charmed and deeply depressed. today i left feeling depressed. then i went grocery shopping.

as i drove home i had this fantasy that dinner would be well under way and dan would be standing in the kitchen with an apron on. but no, dan and tashi were off somewhere on their bikes, enjoying the frightfully warm weather. i experienced a completely irrational bout of resentment that grew as i unloaded each grocery bag. just as i was about to scrawl out a note that said, "cook your own dinners" before running off to have a stiff drink, tashi came through the door like a shaft of sunlight.

so i made parmatzo chicken and rice and green beans and salad, and afterwards, while snuggled on the couch watching rudolph-the-red-nosed, i promptly fell asleep.

parmatzo chicken
(this recipe is for six and i always cut it in half because we are three)

3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast (organic, if possible)
1 cup matzo meal
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tbsp italian herb blend
4 cloves minced garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs

pre heat oven to 375

1) mix the matzo meal, cheese & spices
2) in separate dish, beat the eggs
3) cut the chicken breasts into nuggets
4) drizzle olive oil in baking dish
5) coat chicken pieces in egg and then dredge in matzo mix. place in baking dish.
6) if you wish, pour remaining egg and matzo over meat
7) sprinkle minced garlic on top
8) bake for 50 minutes

they are delightful.

Happy Hanukkah

Shalom Chaverim, Shalom Chaverim,
Shalom, Shalom,
L'hitraot, L'hitraot,
Shalom, Shalom

Oh peace be with you
Oh peace be with you
Oh peace, Peace, Peace
Till we meet again
Till we meet again
Oh peace, peace, peace

trying to become a productive elf

oh dear, is it inspiration that i need, or motivation, or both.

a while ago i found this doorway puppet theater in the magic cabin dolls catalog. tashi has been into puppet shows lately and i thought it would be a much better venue than her current tabletop theater. and then i found myself saying, i can make that!

i surfed around on the web to see what sort of doorway puppet theater gurus i could find, and sure enough, i found that this revered crafty mom blogger had once done it herself. she is a thousand times more talented than me in the textile arts, and i doubt my theater will measure up, but i keep looking at her's for inspiration.

i picked out the fabrics a little over a week ago and still they sit nicely folded next to my sewing machine. they are a fun combination of colors and designs, but i am a little surprised by my choices.

tonight, yes, tonight, i will begin. i just needed to psych myself up first. so here i go. . .

merry

today i couldn't wait to get home to the evergreen in the living room, the garland on the fireplace, the stockings hung neatly in a line and the cats sitting in a puffed up comfort staring with adoration at the colorful ornaments. i think they know that christmas means a few new catnip toys and lots of ribbon and balled up paper.

we chopped our white pine down at davis creek tree farm, tucked in an idyllic valley at the foot of the blue ridge. it was far more fulfilling than picking a tree up from the mall parking lot. it's now glittering with white lights, wooden whimsy, delicate glass ornaments and a half dozen disco balls.

and tonight we're going to watch the grinch! we're not a big tv family, but the good old fashioned animated grinch is not to be missed.

that's the latest in family holiday trivia.

i had a very nice visit with karen. food, conversation, laughter, chocolate truffles and walks, that's what good visits are made of. i hope it won't be another 13 years before we see each other again. i must mention bizou, where we had dinner on friday. one review calls it, "upscale down home cooking." it was incredible. we shared two appetizers: grilled shrimp on polenta and squash ravioli both with some knock-your-socks-off sauces. and then we shared an entree, fresh tuna on smashed potatoes with an incredible red onion/fennel root sauce. for desert we had grilled banana bread with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. it was pure exquisiteness topped off with a drink at fellini's and darryl rose on drums.

karen's visit came as a nice relief during the busiest time of year at my workplace. and soon, very soon will be a glorious full week of vacation bridging solstice and the new year.

full moon morning

this morning i stepped into the frosty world and saw the most spectacular full moon above a hill. it disappeared within moments and i felt so fortunate to have been given that quick glimpse. it was the best way to start a day.

tomorrow my long time friend is coming to visit! we were roommates in buffalo in 1990! but we first met in -- well -- probably 1987 or 1988 when we worked at the same sandwich shop. i was new to buffalo and karen was kind enough to invite me to parties and introduce me to friends. we shared many a late night together seeing bands and bar hopping and making art and living with the passion of single girls in their early 20's. it's been over a decade since we've seen each other, but thanks to the internet we've remained connected. and now she's going to visit us on her way up from visiting family in atlanta and roanoke. it will be interesting to see how much, and how little, we've changed. whoop!

the house is festive and cozy. i pulled out various twink lights, and holiday elves, and a spray of red berries. i purchased some poinsettia from a grade school boy. the ornaments wait anxiously for their tree. perhaps this weekend we'll go to the same tree farm we visited last year and chop down a poor little evergreen to worship for the coming days.

wishing you all a week kept warm by the hearth of your hearts.

desk spell

leaves, petals, berries, pebbles

i distribute and sort

create piles

fill bins

in my palm a seed pod rests

i fill each furrow

wind blows my trail into dust

care echos in ear hollow

the tedious pace of finding that place

brush strokes may emerge from key strokes

accountability is a virtue

an invocation attached to each voucher

ascent or advent

a quick post while i wait for the cherry gingerbread upsidedown cake to cool.

we had a festive thanksgiving with friends suzanne, kevin, jakob and hound-dog ty joining us in our home. the food was grand: turkey and tofurkey and brown-sugar-pecan-crusted-sweet-potato-whip-up and sesame green beans and mashed potatoes and both meat and no-meat gravies and sausage-cornbread-apple-stuffing and cranberry chutney and salad and pecan pie and chocolate chip brownies and ice cream and wine. after our feast we flopped around the living room watching hindi-flick lagaan and discovered that jakob might someday be a bollywood star, so spirited was his dancing. tashi and jakob made a clubhouse in the linen closet and ty escaped at least four times and the cats hid under the beds and comforters upstairs. on friday we romped around on the pedestrian mall, found trippy disco ball and glass mushroom yule-tree ornaments and stuffed ourselves silly once again at guadalajara. it's very fun to have friends visit and i must say that spending a holiday with kindred spirits is particularly low-pressure and not at all dull.

today after our fourth breakfast of turkey hash we raked leaves and did laundry and wrote lists and lounged in the hammock reading holiday stories. every year as christmas season takes off in a frenzy of commercialism and jesus worship i become a more committed pagan. i demanded we go out for a walk on the rivanna trail which was even better than i expected. we collected dried up seed pods and red rose hips and tashi made mud pies and chortled at the top of her lungs.

and so now it is with mixed emotion that i tread the dark path toward the winter solstice. may you all keep your spirits high through this season of confusing messages. whether it's based on a belief in the sun or the son it's really about focusing our intention toward manifesting peace and balance.

Blessings on the Blossoms, Blessings on the Fruit, Blessings on the Leaf & Stem, Blessings on the Root

Cranberry Chutney

3 cups cranberries
1 cup honey
1/2 cup water
1 naval orange
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
ground cloves to taste
ground cinnamon to taste

1) simmer cranberries, honey and water, covered, for ten minutes
2) uncover and simmer another ten minutes
3) cut unpeeled orange into chunks and chop finely in food processor or grinder
4) add orange and seasonings to cranberries with another 1/2 cup water
5) simmer another 20 minutes, stirring often
6) chill

a ramble, because

it's been a strange week of stress and mishaps. work is all about number crunching right now, with budget preparation, annual reports, and travel reimbursements for conference attendees. not my favorite sort of thing. it's making me feel blue and grumpy. it's making me question my existence. but when all is said and done, it's satisfying knowing that i can do it, and i can do it right. i keep trying to appreciate the challenge, to take on the problem solving with enthusiam. it sure helps that my co-worker moved the espresso machine into my office.

aside from number crunching, and meanies, and dingbats, things keep going wrong. the other day i baked apple custard pies and the custard dripped all over my oven. it was like burnt candy. there was smoke everywhere and now my oven is wreck.and then i discovered the next morning that we'd left the freezer door ajar all night. it's been popping open lately if you sneeze in its direction. magic. but the two cartons of melted raspberry with dark chocolate chunks ice cream was not magical at all. nor was all the half thawed meat product. and the ravioli. and the homemade pesto in ice cube trays. and so on. that freezer was well stocked.i'm not convinced that any of it is beyond edible. though i won't touch that now refrozen ice cream.and the cat (the two cats that become one when i don't know who the culprit is) peed on the recycling. and then tonight i found a staple in the mashed potatoes. that's after i splattered the milk all over the counter, the things on the counter and the wall. but a staple? in the mashed potatoes?

i realize of course, these are total non-issues.

i would like to announce that i have the best kid on earth.

i was told that the other day when she was on a field trip with her class at the frontier culture museum in staunton, a docent asked the kids what their favorite food was. what did my kid say? kasha. her favorite food is kasha.

i love her for saying the other morning, "oh mom, you're not going to wear that ridiculous shirt are you?" i love her for howling like a coyote out the car window each time she and dan drop me off at work in the morning. i love her for all the carribean folk songs and irish traditionals and silly jingles she sings. i love her for being so honest and compassionate. i love her for telling me she wants a rolling stones cd for christmas. and a science kit. and some art supplies. i love her for sitting on the living room furniture while simultaneously brushing her teeth and reading a magazine (even though i scolded her for it).i love her because she thinks slugs on rotting pumpkins are cool. i love her because she reads and sings to me now at her bedtime. i love her because she now asks me to braid her hair and trim her nails rather than running like a banshee to the nearest closet. i love her because she begs us to read her hindu comics each time she takes a bath.i love her wet kisses and her big blue eyes and snuggly sweetness. i love her when she hangs out with her friends and thinks she's too cool for mom. boy, do i love her.and i haven't even begun to tell you just how much.

stir-fry-day

lunchblog update time. today it’s ginger stir-fry noodles by seeds of change. followed by orange chocolate chip cookies by me. pandora is currently playing ben harper. who i like a lot. soon I will turn on the friday reggae show on wtju.

it is absolutely gorgeous out today in charlottesville, virginia. dan is in san francisco and the nice weather at least helps to buffer my envy.

tashi and i look forward to a fun weekend. tonight we are going to a dog’s birthday party. other people with their dogs will be there. tomorrow there are activities associated with tashi’s school, assembling stuff for the upcoming holiday bazaar and then participating in the lantern walk. on sunday tashi has a schoolmate’s birthday party to attend which will give me a couple of free hours to hang out in a café and pretend i am still a bohemian. or i could madly run around trying take care of errands. perhaps i will take a hike on the rivanna river trail. or do yard work. or curl up on the couch with my cozy cats and read. it all depends on the day.

and i have a couple of movies. barfly, which i’ve never seen. it is directed by barbet Schroeder who directed two films which featured soundtracks by pink floyd, more (pretty bad) and la valee (better). the other film i have is masala, a hindi flick a friend recommended.

that’s the lunchblog update for today, concluding while neko case sings on pandora. i really like her too.

"what's changed today is the election is over and the democrats have won" -- george w bush, 1:15pm

if i lived in the san francisco bay area, i'd go to this exhibit.

it's a humpday lunchblog update. it's a happyday lunchblog update because of the change in the political tide. i am smiling while eating stromboli and minestrone soup.

though i'm also annoyed about the marriage ammendment that passed in virginia.

aside from big things like elections, there are little things to report. things like, tashi had her first sleep over at a friend's house on saturday. this means that dan and i got to go out on date. we quickly ate slices of pizza at christian's on the downtown mall, and then caught a movie, the illusionist. it was good fun.

after our movie and a pot of pepperment tea at the mudhouse, we decided to bar-hop. first we went to C&O, a funky old dark wood place with expensive french cuisine, a wood burning stove, and a gallery. apparently it was once a dilapidated old diner that had served as a sandwich joint and raunchy bar for C&O railroad travelers. the bar is now cozy and well stocked with many expensive wines. dan and i opted for an irish coffee and a hot toddy. it was a cold night afterall.

after the C&O and our realization that it's just as expensive to drink cocktails as it is to eat french food, we decided to settle with beer. so we went to miller's and then star hill. not very adventurous, but what can i say, we're out of practice. we limited ourselves to one drink per place, so after three drinks we were perfectly sober. i like that because then you feel just fine when you wake up the next day.

this news just in, donald rumsfeld has resigned. i think i'll go bar hopping.

but first i have to quote this piece excerpted from informed comment:

' Bush's fantasies are even disturbing his fans. In a sit-down with wire-service reporters, Bush assured them that Rumsfeld, the most incompetent man on earth, would keep his job for two more years. Maybe in the last days of the Republican-dominated Congress, Bush can get him declared Defense Secretary for Life, sort of an American Raul Castro.

Gushing over Rummy and Dick Cheney, the two principal thugs who lied to get us into Iraq and designed the disaster, Bush claimed they "are doing a fantastic job and I strongly support them."

The remark prompted conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan to raise the question of Bush's mental fitness. Sullivan told CNN Bush is so delusional, "this is not an election anymore, it's an intervention."

Sullivan, long a cheerleader for the war in Iraq, said Bush is "so in denial" he simply can't come to grips with his failure: "It's unhinged. It suggests this man has lost his mind. No one objectively could look at the way this war has been conducted, whether you were for it, as I was, or against it, and say that is has been done well. It's a disaster."

Sullivan added, "For him to say it's a fantastic job suggests the president has lost it. I'm sorry, there is no other way to say it."

mac & jeeze

it's a lunchblog update. today's specialty is moosewood brand macaroni and three cheeses. it's a fairly decent frozen lunch choice, though i'm always weirded out by the packaging that gets nuked with the food. who knows how many dioxins and other lovely carcinogens get mixed in with the meal.

i'm creating this post via email, by the way. while recently looking at my various blogger preferences i discovered this was an option. we'll see if it works.

last night was a candy fest to beat all candy fests. first we took tashi trick or treating on the uva lawn. the lawn stretches out from the rotunda and is lined on either side by the range. the range (or ranges, as there are several) are long rows of beautiful old dorm rooms, designed by mr. jefferson himself. only the brightest get a room in the range, but rumor has it that each occupant also has to agree to buy $300 worth of candy each halloween for the kiddies that flock to the lawn. tashi was one of those kiddies and indeed her black cat bag was full to the brim when all was said and done.

as if that wasn't enough, we also took her around the neighborhood. she had the chicken pox last year, so i guess we were making up for a lost year. we were also pretty curious about our neighbors, who after a year, we still don't know. after the neighborhood round her bag was again full to the brim.

much of the candy has been offered up to the candy goblins. tashi enjoys this ritual every year, of deciding which candy she'll leave out for said goblins.

today i am being chastised for the web of deceit i'm weaving around my child by making her think there are candy goblins. i'm feeling the guilt in a big way. but as dan's friend said, we're the goblins because we're goblin' the candy (actually its been donated to co-workers and grad students).

to me its an exercise in generosity and restraint. it's also kind of like propitiating the gods. goblins, gods. close enough.

samhain bread

there have been some magnificent gusts of wind this weekend. yesterday i swept a knee high layer of leaves off of the deck. the night sky has been perfect for star gazing. lately on our various drives to and from this and that i've felt incredibly blessed to be living in such a gorgeous place.

this morning i baked bread. this is a big deal for me. i've had a history of bad luck with yeasted things. once i tried to make hot cross buns that turned out hard as river rocks. another time i made a bread in the shape of a spiral that was so huge we ended up feeding most of it to the wildlife in our yard. usually unyeasted quick breads are the way for me. my patience for kneading is about as high as my patience for knitting. i'm just not the perfect hippy mom.

but this morning i baked bread. it was really the first time trying to bake a basic loaf of bread. and it turned out fantastic. i enjoyed the whole process of puttering around the house while waiting for it to rise, and rise again and rise a third time. i loved punching it down. and i had a great bonding experience with tashi as we took turns kneading. an awesome aroma filled the house while it was baking. and the pleasure tashi expressed while eating her first warm, butter slathered piece was the ultimate reward. i think we'll do it every weekend.

a note on the walls

being of mediterranean origin, i have a real love for the whitewashed wall. the house that we rent was freshly painted by our landlord before we moved in. many of the rooms are a bright daffodil yellow. i know that it is fashionable to have brightly colored walls these days. blood red and edible avocado are all the rage. but i do sometimes miss the elegance of the white wall, the possibility that it holds, the simplicity, the beauty of light and shadows on its surface.

i also have an appreciation for peeling paint. the whole "shabby chic" furniture craze. an old house that is perfect but for its paint. a mouldering barn that can barely be called red. yet as the paint begins to peel in our house, just after a year of its application, i often feel dismayed. huge layers of paint ping to the floor. the ceiling boasts bubbles. where ever a nail is driven in for pictures, paint begins to crack and separate.

today i was taking note of the smooth layer of soft yellow that exists under the peeling paint in the living room. it's as if our landlord knew the paint would be peeling, and left us with an alternate color to look forward to. i'm beginning to have curiosity about how it will all look once the house is peeling more than it is painted. maybe i can help it along.

III

range of the land

bluffed up against

pine and cedar

massive oak delirium

bearded and strong

II

window shatters

double hung

tree same color as building

brick

I

five days

flannel pj's longer than her

"i can't sleep because my tooth keeps making me wiggle it"

thrum thrum explanation

then a look that says every thing

this treasure box found at the bottom of the stairs

gold wrought
lined in velvet