keeping it cool on hot summer days..

Summer is in. Full force. Volatile weather... Extreme highs, sudden storms... swirling blowing warm air on your browning skin, sweat- purging your pours of all the built up winterness... its been just fantastic. All this unhappyness with the heat... you won't catch me wishing it away!!

With no AC (no thanks) there are PUH-lenty of ways to stay cool:
- ceiling fans ROCK. I'm wondering what my landlord would do with a request for one in every room, not just our dining room. Probably up the rent. Rats.

- watering your feet while watering thirsty plants
- a cool-down shower just before bed, starting lukewarm- getting colder, just how low you can go?
- Ice-cold chunks of watermelon. Not frozen mind you, just ice-cold. 

- Strawberry shortcake. Mmm.
- a wet washcloth...

- mojitos!! 

Not so helpful for staying cool on a hot, HOT, H O T summer day…
- a fuzzy kitty wanting to cuddle up
- running, or even walking for that matter
- the oven, but then how else does one end up with strawberry shortcake?

- tarmac

- sitting in an office thats so air-conditioned, you have resort to jackets and fleeces- in 100 degree weather. HELLO?! 

Ahhhh summertime. Love it. 

This is for you Katie-- Happy Birthday!!

So this here is Junebug… a two-month old little kitten whom I have adopted… I don’t really consider myself a cat person, or an animal person for that matter… but I’ve gone and done it- adopted a kitty from the SPCA… Shocking.

Oh the responsibility of this whole other life! Worrying about getting home so she’s not all alone… is she eating enough? Is she eating too much? Shes been sneezing an awful lot, is she sick? Why does she keep scratching… is it fleas? And what does it mean to adopt a companion that could potentially be with me for the next 15 years? 15 years!!! How can I possibly commit to something for 15 years when I don’t even know what I will be doing with myself next year?!

This June I will have been in Baltimore three years. I moved here with the specific goal of getting my masters and heading off into the wild blue yonder educated and ready to face many a great lion. I got my masters. And I am still here. “One more year- just while Kara finishes out her degree.” “Ok, I can do another six months; Good experience.” “Nine more months, I will give it just nine more months.” “Ok, so now I’m the co-director of my program area. That warrants a good year under my belt, hey?”

Come July I will have been co-directing community art for one year.

People who know a bit about me will ask, “So what about Africa?” The question riddles me with… with… argh…! Lord knows I’d like to give you a really good answer. It is true, I have always planned to go back ‘home’ to live and work. But the notion of being back has gotten intensely more complicated over the years. Maybe it doesn’t need to be… but it is. I don’t have an answer. I don’t know what this point in my life means, I don’t know how to be here and work towards getting there. I question my motives and reasons for going back. I wonder what it would mean, to be there, to live and to work… these questions, and believe me- many more- create this paralysis… But it is not just paralysis. There is being here… I have come to love Baltimore; I have found some semblance of community. I love my work place and my co-workers, and what I do (for the most part). I continue to learn. Things that I feel will stand me in good stead when I do find myself in other places. Blink… Blink.

As this year mark fast approaches, I continue to live in an internal state of limbo, contemplating yet another unknown span of time to commit myself to here in Baltimore. Unable to fully root down, because I know upheaval is somewhere in the future.  

But so in an attempt to just be where I’m at… in an attempt to dig in a little more I have found this ridiculously cute little companion to share my life and space with. So I am here- with Junebug, until I have reason not to be. Or a good reason to be elsewhere. And then perhaps we will venture out together. Who knows? For now it is just rather lovely to have a fuzzy, cute little critter that likes to snuggle. And chase her tail, and hurl through the air at break-necking speeds.

First beach trip of the season....

A few snaps from a fun weekend in Chincoteague/Assateague with the oh-so-famous Ms. Cloonan... Whats a little rain and 40 degrees?? Bring on the beach!

reds, whites and bluegrass...

A couple of weeks ago it was a fun Sunday afternoon of reds, whites and BLUEGRASS at Boordy Vineyards just north of the city... such a good time! Good wine, Jackass Flats and a good friend Laura.

for now...

metamorphosis

Before:

After:

I can't tell if it looks like all that much in the photos, but it is. I spent the whole day Saturday raking and hoeing and hauling and planting in my wee little patch of a back yard... I feel quite satisfied with myself... it was a gloriously warm sunshiny day, free of commitments or travel plans... I went to the farmers market first thing and came back with a flat of herblets and tomatolets and pepperlets, and marigolds... all which seemed to have survived the night, and are just now getting soaked by a fantastic thunderstorm. NICE. I am excited to see how they do over the summer... My only concern is fending off the rats... Unfortunately baltimore allyrats know no boundaries... I'm not sure if they'll bother my plantlings or not... either way I'm not all that keen on sharing my space with them, but since I'm not entirely sure much can be done to keep them out, we might have to learn how to coexist. Anyone know any good tricks-- besides killing them-- that will encourage them to look for greener pastures elsewhere??  

And indoors, we have some luscious african violets... I'd like to claim a royal green thumb here... but really, its just the most ideal indirect sunlit spot. They are absolutely loving it.

warm days in baltimore

A few days ago- a few short days ago, I wrote an email to a friend titled "dead space," because I have been feeling unsettled, discontent... cold- literally... cold; the green growingness of spring is here, but not the warmth. And the grey coldness of it all has left me feeling like I'm in this holding pattern, this dead space. The reply was "live space." No Rachel, you are not living in dead space, you are living in LIVE space. It is a good season. 

On June 24th 2007 I posted a photo of a baltimore arabber... Today I was making some calls at work, looking for a good, cheap photographer who might be interested in shooting some events this summer in exchange for a class at BCW, or something of the like... Anyhow, I heard about this fellow, Colby Ware, and checked out his site; he has a beautiful piece in his stories section on arabbers-- amazing photos that capture one of the beautiful, quiet traditions that makes Baltimore so special. 

And today at long last it WAS warm again. We ate lunch outside... my arms are slightly burned... petals are dropping off trees and leaving in their place bright, fresh little green leaves. SHADE! Soon horses bells will jingle jangle in time with the clippity clop of hooves on pavement-- their arabbers calling out their wares, pimped out ice-cream trucks will be singing their wacky tunes (ode to joy and fur elise and hello!) through the neighborhoods, suntea will be abrewin' on the back porch, and the days will be gloriously long. The air smells alive and fresh. I feel my spirit awakening... and I am living again in alive space. Winter be GONE! 

brand spankin' new golden green and blue days!!

LOVE IT!!!

April Birthdays...

April 9: Nasan- now an older wiser 26...

April 12: Karaduck- made it at long last to glorious 30!! 
This is what happens when there are seven people at home for the weekend:
Little bit o' sunshine cake (thanks Rita)
Nathaniel and his very thoughtful gifts to Kara...
The customary family foto.... 
And our fearless photographer... 

cherry blossoms and THEN some...

I'm certain the internet has been inundated with images of the DC cherry blossoms- based on the number of people and cameras and photos being taken on Saturday... (and that was just Saturday!). I was one of the masses, enjoying spring, reveling in the blossoms, snapping away with my own little digital and am now uploading for all to see... but I'm also quite certain, despite the millions, there were only about five other individuals who had such a day as this...

We met up for a lovely picnic- despite the CHILLY wind... (it may LOOK like spring... but still feels a little on the wintery side...) 

We had the most impressive picnic: homemade pesto- Beth and Josh, fresh multi-grain rolls- Rita, razzle-dazzle ratatoullie- Juan, raw horseradish cheese and fresh apple cider- Katie, and a fantastic full-of-farmers-market-goodness kale salad- Katie and I. Oh and let me not forget the shortbread cookies Rita made. Like I said, impressive; we were stuffed ticks by the end!

We stole kisses on the sly... (ok Josh did...)
We admired and enjoyed the kite festival. Overhead the air was buzzing with taut kite strings holding on for dear life to pirate ships, dragons, fish, dolphins, butterflies, whirly gigs, curly q's and all sorts of crazy, colorful kites... This photo doesn't quite do it justice. 

We made a group phone call to a certain missing individual...

Ahhh, we had such fun! 

As did, I'm quite certain, many MANY others...  

sweet glee

Many people seem to think it is foolish, even superstitious to believe that the world could still change for the better. And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold that one is tempted to say, "what do I care if there is a summer; its warmth is no help to me now." Yes, evil often seems to surpass good by far. But then in spite of us, and without our permission, there comes at last an end to the bitter frosts. One morning the wind turns, and there is a thaw. And so I must have hope.

~Vincent VanGogh

Letters

spring is on its way...

Mornings at Blackwater
By Mary Oliver

For years, every morning, I drank
from Blackwater Pond.
It was flavored with oak leaves and also, no doubt,
the feet of ducks.

And always it assuaged me
from the dry bowl of the very far past.

What I want to say is
that the past is the past,
and the present is what your life is,
and you are capable
of choosing what that will be,
darling citizen.

So come to the pond,
or the river of your imagination,
or the harbor of your longing,

and put your lips to the world.
And live
your life.

Molly visiting for a whole week...
Two of my dearest friends, and a beautiful collision of worlds...
Easter with Rita, Juan and Caramello....

... and a lovely little whirly-gig...

thin blue flame...

...I woke beneath a clear blue sky
The sun a shout the breeze a sigh
My old hometown and the streets I knew
Were wrapped up in a royal blue
I heard my friends laughing out across the fields
The girls in the gloaming and the birds on the wheel
The raw smell of horses and the warm smell of hay
Cicadas electric in the heat of the day
A run of Three Sisters and the flush of the land
And the lake was a diamond in the valley's hand
The straight of the highway and the scattered out hearts
They were coming together they pulling apart
And angels everywhere were in my midst
In the ones that I loved in the ones that I kissed
I wondered what it was I'd been looking for up above
Heaven is so big there ain't no need to look up
So I stopped looking for royal cities in the air
Only a full house gonna have a prayer...

(Josh Ritter, A thin blue flame)

sunny Florida!!

Oh glorious florida-- a chance to be in the sunshine with my wonderful grandmother a million miles away from the chaos of Baltimore...

waiting patiently for spring...

This piece of fabric was part of a MICA students thesis work hanging on the wall of the station building last December... I was at the time madly consumed with my own thesis work, but seeing this piece on my way to class or from class brought all that madness to a halt. I stopped and stared... after a few minutes I snapped a quick photo before running off to whatever was next on the agenda; sadly without getting the name of artist... My deepest apologies to him or her... but I'm posting it because I love it, for so very many reasons. It epitomizes my love of the creative process and beauty in life, it expresses hope, it speaks to spring and rebirth... to put a very few of my own bumbling words to it. 

A late summer flower from my porch which speaks all the very same sentiments to me.

So on this cold grey day, sitting in a coffee shop waiting indefinitely for my car to get fixed for some exorbitant sum... I feel glad and hopeful! Simon and Garfunkel in the background doesn't hurt either...

OtotheBtotheAtotheMtotheA!!! OBAMA!

I was at the 1st Mariner Arena downtown Baltimore last night to hear Obama speak before the "Potomac Primaries" here today- wild, crazy, fun, hopeful energy rocked through the place! Everywhere people were SMILING... 

I rode the light rail down with a middle aged/middle class white fellow- a Republican who wanted to see if Obama really is all he's cracked up to be.  In the stadium to my right was a 30's-ish, gay, black man who took the day off work had been standing outside since 10:00am to hear Obama speak; to my left a fuddy-duddy-looking 60's-ish woman sat primly reading her book while we waited (and waited and waited and waited), but stood and sang the anthem loudly (off key) but loudly, and cheered right along with the passel of college students in front of us, and the man and his daughter behind us... From what I saw, just about every age, every color, every orientation seemed to be there- and really one of the most impressive things- everyone was SMILING... Such hope!

Ok, not a very impressive photo to go with- I have a fun video of the entire stadium doing the wave, but I can't seem to upload it... RATS. 

photo shoot

My photo-friend Christy just bought herself a little old box camera on ebay and rigged it up to work with her digital for some fun effects. She came over last weekend to take fun photos... very cool. 

check em out:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/forqueenvictoriastudios/page2/

(the photos of my house are from 'detail' to 'living room')

Internet and TV... necessities??

Since moving into my new place the internet has become a scarce resource... (incase you hadn't noticed my lack of posting...) I keep thinking do I really NEED internet at home?! I can live without it, right? And setting it up is such a horrid chore- I've done it before and I know its going to be an agonizing month-long battle with comcast or verizon... when can they come? when can we be here? we're here they don't come... we're not here they come... somethings wrong with the equipment... another run around on the phone for an hour... we wait another week for another person to come out and say the same thing... and then it starts all over again. ARG... SUCH a pain. (And this is EVERYONES story with the two monopolizing internet companies... leastwise in this city...) Is it worth it?? 

Because sometimes it works... a day here a day there... sometimes a week at a go with full bars from the neighbors, and I think, I can deal... sitting backwards on the couch getting a crick in my neck (the only place we get reception) Until when you really need it and sit down check your loan status... and... nothing. 

And then there's TV. Now, we neither need nor want ten million channels, but oh-sweet-joy when we figured out how to rig it up to get a relatively clear ABC and NBC to watch the the primaries... (go obama!!)...

And really, wouldn't it just be lovely to not to rely on the internet and not to have non-stop tv at home? Oh yes, the allnaturalgranolagirlminimalist in me says! I don't need all this technology... But then who am I kidding... I kind of like writing and receiving emails and posting photos... and checking blogs... and knowing whats going on around the world, and whats a bust in this crazy city... 

Well, for not its working at any rate... we'll see how long I last...