Arboretum ho!

We got 3-ish inches of snow today...  

... soggy, slobbery snow, the best kind for romping in... 

You say good-bye, and I say hello...

Good bye, good-bye! 

Beautiful, colorful apartment...

(Sniff...)

Hello, hello! 

New house, just one block north- the glowing white one in the middle... 

Oh the many possibilities... 

Ahhh December...

Well, I dropped my camera... so sadly, no more in-focus photos! 

But merry christmas to you... because christmas is what I celebrate this time of year... and I want to share my sweet little tree with you, because it makes me glad. It takes me back through all the years of my childhood-- picking out trees and decorating them, being a family, creating special traditions and celebrations... And having friends around and believing that somehow we are all a part of something much bigger than ourselves. And that is good.  

Fall...

Today was a brilliant fall day- the kind of day that awakens ones senses and makes one feel hopeful and alive even though fall is the season before winter, a season of slowing, darkening, waiting and longing. But today, now, my heart feels light, I am excited, I am glad, I am ready.

I awoke to bright sunlight- the clean, clear, fresh kind of sunlight after a weekend of incessant rain… how satisfying too, to see my clean, freshly organized room in the brilliant streaming sunlight. Outside the clouds were a dark purple, it was one of those strange inexplicable weather things… they were dark- but not rainclouds, just thick, close, dark purple clouds. The contrast of the clouds heightened the sunlight, or maybe the golden sunlight heightened the clouds- I don’t know- but everything was clear and especially brilliant. And the wind! Loudly outside, pulling at the trees making them dance and sing. An unexpected email from a distant friend, his words, his sentiments resonating deep in my soul… cause for dancing and singing of my own.

I got into my car, hands full of the necessities of the day: cup of coffee, gym bag, lunch… headed toward the highway, but turned up Calvert instead, opting for the long way… Winding through the neighborhoods… to be IN it all (as long as possible)- a world alive and swirling with the movement and color of the wind- a great paintbrush or fleet of brushes, painting the leaves, their goldens, browns, reds and yellows, in big swaths-- this way and that… the sunlight catching each little leaf glittering in the frenzied to and fro of the pack across the street and back again, up up up in a thrilling swirl… fluttering down. Pause... Again! Oh what sheer FUN I tell you!

Laugher and glee glittering in the corners of my own wide-open eyes… Josh Ritter, his smiling voice and strumming guitar rockin’ through my sweet old gold volvo- yes yes! Let me remember why I want to be a rockstar and make note to really practice tonight.

I’m at work now I know, I know… but I need to recount and record the delight of the morning to myself- to hold onto its beauty- I already feel it fading as I settle in the world of office, computer screen and type type typing away at matters of great consequence. But I still hear the wind and the leaves at play outside my window- their running, tumbling, colorful clatter- like a great roomful of clapping behind closed doors… And now, with a deep sigh of gratitude and a sprig of anticipation at what might be, I embark on the week and all that is in front of me…

Texture...

Home for thanksgiving... so, SO good I tell you... made me appreciate the fact that Baltimore winters really ARE rather mild.

Saturday afternoon we drove out to Blackwell for a walk about- myself, my mom, aunt, cousin and "the 4" hot dogs" as my uncle calls them, Francie and Skittles. I borrowed my Dads Nikon D200... which was a FAR more satisfying picture taking experience than my silly little digital point and shoot. Ahhh... I'd almost forgotten what its like to feel the weight of the camera, look through the view finder... consider the aperture size and shutter speed... to hear the satisfying click of the shutter...

It was a cold, bright afternoon... the colors fast asleep somewhere below the surface, the sunlight pulling out the textures of winter...

beautiful colors...

Living life and rockin out...

Funny its only 9:00pm, but I’m still trying to adjust to it getting dark at 5 and it feels far later than 9. I will say though, its always wonderful to find out the day is not as far gone as you believed it was… indeed there is time yet for another cup of tea!

Seasons are interesting markers of time. For me they seem to heighten its passage, I am either anticipating what is coming next, or lamenting the loss of what is now gone... Growing up with only two seasons that didn’t much affect ones dress or activities, life felt slower. Maybe that had more to do with simply being young and unaware of the bigness of life... Maybe both...

This year winter has been a long time coming and has conveniently coincided with a great deal of change in my own life that has left me feeling as desolate and cold inside as it is outside. I HATE WINTER! I just want the sunshine, warmth and green leaves...

*Ahh… tea…*

I’ve felt rather gloomy and sad for a while… but I don’t think I can manage that long term. It’s just no fun... So enough! There are still plenty of mornings where the sadness settles around my heart and takes a good deal of shaking, but really, I am glad for life. Glad for the full spectrum of colors and emotions that living it offers… I am thankful for the seasons that bring a chance for change… So rather than a season of dormancy ahead I have decided to embrace this season of my life with good things, and new things... and FUN things...

I am reading. Currently enjoying Memoirs of a Geisha…

I’m enjoying the ritual of the farmers market every Saturday morning and making delicious, hearty meals with local produce such as this yummy soup:

RED LENTIL SOUP WITH GREENS
1 1/4 cups red lentils
1 tsp. salt
2 Tlbs. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. black mustard seeds
1 1/2 tsp. anise or fennel seeds
1/4-1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 Tlbs. grated ginger root
1 garlic clove, minced
4 cups rinsed, drained, and chopped fresh mustard greens, swill chard, spinach or KALE!!!
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup coconut milk

Rinse the lentils and drain. In a soup pot, bring 5 cups of water, the lentils and salt to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook until tender, about 30 min.

While the lentils cook, warm the oil in a saucepan on medium heat, add the black mustard seeds, and cover until they pop. Stir in the fennel, red pepper flakes, ginger, and garlic and cook for a minute, stirring constantly. Add the greens and the salt and cook, stirring frequently, until the greens are just wilted. Stir in the coconut milk and simmer for a minute. Remove from heat.

When the lentils are sot, stir in the greens and coconut milk mixture and add salt to taste.
***from Simple Suppers, a moosewood cookbook.***
SO GOOD... but you really have to like the flavor of anise...

I am teaching myself/taking guitar lessons, building up my callouses:
(I AM going to be a rockstar...!)


I am taking my own mini road trips (today to Hagerstown and Harpers Ferry), rocking out to good music, singing at the top of my lungs and driving 80 miles an hour on long and windy roads… wooohooo!!!! Can't catch me! (I LOVE driving...)


And life is GOOD.

PS- is this car hilarious or what?

Two beautiful murals in south west B'more

Some good community art silliness for you...

Who ever makes up the best narrative for this sequence of photos wins! This is my co-director by the way, HM, and our two maca interns, J and N. Such good people!



Thankgoodness for silliness and laughter...!

Friends for what ails ya....

I headed out of raining Baltimore for a sunshine filled weekend in DC/Gaithersburg with friends...


... who made yummy pumpkin soup in its own shell with the fabulous local pumpkin from last weekends jaunt in the country...

This morning we got up-- despite having stayed up too late drinking hot apple toddies and smoking shisha-- and went for a crisp early morning, bright and beautiful 4-mile (..ish??) hike at nearby Seneca Lake State Park...

So, so lovely.



Ahh... to love and be loved is to feel the sun on both sides....

Raining in Baltimore

This circus is falling down on its knees
The big top is crumbling down
Its raining in Baltimore fifty miles east
Where you should be, no ones around

I need a phone call
I need a raincoat
I need a big love
I need a phone call

These train conversations are passing me by
And I don’t have nothing to say
You get what you pay for
But I just had no intention of living this way

I need a phone call
I need a plane ride
I need a sunburn
I need a raincoat

And I get no answers
And I don’t get no change
It’s raining in Baltimore, baby
But everything else is the same

There’s things I remember and things I forget
I miss you I guess that I should
Three thousand five hundred miles away
But what would you change if you could?

I need a phone call
Maybe I should buy a new car
I can always hear a freight train if I listen real hard
And I wish it was a small world
Because I’m lonely for the big towns
I’d like to hear a little guitar
I think its time to put the top down

I need a phone call
I need a raincoat

**ok so a tad melodramatic, but I'm feeling a tad melodramatic... and it IS raining in Baltimore right now, and this song came across my ipod this morning and it just seemed to fit...

Pumpkins pumpkins pumpkins! And apples!

Blue blue skies... warm-for-this-time-of-year weather... friends... apples a plenty... a pumpkin stand... impatient goats... the rolling hills of Mountgomery County... cameras... What more could one ask for on a Saturday afternoon in October? Except maybe Ethiopian for dinner afterwards... which, as it so happens, is easily arranged in this part of the world. Mmmmm!