Neko Case

Last night we went to see Neko Case at Radio City.  "A dream come true," she said with gratitude, before leaving the stage.  It was in my fuzzy top five concerts ever.  I thoroughly enjoyed the evening of at times raucous, at times dramatic, at times heartbreaking, songcraft and music.  And laughs...there were many laughs between Neko's and Kelly Hogan's witty quips.

The most intense moment of the night was this song.

And the most happy-making, head-bopping, release-full one was this song.

Peace and love and music.

Music = life

Zach's songs are available on iTunes.

Marvelous mash up

Who's up for some internet awesome?

Sleepy snowy day

Mister Pond was on Fallon last night early this morning and I stayed up to watch so I am tired.

The day was spent going back and forth from the kitchen to bake/make something and the living room to chill for bits.

I opted to stay in from the snow today and made a kickass hot chocolate for the kids to warm themselves by when they came in.  I also made: Brussels sprouts (I wanted pine nuts but didn't have any so tossed in some sunflower seeds...would not recommend), roasted plum tomatoes, banana muffins, pretty perfect oatmeal, and, for the first time ever, Beef Stroganoff (wow, so good).

(I left out the cream and used 1 can of full fat coconut milk.  Used ghee rather than butter.)

Last night's pork chops.  Pretty, no?

Nothin' like warm 'nana  muffins on a winter morning.

Beef Stroganoff, where have you been all my life?  This was so yummy!

Gonna go let my eyes glaze in front of the boob tube.

Peace.

Cold

It's gotten a bit arctic 'round these parts.  Yesterday Gem and I walked around the corner to Kate's for a 12+ Minecraft gathering and we wondered how long it took for frostbite to set in on an exposed face.  (He had a nice time and I enjoyed some tea and chat with homeschooling peeps.)

Flu and colds are bouncing around.  So far, our immune systems are kicking butt.  Magic Ginger tea, wholesome food, enjoying fun and peace...the balance tipped a bit towards rest.

I have just one bit of cooking planned for today...these Garlic Roasted Sweet Potatoes.  I feel a bit cold-y so I have shelved my plans to run errands (library, bookstore for gifts, tea with a friend who, as it turned out, is feeling unwell herself).  I am going to meal plan and make a shopping list for tomorrow.  I will also finalize my birthday party food ideas.

Then, I am going to turn my attention to this pile of books which keeps growing.  I started Speak a couple of days ago so will finish that, first.  Maybe I will spend Sunday with Flight Behavior.

In the meantime, I am also devising a birthday favor playlist...

Peace.

Coming together

I think this is the last leftover Xmas pic.  This art figure came in a stocking and has been in various states of Gangnam Style ever since.

A jar that will (hopefully) fill with notes of good happenings in our lives this year.

The candied pecans squeaked in at the tail end of the season.  Xmas pecans as New Year pecans.

Oshougatsu, Japanese New Year's Day, is like American Thanksgiving in many ways.  My mom always makes a feast of traditional and symbolic food.  So delicious, so nourishing, so vital.  (Can you see niece requesting more fried chicken?)

Picked up a strategy over at Nom Nom Paleo, attributed to Jerry Seinfeld.  To aid in creating a new habit, put up a year-at-a-glance calendar and "x" off each consecutive day that you practice the habit.  The idea is to create a visual chain that strengthens as it grows.  I found some free printables and have taped four up around the apartment for: practicing Qigong, eating Paleo, playing piano and going outside.

Grace, over at Terra, really knows her tea.  This Darjeeling Second Flush was tucked into my stocking and I finally tried it today.  It is delectable.  So layered and satisfying and delicate.  Yum.  I am starting the new year with a graphic novel.  I got as far as reading through the cast of characters of Wolf Hall and fatigued.  If I hadn't seen The Tudors already I would have been completely overwhelmed!  I'll get back to it, just need something a bit more ease-y at the moment.

Gem and I took a stroll around the block after lunch.  The air was wonderfully bracing.  Loved it.  I also loved the wee nubbies on these branches.

My first selection for the piano this year is Across The Universe, a Beatles tune.  I did a tiny bit of research and decided to buy a subscription to Scribd.  I had never heard of it before.  It's the YouTube of documents and it is where I found the sheet music for the song.  With the subscription, ($59 for a year), the download was "free".  I look forward to seeing what else the site will offer this year.  But, in the meantime, I wanted to simply get started plunking the keys.

P.S.  I quit Instagram and am now using Photo Studio and Hipstamatic.  It is interesting how these photo apps seem similar and yet are not the same.  (I miss Instagram's filters...)  

P.P.S.  I am realizing that I need to figure out organizing my photos.  I've had my laptop for a year now, the iPhone for a couple of months, and it is time.  It's a big task and soon enough it will become overwhelming.  Fellow shutterbugs, please share what you do, what you use, how you do it, etc.  If you will.

Peace and love.

Your true home

"Your true home is in the here and now.  It is not limited by time, space, nationality, or race.  Your true home is not an abstract idea; it is something you can touch and live in every moment.  With mindfulness and concentration, the energies of the Buddha, you can find your true home in the full relaxation of your mind and body in the present moment."  ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Turning a new leaf, using "the new year" as a point upon which to pivot even as I chuckle at the arbitrariness of it all.

I don't know from Buddha, by the way.  As with spiritual words and ideas from other traditions, the forms of "god" or "higher power" do not compute for me.  Energy and balance, these things I can feel and know.  Spirit and sacred, I have felt and known these, too.  But, there is no structure, no hierarchy, for me, per se.

I guess there is no way around calling these resolutions.

• practice Qigong

• go outside

• eat Paleo

• play music

Every day.  For one year.  Relieving myself of having to think about it for one year.  Getting through each "special" circumstance that comes up over the course of a week, month, year: Fridays, PMS, birthdays, sometimes seemingly anything and everything, that can dissolve my resolve to do with thoughts of wish and wash.

I practiced Qigong this morning.  Toe dance, kick forward and kick backward.  Dragon-stands-between-heaven-and-earth.  A half hour of energy work.  The kick backward kicked my ass, my standing leg, on each side, burned and felt like it was going to snap by the end of the counts.  Dragon-standing gave me the usual challenge of my mind overcoming everything like a molasses flood.  A paltry three minutes.  More later before I check myself off for having practiced today.

There was heat generated and hopefully, released, there is serious heat inside of me.  Alchemy.

At a basic level, our bodies are our true homes.  How we function in, what we contribute to, the world around us, is determined by how optimally balanced we are in our bodies.  Peace of mind, flowing energy, happy hearts...it all germinates from healthy bodies.

Peace and love.

Barely

Hey there.

Sorry for my quiet here.  I have been under the weather...under "life"...in an under-mood.

The lice thing is looking up.  My friend, Kate, combed my hair with her much bosser nit/lice comb.  (As soon as I saw it, I knew the job would be much less tedious than the comb we'd picked up suggested.)  For this kinesthetic learner/being, it made all the difference to have someone guide me through the experience of combing.  I am forever grateful.

Her experienced eye found nothing in my hair.  I went home and combed all three dudes and found nothing.  That was Election Day.  I've been combing the boys and myself once a day since then and we've been "clean".  I'll have our doctor's office check us out tomorrow or Monday and with their official word, hopefully, this episode will be in our rearview.

There isn't much else to say.  I am barely here.  Skimming surfaces.

Music, when it arises, as always, is a balm.



Peace and love.

Hanging in the balance

Day 3 of Dragon's Way.  What is it that I/we have the urge to compartmentalize time.  Bracket it.

Ovulation-related hormone surge or dip had me nodding off in Vinny's waiting room yesterday afternoon.  Both pregnancies, I'd come home from work and nod off on the couch while sitting up.  (Muscle) memories.

And I cannot get enough dairy in me.

Balancing resting with the demands of daily life.  Always, but some days it feels more pointed than others.

I started the book yesterday.  Wow.  It's a good one.  Powerful swings from horror, heartbreak and hearty laughter.  A whodunit ensnared in cultural commentary.

Had myself an early dinner, solo, while the kids were at Video Game Design class.  It was a nice respite from the rush of the day.  The boys behind the counter were a delight to eavesdrop on.

Beginning to feel the instinctual shutting down for Winter.

Chopin, take it away.

Odds and ends

Science/nature appreciation outside our window.  This spider has been hanging about for a couple of weeks.  A stinkbug got caught in its web.  A feast was had.

We've had our first chilly days/nights.  Seasonal change I love.  I broke out the woolies.  Socks Wendy knit for me and a tank that was knit as a sample that I picked up during Stix n Stitches' closing sale.  Love wearing handknits.  Love.

I am hoping this is going to "stick", but in all honesty, I don't know if it will.  I really wanted the kids to pick an instrument through which they could study music and Sag immediately said he wanted to sing.  Well, the voice is an instrument, right?  Gem agreed to it, so we have had our first session.  They each picked a song, I plunked through the melodies on the piano and we sang.  It was...lovely in theory :-)

Off to Vinny's.

Peace.

September playlist

Every month(ish) I compile a playlist of songs.  Some are new-to-me songs that I hear on a movie or tv show soundtrack.  Some are old songs that come to me for one reason or another.  Some are songs the kids are into.

My September playlist is shaping up...interestingly.  We're about halfway through the month and here are the nine songs currently on high rotation:

That Year / Brandi Carlile

Leave A Tender Moment Alone / Billy Joel

How Do I Know / Here We Go Magic

Bizarre Love Triangle / New Order

Istanbul Not Constantinople / They Might Be Giants

Sidecar / Kathleen Edwards

Little Black Mess / Shivaree

With Or Without You / U2

Screw The Nether (Moves Like Jagger parody) / inthelittlewood

Peace and tunes y'all.

mass fun in Mass

We zipped up to the Motherland for a long weekend.  It was a very fun and full three days.  A great visit.  I didn't take photos for swaths of time so don't have a good cross section of visuals.

Saturday morning we drove straight to Kingston and visited with Olivia, Will and Karen.  The time was incredibly short, unfortunately.  We then dropped the kids off with Amy and hightailed it into JP.  We met friends (including Ebs and Eleanor) for a delicious Indian dinner.  Then it was onto the Pavilion for a Josh Ritter and Brandi Carlile double bill.  Josh Ritter was on my musical bucket list and, boy, he did not disappoint.  The dude had a smile on his face mile-wide all night.  He was *so* happy and into it.  Brandi Carlile was solid.  She's got a lot of charisma and was really cool.  We left her set early because it was getting late and I had a feeling Gem would be waiting up for us.  Oh, and, this was the first concert I've ever been to where I eschewed a decent selection of concert t-shirts for an autographed concert book.

Sunday morning Mummu came over for coffee and a visit.  We dropped her off back home (where I gasped at her gorgeous hydrangeas) and headed out to Fenway for a day game.  The game was the best we've been to yet.  It was plenty hot and fairly muggy, but there was a semi-regular breeze blowing and we were under the upper deck.  The first few innings were a pitcher's duel, but then the Sox started getting hits including a homerun by my current favorite player, Adrian Gonalez.  We were psyched to try the gluten-free Fenway Franks and thrilled to find them delicious!  (Will Cap and I ever get used to the sight of Gem eating something new-to-him-because-there-is-a-gluten-free-version?  Seeing him eat something as iconic and typical as a Fenway Frank made our hearts sing.)  After six innings in terrific seats, we made our way out of the park snapping a few pics.  It was a great afternoon.

After the game we made our way back to base camp where cousins and auntie and Jamie were waiting.  We enjoyed a quintessential summer meal al fresco on the new patio which I kind of can't believe I didn't photograph.  It was amazing.

Monday morning the kids stayed home with their cousins and Jay (who had been toiling at the hospital all weekend) and Cap and I took Mummu out to run errands.  It was productive and fun.  Jay and the kids met us for lunch where there was much oohing and aahing of synchronized swimming as we munched on Chinese and Japanese fare.  Afterward, Cap took the kidlets to the comic book store and Jay and I foraged for dinner (lobster and scallops).  After another dinner on the patio, we packed up and headed home.  The kids discovered the center arm rest with a pillow on top makes for happy resting.

Peace and love.

Monday muse

Thunder in the sky saving me from dragging my reluctant ass to the pool.  (The kids want to go and of course I want them to go.  But our town pools are very strict about no swimming while there is rumbling, even in the distance.)

I am sipping some delicious iced tea and deep in the throes of processing numerous piles of paperwork.

Listening to my summer playlist which is full of pep, joy, groove...as well as touches of wistfulness.

One of the things I uncovered in my excavation was a slip of paper with two names on it: Cy Twombly and Tacita Dean.  I had written their names down while at an exhibit with Barbra last month.  This is the nature of my life, having inspiration strike...while reflection is often reserved for a later date.  Not that much reflection has happened today.  But, now it's in my virtual notebook and I can recycle the slip of paper...

This morning I spent what ended up feeling like an inordinate amount of time researching steam mops. A week ago I didn't even know steam mops were even a thing.  In my quest for efficient cleaning I have looked into them.  Sadly, they are not a reliable quick fix.  Some people have had great experiences/purchases, while others have hated the exact same product/brand.  My sad, sticky, soiled kitchen floor awaits a verdict...an action of some sort.

Cap and I saw Friends with Kids and enjoyed it.  This song was used to start the movie and I loved it (even though I've heard it before and had not been similarly impressed).

Whole30 food : 25

"Don't let go, don't let go..."

Love when music provides just the right inspiration/directive.

Because I am in a mood and just about ready to be done.  Yet, typing "25" just shone a splash of comfort: blog as lighthouse...writing the process of moving on.  Even if only by a smidge.

Slept more and better than the deprived night before, but still tired.  Unfortunately, I am waking into a foul mood.

Not wanting to cook ---> wanting to eat out/get take-out ---> remembering eat out/take-out options for us are extremely limited (not to mention rough on the wallet) ---> realizing I don't really want to eat out/get take-out anyway ---> diving into the "go to" food du jour (ruing the lack of variety till I sink into satiation).

Grass-fed rib-eye steaks have been one of my "go to" proteins.  Seasoned with salt, pepper and granulated garlic, seared for four minutes on each side, rested for five minutes, done.  And delicious.

Peace and love.

From this pocket of the universe

Last night I took an Aleve to manage a headache so I could fall asleep.  (Which I did at 2am bathed in the cool air duet provided by ceiling fan and air conditioner.)

This morning I woke with no aches or pains as the I had the previous morning.  I was joyful but then realized it might have been due to the Aleve still in my system.

In the hours since waking my wrists have been tickled with nerve-y signals.

My body is telling me to move on from this new baseline of no Qigong and no herbs.

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Clearing off the big table this morning of my piles.  Sigh.  Always with the piles.

This afternoon I have a mind to wash the kitchen floor.  The humidity is bringing out all its sticky qualities.

Some quiet, cool cleaning before our four-day week.

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Ditties bringing me into Summer...

 

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A welcome profile on a great basketball player.

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Peace and love.

Bouncing bits

Where to start...my mind is all over the place.

PMS/sugar --> sleep disturbance --> pint of Ben & Jerry's in one sitting more sugar = unfortunate cycle.

Haven't we been here before?



This ain't over.

Meanwhile...

• drumsticks were hella on sale at Whole Foods.  I have some marinating overnight in wheat-free tamari, coconut sugar, garlic powder, ginger powder, sake and maple syrup.  will bake and broil tomorrow.

• the Bloggess is coming to our local indie bookshop!  I am thrilled even though it is likely I won't be able to go.  (Cap is coming home that same night.)  I've started reading her memoir and am enjoying it.

• have I mentioned the show House of Lies?  it's on Showtime and I'm catching episodes here and there on demand.  I go back and forth between feeling giddy about it to thinking it's pretty uneven and no great shakes.

• I have all three episodes of the second season of Sherlock in our dvr.  looking forward to watching those.

• Peep Show is hilarious.  I've told Cap we should watch this together.  we shall see if I can wait as long as this might take!

• my cup spilleth over with gratitude: our new kitchen gadgets (which make things go smoother), our health (two incidents today served as intensely sad reminders that mental health should never be taken for granted), and our extended family vacay coming up in August (Williamsburg again!)

• and Skype.  Skype is very good when partner/dad is halfway around the world with wifi.

• two artists I love have new music coming out: Regina Spektor and Sigur Rós.

Peace and love.

Life is but a stream

Last night I went to bed late-ish (Sunday night is chock full o'tv) and freaked out.  I heard very clear scritch scratching in two rooms at different points of the evening.  and the critter sounded bigger than a field mouse.  fine now.  talked to Donna and am pretty confident now it was a squirrel in the wall.

Today's stream:

• Skyped with Cap in the morning and at night.  (he arrived safe and sound and even got about six hours of sleep his first night.)

• inspired by his grandmother's impending trip to Carcassonne, Sag pulled out our Carcassonne and he and I had a blast playing.

• blew Gem's mind playing Mastermind.  guessed his code in four tries.  four times in a row.

• ate much food for comfort...a day of near solid rain and a separation from your beloved will do that.  not to mention general sleep deprivation and a period.

• enjoyed Digital Estate Planning with the kids.  a very awesome episode of Community.  the canning of the show's creator not a good sign for the future of the show.  season one was bumpy, but there are moments of sheer brilliance in seasons two and three.

• bid adieu to House.

MCA drum machine

Linkity linkity

I just can't quit her.

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Sad news about MCA.  Onion, I think he would have appreciated this.

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A nice blog about learning/teaching/unschooling.

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Feeling like I need a retreat...to catch up on all the piddly niggly shit stuff that just ain't getting attended to.

Peace and love.

Home before leaving

My fifth Spring in the Garden State, my first bout with Spring allergies.  It's not too bad, but it is something.

Have gone to bed "early" the past two nights, slept soundly and am still waking beat up.

Opted out of car shopping this morning.  Stuff was spilling off my plate.

The kids and I have started The Game of Silence and it is a heart wrencher.  Only those who have known me for a very long time know that there was a time when I was passionate about American Indian/Native American life in the United States.  I felt a strong connection and came close to pursuing a Master's in public health in order to go onto a reservation to work with women and children, in particular.

Reading these books by Louise Erdrich (one of my favorite authors and an enrolled member of the Ojibwe/Chippewa tribe) brings me right back to the painful and poignant and passionate sense of injustice done to the native tribes...the so often forgotten touchstone of original American tragedy.

I am heading back into the kitchen.  Today I make some dishes to contribute to our Easter dinner (gluten-free, casein-free, Paleo and Paleo-ish that travel well), as well as food for the car and food to have on hand while we're away.  Yep, I'll be cooking all day.

Today's Tiny Desk Concert lifted my spirits.  I love love love Kathleen Edwards.  Enjoy.