Friday, April 29, 2011

Where to

 Can't wait to go to the co-op, then home for the last few minutes of daylight. Two days at home, then two days of work, then off to Icicle Creek for a 5 day writing retreat, where who knows what things will happen or show up here!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Sunday Stop

 Samish Bay Cheese was everything I hoped it would be. One small room with a stool and a cash register, a few chalkboards telling you which cheeses were available that day. Ask about something special and the woman working there will open that little white door inside to search the racks and racks of aging cheese for just the thing you are looking for - 4-year aged Gouda or something with nettles in it, or something spicy. There was a little dog sitting outside   waiting for a little cheese snack, patrolling in the most friendly way. I bought fresh Ladysmith and the cheese crackers that Breadfarm makes for them, and some sweet italian sausage for a Bolognese sauce I'd make later. When I got home, Tom and I took a break from the yard renovations currently underway and sat at our little table eating salami and apple slices and the crackers and all our cheeses. 

Friday, April 08, 2011

Going Home

Wednesday felt like a tease this week. One little night at home, dinner with James and Tom as though it were the weekend and movie night. Jessica was missing, off on a field trip to Portland, and so was the day off that I so wished would follow that night. 

After James left, Tom and I went outside, the way we do, a single dim flashlight illuminating the parts of the yard that he had worked on since I was home last, the parts of the yard not illuminated by the big floodlight from the back porch. Sweeping it along the fence line, the beam of the flashlight caught something glimmering, like a fishing lure in water, then a quick beat of wings as something dropped off a fencepost, then lifted up to perch on the next post. A little owl, I think, and the reason that the frogs were singing so loudly in the front part of the yard, and not at all in the back. He flew off eventually and the frog song flooded the property entirely. 

My life is so much more populated by the feathered and furred creatures of the world these days. I love that about the mini-farm. People always ask me if we have animals there, and I know what they mean so I say, just a dog, though she is so much more than just a dog, and the rest of the creatures we share the land with are so much more as well. I should say yes, harriers and moles and eagles and frogs and there will be swallows again this summer. Herons fly over and so many other birds that I have yet to name, and hopefully more than I will ever be able to.

Monday, April 04, 2011

Sleet

Technically, there isn't any sleet around here at the moment. But for some part of nearly every day, the cold, rain-slanting wind makes it feel as though there is. Coming home from dinner tonight, Tom and I sat in the car in the driveway for minutes, engine off, just looking at the cold rainy fields, still pond-like with flooding. Yesterday was different, though, the evening around sunset was lovely, warmish and made musical by the frogs, the spring bird songs, and when you stood in the back field, the quiet trickling of the groundwater sinking back into the earth. 

Saturday, April 02, 2011

Home, Kind of

we are staying in New York this weekend. It feels like a rare, special thing to be home on Friday night with no particular plans for tomorrow beyond brunch and maybe the playground.

During the winter we are almost always bound for the house in Vermont and every Friday night involves simultaneously packing the laundry, cooking dinner for and feeding the kids, packing groceries, toys, books, movies, etc. etc. forever and ever.

But a night like tonight I get to spend cooking an experimental dinner, watching some crap television, catching up on the FB addiction and generally relaxing. While the twins are sleeping, of course.

We have a lot going on here. Birthdays. Potty training - oh, god the potty training... work and whatnot.

I went to my first ballet class in 25 years today. I spent the entire time trying to not fall over because I was laughing so hard.

Anyways. There's a lot going on. There is also nothing going on. The boys are healthy, cheerful, surprising and delightful. When they aren't being challenging, contrary, pissy and whingey. Ahem.

Next weekend we'll be back to Vermont for our last week of skiing and snowboarding. I can't wait until next Winter, when I am teaching. But I won't wish my time away.

Love you, miss you.
A

Friday, April 01, 2011

Better Late Than Never

A little peek into the boys third birthday...