good nightingale
November 26, 2011 | Filed Under extraordinary, familial, the greene life | 2 Comments
the farm, a peaceful and wonderful place. grandpa is 92, so this kind of weekend won’t happen too many more times. we’ve got a beautiful, mortal life, do you know it? our little family felt the pangs of it as we drove under the pecan trees and away today.
pilgrims
November 25, 2011 | Filed Under ordinary | 1 Comment
the husband, kind and strong. the children, full of life and breath. the pup, asleep in a circle of himself. the sky, blue as ocean reflection, black and star specked, the great dome of stories overhead. the hope of the world without end, a gratitude forever.
more pics from our thanksgiving day at the farm here on ernie’s blog.
gratitudes
November 23, 2011 | Filed Under ordinary | Leave a Comment
two carolina wrens outside my window, one thin, one fat, going from fence to feeder and back to the fence again. birds and bird seed, some days, the most redeeming thing about winter.
coffee, lots of it, kids packing things they don’t need, dishes, floors, laundry, pup to the bath, kids to the bath, things to the car, north carolina for thanksgiving, the farm, sunny and 65 degrees forecast, some kind of pie, some kind of sweet potato situation, kids in the mud for three days straight.
hear her calling me a good horse
November 18, 2011 | Filed Under ordinary | 2 Comments
field trip to carl sandburg’s home, pizza at a nearby bakery, abandoned orchard for a lone bag of apples, drive up the mountain to hendersonville, drive back down the mountain home, windy and cold, a notebook drops in the water, goats, at least two each, tour of the house, carl’s house slippers as if they were just kicked off before bed, books high and all around, don’t touch anything, stay on the carpet runners, don’t touch anything, oops, remember to stay on the carpet runners, tour guide of patience, gingko leaves for walking, scooping up, stashing in a bag, afternoon of nothing, basketball, early darkness, black bean soup of dreams (my favorite cookbook is this one, with a few tweaks they’re all winners), things out of one leaking fridge, things into an unleaking fridge, thawing a turkey for an early thanksgiving, washing all laundry, falling to bed with the heavy sigh for tomorrow, too many pillows, too little blanketry.
swan dive
November 15, 2011 | Filed Under extraordinary, familial | Leave a Comment
oh, she’s my lola.
weekending
November 14, 2011 | Filed Under lists, weekending | Leave a Comment
remembering to put out the recycling
cleaning house
fruit flies in abundance due to poorly trashed apple core
homemade mod-podge (don’t you dare buy it again: equal parts glue to water and then a few extra glugs of glue; shake)
ernie’s brothers over with pizza for basketball games
moving furniture
finishing up rabbit sculptures
making donut muffins
skipping lunch
cleaning more house
kids rooms, top to bottom
carnitas!
perfect guacamole
friends for dinner
miles of music afterwards
dancing kids in costumes
early church
coffees, right away
other churchy things
pack lunches
fold laundry
to bed, too late
the minor fall, the major lift
November 13, 2011 | Filed Under extraordinary | 5 Comments
max behind me, in my chair. a mess of paper in my lap, on the desk, the floor. lola coming and going out, her hair newly long behind her shoulders. boys in the back dragging each other around the yard with a wading pool and a rope. ernie, a nap on the couch. sunday in a long stretch of gray, patches of white blue. trees nearly bones, leaves blown off the roof in gusts and gasps. coffee a few times, a few different ways.
on my back, the warm pup’s fur, his breath steady and sleeping. on my fingers, the stick of glue, on my fingers, the paper cold. lola’s arms around my neck, a secret for my ear, her face and voice young and new and beautiful. laughing boys, shrieking and laughing, hollering, fighting, the drag of the plastic through the yard. ernie stretched long, strong, handsome, mine and only mine. pause out the window, stand at the door, leaves from summer dead, red, swinging up, over, away. the coffee beans awhirl in the grinder, tapped into the press, a few minutes later, the water hot in steam poured over.
an older man from our church died this week. i didn’t know him at all, really. he was kind and funny to my boys, and very much alive, the kind of alive that makes it strange when the person dies suddenly. i want to feel very much alive. i wish i wasn’t so tired all of the time, so easily depressed by the early november darkness that brings in the winter, people that don’t seem to care whether i’m there or not, the mess of the house that never ends and always multiplies. none of it really matters beyond a few days or even minutes, but it’s easy for me to be overwhelmed by the things that don’t matter and to just completely miss the things that do. oh, the missing of it is so easy, easy for miles, decades.
where’s the music?
November 11, 2011 | Filed Under ordinary | 2 Comments
oops, missed more blogging days! i have entirely too little self-discipline for any kind of do-it-every-day project. unless it was “make coffee in a french press three times a day for thirty days!” project. i’d win the big money for that one.
this week annie graciously babysat for us and i went to hear medeski, martin & wood with my wonderful husband. it’s been a long time since i’ve been to a concert like this and verily, it was a good one. we were standing right in the front, up close and for real. i felt like i was floating in a haze of amazing organ vibes, impossible percussion and scratchy, sad melodies on an upright bass. yes!
before this we ate an outrageous burrito and a huge bowl of guacamole. mercy!
and after this we went to sleep and i woke up and cleaned the house, threw things away, changed sheets and did all laundry ever invented.
this weekend we’re moving some furniture about (anyone want to buy this piano from us?), making carnitas with friends, and ernie is planning to do some backyard ballistics with the boys, jude in particular, who loves to blow things up and make things launch into a cold blue sky.
early
November 8, 2011 | Filed Under royal buffet | Leave a Comment
it really does feel too early, but it really is not so i’ve updated the shop with some ornaments and a few things that haven’t been there in awhile. these hero ornaments were popular at indie craft parade so there aren’t many in stock. if you want one, don’t delay. unfortunately batman was the first to disappear. there are also some other amazing things in this month’s poppytalk marketplace, check it.
weekending
November 7, 2011 | Filed Under weekending | Leave a Comment
missed a day. but it was sunday, so exceptions can be made, no?
church, happy kids, open studios all afternoon, tacos for lunch (this blog is full of taco consumption, i know; i can’t apologize for it, though), early to bed for kids who thought they were up late because of the darkness of the hour and the time falling back, coffee, catching up on survivor, falling asleep in front of the tv.
this week i’m loading up the shop with ornaments and some various and sundry, not spending any money, going on a date at long last, baking cookies and only eating one (or two), hanging around with kids, reading bukowski in bits, and i might even open up that new ironing board and iron some of the wrinkly clothes that fill the closets. exciting, i know.