1. keeping Shanequa up after her bedtime

2. before the surrealist cabaret & pumpkin walk (favorite event of the year)

3. new teacups for $1.50 (a pattern of my past)

4. also before the cabaret (we got there too early)

5. favorite cabaret moment (Kailie made everyone fall silent with a beautiful piece about falling in love with the moon, deep sleeps, waking up, and tasting honey)

6. snack: english muffin, brie + tomatoes grown by Maria! the tomatoes were gifted to Jesse after he learned they contain mega electrolytes, got really into them ("I always craved them after riding, never knew why UNTIL NOW"). for previous exercise food obsessions, please see: coconut water, cliff blocks ("adult gummy snacks") + cacao nibs.

creatures i love

to philadelphia!

also: family is +1

sundaze

two half-eaten cakes in the fridge: one cheesecake with cherries and the other chocolate with the most velvety mousse. both punctured with birthday candle holes.

a few weeks ago we moved a shelf with some plants on it up against the couch and shanequa has this funny habit of sticking her head in the midst of all the plants and just sitting, meditating on the surrounding jungle.



she's claimed a grocery store discarded sweet potato box as her own. passes hours each day alternating between sleep and meticulously grooming herself.



this is not a cat blog. (but we're getting a tiny black kitten this week named moose!!!)

woke up with piercing headache. no work today. it's the strangest temperature outside - low, gray skies. 70° & humid. but these icy little sprinkles of rain are falling. an outerwear nightmare.

the past year has whipped by and finally life has settled down enough to breathe. it's summer again, and again i'm met with the cyclical feeling of intense love for my surroundings and western Massachusetts in general. rode my bike 20 miles today, went to class, worked for 6 hours, and finished a big piece of my schoolwork for the week. the days are full and rich and (sweaty).

for now, let's catch up:












& this: never going back again

sent jesse on a mission to get eggs from the stand down the street and he came back with a half-dozen duck eggs. alas - duck eggs for breakfast. apparently, they've a higher yolk to egg ratio, so they're a favorite among yolk enthusiasts. because they were fresh, the yolks were brilliantly yellow. the only difference noticeable other than the larger yolk was a harder shell. considering we were soft-boiling, that was somewhat a hassle.

we're moving, soon

it's hot (I mean like, fucking burn yourself on the metal seatbelt hot) and I got my banjo back today. somehow it's still in tune after a major temperature change, traveling between people, and not being played for a month.

heading south tomorrow, camera still broken, haven't packed.

oh, and:




that too.

fine yellow dust

+ we fell asleep last night feeling disoriented and scared because our heads were full of pollen and therefore couldn't think or breathe.

+ bonfire down by the river tonight to get rid of that gasoline.

+ embarrassing myself/grossing out others with paralyzing phlegmy coughing fits today at the clinic.

jazz cam

want to lick best friend clean. all of the dried blood and broken bones.

other than that, it got cold again after our streak of ninety degrees and HOLY SHIT I was so cold last night he kept letting cold air under the covers and I grumpily scolded half-asleep.

this morning: scrambled eggs w jalapeños in a cup, eaten with a spoon

the river in hadley is flooded twenty five feet further inland than normal and has brought really nice silty mud to the edge so we squished around in that for a while and walked barefoot back across dusty farm fields which caked our feet.

after that, I almost ran over roadkill two different times on my bike ride.

things i learned this weekend:

+when trying to impress your friends at the campfire w fireworks you casually found in your glovebox, make sure they are not "snakes" because they may have seemed cool when you were little but man they are LAME

+there is a specific type of wood that while burning smells like hot dogs, more on that later

+sharing a bed w someone when you have a raging headcold is surprisingly tricky, but also offers opportunities for growth in the relationship


***

texas last week. ate a lot of tacos and one night russell and i ran out of the bar because we were furiously hungry and got chili fries on the street served in a paper cone. also: cannonballs into the icy depths of trey's pool, awkward sunburns (progressed to tan - now awkward juxtaposed against chilly new england), pure euphoria laying in the grass w liz and biggy & befriending broketail, the wandering cat w a broken tail.

fourth of july, 2009. the temporary tattoos were a hit.

yesterday: hot dogs and sauerkraut on coney island. saw a roadkill rat; cheney put a penny on its eye.

big city lights

annie is trying to make toast without a toaster. other than that, omelets and sausage for breakfast.

impromptu 4:30am food tour on the way to the train. $1 samosas from a 24hr pakistani deli, then slices of pizza two blocks later. delicious samosas, questionable pizza.

EDIT: toaster project is a bust.

texas on the mind. really nice morning light (below). woke up in hadley. need more sleep.

• airplanes
• amphibians
• art
• baby pandas getting propelled backwards by their sneeze
• bbq
• election
• fall
• first freeze
• gettin dirty
• ginger
• Goldschläger
• guilt
• i like to get things in the mail
• it is my only contact with the outside world
• karma
• leaves
• lobsters
• obligate midwifery
• salamanca
• small things
• soundscapes
• spuds
• squishing
• strawberry costume
• tears
• vibrancy

world's tiniest orchid, 2mm across.