Kickstand

LatteArt from Kreativt on Vimeo.

Lamplighter is offering free coffee all day at their new location in Scott's Addition, 1717 Summit Ave!

years

Last week, we watched a dear friend drift out of this life & join the eternal one. Dare I say matriarch? She was a true oak of righteousness, giving more than I have yet understood. In Betty's honor, enjoy Bartholomäus Traubeck's piece "Years," an audio recording of tree rings being translated (by computer) into music, akin to a record player needle reading the grooves on an LP. It's quite lovely.


YEARS from Bartholomäus Traubeck on Vimeo.

gifties

Above, a really good decoy birthday gift. Sneaky sweetie bartered for an iPad, after much protest over the item. It really does make everything faster & result in less screen time, more book reading & cooking, etc. Thanks, love, for knowing me so well. I adore our life together.

sweet

Honey Harvest from Kinfolk


Really enjoyed this today, among other quiet activities with the boys in the unseasonal warmth.

as i grow into a grandmother

Another handmade gift, which I failed to photograph before digging in, was sent home in the arms of my brother as he returned from the rural farm of our NH grandparents over Thanksgiving. Grammie filled a peck-sized basket with her relish, jam, soup, sauce & salsa! After a prudent pruning, their fruit trees exploded this year & we are devouring yet savoring the harvest she sent. With any luck, we'll get to road trip up there this summer & let the boys run amok. (Yes, I predict Os will be running by then.) I hope, with more ease, to also visit Nana for a day trip or two. And as I think of them both, I aspire to be a bit of them both as I grow up with my boys. Willing to travel light in order to see more places & learn more languages; willing to camp out at home & learn to love a simpler, quiet life. Resourceful, adventurous, affectionate, funny, wise. A faithful friend, wife, mother, teacher, artist. That's who they are & who I would like to become.

handmade quota

Received: play cape from Aunt Bonnie, play kitchen from Mama, cookbook shelf from sweetie

Given: cookie dough logs w/ baking instructions, healing salve, apple butter & cute apple magnets, marshmallows for pepperminty hot cocoa, ornaments

merry, but difficult

Monday was Os' first night away from mama. Apparently all he wanted for Christmas were his (first) two front teeth, resulting in severe sleep deprivation while we stayed with family. Waking every 45 min all night long, nine nights in a row? That's an interrogation torture tactic. So gracious Nana took Os for a sleepover; one night to help mama recover. Now begins the work of retraining the little cuddle-bug to sleep longer stints. Same room, same bed, same rules each night.

merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas

images via Poppytalk

Things I hope to someday do during the Advent season:

• go rural caroling via horse-drawn sleigh
• make gingerbread houses out of Lebkuchen
• roast & eat chesnuts
• be overseas on Christmas

ginger

Fighting the urge for this hair again (as when E was 3 mo), with henna in the fridge waiting to be melted down. Also looking forward to a day when it would be fun, rather than ridiculous, to have festive nails.

image via thecherryblossomgirl

and now, we carol!

This year we learned Carol of the Bells & will keep up tradition with Gaudete, God Rest Ye Three Kings, etc. Tonight in the Fan. They do it for the grade & the candy.