Little boy

Do I look more like a Beatle or that guy who leads David Letterman's orchestra?

This weekend we went out for SEAFOOD! YAY seafood! I've lived mere miles from the Pacific for months and this is my first time to have fresh fish in California. What is wrong with me? Anyway, we got a little nervous when we saw a white tablecloth and realized that this was a take-your-time kinda restaurant, and who knows how long a one-year-old can sit calmly in a high chair?

Turns out, plenty long. Scott sat there adorably, staring out the windows at the ocean, playing with his sunglasses, and eating fish and veggies. What a stud.

And he likes to talk on the "phone", too. Watch out, one-year-old girls: this guy is irresistible.

When we say "Hello?", he puts the cell phone/computer mouse/box of Altoids to his ear! So cute.

Too far

2,389 miles,
13 hours by plane, and
Too many dollars away.

Pretty thing #1

I'd like to share some of my favorite pretty things that I see in daily life.

This is my chenille plant, which I love for two reasons. First, I remember being young and hearing my mom say she had a chenille bedspread as a girl and I always liked the word chenille sounded. Second, the plant looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book:

"I am a chenille plant!
I'd stop growing, but I can't!
I grow all day, I grow all night
Here in CA the weather's right!
Bring me coffee when you rise
And I'll photosynthesize."
(Wouldn't you know it, she only speaks in rhymed couplets.)

Like everything out here, the plant grows surprisingly well. It has doubled in size in the last 2 months without any fertilizer. (Occasionally I put cooled, watered down leftover coffee on it because someone, either my grandmother or my former office-mate, said the acidity was good for flowering plants.) It stays under our porch with only about 4 hours of indirect sunlight each day and I hear the cuttings easily make new plants. With babies or pets, it has to hang out of reach: the plant and especially the red fuzzies can cause nausea if ingested. And that, my friends, would not be pretty.

Here comes the Sun (song)

Remember this rockin' song by They Might Be Giants that Karen recommended and I taught my middle school science class to sing?


Well, ya know, the sun's not gas. It's plasma. So TMBG wrote another song, which appears on their new album called Here Comes Science. Aw, nerdy rockers! They're great!



But isn't miasma kind of a weird word to use? Isn't it kind of ... off? Word friends, what do you think? (Bridget, love, I'm looking in your direction. I'll go with whatever you rule on this one.)

(And now I'll probably be singing Miasma for the rest of the day. I hope you will be, too.)

Free month of Netflix

Hey! I just got 4 cards in the mail for a free month of Netflix. If you want one of them, email me and I'll send you the code.

One year and one day old

This weekend was wonderful. On Friday, my mom came to town to celebrate Scott's first birthday. On Saturday, we went to the coast.

It was beautiful. Rugged and stunning. We ate cheese and a savory tart and fed the pieces that fell in the sand to the seagulls, aiming for the fat gray gull with the soft voice.


Scott rolled down sand hills and rinsed off in the icy surf, laughing as the waves chilled his feet, then legs, then all the way up to his waist.


We saw a pumpkin patch and he explored.


We saw sheep and kittens and goats.

But it was not yet his birthday.


And then it was Sunday!


And he was ONE.

*****************************************************

We were just two "I"s, and then we were together, and then he was here and we were three.

He was tiny and nearly helpless. Nearly ... but he helped teach me strength, joy, and love. Because of him, I saw the peace of of the night, rocking and nursing while everyone else was asleep. And now he's big and sleeps all night. Now I get to remember the fun of doing somersaults and banging on a pan with a red spatula.


Happy birthday, big boy.
Welcome to this glimmering world.

Savory pie crust

Oh, homemade pie crusts. It's a love/hate thing.

This is Alice Waters's (of Chez Panisse fame) recipe and it really was easy. Not as easy as unrolling the store-bought crust, but easier than going to the grocery store to get one.

Chez Panisse!!! With baby Scott and Kelly! It was a very cool lunch.

1 c. all-purpose flour (I used unbleached)
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tablespoons cold butter cut in cubes
1/4 cup ice-cold water (or a little less)

Use something with a flat, thin edge (2 butter knives, or thin spatulas, or a pastry cutter) to cut the butter into the flour and salt until a few large clumps remain. Pour in the water and stir it in with a fork. Fold together until the entire mixture holds together and is blended, but handle as little as possible. Add more water a few drops at a time if needed. Wrap it all in plastic and refrigerate it for an hour before rolling.

(You don't really have to wait an hour, it just makes things a lot easier. If you can't wait, just flour your counter and rolling instrument really really well.)

I made this crust into an onion tart and it was nice! I know, who would think? Luke liked it too! It was the second onion tart I've ever tried. The first I had on a pot-luck hike in Austria when two French girls brought one. On a HIKE!! Culinary skills! I think I brought bologna or something.