we're gearing up for O Place potluck #5,
the chocolate, cheese and champagne soiree...

here's martha,
i mean, natalie,
whipping up a
triple chocolate cheesecake!!

from Annie (and Garrison Keillor):

Optimism

More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam returns over and
over to the same shape, but the sinuous tenacity of a tree: finding the
light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another.
A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers, mitochondria, figs—
all this resinous, unretractable earth.

by Jane Hirshfield,
from Given Sugar, Given Salt.

i can see
the entrance to
this new bakeshop
from the back door
of my tues-thurs nanny job...
yum!

in thanks of:

* 824 O Place potlucks
* friends with whom I can be completely honest
(without worrying how it will affect our friendship)
* a great morning walk with Amanda, Camper and Cash
* knitting with sunshine yellow
* my dad's phone messages that just say, "Hi," and "I love you."
* a new bakery within walking distance!!
* a beautiful box of CSA produce
* flowers
* a newly-painted bathroom with a sink that
no longer leaks

sierra reminded me, yesterday,
how much I love the poetry
of mary oliver.
here's one of my favorites:

Snow Geese
by Mary Oliver

Oh, to love what is lovely, and will not last!
What a task
to ask

of anything, or anyone,

yet it is ours,
and not by the century or the year, but by the hours.

One fall day I heard
above me, and above the sting of the wind, a sound
I did not know, and my look shot upward; it was

a flock of snow geese, winging it
faster than the ones we usually see,
and, being the color of the snow, catching the sun

so they were, in part at least, golden. I

held my breath
as we do
Sometimes
to stop time
when something wonderful
has touched us

as with a match
which is lit, and bright,
but does not hurt
in the common way,
but delightfully,
as if delight
were the most serious thing
you ever felt.

The geese
flew on.
I have never
seen them again.

Maybe I will, someday, somewhere.
Maybe I won’t.
It doesn’t matter.
What matters
is that, when I saw them,
I saw them
as through the veil, secretly, joyfully, clearly.

I just ordered
our very first box of
CSA (community supported agriculture)
produce!

Next week, I'll walk downtown to pick up
a box of locally-grown veggies (onions, carrots, potatoes and cabbage)
from Glacier Valley and VanderWeele farms
that are supplemented with some organic goodies
(broccoli, celery, apples, cauliflower, beets, etc.)
from "outside."

I'm excited to take another step
toward eating locally,
and excited to see what kind of
culinary adventures this inspires...

Yum.

Oh. My. Goodness.
PLEASE watch this
if you haven't yet!

in thanks for...

* snowy walks with bobo (my house-sitting dog)
* friends who try their best to be honest with themselves
* my teeth
* a good landlord
* good poetry
* good poetry read aloud
* ice skating
* singing with scott today at winterberry
* elise
* the wonders that will not cease

Here are a few semi-recent pics
of some of the
O Place
friends and family.
They are:
the time JB's friends came to visit;
Carina, Natalie, Bobo and me
hangin at the Barton Palace
where I'm luxuriating, I mean,
house-sitting;
and C's new hat.

Each day at lunch,
C (the little guy I nanny)
and I discuss the origins of our food.
Did it come from a tree?
From the ocean? From a garden?
What other foods come from there?
Can we grow it in our garden this summer?

So we made our own food landscape!
We both dearly love it and add to it daily.

Click the pic to enlarge, and you can see C's family,
him climbing a banana tree,
our wheat field,
the blueberry bushes by the chicken coop,
and the garden with corn stalks,
a spiral of lettuce (a la Amy and Blake),
carrots and a strawberry patch. :o).

The snowy winter wears on,
and I lust after
rich vibrant colorful
vegetables, yarn, art, etc.
When I came across this this
Eggs in a Nest recipe in
Animal Vegetable Mineral,
by Barbara Kingsolver,
I knew I had to try it out.
The rainbow chard was perfectly gorgeous,
and the finished 'nests'
were pure nurturing yum
for my eyes and body.

sometimes
the pre-party
is just as fun
(if not more!)
as the
party party.