There were castles in the mountains.

"I read there that all things live by a generous power and dance to a mighty tune; or I read there that all things are scattered and hurled, that our every arabesque and grand jeté is a frantic variation on our one free fall...

...It has always been a happy thought to me that the creek runs on all night, new every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care, as a closed book on a shelf continues to whisper to itself its own inexhaustible tale."

-Annie Dillard (Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)

I've been reading Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and Annie Dillard's description of the natural world, and our relationship to it, have been stopping me in my tracks.

I'm moving into Anchorage soon, into the cutest little house, and we've been looking into getting a flock of laying hens. I've been planning out the coop and where we can buy the ladies. We visited JM's friend who has a full garden and 8 chickens, and we came home with the little ivory egg in the picture, as well as a grocery-bag full of lettuce and carrots and zucchini (that we promptly made into this).

Mountains that look like castles, and pancakes with percolated coffee, and swimming in the lake in the early mornings. Today is a steady drizzle of rain, but I made this roasted tomato soup and seeded flat bread and we drove around looking for apple orchards last night.

fireweed farm, and two views from my lap.

Honey-yogurt scones from the Fiddlehead cookbook.

Hiking this weekend. It was Narnia the whole way.

I listened to John O'Donohue speak on one of my favorite podcasts, On Being.

He spoke about beauty, and real friendships, and mentioned Blais Pascal, who said

"In difficult times you should always carry something beautiful in your mind."

There are such things as lavender cupcakes on rainy days.

"Peril, lonelieness, an uncertain future, are not oppressive evils, so long as the frame is healthy, and the faculties are employed; so long, especially, as Liberty lends us her wings, and Hope guides us by her star."

-Charlotte Bronte (from Villette)

hearty: two definitions.

A Man's Man.
from here


I made this, I ate this with marmalade, and learned soda bread is so easy.
And Seeded Soda Bread from 101 Cookbooks

"Rest is not idleness,

and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer's day,

listening to the murmur of water or watching the clouds float across the sky

is by no means a waste of time."

John Lubbock

Starting Summer Off Right.

Oh, domesticity.

A new coat, walks in the woods, time spent drawing, reading, and eating dried cherries (thanks, Dad!).

But really exciting is house-sitting and having a kitchen and piano of my very own for a while.

Saturday was a fun night with the girls, stir-fry and Chocolate Beet Cake and Bananagrams.

On Sunday afternoon, I was the happiest girl in the world. Baking banana bread while listening to public radio (I pledged and they mentioned my name on air!) and walking the dog and curling up on the couch with mug of tea and book (currently The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver.)

little bits of my october

Ignoring the fact that I have been gone from here for quite a while, let's jump back in to how lovely October has been.

Writing lots of letters, doing lots of drawing, Value Village finds (the dress is going to become my Halloween costume!) and getting lovely etsy things in the mail. That I wouldn't open until I carried them down to the coffeehouse and got an americano and pumpkin-raisin loaf. And promptly read my novel afterwards. I love mornings like that.

Lots of listening to NPR, lots of knitting (one mitten down), lots of walks on the trails, lots of writing in journals, talking on the phone to long-distant friends, art-galleries with close-distance friends, going contra dancing for the first time, and taking myself to see a play on a Sunday afternoon.

Have a lovely Thursday, and a lovely week :)

Here in college. Living in a dorm, meeting people, taking classes, riding my bike around town, live music, yarn shops, vintage clothing, Thai food, library time, coffeeshops.

These photos are from a walk I took last week to the campus botanical gardens. I reached into the foliage and found a cucumber and a baby pumpkin. The pumpkin is now my dorm's autumnal decoration, and the cucumber is participating in many of my lunches.

I really like it here.

My mom calls him "peanut".

Berry-picking in the sun.

Saying a lot of goodbyes this week.

On The Road

A few shots from the road trip to Seward with Annie...

I've been trying to do a bit of art and writing every day, and it feels really, really lovely.

In the City; a photoshoot

I was a pretty happy girl to spend the day in town with Megan yesterday, to take pictures with my new camera.

And there's a new face poking around the house (and jingling, with that little bell on his collar); this is Charlie, a Siamese my friend found on the side of the road in the rain, wet and starved and scraggly. She was so happy when I asked if I could watch him for the weekend, to see if he and Fly get along. I find he's perfectly happy curled up on my stomach, or feet, or...wherever, really. He kind of has an attitude, but he's a pretty sweet guy.

I call him Charles.