sounds like a plan!

i found this wonderful, wonderful bit of animation inspired by a Bukowski poem drawn by Monika Umba.  the images just sing.  the bird cage/rib cage is lovely, the emptiness that really is so full.  (here’s a link to the original post at Brain Pickings; it’s pretty too!)

but here’s another good one.

“Beans with Garlic” by Charles Bukowski

this is important enough:
to get your feelings down,
it is better than shaving
or cooking beans with garlic.
it is the little we can do
this small bravery of knowledge
and there is of course
madness and terror too
in knowing
that some part of you
wound up like a clock
can never be wound again
once it stops.
but now
there’s a ticking under your shirt
and you whirl the beans with a spoon,
one love dead, one love departed
another love…
ah! as many loves as beans
yes, count them now
sad, sad
your feelings boiling over flame,
get this down.

this was the day she learned that her favorite band shares her love of a favorite writer.

ah yes, my Love!  tracing the fine lines of connection is one of the chief pleasures of our homeschooling life.

this morning in the bath i happened upon this rather astonishing list of commitments that Dr King had any demonstrators in Birmingham sign.  (you can find the document here; i found it first in Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life by Marjorie Thompson.)

1. Meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.

2. Remember always that the non-violent movement seeks justice and reconciliation–not victory.

3. Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love.

4. Pray daily to be used by God in order that all men might be free.

5. Sacrifice personal wishes in order that all men might be free.

6. Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.

7. Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world.

8. Refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart.

9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.

10.Follow the directions of the movement and of the captain on a demonstration.

not at all a bad way to start this new year.

do you have plans for this free day?  will it snow where you are?  once upon a time we lived in this city without a car.  once or twice a year, we would rent a car for the weekend and live it up!  here are pictures from our adventures on a cold, clear Martin Luther King Day in 2008.

unrelated Christmas morning picture…we gave the children our old dining room table cut down to their size!

this morning, on the last day of the year, i thought i’d tackle one of our unfinished Christmas projests–making instant chai tea.  here’s the recipe we used.

• 1 c dry milk
• 1 c instant creamer
• 1 c instant vanilla creamer
• 2 c sugar
• 1 1/2  c instant tea
• 2 t ginger
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1 t nutmeg
• 1 t cardamom

mix all in a big bowl.  then use a food processor to grind it all (1 cup at a time!) into a powder.  add 2 T to a cup of hot water.

while the ingredients were out and the bowls already dirty, i decided to mix up a batch of hot cocoa as well.

• 2 c powdered milk
• 3/4 c powdered sugar
• 1/2 c cocoa powder
• 1/2 c instant creamer
• 1/8 t salt

mix it all and store in a cool, dry place.  add 3 T to a mug of hot water.

i’ve got loads of fresh cardamom, if you think you might want to make a batch.  i’d be happy to send it along to you!

12 years married…and such an adventure!

i am slowly uploading half a year’s adventures on to flickr.

come see!

this morning i had a small procedure done at the hospital.  i’m home now; resting, healing, finding so much to love about this video.  the baby kicking at the hymnal?  brings me to tears every time!  that sleeper!

tomorrow morning, Christmas Eve, our local classical music station will be broadcasting the Nine Lessons and Carols service live from Cambridge–that’s 7 am here on the West coast.  the radio station broadcasts over the internet as well (just click the “listen now” button at the top of their page).  not to be missed.  we first heard these broadcasts on our shortwave radio in the middle of the rainforest.  imagine!

this world is full of so many bright things.

and the light is coming.

the sun came out all glorious this morning and with the house in a nearly clean state (can you see the dust bunnies?  they are big enough to give chase!) i thought i might snap a few pictures and show you around this new place.  this is the front door–heavy, lovely, with square windows–and living room.  it faces north.

right off the front door is our bedroom, the smallest of the three.  but the one with the built-in desk!  this room is in need of paint and those shelves are so messy.  besides the nifty desk this room also has another essential feature:

a porthole above the bed!  this window casts the most delicious moon shadows across our room at night.

the living room opens into the dining room…you saw that yesterday, but i’ll include it again for continuity.

then we come to the kitchen.  ample, square, open, big window over the sink with a tree and bird feeder.  juncos munch while i wash.  oh and i did i mention that there is some sort of electrical problem in here?  no light and half the outlets don’t work…including the one to the dishwasher.  which is how i get to be such good friends with the birds!

finally, we come to the back bedroom.  Nico calls it Troy’s room; he’s our painter friend who came down to help us move. it’s the spare bedroom.  you can sleep here when you come visit.  it’s at the back of the house, a bit separate from the rest of the bustle.  we have the tv in here.

yes, i forgot to take a picture of the children’s room.  it faces west and catches none of the morning light.  so it was shadowy and no fun to photograph.  some time soon!

Mental multivitamin shared her absolutely swoon inducing bookshelves, and it made me remember this photograph from a few days ago.  these built-ins live in our dining room.  they are old painted wood, sort of funky.  we think they are cabinets that at some time in the last 104 years were turned around and bolted to the wall.

they need a fresh coat of paint, maybe a window seat added between the shelves, definitely some organizing and editing.  but i love them and love how they already hold so much of our lives and work.

**edited to add: the original review from Brain Pickings that made M-mv want to share her library…and a link to Maria’s own virtual bookshelf.

(these two.  on the couch reading and discussing The Horse and His Boy.)

a few lines from Reading for the Heart by Sarah Clarckson.

a large part of education is simple eye-opening exposure to the realities of the world around us.

…people who experience the drip and drop of hours and days as a cadence, who found a poem waiting in the details of mundane hours.

…rich habits of reading…

…this life of books…

and a few of the gems she recommended that are simply shining:

• Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges
• Only Opal illustrated by Barbara Cooney
• When I was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
• Committed to Memory by John Hollander
• Classical Kids Audio Series (these haven’t really taken here; but i think we will return to them in a year or so when our listeners are a bit older.)