A lighter note--as promised.

Yesterday, N and I tried out an Austin restaurant we heard about on the Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay: Flip Happy Crepes. Good, but long wait--and hot. Plan accordingly.

Daily photo: 6/28/08

Out of the frying pan...

This is the view from Beverly's cemetery in New Braunfels, TX. The cemetery is small, old and surrounded by a cow pasture. I think it would be a nice place to rest.

We're done with the nuts and bolts of her death, but I think the emotional toll is just beginning.

I'll return to regular, more pleasant posting soon, but it may be a little spotty, as we are still in Texas and when we return to Illinois, we have to immediately start preparing to move to Ohio. Such is life, or at least our life, for now.

Dirge without Music

Edna St. Vincent Millay

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains, --- but the best is lost.

The answers quick & keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,
They are gone. They have gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

6/18/08

Downtown Austin from S. Congress Ave.

Daily photo.

Missed yesterday.

A proportional response.

There are few certainties in life, but one thing I can count on is that a stressful situation will be accompanied by a zit, and this one is a doozy. It hurts from under my right eye all the way to my upper lip.
I heard once that there's a major facial nerve that runs along the right side of the nose. I think I've found it.

Daily photo: 6/16/08

6/15/08

A true sign of a modern family emergency: the accumulated cell phones and electronics on the kitchen counter.

Daily photo.

6/14/08

Beverly got a lovely bouquet of roses, mint, rosemary and bay leaves from a friend of hers. I think it was picked from a home garden, which I prefer to store bought flowers.

Daily photo.

Under pressure.

I thought this grape was a good metaphor for our present moment.

Daily photo: 6/13/08

Bad news

We headed to Texas today to be with N's mom as she faces what the doctor's have said is her final stage of battling cancer. She will be very much missed.

Daily photo: 6/12/08

Last little gleam.

Maybe the last pleasant site I'll have for a little while.

Daily photo: 6/11/08

Daily photo.

Onions grow whether or not they have any of the things normally required for such activity.

6/10/08

The Yarissss

Daily photo: 6/9/08

6/8/08

Daily photo.

Behold

Sweet Cherry Season.

Daily photo: 6/7/08

6/6/08

Daily photo.

A glimpse into my psyche.

I just finished knitting this Christmas stocking for a child I have not had, and am not planning to have anytime soon. But I figured that when I have a child, I won't have time to knit a stocking to match our other knit Christmas stockings so I better get on the stick now. Of course, this is a masculine stocking, so I'll have to knit another, more feminine one just in case. Weird, I know.

6/5/08

Daily photo.

A visual metaphor.

sitting. waiting. bored. anxious. angry at myself for being bored and anxious. But that's sunshine on the other side of that crappy, dollar-store set of curtains and blinds, right?

Daily photo: 6/4/08

6/3/08

Late breakfast at the Corner Diner, Tuesday. Aptly named, since it is on a corner.

Daily photo.

Yum!

Strawberry shortcake with homemade chocolate chip biscuits. It was delicious.

Daily photo: 6/2/08

Amy Butler--let me count the ways...

I made this skirt yesterday from Amy Butler's Barcelona Skirt pattern. Not a very illustrative photo, I know, but it makes my feet look small!

Anyway, I love her patterns. They are easy to follow and easy to manipulate to suit your needs. Thanks to a collaborative purchasing effort (with Megan) I have several of her bag patterns, but this is the first piece of clothing I've made. Someday I'd like to make this dress, but I think I'll need a better equipped sewing situation (i.e. a mannequin for fitting, full-size ironing board, etc.) before I'll feel brave enough to make a whole dress.

Daily photo. 6/1/08

Sewing at my house.

Junebug adds an extra degree of difficulty.

Daily photo: 5/31/08