I Live in the Twentieth Century

I live in the Twentieth Century
and you lie here beside me. You
were unhappy when you fell asleep
There was nothing I could do about
it. I felt helpless. Your face
is so beautiful that I cannot stop
to describe it, and there's nothing
I can do to make you happy while
you sleep.
- Richard Brautigan

One of my most favorite poems, I just wanted to share on this windy,rainy, November night.

fall back

I finally managed to harvest lavender,thyme,mint,and sage from the garden to dry. The stairway smells amazing! I'm hoping that it will find its way into some Christmas presents. Soap? Linen water? Any suggestions?



A new wreath for the front door thanks to the Halloween clearance.



I hate how fast the retail world moves, but I have to say that I feel a little giddy when the Christmas stuff starts to make an appearance. I can't help myself.

naan stop

A few nights ago we had Mutter Paneer (well, tofu actually) and I made a huge batch of naan. I use this recipe a lot. Mostly because the majority of naan recipes I encounter have yogurt in them and I just don't always have plain yogurt on hand. It was pretty delicious and it's really easy to make as long as you don't mind cranking your oven up to 550. I find that preheating the oven with a couple of pizza stones in it works really well. I bake about 3 at a time. It takes a round or two to get into the rhythm, but once you do, you'll start to feel confident enough to make jokes about opening your own Indian restaurant and calling it, yep you guessed it, Naan Stop. Maybe the heat was getting to me.



It seemed like fall was all stalled out, but suddenly overnight the colors are finally here. They always seem to sneak up on me. We've been hiking at Huntington Reservation few times a week. I didn't even take the camera, feeling like colors hadn't changed enough, but of course I was wrong. Deciding not to take the camera is pretty much always the wrong decision. Other than that there's been a lot of soup making and dvd watching. I realized that there are few things as great as discovering a really funny tv show and watching it all in one go on dvd. I also discovered that there are few things as disappointing as realizing you are caught up with said show and you have a years wait before you can watch another episode.

I watched the Godfather for the first time. (I know, I know, I'm not sure why it took so long). I was really struck by how visually beautiful it was, the colors in particular. The whole movie (actually 1 and 2) the color scheme is almost entirely muted neutrals with these shots of burnt orange. I tried to find a picture to show you, but I couldn't find one that wasn't filled with weapons. I can't get those colors out of my head. Unexpected inspiration.



I decided it was time to take part in the Pay It Forward Exchange. I think it's a great idea and I joined up on Jen's page. It works like this: I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on this post requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.Such a good idea.

So, comment away and enjoy this October Sunday (Actually, by the time blogger behaved...Tuesday).

finally autumn

Oh,have I been neglectful of this space.I was feeling all inspired and ready for autumn when a heatwave hit.(Read Shari's sentiments on the same topic here.)
It just made me feel out of sorts. Finally, though autumn has arrived. I have a habit of spending a great deal of time in my head composing lines to place here, and then, having done so forget to realize them. I do this with letter writing and even phone calls.Thinking is not the same as doing. I have lots I want to share, for now I will leave you with some pictures of the autumn light.

chill in the air

There's officially a chill in the air, and it's beginning to feel truly like fall. Even though there is bound to be a few serious warm-ups before fall is officially here, I'm excited that the crazy 90 plus days are gone. It means that I can finallymove my ridiculous mess from the dining room back up to my attic studio. I'm excited. I had so much fun "making over" the attic on a $20 budget. I'll be glad to get settled in again, though I will miss having a dog at my feet. Ramona's domain is the downstairs. The cats are the boss of the upstairs. They would like to hide out in the attic, but they just get into spots where they don't belong and get their white feet all dirty.

This air makes me want soup, so there's some simmering on the stove. This recipe again. If I remember correctly, it was my last hurrah before spring was really here. I've been really hungry for something Indian inspired and I think this will hit the spot. I've been reading Madhur Jaffrey's Climbing the Mango Trees and I've been dreaming of curries as I drift off to sleep. Another great Indian memoir is Monsoon Diary. It really introduced South Indian cuisine to me for the first time. I finally got to try it on a trip to Concord, Massachusetts of all places. It was one of our many destinations during our "Spring of Interviews". We went into Cambridge one night and had an amazing meal. I was finally able to eat a dosa. Since then, I've managed to track down a local restaurant the specializes in South Indian food. If you are in the area, it's called Udipi (from experience I can tell you that it may be called Udipi wherever you live) There's a great grocery next door as well.
When I think of all of those trips, I think of great Indian food. We seemed to eat it everywhere we went. Concord, Seattle, Chicago, Connecticut.


I love a memoir that incorporates food, because food has such strong associations with our memories. I think of Indian food and I remember Massachusetts, that's the way it works. I was excited about Concord for more than Indian food. I loved Little Women more than anything as a girl. I read her biography as a fourth grader and just immersed myself in those Alcotts. I would carry around a notebook a imagine I had a garret to escape to to write stories in. Susan Cheever recently wrote a book about the lives of the many famous Concord residents. American Bloomsbury was interesting, although I felt like I was left wanting more. The lives of Concord residents are worth looking into though.

For now, there's soup.

summer's end

I think there are a few tomatoes that may still get harvested. I so love Shari's post of the Louise Gluck's poem "Vespers". I've been thinking about it everyday when I step outside and see those few hopeful Wisconsin Sixty Sixes and the ironically named Early Girls still producing new blossoms.

One sign of summer around here is the annual Dog Swim. Every year, after the pools have closed for the summer, there is an evening when one of the municipal pools opens for dogs to use before the pool is drained for the winter. Admission benefits a great cause and it is such a great community event.

Ramona spent a lot of time contemplating the deep end.


There were quite a few awkward exits.


This is Moose, one the sweet Newfoundlands we hung out with.


We managed to get a picture of Zeke. It's tough because he's always on the move.





In other news, I sent out my first big card order last week. It was exciting to send it on it's way.

My new project, a line of jewelry, is in its final stages and I'm hoping to have a shop update very soon.