What We Need Is Here

Celebrating the last cool day

Chances are this was the last cool day till fall - on account of it's May 20 and there are never, ever cool days in June. To celebrate, we dragged a card table out to the fire escape, squeezed some chairs in, and played a game of cribbage without sweating. This will likely be impossible to repeat till sometime in October. 

My family made fun of me recently for celebrating "last days." I may carry it too far on occasion - '"the last day you'll ever be nine!' "the last time we'll eat collards this year!"(I was wrong), "the last time we'll all be together in this spot!" ...  usually as an excuse to go out for ice cream.  

John reminds me that it's all "the last time."  This is true, but I'm glad to notice on occasion - and to dedicate a small bowl of ice cream or a sunlit game of cribbage in honor of it. Especially when, after days of rain, things are so beautiful and healthy, the sky is clear, there's a nice breeze, Grace is amenable, I am free, the windchimes are tinkling, the jasmine is blooming, Rudy is still a young pup barking at those four chickens from his fire escape perch... I could go on. 

Do you ever do this? I would love to hear. 

Five Films for Thanksgiving Weekend

Five films to watch with your very own dysfunctional family. Hopefully they will make you laugh - at the movie and at yourselves.

Then She Found Me - New York schoolteacher (Helen Hunt) whose husband leaves her and adoptive mother dies just before her very eccentric, biological mother (Bette Midler) shows up. Good news: so does Colin Firth.  "Being with me means . . . being with this." 

Crazy, Stupid Love - What a hilarious mess. 

The Kids are Alright - Two sweet adolescent kids conceived by artificial insemination bring their birth father into their family life. Catastrophe ensues but is conquered by love.  "Marriage is hard. Two people year after year. Sometimes you stop seeing the other person." 

Little Miss Sunshine - Seriously troubled family drives across country in a VW bus so their daughter can compete in a beauty pageant.  One of the sweetest, funniest movies I've seen. "Everybody, pretend to be normal!" 

Pieces of April - Wayward daughter invites dying mother and the rest of her estranged family to her sketchy apartment in New York City for Thanksgiving.  This is my favorite; I could (and practically do) watch this movie every year.  "Once there was one day when everybody seemed to know... that they needed each other." 

Butchering a t-shirt - making use of the whole hog

When we asked for t-shirts for our Art for All project, we weren't surprised to be deluged. Everyone's got extras. Even the thrift stores were willing to give them to us for free! Inspired by Pinterest, and numerous "upcycling" craft blogs, here's how we used up these 100% cotton shirts. 

First we made "scarflaces" by chopping off the hem, then cutting loops around the bottom of the shirt up to the arm pits. These are great for our moderately cold winters - and so many pretty colors. Here are details on how to do it yourself. 

Then Daniel (housemate) told us that he and his friends had made "snoods" out of the sleeves. We decorated them with a little "Green House" logo stamp. These are so obvious and easy you won't need directions. Daniel wore two when he biked off to work this morning. Vickie is modeling one during the warmer afternoon. 

Left with a bunch of cut-off hems, neck bindings, arms seams, and other scraps, we cut them into uniform lengths and braided the strips into dog toys. I was skeptical about this, but Rudy really got into it, enjoying playing tug-of-war, then running around the yard triumphantly with his winnings. 

The thing I was personally looking forward to was making a rug like one of these (see mine above!). I am a knitter, but had to learn how to crochet for this (much easier to hold a loop of t-shirt yarn at the end of a hook, then to hold knitting weighed down with a growing rug. After a few false starts, it was easy, thanks to the encouragement and directions from the crocheters who are part of the Green House Knitters. After spending an hour per shirt to get a little ball of yarn, I found a much quicker way to cut a continuous spiral of one-inch wide fabric to pull and roll into balls of "yarn." Once my fingers got the hang of it, it became as mindless as knitting for me (I love that), and in no time: a colorful rug out of throw-away shirts. 

Now I am a bit obssessed with this upcycing project (partly because there is a small mountain of donated t-shirts blocking the shelves in the laundry room). There seem to be no end to good use for them: produce bags, baby bonnets, dishcloths...  

Monday Wondering

WONDER: A feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.

English accents around the world. Do any of these sound like someone you know?

"Natural history guided by love is, in my opinion, a lot more effective than conservation guided by fear" - one voice among many at The Natural Histories Project. Browse through this site and listent to some of these; they are so thoughtful. 

A technological "Sixth Sense." I'm not sure whether this is wonderful or frightening, but it seems kind of wonderful. 

A couple gives away almost half their salary. A "pair of freaks?" Or harbingers of a new, more generous generation? 

I want to try Panzanella - a crouton-lover's summertime salad for places (like ours) where it's too hot to grow lettuce when you need it the most.  

{photo: Natural History Museum in D.C.}

Green House Guerrilla Art Project - 1000 Paper Cranes

My life has been taken over by boys and origami cranes. Both of my older sons are home for a bit this summer before heading back to school AND Riley has been here regularly too. A lot of food is involved, and laundry. In addition, I was convinced a few weeks ago by some sweet artist-friends that we should host a "guerrilla art project"  before summer is over. So, the cranes. 

We decided to fold 1000 paper cranes in honor of Sadako Sasaki, a young Japanese girl who died of leukemia caused by radioactive fallout in her hometown of Hiroshima. The 66th anniversary of the bombings is coming up August 6 (Hiroshima) and August 9 (Nagasaki). We are folding cranes in memory of the victims of the atomic bombs, as well as civilians who have died  - and are still dying - in wars since. We'll hang 250 each day for four days - August 6-9 in an area of Gainesville's downtown. Each will have a little scroll attached with the words: "This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace in the World" - the words inscribed on Sadako's statue in Hiroshima's Peace Park.

It's a small gesture (which takes up the entire dining room of our house right now), but it's lovely to watch unfold. The cranes are beautiful hung with colorful clothespins, beaded wire, kite string, and fiber. We hope people will take them home with them as they discover them in the trees and fence rails downtown. Regardless of one's politics, what one thinks about the necessity/evil of war or nuclear energy, I think most of us agree that the use of nuclear weapons is a loser's game in every way, and that no child should die as "collateral damage" of any war. We're hoping the beauty of the colorful cranes will inspire at least a few passersby to pause - and maybe imagine a more peaceful world for this generation of children. 

If you are in Gainesville and would like to help, we're getting together this Saturday at our Green House to finish up the cranes and figure out more ways to artfully hang them. Children are encouraged to participate; we have a bunch of painted clothespins needing glitterfying. The hanging of the cranes will happen beginning the following Saturday at 5 in the morning. If you are an early riser and want to come help, email me (email address below in right sidebar). I am looking forward to being the police lookout. 

Here's a sweet video of Sadako's story - all folded paper animation. It's terribly sad, but it's part of the truth of what we are capable of doing to each other, and of how beautifully resilient even the youngest of us can be. 

To the Bat House, Riley!

_{Ben, Mary, Joe, and squirmy Riley waiting for the bat show} 

We have picnicked twice at the UF Bat House during the last month, and I plan to do it again soon. What a show! And the weather is just perfect for picnics right now. We brought along a laundry basket full of cheese, tomatoes, bread, oranges, strawberries, and fancy lemonade, and our table on the lakeside was front row seating. 

The bats emerge slowly at first, right at dusk - 10 or 15 at first, which seems like a lot of bats. Then they start really streaming out, a swirl of gray against the blue sky as they zig and zag after mosquitoes. A hawk waiting for the bats to emerge held 4-year old Riley's attention as much as the sixty thousand (really, 60,000!) bats did. 

While we waited for the bats, we enjoyed people-watching. Lots of families, students, and international folks enjoying the student gardens and beautiful Lake Alice.  As the sun sank, their attention was drawn to the bat house, and when the bats began emerging, everyone applauded. Quite a show.

You can see a video of the nightly flight of the bats here. But if you're in town, you really should go see for yourself. 

Get Out the Map

I'm gonna clear my head; I'm gonna drink the sun

the saddest sight my eyes can see

is that big ball of orange sinking slowly down the trees

sitting in a broken circle while you rest upon my knee

this perfect moment will soon be leaving me...

Indigo Girls: "Get Out the Map"

John was truly inspired when he suggested we ride out on the Hawthorne Trail this morning to see what we could see. February really is my favorite month I think. Year after year I'm amazed by the sunny, blue skies, cool-ish days, the fly-through of robins and sandhill cranes. There's still cold and rain, but, oh, these days seem about perfect to me, how ever many February has to offer us. 

We can pick up the Hawthorne Rail Trail less than a mile from our house - on Depot Road, just south of the GRU Kelley Plant. It's paved all the way and winds through the old, industrial part of town (where the train used to come through) to beautiful Boulware Springs and beyond. We got off our bikes at La Chua trail and walked the mile and a half footpath alongside hundreds of alligators sunning themselves. Our walk was accompanied by the thrumming of leopard frogs so loud at times that we thought it might be the echo of a helicopter flying in the distance. Accompanying that background noise was the warbling of sandhill cranes overhead (such a sweet sound to North Floridians) as they gather to head back north - and the occasional squeak of baby alligators. It's another world out there just a few miles from downtown. 

We get so caught up in all the goings-on in our house, home, and immediate downtown neighborhood, we sometimes forget to wonder at the natural beauty just down the street. Although it's not exactly fasting, we're going to make appreciating some of the hiking and biking trails right outside our door part of our Lenten "discipline."  

Those of you who know us personally, know that my son Ben finished up cancer treatment a couple years ago. This week we had one of those scares post-cancer families and loved ones go through every once in a while. Ben had had some troubling symptoms over the last week or so, and his oncologists felt concerned enough to test him for relapse and some other lesser but still serious issues. Everything came up negative! He rode his bike to the beach this morning in celebration (75 miles, yes). So our happiness and wonder is tied up in that as well. Beautiful. Beautiful.

I can't stop loving you...

I am a coffee addict. Coffee does not grow in Gainesville.

Lucky for me, I am not a purist (so I tell myself), so I can compromise when absolutely necessary (and it IS absolutely necessary) and buy fair-trade, bird-friendly, organic, etc., etc., etc. But no coffee I buy and brew at home tastes half as good as the stuff for which I spend ten times as much at a coffee shop and drink with a friend - or a good book and a little knitting.

It's the experience, the ritual... I recently read that it is now a Documented Fact that ritual is important to the enjoyment of the cuppa. Apparently the good feeling associated with the caffeine buzz attaches itself to the props as well - the mouth-feel of a particular cup, the ambience of a particular coffee shop, the morning ritual of newspaper and quiet. Put more bluntly: "People develop a passion for the way the drug is delivered." 

Right now, I really like my drug delivered at Volta. How this place escaped my notice for as long as it did is amazing to me. Volta specializes in coffee, tea, and CHOCOLATE for Pete's sake. It is a five minute walk from my house. I can practically see it from my front door. 

It is a little pricey - which will hopefully help limit my consumption. It's also not a grab and go kind of place. I've noticed most people stopping in and staying to drink, eat (they've got pastries...), read, and use the WiFi.  So it's community-building, okay?  Local community building, that's why I go.

the next generation (it's hot chocolate!)

15 minutes of fame in the NY Times

Several people sent me this link last week. Our little city was the featured story in a section of the NY Times on travel destinations.  The article includes a nice short history of Gainesville as well as some sightseeing advice that goes beyond the regular Gator sports venues (for which we're particularly well-known these days).

It was fun to see us in this light. And, although it's hard for me to think of my own town as a travel destination, I've got to admit we've got the weather compared to a lot of the nation - high 70s this week!

I am so envious

Our housemate, Kendera, was invited by a friend with a ticket to see the Soweto Gospel Choir at the UF Performing Arts Center. I went to see them two years ago, at the invitation of our pediatrician who had an extra ticket. It was right in the middle of Ben's treatment and - to be honest - I only went because the offer was so kind. But, oh my gosh, I was so glad I did. The bright colors, the graceful dance, the lovely voices, the ... vitality of it all; it was so good for me to enter into that beautiful world, just transforming.

I have often felt revitalized by live performances, but I always have a hard time actually going. Tickets are costly, and I put off getting them until they're sold out or way in the back, and I have a hundred other excuses on any given night to do something else. But I often wonder why. We are so fortunate that in a town our size we have so many quality performances coming through. Two tickets once/month would be about $2/day - less than a latte, yet I don't think I go even once a year (about six cents/day?).  And some of the upcoming holiday performances are much less - even free. Check out the Performing Arts schedule. And don't forget the wonderful Hippodrome (more on that soon). Again, it's all about being thoughtful about what you support - and what we allow into our heads. More Soweto Gospel Choir, less Grey's Anatomy!