now that thanksgiving is out of the way...

we can focus on christmas. i did a little decorating today! jo ann's was crazy this weekend, so it's not just me and mom who are sooo in the spirit this year.

this christmas dog was my grandma peggys. she used to pretend he wasn't allowed on the couch, like the real dogs. we got a kick out of that. 

my little christmas tree, with vintage family ornaments and dr seuss ornaments.

my shiny gold bird at the top.

so many santas.

more coming soon. tonight i am making christmas wreaths, eating jordan's pork stew, and watching the wire (seriously addicted).

so stinking cute i want to cry

 why i love boston terrier puppy brothers:

1. they are so stinking cute i want to cry.

2. they curl up in your lap and stick their noses in your armpit and fall asleep.

3. they play so hard they can't keep their eyes open.

4. they play tug of war with big dogs.

5. they love each other so so much.

i am thankful for:

family! it is hard not to miss grandma during the holidays, but i am thankful for mom, dad, colin and logan, andrea and andy, uncle russ, uncle vernon and aunt julie, grandpa and, of course, jordan. we are going to have a wonderful feast later this evening.

puppy brothers judge and mcguire.

snow. despite how hard it makes traveling, i love it. it's cozy.

jefferson elementary school and all the kids i work with. i start to get all mac and cheese thinking about how great they are. i can't wait to hear their turkey stories on monday!

great and talented friends, all over the place.

the birds. from my adorable canary to the hummingbird at my parent's frozen feeder this morning.(don't worry, we took care of that)

and bacon. how do i love thee? let me count the ways...

things to do, or not

walk downtown on tip toes, balancing between the concrete and the ice. try to find your grip, fail. walk in flower beds instead.

make stuffed raccoons out of felt.

feel pleased with yourself, then wonder if you should be doing something else with your life: in a different city, with a different man, with a different medium. perhaps charcoal. perhaps a typewriter.

these are thoughts that never really leave, no matter how happy you are. no matter how many raccoons you make of felt. no matter how many pages you have or have not written. no matter who you are standing next to-- at the bus stop, in the grocery store, on the stairs to your apartment.

research teaching schools for hours during your "flex" time at work. contemplate the debt of a master's degree. contemplate the debt of another two years in the same place you don't want to settle down in, but have.

give up on your research. drive to the nearest thrift store and dig through other people's lost and abandoned things. find nothing, or find a basket of things: a gnome for your father, a kitschy santa from the 50's, an old tea towel with cats on it.

bring your things home, only to find that you have no room for anything. start to feel that you are owned by your things. start to feel old and immobile. sell your things.

this is the part where you sell all your things, until you can fit everything you own into your blue suitcase with the chrome wheels.  this is the part where you leave. go somewhere you have never been before and start over from scratch, without a recipe. somehow this will make you a better person.

but of course, it won't, it will only make you different.

you have begun to like the way the radiators sound when they turn on each morning, crackling and sizzling like onion and garlic in a skillet. what's more: your things have begun to assume a life of their own in the apartment. the santa on the bookshelf with rosy and flushed cheeks, the raccoons lined up on the couch, cheerfully waiting for something to happen.

nothing will happen. but one day you will wake up and know exactly what you should do that day.

so far so good!

needs to be stuffed, but i think i am smitten

the annual pre-thanksgiving feast! a balanced meal!

A Collection a Day, 2010: Day 203

A Collection a Day, 2010: Day 203: "Vintage (German?) plastic goat charms. (Part of larger vintage toy collection)."

Red Bird

By Mary Oliver

Red bird came all winter
firing up the landscape
as nothing else could.

Of course I love the sparrows,
those dun-colored darlings
so hungry and so many.

I am a God-fearing feeder of birds.
I know He has many children,
not all of them bold in spirit.

Still, for whatever reason —
perhaps because the winter is so long
and the sky so black-blue,

or perhaps because the heart narrows
as often as it opens —
I am glad

that red bird comes all winter,
firing up the landscape
as nothing else can do.

projects! people! prophecy!

bits and pieces

for sale, for art, for making

unfinished projects

for sade

such a homebody

goal number 87: be better spray painter

fall feels like it's winding up, everything everywhere is christmas christmas christmas. must start making things for christmas christmas christmas. i have so much i want to do in a vast variety of forms. before and after christmas. if i only had one hobby, would i get more done?

things that have been happening: aunt julie came up on friday and we had a lovely time scouring all the thrift stores and estate sales in the county. she gave me lots of tips on finding goodies and we went out to lunch at avenue bread. she is so great, she gave me a whole lot of imperfect linens to craft with, plus some darling apartment warming gifts. i am truly lucky to have her as an aunt! more visitors, my sister, andy, and their adorable new boston terrier judge (shmails) came up on saturday. i ate too much at boundary bay and we walked around town, then went back to our place and played with judge. today i have been trying to squeeze in everything else.

goals for the week include:

#45. write something
#29. promote children's book blog
#35. find a good book to read
#55. make one of these

good morning someone loves you

from the boods

the kingbird, the owl, the eider

this week a tropical kingbird perched by whatcom creek and the construction supply building and every day i received an email with a picture, his actions, the time, and exclamation marks—because birders are fond of such punctuation—and though i could not see it, i did. and somewhere in the county a barred owl perched thirty feet from-someone else's-door and i remembered the size of the owl’s claws, as when we saw one scouting for bullfrogs at stimpson two springs-two ages- ago. and there is always something like this: what was thought, for a moment or two, to be a spectacled eider was actually a long-tailed duck, still in breeding plumage. of course i sometimes, myself, will do this: see one thing one moment, and another the next.

i kinda fizzled out on fashion week but i made a fox

i was a pumpkin for halloween. my mom made the costume some time long ago when she was pregnant with one of us and so it billowed out over her big belly like a real jack o lantern. i am not pregnant, so it sagged a bit and the face folded in on itself. i looked good though, with my stem hat and all. we went out on the town for a bit and i saw many many costumes of quality. i liked the girl with a strainer on her head and spaghetti hair. she had meatballs glued to her chest. i asked her if she was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and she said no. she was just meat balls. and spaghetti.

otherwise, my weekend was calm. i met some of jordan's old friends from wyoming. one laughs like goofy and the other quotes whitman, so i found them agreeable. and fun! and great!

i find that otherwise, i do not like to leave my apartment. it is so cozy and there is so much to do! like make this fox:

check him out on my etsy!

back to school for the week!

notables of today:

a six grader asked me if i was married (no). then asked if i was a teenager (no).
i read Corduroy twice.
we played rhyme bingo.
a first grader laughed so hard he peed.