..and another by Frost

RELUCTANCE

Out through the fields and the woods

And over the walls I have wended;

I have climbed the hills of view

And looked at the world, and descended;

I have come by the highway home,

And lo, it is ended.



The leaves are all dead on the ground,

Save those that the oak is keeping

To ravel them one by one

And let them go scraping and creeping

Out over the crusted snow,

When others are sleeping.



And the dead leaves lie huddled and still,

No longer blown hither and thither;

The last lone aster is gone;

The flowers of the witch hazel wither;

The heart is still aching to seek,

But the feet question "Whither?"



Ah, when to the heart of man

Was it ever less than a treason

To go with the drift of things,

To yield with a grace to reason,

And bow and accept the end

Of a love or a season?



Robert Frost

we love the things we love for what they are...

HYLA BROOKE by Robert Frost

By June our brook's run out of song and speed.
Sought for much after that, it will be found
Either to have gone groping underground
(And taken with it all the Hyla breed
That shouted in the mist a month ago,
Like ghost of sleigh bells in a ghost of snow)--
Or flourished and come up in jewelweed,
Weak foliage that is blown upon and bent,
Even against the way its waters went.
Its bed is left a faded paper sheet
Of dead leaves stuck together by the heat--
A brook to none but who remember long.
This as it will be seen is other far
Than with brooks taken otherwhere in song.
We love the things we love for what they are.

I'm working on a collection of 20 poem's for a children's literature class i'm taking, and this is one I really enjoyed, but didn't make the cut. I love the words, jewelweed, otherwhere, groping underground. lovely!

We had the most wonderful trip with good friends both old and new. We spent a week on a Caribbean Celebrity cruise without any kids! It was pure luxury, white sandy beaches each day, fine dining at night & tons of uninterrupted time to catch up and have fun with each other.
I was happy because I had just seen the menu and was getting ready to order about 10 courses!

Personal Blog

Sorry for the confusing switch to private and then back again.

Jim and I decided to start a personal blog so that I can post pictures and stories of Tessa to my heart's content, without worrying about who's looking at these pictures and stories. While we were on our trip our friends told us about the awesome albums they make each year of their personal blog, which are more like journals.

This blog isn't going anywhere (I love having a place to keep track of my favorite things) but it'll have less personal stories and family pictures so if you want an invite to my personal blog send me an email or comment!

Reading and Watching

Two of my new favorite things lately:
The Ladies No. 1 Detective agency from HBO, exactly as I pictured from reading the books and so much fun to watch, I love the scenes from beautiful Botswana.

This American Life online. Brooke reminded me of this. It's great to sit and listen to while I'm baking, cleaning, or folding laundry, I love it because I feel like I learn something new or come away with a fresh perspective every time I listen.

easy no-knead bread

We just spent the last weekend baking and perfecting the now famous recipe from the minimalist at NYT, the no-knead bread. The recipe is super simple, but we still had to make it one or two times to get the hang of it. Now that I understand it, we're making it almost daily, and Jim is sick of hearing me talk about bread! But here's why I love it, it reminds me of Julia Child. In the middle of her book, "My Life in France" she talks about her struggles to help the home baker make a moist, crusty loaf of bread in a regular oven. She basically spent two years perfecting her recipe, recommending things like asbestos bricks and quarry tiles to get a steamy oven. This recipe solves it! Don't fuss over the dough and toss it in a pot with a lid, so simple!! Anyways, try it, you'll be hooked like me.

green with envy

I'm having a bit of jealousy over Jordan's paris adventure...watching this video didn't help much!

Delicious!

We recently went on a rare date night and had this wonderful napoleon style pizza in a new little strip mall restaurant just up the road. I'm hooked. Don't get me wrong...it's no 2amys, but it is pretty delicious! That is an actual picture of the real pizza...I stole it from this guy on yelp, just looking at it makes my mouth start watering!

P.S. I had no idea I had a babysitting problem. Apparently I never ask anyone to babysit for me, and I didn't realize it. We are planning many more regular trips out sans Tessa in the future...I guess i've got some babysitting trades racked up!

Favorite Superbowl Commercial

Tessa just reminded me of this commercial tonight as she was getting ready for bed. She likes to walk around her room in just her hooded towel and air out for a little while before getting her PJ's on. I was humming the darth vader song as she walked around like she owned the place, in only her towel and birthday suit.

favorite videos

Do children learn about sesame street in utero? We were walking down the aisle of the toy store yesterday, and Tessa walked past a certain toy and said "mel-mo!" She's only seen him on her diaper! Now that she's hooked to Elmo, we spend a few minutes a day on the Sesame Street You-Tube channel, here are a few of my favorites (and Tessa's too).

Nasty Dan


Celebrity Lullaby


A song about Elmo