Moonshine Junkyard

"april is the cruellest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain." as a farewell to april i offer t.s. eliot's famous words. i read "the wasteland" again last night and it took me back to last year around this time when i was studying obsessively for my master's exam and memorizing bits of poetry like those first lines until they are stuck forever in my heart. and now i get to read poetry of my choosing and whenever i like with ultimate and overwhelming freedom, and to my heart's content. it's fun because i find synchronicities and concurrences, like when dylan thomas writes: "and this last blessing most, that the closer i move to death, one man through his sundered hulks, the louder the sun blooms, and the tusked, ramshackling sea exults; and every wave of the way and gale i tackle, the whole world then, with more triumphant faith than ever was since

"through the green forest softly without a sound, wrapped in a still mood as in a cloak and a hood i went, and cast no shadow in the shadow of the wood." edna st.vincent millay overnight everything turned rainy and cold and cozy. i spent the day in rainboots and calico, exploring and wondering and reading poetry like in a dream and could not remember where i was headed and felt like i was twisted in gypsy mist. i spent the thundering afternoon at a wood paneled pub in the pines with plates of sherpherds pie and pitchers of beer and pool tables. we were celebrating a baby's birth; we were celebrating leavetaking and springtime, new life and the refreshing of earth and the swelling of waters. i spent the night at a campground by the river and awoke early to hail on the tin roof, patches of sun and shadow, starlings and hummingbirds and wild geese calling their tiny babies to follow. i sat on the deserted terrace over the wide slow river taking branches, soil,

do you remember our dear family friend and i must say, young modern hero, nick savino who i have mentioned here and  here ? well he is leaving on the adventure of a lifetime: a four month trek up the entirety of the Pacific Crest Trail! This week he takes the train down to the border of Mexico and then will hitchhike to the trailhead thus beginning his arduous journey north through the mountains, deserts, and wilderness. his plan is to make it all the way to the border of Canada sometime in August. we are super excited for him although we'll miss him dreadfully cause he is a huge part of the fun around here. so we had a farewell SURPRISE PARTY for him the other night and for once the party was actually a surprise. conveniently it was held at a campground where nick and his lovely and spunky girlfriend rachel have been staying in her airstream trailer. so as they pulled up after going out to dinner with his family, she claimed it must be the neighboring campers havi

little joys of april and life: perfect daisies springing up everywhere wearing a beloved old square dance dress just for the hell of it for a random trip to folsom with the hub and also trying rachel's hair suggestion (i like it! but it sadly didn't last long, i'm fidgety with hair decor) and whistling along to alela diane all the way down the hill: (anyone else find that they whistle nonstop, unconsciously and annoying and until it hurts the lips?!) homemade banana splits! (yeah, sent darin to the store with $25 of my tips to get it all. we went all out. i even toasted  pecans and coconut, my favorite toppings.) dandelions galore. and sunlight! these cuties getting cozy: (she's our shy girl daphne and has recently taken to resting on darin's lap. he could not be more pleased.) and this old old man lounging around in the sun: looking at my globe to figure out exactly where my friend ryann is heading for her work p

I'm reading a book called Frontier Women: The Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-1880. And as naturally follows with me, getting a teensy bit obsessed with the topic and looking at everything i can find about pioneer women. It is fascinating to imagine lovely well-dressed middle-class society women taking off across a wild and untamed land. okay, not that this fine lady would have, presumably being a new york actress or model, but still the photo transports me to another time and age and set of societal norms and values. via I love reading about the pioneer ladies' concern for clothing and fashion: "The woman who started out in a traveling dress with clean collar and cuffs soon found she had to abandon it for clothes she had originally refused to wear." I imagine a lady starting out like this perhaps: via and evenutally replacing her silks and linens with the more practical calico and linsey-woolsey, becoming this (which i sort of like bette