These days I mostly try not to write. My life is so full of work and family and weeding. But every now and then, my brain starts to itch and the only way to scratch that itch is writing. This is where you will find my most recent scratchings.
-
Breathing Fire
I had a blessed epiphany sometime after my first born turned two. She was fantastically, dramatically two, down to the last detail, and it suddenly occurred to me that she and I were living shockingly parallel lives. We experienced pretty much the same angsts. We both felt completely marginalized. Our own lives were not under our own control, and we couldn’t stand it. Someone else made all the decisions, and we had to make do with whatever was left over. Everything felt unbelievably intense. We were both attracted and repelled by the ones we loved best. We tried our damndest, yet…
-
Around the Garden
It’s been awhile since you had a look at my garden. We are winding down here, summer is the time of rest, too hot and jungly. Being mid-June, my summer crops are already succumbing to all manner of weird diseases and unknown bugs, and I’m slowly replacing them with a cover crop. Beans, peppers and eggplants are the only things I have still to look forward to. My garden is sorely lacking any collards. I don’t understand how I let that slip. I do have one straggly looking start, which might still grow up to take over the world. I…
-
Swiss Chard Ravioli
I got another culinary hair up my ass last week. For those of you who read Empanadas: A Confession, I am glad to report that I truly did make these for myself, to celebrate the last of my very sad looking chard. Those plants gave out for at least 4 months. The base of one of the plants was a full 4 inches across. Amazing. Scroll down as far as you like, there are no photos of the actual ravioli in this post. I gave you the only good looking photo already. Homemade ravioli look like hell (but taste like heaven).…
-
Parenting Advice and Where to Stick It
Our almost 4yo started her first day of camp today at the local Waldorf school. She has never been to any kind of camp/school/day-care before, and has only been left with a babysitter a handful of times. This is a big deal for our family. Not because I’m worried about her– she is incredibly gregarious and was so excited that at 7:45 this morning she was laying on the kitchen floor, dressed for camp, with her backpack on, just waiting until I said it was late enough to get her lunchbox out of the fridge. She explained carefully to the…
-
To The Papas
I write a lot about parenthood. I am a mama, so that is the voice I take, but I never mean to exclude papas. I know there are at least a few in this readership, brave men who stand up to all the estrogen flying. I have always meant to write directly to you, for once. And with Father’s Day fast approaching I thought now would be a good time. I saw a statue once, a small thing, impressionistic. At the center was the sphere of a baby’s head, around which arms circled and, gazing down, the head of the…
calamity jane 