honeyflake

rehearsing

super bowls

supplies get gathered on the kitchen counter — blender, bowls, spoons, bananas, homemade granola, juice, honey, extra fruit and some frozen packs of açaí berries. a few ingredients are whirred up in the blender. the bowls get filled with açaí puree. the crunchy oats find their place on top of that. fresh fruit is then sliced and arranged. and next... the honey. 

these açaí bowls are all the rage in our little kitchen lately. we like them. they are fun and exotic. they are loaded with super-good-for-you ingredients. they are extra delicious and they simply bring us together at the table for a good while... and while we are still wearing sweaters and long sleeves, cruising our way through winter here, these chilled creations seem to bring about thoughts of warm sun, tropical getaways and make me want to queue up my beachday playlist. 

have you tried making açaí bowls? would you like to? these are totally something that can be easily improvised and altered, depending on what everyone's up for. before we made our first batch we watched these videos here and here which get you going in the right direction. yes,i definitely recommend grabbing some of your favorite granola, your blender and giving it a go... perhaps even turning up a few songs from your own favorite beachday mix. 

peace, hoops and happiness

     

once again my friends... it's the clearwater festival! we so look forward to this june-live-music-gathering tradition of ours... it's a day spent outside under the sun (listening to tunes powered by the sun) that is filled with so much goodness, togetherness and inspiration (and check out this one too), and if we're lucky like today there's the occasional festival snack and lots of hooping! this year we brought along the hula-hoop that chuck & i made for margaret back at christmastime (sadly, mine is too big to travel with us)... and she totally worked that funky bright yellow loop of hers round and round through many sets and stages all day long... it turned around to the beats, with a few newly acquired fancy moves, through the felice brothers, mike doughty, david amram, and steve earle (just a few of the artists we saw)... she was unstoppable... and lots of fun to watch. i think also, i really love that there is such a good balance of everything, that it is an atmosphere that both the adults and children can have a great time with ease. makes for a very peaceful, happy, hooping good day.

it's been a while

after five years of being on a break, the band phish is playing together once again... they've scheduled a bunch of shows for the summer and we quickly hopped on board again for a couple of nights. this past thursday and friday, with two rain ponchos, one pre-show picnic and our crisp tickets in hand, chuck and i got to experience two nights of outdoor, waterside, rain-drenched live music down at jones beach. the concerts were rain or shine so despite the cold and rain, the shows went on. thursday, bad forecast and all, i put together a little pre-show picnic (which we ended up having in the car to stay dry and warm). on the menu was buttermilk cheddar biscuits, sauteed organic bok choi from our csa, halved strawberries, a thermos of lemon ginger tea and a sigg filled with water. on friday the rain fell so hard, we skipped the picnicking and dashed between the raindrops to go straight from our car to our seats joining a sea of fellow winter-jacket and poncho wearing fans (um, didn't those tickets say summer tour?). ultimately being in the midst of the music lifted us above the elements and both nights were incredible. filled with songs and music we love. filled with something that chuck and i have been enjoying together for a long time... when i can turn to chuck and say, "you know that super funky boogie on reggae woman cover sort of reminded me of that time we heard the dead's extra-funky shakedown street at rfk in 95.." and he replies "i was thinking the same thing!" i think, wow, it's really been a while. 

".... and the crowd went wild"

this afternoon

baked some cookies from my new organic snack book ~ walked in the mist/rain ~ listened to some new live music from

hampton, virginia ~ sewed for a bit ~ ate said cookies.

friday morning

"wake now discover that you are the song 
that the morning brings..." ~ robert hunter

pieces

• dorie. one quilt. cool fabrics. in the mail. 

• saturday. living room floor. stack of library books. 

• coffee cup. bit of afternoon rain and thunder outside.

• page 281. 505 quilt blocks. chapter entitled "traditional". "linked squares" block.

• streaming the newport folk festival. jakob dylan.  acoustic/electric references. she&him. rain there too.

• measure fabric. trim fabric. sew. iron. one practice square. 

• measure fabric. measure fabric again. trim fabric. arrange on floor. trim more fabrics. sew. iron.

• one final "linked squares" square to send off to dorie for our first collaborative quilt.

 

because getting there is half the fun... (part one): the music

every good roadtrip requires a good soundtrack, i say. i put together this two cd mix before we left — and called it "to the woods and back" (because also every good mix needs a good name, i say) — some old, some new... a little collection of songs for singing along. thought i'd share the setlist: 

lily pond 

elizabeth mitchell you are my little bird 

in the sun 

joseph arthur come to where i'm from

golden 

my morning jacket it still moves

heaven right here (come over to my yard) 

jeb loy nichols just what time it is

soulshine

government mule the beacon 12-31-02

rambler, gambler

bob dylan no direction home: the soundtrack

white winter hymnal

fleet foxes fleet foxes (download free here)

sally gal [outtake]

bob dylan no direction home: the soundtrack 

see these bones

nada surf lucky

mr. bojangles

nitty gritty dirt band certified hits: nitty gritty dirt band

i'm my own grandpa 

willie nelson gather round: songs for kids and other folks

all my friends live in the woods 

dan zanes & friends rocket ship beach

ashes and glass 

ratdog weir here (the best of bob weir)

tiger mountain peasant song 

fleet foxes fleet foxes

slow show 

the national boxer

song to woody 

bob dylan no direction home: the soundtrack

little maggie 

ralph stanley & the clinch mountain boys

appalachian stomp: more bluegrass classics

bushel and a peck 

dan zanes & friends rocket ship beach

nellie kane 

phish hampton comes alive (another version available free here)

ragged wood 

fleet foxes fleet foxes

lord god bird 

sufjan stevens npr (download free here)

let me lie

trey anastasio bar 17

whatcha gonna do 

peter tosh legalize it

this land is your land 

pete seeger american favorite ballads, vol. 1

old dan tucker

bruce springsteen we shall overcome - the seeger sessions

there is a mountain 

donovan the essential donovan

goodbye old paint 

dan zanes & friends rocket ship beach

sugaree 

jerry garcia band don't let go [live] 

don't think twice, it's all right [demo-version] 

bob dylan no direction home: the soundtrack

while the music is playing 

dan zane catch that train

dark hollow 

grateful dead history of the grateful dead, vol. 1

solstice gathering

after warmly shining down on all the many dancing and singing folks all day, the sun lingered in the sky for just a bit longer on saturday... it was the opening day of the clearwater festival and opening day of summer 2008. all the open outdoor space and the music-filled stages everywhere had us singing, hooping and happily welcoming in the new season grassroots-style...

the summer solstice is a time for letting go, letting go of the sun as the earth begins to rock and roll itself back in the other direction, letting go of the long days as they slowly will begin to get shorter... rocking and rolling, letting go... and how perfectly fitting, there was plenty of that going on at this celebration (originally put together by pete seeger more than 35 years ago, to help bring awareness to the huson river and the earth)

some of the performers we were able to catch this year were the silver swimmers, entrain, david amram, dog on fleas, the felice brothers, and a few others here and there...

it's an event that we always find to be a good time. it keeps us coming back year after year filling our souls with song. eventually, the sun did set, and we were on our way home, keeping the music going, singing our own songs (many from this songbook.) together. very glad that summer is now officially here. happy summer to all!

anchors away

a few months back, i signed margaret and i up for a craft swap. the blue box went out to our swap partners months ago and here's a glimpse of all the sea worthy loot that we sent...

margaret's underwater mermaid/sea creature scene that we cut up into a puzzle and tucked into a paper envelope. a cd of whale sounds in some custom cd packaging...

a glove bunny - adorned with his own anchor scarf. sewn by me, stuffed with wool by margaret. i wanted to give him an eye patch however margaret didn't want him to scare the other animals at his new home - so a scarf it was.

a close up detail of the fabric pirate mask and whale tee. i loved making this mask with mainly just some linen and a bandana — i hope to make a few more of these in the future...

it was fun to work together on this project. the whale/pirate theme had us pretty inspired (margaret loved listening to the whale chatter cd while we worked and learning the differences between an orca and a humbback whale). thanks again molly for organizing miniswap 3!

new favorites

a few fresh new books and tunes that are being read and played in heavy rotation around here lately:

• necks out for adventure (love, love this one about a bunch of little sea dwelling creatures, and margaret does too. the amazing illustrations have a very different, edgy feeling but still keeps everything sweet at the same time. i like that. this one has us planning a warm weather trip to the bay to see if we can spy some sea clams in the sand.), little hoot (very sweet. by the same author and artist who created little pea. the images are all quirky and adorable — and it puts bedtime in a new perspective!) and zen ties (i've had this one up on my sidebar... again, the illustrations are amazing here and the story/message is great to read again and again. now, this one has us digging up every old haiku book of ours that we can find from boxes up in the attic. i thought we'd find one or two... right now the haiku book pile is at seven, perhaps they belong in their own post "old favorites"?)

• sleep through the static. just yesterday i downloaded this new cd from jack johnson. its pretty dreamy. if you feel like checking out a video of the new song it can be found here (can't everything be found on youtube these days?). enjoy!

w is for wednesday

w is for welcome 2008.
happy new year everyone. well the new year has happily begun and without further ado here goes my official first post of '08...

w is for we're home.
not sure if anyone noticed or not, that last weekend we packed up, set the blog to post on auto-pilot, piled into the prius and hit the road for a small family roadtrip. over the river and through the baltimore harbor tunnel to grandmother's house we went. it was just a couple days and nights but we packed in a lot of visits with family and several trips to multiple main streets — main street annapolis (maryland), main street newark (delaware)... it was fun to travel together for a quick getaway and of course it is pretty nice to be back and settled in. yes, hello home.

w is for watering hole.
while cruising through delaware on new year's day we stopped by an old favorite place for a quick lunch...

w is for wxpn.
the trip to maryland and back is one that we've done many times before. we know the route without a map. we know the pitstops. and we know the local radio stations as the road meanders southward. fresh, live out-of-town air waves are a highlight on the journey. first stop 88.5 philadelphia.

w is for wrnr.
next to be dialed in is 103.1 annapolis. a sign that our destination was near... and for the return trip? same stations, reverse the order. listening to each station until reception fades away. until we are back home again.

w is for wednesday

w is for w.i.p. (work in progress).
just a glimpse of some projects i have going on. most of the ones here are of the doll-accessory variety. i'm thinking these will make great wee gifts for the advent flags (which will go up this weekend) or as gifts in the stocking. it is pretty hard to work on these and have them remain a secret. quite challenging actually to keep anything from the resident all-knowing four year old. the works in progress include two knitted doll hats, a doll sweater, a pair of felt doll shoes and two doll knapsacks. all do-able i think, it is the keeping them a surprise that i am worried about.

w is for without a net.
i pulled this classic double-disc album out off of our cd shelves today to import it into my itunes. i thought i should include it in this "w" post for sure. this was one of my very first cds. part of the *11 free* cds i received when my sister got me to join the columbia house music club (being 1990 i think my official first cd was the police?) right before i went off to college. i was transitioning from albums and tapes to the smaller, modern cds. yes, off to college i went with a dinosaur-sized 3-disc cd player and a small handful of new music. this one quickly rose to the top. 1. because, well, it is the grateful dead and 2. it was probably one of the few that my freshmen year roomate and i could agree upon. she was a huge follower of the band, and while i really liked them, at that time my feet were still pretty planted in all the new wave i knew and loved (the smiths, the cure, etc...). listening to this cd today, as it gets converted into mp3s, takes me back. i remember watching my roomate frantically calling the dead's hotline in california, long-distance, daily to see when mailorder would start for tickets. this was fascinating. and i had no idea that just a year or so later i too, along with my good friend and now-husband, would be blissfully sucked into the vortex of the grateful dead phenomenon. we ourselves soon were mail-ordering tickets. we were travelling. we were dancing. we were collecting and trading bootleged live shows on maxell tapes. (some of these traded audience taped live shows are already in my itunes like the 9.2.68 show at betty nelson's organic rapsberry farm.) goodness. but without a net was my first. the beginning of an extraordinary and wonderful musical adventure.

w is for wordy.
hmmm, apparently i have no problem going on and on about who knows what here today. i know some of you prefer the shorter, photo-based posts. i'm sure those posts will return soon. however, if you have taken the time to read through all these words today, thanks!

summer sountrack '07

the air is heavy, the heat is here, the world around us is completely saturated with all things summer... ah, august... with these conditions, i'm finding myself being brought back to last summer and especially the new music i was listening to at that time... the music that was playing in the background while we went about our hot days and windows-open, cricket-filled nights such as michael frenti, citizen cope, gomez, trey anastio, grace potter, g. love, etc... it is always so wonderful how music can connect us to such specific moments in time, isn't it?... and such good music it was. so anyway, i've been wondering... watching, listening and observing to see what the songs will be for this year? what songs will appear, on their own, and make their way into our memories of 2007? today as we listened to a newly downloaded fionn regan song over and over, perhaps we stumbled across the first track of this unofficial compilation... it is a great simple tune that fits the s-l-o-w mood of the summer heat, as if the music is melting right there along with you. if you haven't already, and you'd like to give it a listen, or see the very cool video he's done for the song you can check it out here. there are other songs that have potential for summer sountrack 07 status (perhaps?), but it is really too early to tell. so i'll just sit back now, breath in the elements of the season, try to keep cool and let the djs do their thing.

w is for wednesday

w is for walk on the beach.
with a beachcombing basket in hand, we did some seaside strolling today. warming up, but still chilly enough that we wore our winter hats. amongst all the mermaid purses and crab claws we found some lovely shells. and just when i was about to give up hope, i dug out from a clump of sand and seaweed one beautiful chunky, smooth piece of white seaglass. hip, hip, hurray!

w is for weathered.
tibetan prayer flags hang along a string above our small veggie patch and they are showing the wear and tear of being out in the elements over the past year. i'm trying to decide if i should hang up a new, crisp fresh set this year or just let these be for a little while longer.... i like embracing the wabi-sabi-ness they bring to the garden and enjoy the frayed and fadedness.

w is for wncw.
tapped into a cool little north carolina radio station today and their great afternoon segment called tour memories which highlighted a little grateful dead tune - rubin and cherise. so happy to catch that!

w is for weir.
speaking of the grateful dead, i came across these photos today of bob weir in a suit. yes, bob weir in a suit. just awesome.

create

cotton pipecleaners, blue organic sheeps wool, a beautiful piece of yellow felt and a new book about working with wool... not the typical souvenirs from a night out seeing a rock star. we were lucky enough to be able to see one of my favorite musicians speak last night in a one-on-one interview in front of a small audience. even though the atmosphere was a little more talk and less music i was still very excited to be 5th row center. the interview questions were here and there... the most inspirational thing to hear was trey's take on being a musician and creating music - comparing it to being any form of an artist. he spoke of being in touch with the universe and being in touch with yourself... observing what is out there and using your own filter to interperit what you hear/see and create so that others might hear/see it too. listening to these words from such a creative mind was very inspiring. it made me want to run home and create. luckily the venue was located near an enchanted little shop that sells natural toys and craft supplies (gotta love when that happens) and before the show i was able to pick up the aforementioned mementos. now i'm hoping that this wonderful inspiration might find its way into my new materials, or my old materials wouldn't be so bad either.

and of course to keep our young artist in residence inspired i picked up a little wooden pencil in her favorite hue - olive green. rock on!

lovely

in the house, in the car, wherever, we've been listening to margaret's cd a lot lately. it is so very sweet and full of sunshine. the music is so peaceful and breezy that i feel like i should be mixing up a pitcher of fresh lemonade in a sunny country house wearing a gingham apron. really. however, i'm here on this chilly gray day, crafting up our miniswap box and these tunes are great as a background soundtrack for that too. we're pretty excited because a surprise package for our miniswap partner is coming together. we feel like we are putting together our own little box of sunshine to send their way.

w is for wednesday

some things from our day...

w is for wheat.
we baked bread in the morning. this is a great activity. i was worried with the cold that the yeast wouldn't rise for me today, but we had some luck and it did. margaret gets really into all the stages of baking. her favorite is eating the ingredients. (some flour mixed with maple syrup - yummmm.) i love that she is learning the possiblities of "homemade". when we eat the bread she knows exactly where it came from, i think.

w is for wool.
i am ready to pick up and focus on a project that has been on hold for a few weeks. i am trying to knit my first sweater for margaret. i was doing ok with the 54 stitches back and forth, knitting and purling away but then i got to the neck and stopped. i am stuck. so i hope to fit in a trip to the library for some more knitting books to see if i can figure out how to shape the neck. i love this wool so much and i can't wait to work with it more. i'm excited that knitting is on top of my project list.

w is for wfuv
we had wfuv streaming through the computer this morning. they played some excellent music this morning.

w is for waaaaa.
afterall this was a wonderful wholesome wednesday with a 3 year old. but we got through that and all is ok.