she loved him...

my favorite poem.....

she loved him all her life

and when she thought that he might die

she tied her wrists to his at night

so that his pulse would not flutter

away from her

suddenly

and leave her

stranded.

the author's name escapes me. i have loved this poem since seeing it tucked away in a margin of my high school's freshman year world lit book. i remember how my soul sunk when i read these words, and i would find myself returning to it for many mid-class daydreams. i have written it and rewritten it in the margins of homework, papers, scribblings and journals.

it is still my favorite. of all time.

i don't know anything about this little story. this little author.

who was he?

was he her lover? an unrequited love? and when she learned of his fate, did she rush to his side? so that he would know that she had always loved him? never forgotten? did he love her still?

was he her devoted husband? did he give her violets on their wedding day? did he make her waffles on sundays? did she raise his babies, all grown now? was he a young man, dying in his prime? or old and wrinkled with a life well lived?

Was he her daddy? was it just the two of them now that their matriarch had passed away? did she remember him promising her sweets before dinner, that she could do anything, the moon and the stars and everything beyond?

sometimes, with better known authors, you can discover these trinkets of information...but i have never tried. i like not knowing. i like to imagine....

she is old and weathered.

sitting at his bedside. white walls. white linen. white flowers at his side.

she lays with her grayed head on his chest, and her thin, delicate fingers interlaced with his. she is holding tightly. so tightly.

a fine red thread wrapped three times and tied at their wrists...

it doesn't matter so much who the man is to her. their love is otherworldly. i always imagine this the same. the same way, every time.

i have many otherworldly loves of my life. my great loves. i imagine that i will do the same as this woman, tethering their souls to mine, for as long as they will have it. to never be alone. to never be stranded.

and when it is time for them to leave, i imagine that my pulse will slow with theirs, thready and weak. and we can go together, peacefully and quiet into the light. with hearts full, and long lives well lived.

what is your favorite poem?

Mystic Seaport

For our final summer adventure, we packed up the babes and took her down to Mystic to visit the fishes. We had been telling her about it all week, hyping it up, not knowing what kind of reaction she would have. Would she be scared? Would she be overtired and fussy? Would she be overstimulated? Or would she be so insanely in awe of every gorgeous sea creature that she might see? Fortunately for us, she was the latter.

So. In. Awe.

And so were we. Of her.

We took her to see the Belugas first, to see how she would handle the outside tanks before bringing her inside into the dark to see the remainder of our new fish friends. When we walked up to the glass and she glanced across the pool to the huge beluga whale before us, her hands tightened into little fists and for just one split second I was so sure that she was going to have a freak out. But no...instead, her little body started shaking with excitement, and for the first time since she started cooing, she was utterly speechless. She was SO excited and so in awe. It. was. amazing.

After she got acclimated to the outside tanks, we took her inside. And she was all over the place, pointing and saying "THAT! that! THAT!!!" and bouncing from tank to tank to show us what she saw with her wide little eyes.

I think she loved the penguins the most...they would come to her from behind the glass and "kiss" the little hands that were smooshed up against their world...but in reality, they were trying to bite her. :)

Avonlea may have loved the penguins...but mama loved the jellies...they were so amazing to photograph!

I waited all day for this turtle to come out so I could snap this pic. :)

A zombie tuna in the shark tank! ah!

This little fish was so homely. The Steve Buschemi of fish.

Although summer is coming to a close, I know that there are many adventures on the horizon for this Autumn. School starts tomorrow for the husband, and "school" starts on wednesday for the babes. We have lots of home improvements planned, and lots of lovin' to sneak into this season. I can't wait to see what Autumn brings us with her breath of colder winds and flamed trees. No matter what, we will make the most of it.

And everything is gonna be alright.

Alone time....

I loved this little video...for the tone and the idea itself.

Makes one think about just the act of being alone...how we have trained ourselves to never want to be alone. Or to even believe that being alone is a bad thing.

I am choosing to embrace being alone. It is so rare these days with the little running around, but here's to making a conscious effort to enjoy my own time, my own mind, my own hobbies and skills.

:)

24 hours in New Hampshire

What do you do when you have 24 hours of unplanned time?

Well, I packed up the babes and threw her in the car for a short 3 hour car ride to lovely New Hampshire, where the family is thick as thieves and the love is a'flowin. Just what I needed for a 24 hour vacation.

What do you do once you get there?

Eat fresh silver corn. and lots of it. And swim in a quasi-warm pool. and get loved up by those delicious grandparents and aunties and cousins.

I love when grandma sits in the kiddie pool. It's oddly hilarious to me.

And then out come the bubbles.....

Zoe also enjoyed the bubble popping....she and Avonlea compete....

A 24 hours well spent....we came home with full bellies and full souls. What more could we ask for?

:)

p.s. this post is for my dad...who swears there are NO pictures of him and the babycakes. take that grandpa...you wanted 'em...you got 'em. ;)

Page Park and a whole lotta lovin....

We took the babycakes to Page Park yesterday in Bristol, the day after a tornado hit in my neighborhood. I figured we could all use a little sunshine after the storm. And since we still had no power, a little park-filled action would be good for our souls.

Page park has a water pad, where kids activate a series of water fountains that provides tons of entertainment as they watch and wait to see which fountain will spring up next...

it's a great time. Avonlea loved running around with the big kids. :)

Bon Bon Bonanza!

In preparation for a friend's baby shower this weekend, I took out my old, (and well loved) bon bon recipe from an old friend. This is a great and easy recipe, it does take a bit of time to hand dip the little peanut buttery morsels...but it's worth it! mmmmm!

All the ingredients in the bowl: dates, eggs, peanut butter, coconut, confectioners sugar and walnuts. This was a double batch.

Squish it up!!!

I like to pre-roll the bon bons...makes dipping them go much faster! You can make them as big or as small as you want!

I don't own a double boiler, so I made my own with a sauce pan and a sauté pan filled with water. I think it works just as well. I melted a bag and a half of Ghiardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips. I also love using bittersweet chocolate for the coating because the inside of the bon bon is so rich and sweet. In lieu of paraffin wax (because who can find that?!?!) i used a little olive oil to make the chocolate a little thinner and give it a pretty waxy finish when it cools and sets.

mmm...how just freeze the tray until the chocolate sets, and then pop them on a platter or ziplock. Freeze them for up to 3 months, and defrost just prior to serving. Delish! Enjoy!