Another year older!

My birthday was 2 days ago, and just like every year I chose a birthday theme song. This year it was "We Will Not Grow Old" by Lenka. Although the song is about a couple in a new relationship (which doesn't apply to me at all!) I just loved singing the title line with gusto in the kitchen, car, or wherever I happened to be on Tuesday.

Besides the little handmade gifts from my kids, my favorite part of the day was when my husband said "You really don't seem as old you are at all. Although sometimes you seem like you should have been born in the pioneer days with what you like to do." I'll take that as a compliment! And I'll go bake me a cherry pie from scratch while I listen to my very hip Lenka!

Lilacs & Moonbeams

Lilacs in dooryards

Hold quiet conversations with an early moon.

-Amy Lowell

Reading, Watching, Listening

I can't believe how time goes and that it's been so long since I posted - I had my husband's birthday and Easter at my house and spun out of control for a little while there. Anyway, here's what I plan on enjoying when I find a spare moment or two:

Reading:

Around the House and In the Garden by Dominique Browning (recommended by Nan of Letters from a Hill Farm)

I also just finished A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson about his hike on the Appalachian Trail. I haven't laughed that hard out loud from a book in a long time, and I plan to get Notes from a Small Island next.

And, since I've read it no less than 50 times the last 2 weeks, I must mention the children's book Little Hoot about an owl who actually wants to go to bed. My 5-year-old can now be heard saying "I don't give a hoot!" while playing with friends and/or stuffed animals.

Watching:

The Straight Story on DVD - "A heartwarming and poignant drama chronicling the story of Alvin Straight, an elderly man who drives his John Deere lawnmower 260 miles to make amends with his brother in Wisconsin."

Listening:

I still can't get enough of Brett Dennen! I also recently got Mason Jennings "In the Ever" from the library, but haven't had a chance to listen to it.

Of course I had Nick Drake's Pink Moon on repeat last week for the real full Pink Moon. Despite it's supposed sad meaning, it's one of my favorite songs of all time. I choose not to think too deeply about it and instead just picture a magical moonlit night (or a Volkswagon commercial).

Wit, Wisdom, & Rain

"On a day when I had wanted to work outside, had bought garden seeds and made plans, I woke up to rain - slow, steady, drippy, soaking rain. It's hard not to be disappointed. But the weather is nature's way of reminding me who is in charge, who makes the big decisions. The rain put me in my place."

From Living a Country Year - Wit and Wisdom from the Good Old Days by Jerry Apps

Found! Another Favorite Artist - Brett Dennen

As you know, I am a huge Jack Johnson fan. I discovered him a few years ago in a rather lame way - in People magazine. I like to think I've always been pretty "up" on things, but somehow I hadn't heard of him until his third album. Now he's one of my favorites, and often times I wonder who else I may have missed along the way. The other day I discovered another such artist - Brett Dennen - in yet another somewhat lame way - I was simply attracted to his cd cover art at the library. His cds "Hope for the Hopeless" and "So Much More" have been on alternate repeat play in my house for a week now. He has an interesting voice and lyrics that are timely and valid. He does things I love like rhyming "victorian" with "accordian" - "I'm gonna rent me an old Victorian Down in the Lower Haight, I'm gonna find me an old accordion. Play for the tourists on the Golden Gate." Please give him a listen sometime - you'll be glad you did! (I'd supply a youtube link here if I knew how!)

And you know me and my lyrics...

The power went out,

and the stars came out

and I went out for a walk in the dark

There were fireflies flitting

and I heard poets spitting

rhymes out in the park

I felt myself drift up off the ground

& I rose above the trees

And I saw my life in photographs

of faded memories...

From the song Who Do You Think You Are?

Find yourself a hillside

I love this springy book passage from Spring Snow: The Seasons of New England From the Old Farmer's Almanac by Castle Freeman, Jr. -

Now, before the trees begin to leaf, before the grass begins to turn green and grow, the land is unguarded. Get out and see it. Find a hillside, sit down, and look over the country.
The air is cold, but already the wind smells of plant life, growth, and earthworms. The land looks like a patchwork cover worked years ago by a stern old wife who distrusted bright colors and fancy patterns. She patched simple rectangles, mostly of common cloth and in common colors. Hardwood stands are brown; above them the belts of softwoods are soft green. Cornfields are a kind of dun color from the brown mud and the gray or brown of last year's stubble. Meadpws are tan, the color a of a pale fox. Where people have their gardens the patches are a fine, rich black. Only where gardeners and farmers planted cover crops last year is there now bright color, intensely green.
You can sit and admire the season. It's one of the shortest of them all. In a few weeks the world will be green. Even today, althought the nights are cold, if you're outdoors at evening you'll hear in the woods a single peeper sounding the same note slowly, regularly, over and over again like a bored kid dinging away at a piano.

- From the essay "Look of the Land"

Blarney!

Those rascally leprechauns paid a visit to my kids' rooms last night - they put stuffed animals on the ceiling fans, turned lamps upside down, and put underpants on the heads of dolls. They even turned our milk green in the fridge! The traps the kids made did not outwit the leprechauns either, but they left calling cards of a green foil-wrapped Cadbury Creme eggs to soften any disappointment.


Today I'm proudly wearning my hooligan Irish shirt, and I feel I have every right because my grandmother's maiden name was Garrigan (not to mention I AM a hooligan, every day)! I'll be making an Irish radio station over at Pandora.com as recommened by Nan at Jade Page Press to play during dinner tonight. Green jello, honeydew, pizza decorated with a herb-sprinkled shamrock, and green cake topped with green m&ms are on the menu.

"May you always walk in sunshine. May you never want for more. May Irish angels rest their wings right beside your door." - Irish Proverb


Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!