Okay, so summer is just begininning. But I have been traveling, with limited internet access along the way. This is why you have hear neither hide nor hair from me. (Fear not, beloved worriers: all is well).
First, we went to New York City for a handful of days. This was delightful. Stayed at the Marriott in downtown Brooklyn, which was only just being built back in the day when I called myself a Brooklynite. At the time, it seemed like a crazy idea. A Marriott? In the middle of Brooklyn? But it was lovely, well-appointed, centrally located. And filled with people who apparently didn’t think it so crazy after all.
We did all kinds of things. Dining out, the Ellis Island museum, funky little shops. At one point, we went to the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights, and Merrie took photos of the New York skyline with my camera:

Photo credit: Merrie
I got to visit my sister’s light-filled, Pottery-Barn-esque office:

That is my sister in the background. She is yelling at children. It turns out that light-filled, Pottery Barn-esque offices are not the place for high-energy children.
Also on the trip, I got to meet my new friend Oscar.

Oscar might need to go on a diet. He is HEAVY, dude.
(if you weren’t around in February 2008: yep, it’s real).
Merrie and I had been watching Project Runway, and we made a trip to Mood Fabrics in the fashion district, the place where designers. We also wandered through the city imagining outfits inspired by the random things that we saw — one of the tasks of Season 2 (and if you watched that season, please don’t give away the winner, for we still don’t know). Anyhow, we wound up snapping lots of photos of things, and my camera is now filled with dozens of pictures like this: Continue reading ‘What I did on my summer vacation, by Ali’

Let’s say you have a seven year old, and you allow this seven year old to get a fish.

More and more, I am learning to do it myself: learning to knit, learning to sew, learning to make broth/cheese/yogurt, learning to grow my own herbs, to work with dried beans, to start my own tomatoes. In a month, I’ll be at my women’s carpentry class; in the meantime, I’ve been pouring over designs for portable chicken coops, hoping that I will have the skills to build my own (and if not, by golly, I’ll scrimp and I’ll save and buy myself an
A few years ago, I went to a party. It was a casual type of party, or so you’d think. Outdoors, autumn, middle of the day, kids running around. It was a beautiful day; the sounds of children all around us, color in the trees, tasty food, plenty of friendly conversation.
