Photo Journal, no. 48 | French Artifacts

Kath went to France.  And she thought of me often enough while there to send me a couple postcards and, in later letters, a little scrapbook-worth of artifacts from her visit.  And that is lovely.

Rumination, no. 11 | 29th Year

As of today, I am three weeks in to my 29th Year living on this planet Earth (or Gaia, if you prefer).  Here are some of my goals:

• Create a successful garden
• Build a vermicomposter
• Re-learn to use a sewing machine
• Get a ham radio license
• Visit the beach
• Visit the mountains
• Get a driver's license, finally
• Attend 1 Unitarian Universalist service
• Read 10 Esoteric books
• Try 50 new recipes
• Make home cleaning & hygeine supplies
• Learn to be serene & still
• Purchase health insurance, or find a job with benefits
• Compile a Book of Shadows

Is this a lot?  I can't tell.  Three weeks in, I've accomplished none of these things, fyi.

Wolfpeople Library, no. 4 | Reading Lately

Photo Journal, no. 47 | Is it Winter Yet?

Photo Journal, no. 46 | Man Holds Guitar, Woman Swoons

psst - that's iced tea in the beer glass, not beer... this time.

Wolfman's been playing solo at Common Grounds lately, whenever a Friday or Saturday night is open.  While he doesn't forbid me to go watch him, he doesn't exactly encourage it either.  This might have something to do with my chronic bitchface.  He assures me that were the stakes higher, were he playing someplace more crowded, he would definitely want me in the audience, bitchface be damned. 

Photo Journal, no. 45 | Stormy Summer

I've used my dryer every Saturday for the past month.  Compare that to last summer when I had laundry hanging on the line every weekend from May until December.  I'm bummed about the laundry situation even while living in a state of being wherein nothing pleases me more than a storm.  What a contrary creature I am.

Domesticity Log, no. 11 | Fruit & Nut Bites

Here's a wholesome, yummy, simple snack recipe.  Gluten free, dairy free, processed sugar free, etc.  Originally made for that detox my brain refuses to process in words, but a go-to now.  I haven't been this excited about a snack since I learned to make granola.  Recipe originally from Whole Living, but with one alteration:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups mixed dried fruit (I used figs, dates, and raisins.)
• 1 cup mixed raw nuts and seeds (the recipe originally calls for 2 cups, but I found this was way too much.  I used almonds and pecans.)
• Spice (I used allspice.)
• Salt of choice
• 1/3 cup seeds (The original recipe calls for sesame seeds, which I think sounds yummy, but I used flax because it's what I had on hand.  I tried using unsweetened shredded coconut, but the balls weren't sticky enough because, I think, I used too many nuts.)

Directions:

1. Pulse fruit in a food processor, transfer to bowl.
2. Pulse nuts/seeds in a food processor until finely chopped.  Add to fruit.  Add spice and salt.
3. Knead together into 1-inch balls, roll in seeds.

Here's a hint: if you use figs, your fruit & nut bites are going to be particularly tasty, and the little fig seeds will add an extra texture to your bite, which is delightful.  Figs are, in short, the greatest fruit ever to exist on this planet.  Suck it, mangoes.

 

Photo Journal, no. 44 | From the Farm

Marbled bell peppers, tomatoes, peaches, and a weird little melon of some sort which was so sugary sweet.  Sometimes, I think it's a good idea to pick up fruits and vegetables you don't recognize, or can only vaguely identify, and then devour them without bothering to learn their names.  Mystery food straight from Gaia's cafeteria!  When I was taking pictures at the Carden Farm Stand, Wolfman took a little distance from me.  I said, "I'm sorry I embarrass you," and he answered, "No, it's not that.  But sometimes you do act like a tourist."  Wolfman was born and raised in Apex, so tourist-ing around these parts is bizarre to him.  But, being a tourist in your home town isn't a bad idea, I think, nor is embarrassing my husband on occasion. 

Photo Journal, no. 43 | Correspondence

Letter from Breana in California

I've been writing letters for years.  In high school, I joined a by-mail penpal exchange called Pen Friends (sadly, it doesn't exist anymore; I've searched), and shared correspondence with several different girls throughout those four years.  Never were these pen pals as dedicated as I, but that didn't deter me.  Upon making internet friends my freshman year of college, it seemed natural to suggest writing letters during my oppressively luddite summers out of the dorm.  These letters were always hand-written, usually on notebook paper or the back of flyers marking where we'd been, what we'd been doing, and always the letters from that first summer were long and heartfelt--the tragic Victorian love letters of sick poetry girls.  That May, June, July were filled with so many walks to the post office, and those letters, from Kath and Breana and Bre, the stray postcard from Stacy, envelopes stuffed with magazine clippings and ticket stubs, were my sustenance.

After that summer ended, as it turns out, letter-writing had become something of a habit.  On and off since 2004, I've been exchanging letters with Kath, and, with a few larger gaps, Breana.  I'd like to think my letters have gotten a little more sophisticated, though I can't be sure how true that is.  At the very least, in the last few years I've enjoyed shopping for stationery, and, with increasing interest, stamps.  Lately, I've taken to buying vintage stamps through eBay and Etsy: a tad more expensive, yes, but such a delight. 



Letters to Kath: vintage New Mexico and Sleepy Hollow stamp via eBay, all others via USPS.

Wildwood Tarot and letter to Kath: vintage beach stamps via Etsy.





Photo Journal, no. 42 | Meals Lately

Dinner by Wolfman: grilled beef shoulder, brown rice, peas & corn.

Dinner by Wolfman: zucchini parmesan with linguine & meat marinara.

Lunch from Square Rabbit: salmon burger with rosemary olive oil chips.

Dinner by Wolfman: Stuffed zucchini (couscous, feta, corn, green pepper, so many spices, and perhaps more).




Breakfast: curried couscous with raw zucchini and a fried egg.

 

Dinner: almond milk & kale salad with avocado and dehydrated peas.

All of these meals (excluding the very green salad) happened before my detox, which I keep meaning to write about, but keep putting off.  Though a bulk of my Year and a Day-related research lately has been food, health, and holistic medicine-related, I kind of hate talking about food.  No, I don't hate talking about food.  I hate talking and writing about diet.  (I feel like such a cliche!)  But, I will eventually commit something to this here humble little blog.  Eventually.