Bat for Lashes - Laura

Bright Eyes - If The Brakeman Turns My Way

I have a largely sedentary job,
and its immediate products
are fairly abstract
instead of physically tangible.
I think this is why
when I get home from the office
I have been turning so readily
to the kitchen.

I love taking beautiful raw ingredients,
putting in some clean and focused effort,
and turning them into something that can be
cut and divided into slices,
plucked warm from the counter,
poured on a hot day,
or balanced lightly and carefully upon
Summer-stained fingertips.

Nice and tart,
just the way apricot jam should be.

We're heading to the other side of the mountains this weekend
and I'm hoping to come back with pounds of peaches!

The vanilla-peach jam I made last summer
(the first jam I ever made and canned)
ended up being everyone's favorite,
including mine.

2012
so far
has been a study
in light and dark,
paired together.
A glorious day in the sun,
followed immediately by disheartening news.
The gifts of a little time and space,
followed by a string of bad luck
that no one could have foreseen.
High contrast.

But even with the parts
so numbing or frustrating
that I seem to lose my power of speech,
I feel thankful
for the gold
that came before,
and I refuse
to let it dissolve
in the face of things
and be forgotten,
and that is the beauty
of these kinds of pairings
(or so I have been telling myself
this year).


I haven't been in this space in quite a while,
but I have been taking many photographs
and I am looking forward to sharing them.

I have been trying to remember
that being kind to onself
isn't simply a luxury,
a treat to partake of
when I have the time and space.

I had quite forgotten this
(as I tend to do,
at busy
and stressful times).

Finally got around
to making labels!

(I enjoy this part
just as much as the jam-making).

----

Cat Power has a new album coming out
on September 4th!
I went through an intense
Cat Power phase
in college
and she will always
have a special place in my heart.

I've taken to running
in the early evenings
when I get home
to shed the office
from my mind and skin.

I ran by this pink dogwood
day after day,
stopping my jog each time
to stand before it,
stunned and admiring,

Finally,
after a whole day
of drenching rain
the sun came out
just in time
for my much-needed run.

Afterward,
with the raindrops glinting,
I walked back,
camera now in hand,
to formally greet
this glorious tree,
my favorite running companion.

I always feel
like I am giving a gift
to my future self
when,
months from now,
on a grey day,
or maybe a cold day,
when,
perhaps,
my fruit bowl is empty
and the bounty of the warm months has faded,
I have stockpiled
a little trove
of pantry treasures,
that are just waiting to be
enjoyed.

Trees so dark green
that they look black.

My favorite kind.



----

Cold Specks - Holland

A wonderful weekend spent
at a friend's cabin
up North,
in Canada.

It was quite chilly,
but felt like
a little taste,
a little hint,
of Summertime,
and other weekends away
to come.

My first pickling experiment!

Moderately successful,
but it's a start.
I hope to make
tons
of dilly beans
this summer.

Next up:
Rhubarb Ginger Jam

So enjoying lately:
The light and color here
This novel (a perfect read for Springtime)
Totokaelo's new space (these are now mine!)