The Emperor of Oranges ... Answers Dead Letters

In this poem, he talks about writing an email to the dead, telling them you miss them, and wanting to know they're all right. When he's Emperor of the Internet, you'll get an automated response back ... Isn't that a lovely thought?

It's been 10 years, Sandy. Yes, Oliver is 10 years old now. Can you believe it? You died before he was born, didn't even get to see him wriggling in this world. He's a good kid, not the quiet, shy kid I was at that age. He is confident, bold, smart, when he applies himself. He could do anything he'd want to do in this world. I did good. :-)

Sometimes I can hear you laughing--oh what a big laugh you had! But you also knew how to cry. You felt your feelings, whatever they were. You taught me how to stand up for myself. What a gift you were in my life! I miss you. I want to know you're all right wherever you are now. I want you to know that I still think of you. You made a difference in my world. Thank you for being part of my story. I just wish you were still here so we could do another canoe adventure, so we could lay on the dock out at Cherokee Marsh and count dragonflies, so I could hear you laugh ... so we could talk again.



My close friend, Sandra Matthews died unexpectedly 2 months before my son was born in 2001. I had just visited her the weekend before ... I don't think any of us saw her suicide coming.
About 6 months later, I did a meditation to talk with her, to find out if she was all right and to say, "Good bye." When she met me in this "dream," she gave me the gift of a flower--a water lily. She said, "For your future, Kid!"

When I started putting this quilt together, the flowers reminded me of the water lily Sandy gave me that summer's day. And now, I know that I can talk to her anytime I want ... Those who loved us in life, love us still after death. This seems like a good day to wrap myself in that quilt of comfort.

"The day will come when it is more painful to stay tightly closed in a bud than to bloom." --Anais Nin.

These colors are not at all "Sandy." She was bright and flashy and sparkly and loud. Before I knew her, she was an exotic dancer ... but she couldn't wear the high heels anymore, so she had to make a career change. She became a naturalist, learning about ecology and giving nature tours--she loved the outdoors. Read about a Fall Day in the Baraboo Hills with Sandy. No--these are really MY colors. This quilt is a gift to myself--with Sandy's continued blessing and encouragement.

Sandy, I wish you could see how I've bloomed. You were the gardener.

Chicago Trip April 2011

The kid was on school vacation this past week, so we decided to spend a few days in Chicago. After CL saw this marquis, he's seriously considering a return trip in May for Elvis Costello and Paul Simon. Unless they are also playing Milwaukee ...


Here we are waiting for the vallet to bring the car around to the hotel entrance. We stayed at The Silversmith Hotel, which is right downtown and within walking distance of almost everything we wanted to do and see ...


We had a very good and reasonably priced lunch here at The Pittsfield Cafe -- just walked in and sat down, no waiting. CL had a pastrami sandwhich (see below). Although I've heard of these, I've never seen one up close, much less tasted one until this day. Pretty good! The beef brisket was nice and tender and went well with the rye bread.




Oliver wanted to go to The Lego Store on Michigan Ave.
I still love Star Wars, and Lego had plenty of it!


My main objective in Chicago-land was to make a pilgrimage to Dick Blick : 2 floors of art supplies! So much potential! So many possibilities in all those raw materials!


I got a set of Inktense water color pencils. I've heard so much about them from some of my blogging friends, that I really wanted to give them a try.


A picnic dinner from Trader Joe's seems to have become a tradition on these Chicago adventures. The wait-times at so many of the restaurants in the evening is too long to endure if you've got a kid along. So a little baguette, some prosciutto, a good goat cheese, and a little hummus is just enough in the evening. And then there's some left for breakfast, too!


We walked around the Loop area. I liked how the glass on this building reflected the trees across the street.

We also went to The Shedd Aquarium. I really wanted to spend some time with the Belugas, but alas, they were not on display other than a brief stint in the show. We did not attend the show, but stayed below and caught a brief glimpse of these gentle giants here :

The Shedd was really noisy and crawling with screaming kids that day. Somehow, I had not considered that. The last time I was at the Shedd was a few years ago for a conference, in the evening. It was all adults. We had a very elegant dinner around the Caribbean Reef, with a guy in the tank telling us about Nickel the sea turtle who lived there and her rescue story. Then we had a few hours to roam the Shedd. I hung out by the Beluga tank and just watched them for most of that time. It was a wonderful and restorative experience for me. Not this time ... The Shedd offers a regular Jazz evening (Tuesdays?) for adults only. I'm sure that would have been more up my alley, but then we had a 10-year old with us ...

Here are some pictures from the Shedd :







The best part of the trip for me was getting to see my old friend Chris Corcoran. I've known her since my African Lit & Lang days at UW-Madison (almost 20 years!). She was in Nigeria with me the summer of 1993 (What a summer that was!) I spent many a Saturday night at her lakeside apartment in Madison eating great food, watching foreign films, and discussing the great issues of the day. She is a wonderful storyteller. I don't think I would have made it through that period without her! She even took me to Vogue Fabrics that first time when I bought the linen for my wedding dress. She still has that wonderful curly hair. It was wonderful to see her again! As you can see from the picture, we laugh as much as we ever did together!

Lightning Storm 4-10-2011

Cloud-to-cloud lightning in this storm gave off quite a show Sunday night (April 10, 2011). It was almost a constant stream of lightning. Although you can hear a little rain falling in the background, the thunder was just a low rumble in the distance, barely audible. This is just 45 seconds from our front porch. Although we went to the basement for a while to wait out twister tendencies, the storm wasn't really too bad by us. We were on the edges.

David Sylvian - Rare

An assortment of David Sylvian videos on YouTube. I've tried to purchase the Mps, but these don't seem to be available. So I'm pulling them together here in one HP post, so I can find them again later.

After all these years, David Sylvian is still making beautiful music. So sit back and enjoy a quiet evening. You won't be disappointed. ;-)


Bhajan


I Have Waited for You


Moments in Time


For the Love of Life


Some Small Hope

A Candle for Japan

I lit a candle for Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake, tsunami, and resulting upheaval this week. May they feel our support in the recovery.

My sister lives in Chiba City with her two little kids and husband. They are all okay--Thankfully.

Quilts are for People!

We sent this Twin Connection quilt to our old and dear friend, Kevin Bradley. We've known Kevin since our Summit Coop days in Madison.

A quilt he had since he was a kid was stolen out of his van last fall--with him in it. A Quilter (like me) hears a story like that and has to DO something! While it's not the quilt he had since childhood, maybe this one will take him the next 50 years.

Cheers, Kevin!

Cheap Date at Pho Viet in Milwaukee, WI

Bun bi Chia Giao - Yum! This is my all-time favorite Vietnamese dish (so far) : a noodle salad with fresh veggies, and a Vietnamese egg roll. We still affectionately call this #22, because that was the number it had on the menu at I'm Here Vietnamese Restaurant in Madison, WI.


The Special Sauce that goes with the Bun Bi above.


CL had the Pho -- the beef soup.
The restaurant is named after this soup, so it had to be good. It was!
We love Vietnamese Cuisine. The flavors are so light and delicate compared to Chinese or Thai foods (which we also appreciate). Here, you taste the lime and cilantro, and green peppers. Sweet, sour, salty, tangy, fresh --It's all there!


They also had Vietnamese grinders. I saw these on Sandwiches You Will Like (a PBS documentary). It was tasty--and only $3.50. The bread is the French influence on the culture.


This was one of the condiments on the table. I'm still not brave enough to try it, but it's got gorgeous colors! I'm sure we'll be going back there again someday. ;-)

Nearby, there was an Asian grocery store. I've never seen one so big! I wished Wei Ching or Sung Tran were still around to tell me what we were looking at!

At the deli, this looked like a seascape in a cup :

Rosita's Toffee

1 cup sugar
1 cup butter

Nuts
3 Hershey bars

Melt butter. Add sugar and 3T water.
At 280 degrees, add nuts, if desired.
Heat to 300 degrees F.
Pour into a buttered pan.
Lay the Hershey candy bars out on top of the toffee. Spread it out when it melts. Add more nuts.

Rosita brought this to my mom's house at Christmas. Yum!

Perfect Day : Cross Country Skiing Christmas Day 2010

Our little family Christmas tradition is to go cross-country skiing in Gartzke Flowage. After a big holiday meal, and too much time sitting around watching tv, it's time to get up and move!

This year, we had a PERFECT Day with tolerable temps in the 20s, and a good base of snow. The trails were groomed, and Oliver stayed home so we didn't have to hear him complain. We got there about 4 pm, so the sun was going down. It was even starting to snow! Beautiful! This is one of my all-time favorite things!



Merry Christmas!

Taste a Little of the Summer : Peach Jam

Most welcome in January!

"Taste a little of the summer ... my Gramma put it all in jars." -- Greg Brown in "Canned Goods.