for dad, for christmas.

In an effort to avoid consumer material crap that he won't use (he hasn't opened his present from last year, and I can't say I blame him), and due to the recent demise of the company which once produced the object of his strange foodie ritual, and to enjoy a treat more tasty and real than the original (this is a weird sentence), I've figured out what I'm "giving" my father for Christmas.

Giving = learning how to put the damn things together, and then actually handing him a plate of them on his March 8th birthday.

I wonder what the best way to dye coconut pink is.

all is full of.

one thing i love about salt lake is that there is a sort of urgency that comes at the end of summer.



after yoga, jord and I headed to the avenues street fair. so many friends at the fair! alex p. was there with healutah, andrea s. was selling handmade rugs, nhmu people were spreading the news about the new museum, meaghan was manning the utah clean energy booth, and brittany and marcus, gavin, aaron and whitney were selling terrariums (the purple thumb), collages, papercrafts, buttons, magnets and cassette tapes (with walkmens). i bought black rose post earrings and a dinosaur bib from vintagefern. jord congratulated me for wearing 3-d earrings. we snacked on kettle corn and i got a porcelain peace magnet because i saved the magnets from crashing to the ground.

we headed to the grateful tomato garden (wasatch community garden) before our 12pm volunteering commitment. jord and i volunteered on the garden winter staff and it was nice to see how the garden has grown. the line for crumb-brothers-bread-fresh-garden-pesto-uber-fresh-heirloom-tomato sandwiches was long but moving quickly.

so many tomatoes of all sorts. i ate so many tomatoes. i was a slicer, so i noshed quite a bit. my favorites were the yellowy-pink-orangey ones. we went home with two bags of tomatoes and about a pound of sliced ones. jord bought some honey off a local dude. also, in between the plant sale and the free plants for volunteers, we ended up with sage, arugula and a mystery plant (dun dun DUN).

we got back to the apartment just as a big storm was rolling in. it was lovely. i put my honey in the honey jar and tried it with peanut butter and a cracker. so yum.

when the rain dissipated we went back to the street fair, where i bought a cross-stitch of (gasp!) an owl from whitney. jord bought several pieces of paper art (including a righteous eagle with fish prey), a couple buttons and a cassette tape from gav. we bolth wanted to buy a terrarium, but we're going to wait and make one with brit. down the street, there was a house filled with estate-sale items. i bought a small wooden jewelry box and a ladybug clip. tricia and her kids were there, and we talked about amy and todd.

when we got home, i pulled out the pastry dough i had made friday and beat the hell out of it. i used julia child's recipe. (i was going to make a "quick and easy" crust, but then decided if i was going to do it, i was going to do it right). i partially baked the crust and then poured the quiche lorraine (with added mushrooms) filling into the crust. it smelled like heaven was baking in the oven.

we ate the quiche for dinner. it was SO GOOD. i thought i was going to screw up julia's recipe, but i channeled her life force and BOOM. deliriously good quiche. also deliriously fattening and rich quiche. grum a yum.

thusly, we took zig for a night hike up in the foothills. we saw several ghostly nighthawks on the way up. the temperature was perfect and the city below was glimmering. on the way down we spotted a big buck and a doe. zig phreeked out and flew after them. it's a strange dog that's scared of a breeze but will charge animals five times his size.

then, this morning, we went to city creek for a run. we saw a hairy woodpecker. the end.

i don't know why i felt i needed to outline this weekend. it was just perfect. and now i'm sitting with the brlack cat. he makes me so happy.

surprises are best.

don't want to jinx it, but every day in september has been a lovely surprise.

compliment to healing?

i ate homegrown strawberries at the christophers' on sunday. which adds the opposite of insult to the opposite of injury.

even though i feel a little gross from eating TOO MANY COOKIES

i feel on top of the world.

the sky is overcast and a cool breeze is coming through the open windows.
salt lake city is sparkling.
zim is brlack and soft and a genius of cuddles.

and i have the best friends and family in the universe and whatever lays beyond it.

for the record.

this is the first weekend in a good while that i haven't been out of town, busy with events or some combination of the two. it's strange to be able to sit and read with zim curled up next to me. it's cold and rainy. it's quiet, as my roommates all headed out for the weekend. frankly, it's a little unsettling.

it's that unsettlement that leads me to remember the last little while.

highlights of the last two months (in chronological order?):

sitting between jord and pm at bolero with sinfonietta and chaconne by ballet west.
crocheting with the lake bonneville coral reef project
moscow mules at bar x with the best of companies
seeing press plush at garfo and meeting the talented cara
shopping for amy at the blue boutique
hiking to the highest point of antelope island, frary peak, with two darlings
amy and todd's graduation
eating with mom, dad, jason and brandy
amy's bridal shower(s)
an epic easter egg hunt at the christopher's
amy and todd's wedding (to eachother)
brunch of said wedding replete with bird nests
poetry share at the salt lake city library
finding kolaches at johnny kolache
being in vernal with jord
sage grouse lek
watching georges st. pierre beat the crud out of the other guy
burrowing owls
hanging out with dora, talking about the gsl for traveling treasures
my graduation (technically a walk, as i won't be finished until early fall)
pat's barbecue with my family
wasatch community garden plant sale
EH potluck
little fat boy being towed by jord's truck from downtown
little fat boy being fixed without another costly repair
sundancing into the darkness with beth
my juicy knee
making and eating rolled tacos with the best caitie in the world
dissecting a cockroach
experimenting with saltwatercoloring
eating pakistani food and worrying about the rapture at living traditions festival
amy and todd's reception (seeing so many friends)
eating at the wild grape with jord
hiking the in the foothills with jord and zig, balsam root and astragalus lighting the way
taking in the lilacs
drinking a boba tea with pm
dreaming with brooke about loving the west
running 7 miles up city creek
bluegrass and pizza with the spensor and the tracy
nate's birthday dinner at bayleaf
running 9 miles with two lovely gals
so much good yoga!

and so many secret highlights.
maybe i need a journal.

happy birthday mom!

brother.

happy birthday jason!

the fog is heavy and quiet.

i love my family very, very much.

consume this!

the best things about going to costco were:

1. being with my mom
2. seeing timp's white glory in the alpenglow.

to expose our follies.

i have around 500 fotos in my photobooth application. 85-90% of those fotos are of myself and zim.