zim's new thing.

zim's new thing, since he's feeling miles and miles better than he used to, is to come to wherever i am (sitting on the couch, working in the kitchen, laying on the bed, sitting on the toilet, etc), sit down approximately three feet from me, stare at me for approximately 10 seconds with BIG green eyes, and then do the naughtiest things he can muster, like attacking a magazine, drinking from the snail bowl, tipping over cactus, attacking the bath tub, jumping in the sink, attacking my feet.

he's a naughty, swatty coati.

saltlake-sunvalley-portland-rockaway-hoquiam-seattle-boise-saltlake

the pacific northwest is easy to love.

birds identified on this trip:

red-breasted merganser (first time!)
hooded merganser
barrow's goldeneye (first time!)
bufflehead
mallard
american wigeon
great blue heron
bald eagle
swainson's hawk
red-tailed hawk
northern harrier
american kestrel
raven
eared grebe
fulmar or petrel? (ah, seabirds i don't know! it had a sad petrel eye, and was floating alone)
black-billed magpie
rough-legged hawk
flocks of finches and starlings

also saw a chaos coyote in sun valley on a misty river morning.

i don't think i would have been able to identify half of these animals if it weren't for holiday binoculars from my boy and my copy of sibley's from my parents.

to love the west

i've created another internet diversion!

this time, it highlights things to be loved about the west, especially my home state, utah.

here it is:

heartwest

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.

[love is more thicker than forget]

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/11427

aboved. totally aboved.

my birthday was pretty pretty cool.

i love my friends.

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.

i feel one million happy and lucky right now.

gentle kitten soul

i'm trying to make his life comfortable while he's around.

my guts are loved.

holocene

and at once i knew, i was not magnificent.

jonathan franzen says:

you have to love before you can be relentless.

wish it weren't so.

gil scott heron will be missed.

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.

to love.

above and beyond.

i am so thrilled with the prospect of this:

http://www.newportfolkfest.net/

thank you jord. you are the BEST.

most beautiful weekend, for all reasons.

western meadowlark
mallard
common raven
red-tailed hawk
american kestrel
european starling
horned lark
turkey vulture
mountain bluebird
spotted towhee
barn swallow
brown-headed cowbird
red-winged blackbird
norther harrier
norther flicker
american robin
mourning dove

all of which i am very excited about! but my mind was blown by:

white-faced ibis (large shiny flock in a farmer's field)
osprey (carrying a large fish)
burrowing owls (!!!) (my first sighting!)
sage grouse (lek with around 100 males doing their mating display. the sound echoed over the clearing, and we watched just as the sun rose. such a beautiful moment!)

among other things.

happy birthday mom!

being forever/in the pre-trembling of a house that falls.

last night beth and i attended a poetry reading.

this was my favorite:

Little Sleep's-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight, by Galway Kinnell