musings on supper

I have:

1 eggplant
a handful of tomatoes
1 head of cauliflower (I think)
1 bunch of beets
1/2 bunch of collard greens
onions
apples
tofu
black beans
walnuts and almonds
whole wheat bread

Now how in the name of bleeding Jesus am I supposed to make all of this work together exactly?!? I should eat the eggplant and the tomatoes which leads me to the October cover of Gourmet magazine (in which Journeyman had a blurb!!!!) but I'm missing basil which is kinda key for a tomato sauce plus I'm not convinced I have enough tomatoes to make enough sauce.
But I'm also sort of craving beets which I could so easily roast and toss with some oil and some walnuts and I could hit up Pereddies for some goat cheese which would be delicious. Or I could snag a pizza crust and roast my eggplant with some onion and garlic and make a sauce sans basil. Or I could make roasted beet, walnut, goat cheese pizza which sounds so amazing I might just not have a choice but to go that route...

The Potato Leek Soup turned out exceptionally well if I do say so myself. I didn't get to eat it until about 8pm but it was worth the wait. I made a Grassfield farms cheddar sammidge with thinly sliced ida red apples and spicy brown mustard. Yummy! Today I get leftover soup for lunch with a pb&j sammidge.

It's not lunchtime yet, but I can't wait!

covered in book dust and book sticker sticky stuff

Tonight I make Potato Leek Soup. Molly and I are having a Potato Leek Soup Off tomorrow which isn't entirely true as she's adding bacon so I can't taste it and it will undoubtedly taste better than mine because of the bacon.

That wretch.

I'm convinced I have the superior potato, however, as I went with beautiful little German Butterballs that haven't let me down be them mashed, fried, or in a salad. Plus my recipe is insanely healthy using zero cream or milk and only 1 TBSP of butter. I'm psyched. Washing the leeks is going to be the worse part of the whole thing and after that I'm golden.

Life moves. Family Ties is a great show. 24 is pretty good though I'm starting to lose interest. What I have caught of The War has been outstanding but no way am I going to rearrange my life for something I can watch at my own leisure on DVD. Raleigh should have some illustrations for me soon which is good.

The only bad news? The State of Michigan looks like it's going to shut down on the 1st of October. The Democrats want to raise taxes and the Republicans want to cut social programs. In the meantime, I will be stocking up on wine and beer and liquor as distribution will be coming to halt.

Oh and some schools are going to have to shut down and some state funded health programs will not exist nor will some state funded food distribution programs. Jennifer's talking tonight at 6:05pm.

This poor poor state.

low expectations rule or why i like devendra banhart

It was a mostly typical drive across the state though the traffic was more manageable and Peter was a little more anxious than usual. At the last minute he agreed to pick up the infamous Joe-who-has-been-in-the-Ukraine-and-is-most-recently-a-resident-of-Boston-where-he-works-part-time-as-a-flight-attendant which put our already cutting it close plan into high gear. The doors opened at 8pm. We waltzed in at 9:15. Devendra didn't hit the stage until about 10:30pm.

I was expecting a train wreck of a show. A big mess of a thing orchestrated by a drunken lunatic who may or may not pull off some bizarre character he feels like creating at that instant.

He sat down on a library chair up on platform center stage (surrounded by 3 other guitarists, behind him a drummer and next to the drummer a keyboard player?), announced they would be playing new stuff, and launched into some really lovely quiet songs (see Peter's flickr account for a blurry shot of the playlist someone ripped off the stage). Sentimental and romantic-y and beautiful lyrics.

This was not the feather Vegas-clad Devendra I was expecting.

After a bit he did his schtick where he goes into how he knows there are artists in the audience: culinary, visual, people who make their own clothes and how every one of these acts is subversive and political (which I'm not gonna lie, I totally dug on) but all he's got is a guitar and is there someone in the audience who wants to play a couple of tunes. Some girl was plucked out of the front. He handed her his guitar and walked off stage. This was actually the only trainwrecking I saw. She was nervous, of course, and the concept really is cool, but I didn't really need to hear her wail away about something for 2 songs.

He came back out (shirtless and a bit wild eyed) and rocked. out. Devendra Banhart rocked out. I can't believe after having listened to him halfheartedly for the past year or so that he was even capable of rocking out. He was. And in grand lunatic fashion he ended the show with "I feel just like a child" and invited everyone to come up on stage and dance about with him. I demurred, but Peter and Joe danced like the children they are.

All in all, I had a great time. I will be purchasing the new album on vinyl hopefully Tuesday (must remember to call Full Circle about that...) and would wholeheartedly recommend seeing him live. In fact, he's in Burlington, Vermont tonight at UVM and will be on Conan O'Brien Wednesday night so check that out if you can.

One small thing marred my experience. I seemed to be surrounded by groups of young male hipsters who insisted on deconstructing the show whilst it was going on. Boys? Please, I beg of you, shut up. Save it for the drive home. Save it for your blog. Save it for those social situations you will undoubtedly find yourself in where you're in a room full of even more hipsterish hipsters than yourself and are feeling a insecure. Strangers around you do not care what you think of every single song choice, of every single line, of every other show you've ever been to that was better than the one you're currently not enjoying.

This public service announcement was brought to you by people who are crazy enough to drive 4 hours one way to see a guy no one has ever heard of.

Thank you!

shhhhhh i've got a secret

I'm not really sure how this happened, but it seems I'm heading to Detroit tonight for another concert at the Majestic. Devendra Banhart is on the menu--a man I actually don't really like all that much, but it's who Peter wanted to see for his birthday so there it is. I like going into shows like this: zero to low expectations and a relatively open mind. Plus I get Jimmy Johns for supper so I'll be happy.

Market days are dwindling. I noticed today my egg/cheese people were not there which leads me to believe they're only coming on Saturdays for the rest of the season. It was a quick shopping trip so I'm not really sure what I ended up with: I think some kale, the last of the tomatoes, red, yellow, and orange peppers, bread, and some honeycrisps. I've been holding off on the squash as I suspect it will soon be featured prominently in my diet. Saturday I have to work all day so I'll hopefully make it down there during my morning break. I honestly can't tell you how sad it makes me that this summer is over and fall is beginning. I love fall (see previous post!) but eating this way has been a wonderful experience and I can't wait to start all over again in the spring. This winter I'm hoping to make some small changes: buying dried beans to cut down on packaging, making my own bread and pasta, making my own goat cheese (no, seriously, we found an organic co-op in Zeeland of all places that we can pay $50/year and get at least a gallon a week and we don't have to milk it ourselves!!), honestly thinking long and hard before buying some sort of fruit or vegetable that was obviously shipped thousands of miles...
But next year? Canning, preserving, and drying are all things I want to learn. Plus I'm hoping to have a small garden.

I have a new addiction: Good Reads!!! It's all folksonomied out. And like MySpace for literary geeks. I've noticed that alot of people go through and have catalogued past books but I'm really using it for current reads and as a place to find new books. It's easy to use-completely intuitive.

And because I like to save the best for last and this is buried here at the very end of a post you probably didn't even read because it's rather dull and repetitive: "Really, Erin? You liked shopping at the farmers market this summer? I had NO idea!" I thought I'd throw a little something out there to see if anyone's paying attention. We might be moving upstairs in the nearish future.

it's the most wonderful time of the year

The temperature has dropped about 20 degrees. And my house? Immediately freezing. In a good way. I've unearthed the old shawl (and taken out the one I started knitting this summer at the cottage), put extra blankets on the bed, started making homemade soups, and now have a constant bed companion in Grace. She's a bed hog. A big, huge, fat bed hog. If it wasn't so blatantly obvious she's cold I would think she actually liked me the way she insists on curling up right next to me or sometimes right on me. I find myself sleeping diagonally to ensure I don't accidentally suffocate her in my sleep as she ain't gonna wake up and neither am I. I love the beginning of fall. Layers of quilts and knitted things and tea and apples and crisp air and good sleeping and football and fires...I know I won't be so thrilled when I finally have to shut my windows and turn on my heat and the market dwindles to pumpkins and squash and the snow starts flying, but today I am blissfully happy.

Strange days at work. I've been busy with planning for next year and there is some big adjustments in how my compadre and I are doing things mainly that we'll no longer be planning programs for "families" (read "kids and teens"). I'm excited about everything we're hoping to pull off--some tasting programs, gardening, cooking, documentaries and lectures--but it's just different. We're used to BIG success and now we'll be in uncharted territory. Plus-drumroll, please-we don't have to do our own PR!!!! Today we met with the new person and I'm optimistic things are going to be vastly different. It's exciting but a little scary and overwhelming. Before we even get to all of that new stuff, however, we have a Day of the Dead program to pull together which is shaping up to be really cool. And the DVD Release Parties. Sigh. I can't wait for them to be over. We've scaled back quite a bit and I really can't wait to show The Simpsons and hand out doughnuts instead of popcorn, but man that program just wipes me out. And leaves me working 2 nights a week. Which I really, really hate.

I'm not certain what's going on but I can't seem to muster any enthusiasm for the upcoming political season. Maybe it's because everyone started campaigning a grazillion years ago. Remember when McCain was king? Remember when Romney was king? Remember when Obama had a shot? Remember when Guilliani was a joke? Remember when Thompson was gonna run and then he wasn't and then he was? Plus Iraq has got me down. In a big way. I foolishly thought the Democrats were actually going to do something about it when they took over the House and Senate in 2006. It's politics as usual: people too busy trying to keep their jobs instead of taking the time to do their jobs. And Bush? Who cares what Petraeus says because he's going to say exactly what Cheney and the neo cons want him to say. Does Bush actually expect the country to be happy with his 30,000 troop withdrawl next summer announcement?!? That's just below pre-surge levels so excuse me for not being thrilled. I don't know what to do over there. I don't know if we should pull out or stay or what we should do. But I can't get over that we shouldn't be there in the first place. And I can't get over if we leave we're leaving a bigger mess than we found it. Bush doesn't care about what's right for Iraq or what's right for America. Bush wants to keep everything exactly the way it is now so he can sneak out of the White House in 2008 and leave this international disaster in someone elses lap. I've thought seriously about voting Republican. Or voting third party should a viable candidate pop up. I absolutely dislike Hillary and I'm only slightly more excited about Obama because despite his youth and enthusiasm I cannot help but feel a lack of depth. And, dare I say, experience? It doesn't help living in a state that is trying to force the party's hand by moving up it's primary thereby ensuring no Democratic candidates visit here. Guess who needs the Democrats right now? This state with it's 7.2% unemployment rate--that's almost DOUBLE the national rate. I'm going to steal Peter's idea and propose we change the primary season thusly: economics. Poorest states get to vote first. Let's get every single candidate to hit Michigan and then Mississippi and then Alaska. We've got the most people out of work, we should get their attention.

Nice to see I haven't lost my idealistic side.

happy birthday to peter!

It was a very productive and restful weekend. Friday night I went to bed early. Saturday morning I was up early and at the market where I saw just about every single person I have ever met. Saturday afternoon I cleaned the gosh darn heck outta my apartment. For those of you familiar with the size, it took me 2 1/2 hours. 2 1/2 HOURS! To clean less than 500 square feet of living space! My superduper vacuum got all up in the nooks and took down some serious web action. Saturday night we went to the Sandbar where we unexpectedly ran into my neighbor and expectedly ran into Raleigh and Nicole. Chicago dogs were eaten, Jameson was drunk, and we didn't use the power of being regulars to throw a very intoxicated but ultimately harmless man out of the bar. Back at the compound I'm happy to report a ton of work was done on the 3 poems to be published this winter. I now anxiously await some illustrations from Raleigh so we can keep moving forward. I felt kinda bad for Nicole as the three of us were all pressed out, but she seemed to thoroughly enjoy reading a book on pornography while we finished up. Sunday I slept. Like a champ. All day long. We hit up the Elbo Room for lunch in Saugatuck and then headed back to watch the Lions win the opening game of the season! Actually, now that I think about it, I watched me some football this weekend. U of M got stomped by Oregon which everyone already knows about unless you're one of the unfortunate people who don't enjoy football. And I got to watch Notre Dame get beat by Penn State at the bar. Plus I watched the first half of the Cowboys/Giants game last night which was pretty much all I needed to see. I love football. I just love it. I don't even really care who's playing (though it was nice to see Denver and New England and Green Bay all win yesterday). I love jumping up and down and screaming at the tv and the simplicity of it all: Ten yards in four tries. I don't have a firm confirmation on this, but I think I've gotten Peter to commit to "following" the Lions this season. It's only 16 games which is way less overwhelming than, say, baseball.

Yeah. I don't really want to talk about baseball.

on "the historical conquests of josh ritter"

Last night found us perusing the bins at Vertigo. In a surprise move, I walked out with Tom Waits "Real Gone"--heavenly on vinyl, I might add-- and though he had been on a quest for what seems like years for this (it's all about the cover) Peter bought the new Josh Ritter on cd. Normally I would give an album a few listens before tossing my two cents in the ring, but I was struck by my one and only go through so I'm gonna go for it. T'won't be comprehensive and track by track, but more of a general overall review.

I loved it. Absolutely loved it. This album is by no means perfect, but the tradeoff is getting to hear a great singer-songwriter stretch himself. And at times he IS near perfect:

If this was the Cold War we could keep each other warm I said on the first occasion that I met Marie We were crawling through the hatch that was the missile silo door And I don’t think that she really thought that much of me

I never had to learn to love her like I learned to love the Bomb She just came along and started to ignore me But as we waited for the Big One I started singing her my songs And I think she started feeling something for me

From "The Temptation of Adam"

I understand why those who have been fans since "The Golden Age of Radio" or even "Hello Starling" might be disappointed. This is more produced (a criticism I had of "The Animal Years") and slick and he sometimes relies on vocal production trickery which is unnecessary. But much like Dylan going electric, this album is a turning point in a positive way. This is Josh Ritter trying something new and in my opinion succeeding.

He's playing at the Blind Pig in October, but I hesitate to go. I got to see him last spring in one of my most favorite venues with one of my most favorite people. The Blind Pig is NOT one of my favorite venues and I think I'd like to have that memory of Josh Ritter more than I'd like to see him in a way too small venue.

But if he is coming to a venue near you I highly recommend the show. He made me love songs I originally disliked on The Animal Years when I heard him play them live. I can only guess the same will be true for The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter.

laborious labor day

I had to work. Not on Monday--thank-you-god-I-don't-work-retail--but on Saturday. I think we all foolishly thought since the weather was near perfect in Western Michigan and it was a holiday weekend the library would be slow.

It was not.

And we were short-staffed.

I spent my weekend with some old friends drinking martinis and talking about West Wing and spiders and bats and books and dealing with drunk caretakers and carpenter ants and cesspools. I also spent my weekend watching parts of Black Snake Moan which I initially wrote off given the mixed reviews but I'm now going to check out because it's the kinda movie I can rip apart and put back together. Plus Christina Ricci does get chained up. I also saw "The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico" which is an absolute must see if you're a Bob Dylan fan. Or a Jeff Tweedy fan. Or just a music fan. I'm still wondering how this movie ever got made in the first place, but it's a gem of thing. And rounding out my weekend of movies was "Little Children." Though those at rotten tomatoes loved it, I give it a thumbs down. Mostly because I really liked the first half. The second half fell apart into a big old nasty smelly mess. Which makes the fact that it was nominated for best adapted screenplay last year mindblowing. I'm sure it was a delightful novel and the cinematography was lovely, but I need a little more to sustain my interest.

I just finished the most wonderful book: "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing." It's a young adult novel that is better than most fiction coming out today. Truly outstanding. Inventive and challenging and well written. I initially had a big stack of young adult novels I was planning on reading, but they are all falling flat after Octavian. So the ya books are coming back to the library and up next (after I work my way through Anne Fadiman's new book of familiar essays) is "No Country for Old Men" by McCarthy in anticipation of the Coen brothers' movie.

I was a slacker this weekend where cooking is concerned. I just get sick and tired of doing dishes constantly. Aside from breakfast Sunday morning (tortillas stuffed with eggs and beans and cheese and potatoes and fresh salsa!) I've been subsisting on processed "foods" I'd prefer to forget. Tonight I'm making BIG stir fry: kale and carrots and broccoli and 3 different kinds of peppers and either tempeh or tofu or something. I cannot justify going to market tomorrow unless I eat up what's left of Saturday's haul. And I need to go to market as it's days are numbered.

Sigh.

so, if we're not going to turn iraq into a shiny democracy for the middle east: why did we go in the 1st place and why are we still there?!?!?!?!

Most of this summer has been relatively dry 'round these parts. Dry enough that I got concerned before the 4th of July that we hadn't had enough rain for corn (turns out, I was right to be worried). I'm facing thunderstorm #3 in less than a week. The previous 2 occurred in the wee hours of the morning. And man oh man these babies were big. Scary big. Grace leaping out of bed and hiding under the bed big. I'm not sure if it's being so close to the lake or the very very very tall trees on the property, but I haven't lived in a place that highlights storms like this in a long time. My bed shakes. I'm convinced something has been hit out back. It's incredible. The sad thing is that it's too little too late for my beloved farmers. And, if anything, these storms are more damaging than helpful right now.

I did hit the market, of course, this morning: melon, the last of the red Haven and white peaches of the season, dinosaur kale, yellow and red heirloom tomatoes, gouda cheese and eggs, fresh whole wheat bread, and romaine. I'm still working my way through the carrots I bought last week and the green beans. Ohhh! And the purple peppers! Oh hell, I just remembered I even had those purple peppers! I'm starting to get a little sad about the end of the season. I've really had an amazing time shopping and cooking this way. It's been time consuming, but completely worth it. And actually instead of spending a minimum of an hour in Meijer, I spend less time shopping and more time processing and preparing meals. Which is how I enjoy spending my time.

No word yet on the poetry front. It's crazy how crazy it has made me. Tonight marks 2 weeks since I submitted and I've heard nothing. One of the places I'm not expecting to hear from for a few weeks--they have a 2 to 4 month response time. But the one should be any day now. Technically the reading period for the next issue isn't closed until August 31st which means I've hopefully managed to catch the editor's eye enough to keep me in contention as if he really thought it was awful I would have heard. This is good. This not hearing.

If only it didn't make me so crazy!!!!!

we've got some wind whipping from the west, it's gonna be quite a ride home

I would strongly urge those who may be slightly crazy to avoid spending a night watching Walt Disney propaganda films from the 1940s followed by attempting to put together a really complicated puzzle. No one was injured in the making of the evening though the psychological scars left after Reason and Emotion and Education for Death will be around for awhile and my desk is currently covered in puzzle pieces.

I did throw together an outstanding baked eggplant parmesan thingy with homemade tomato sauce that knocked my socks off and was even better today as leftovers. I also just ate my first peach from the batch I bought Wednesday. Holy Lord Almighty. White peaches are divine. I'm sure it was horrifying to watch me eat devour it in the break room, but when something that juicy and delicious is in your mouth one tends to disregard decorum.

This weekend is shadowed thus far. I know tonight I'm going for a hike in the Dunes. I know there will be time put in on this puzzle with some possible Scrabble breaks. I know tomorrow I'll be heading to the market. After that, who knows? Maybe Hastings to see a friend in town from NYC, maybe the Sandbar to see Delilah and the Lost Boys? Maybe staying put and finishing the puzzle? I'm hoping to put in a good chunk of writing time and a good chunk of cleaning typeset time--

Oh yeah! I have typeset! Five gallons of typeset!

i'm rooting for tropical storm erin

Now, I don't mean to sound all cold hearted about the millions of children world wide who are currently having toys yanked from their chubby fingers by completely freaked out parents concerned their child will either eat the magnet from Barbie's pooperscooper or lick Press and Go Elmo, but maybe the real problem is in this country we continue to demand cheap products and the only way to ensure we can buy all the plastic junk we desire is to have it made and imported from China and perhaps instead of wringing hands and demanding action from the federal government we should just.stop.buying.crap? Welcome to America, Americans. If you buy it, they'll make it and they'll make it as cheaply as possible thanks to the beauty of capitalism. No one gets rich caring about lead paint.

Honestly.


And because ranting about the obvious knowing full well you have zero control is just so darn fun, check out this little number from 1994. An oldie but goodie featuring Dick Cheney talking about why we shouldn't invade Iraq. He actually uses the word quagmire.


I biked to the market this morning. It was foggy and surreal and bountiful as usual. White peaches that won't be ready for a few days, red raspberries I'll be enjoying until my peaches are done, kale that has already been cooked and partially consumed, bibb lettuce, broccoli, eggs...
And I didn't inspect the stand closely enough, but I believe I have found a local source for grains! Yippee! Since one of my goals this year was to get over my fear of baking bread, I consider this to be a sign--and the temperature is supposed to drop back into the 70s for highs next week.

As of 6pm tonight I will have officially made it a week without rejection from 2 online journals to which I recently submitted my poetry. I consider this to be somewhat of a milestone as, of course, I've been under the impression the minute my submissions hit an editors inbox it was immediately looked at. Yeeeaah.

And last night I saw Raleigh's work for the first time. I'm psyched. I realized that the poetry selections were entirely too safe and we're back to square one, but I remain calm. I love the poet and I love the artist and I'm confident that the two are going to be a great match.

Erinbone Press marches on.

4m yesterday...3+miles today...

Charles Simic was named Poet Laureate!



Charles Simic is one of my all time favorite poets.


I have been composing a fan letter to Charles Simic for a few months now. It usually starts with "Dear Mr. Simic, You are my favorite poet..."


and then it falls apart. He teaches at the University of New Hampshire which temporarily made me think I should try and get into their MFA program until I remembered that I'm not that great of a poet nor would getting an MFA do much for me personally other than sink me further into academic debt. Here are 2 of my favorites:



Watermelons


Green Buddhas
On the fruit stand.
We eat the smile
And spit out the teeth.


Summer In The Country

One shows me how to lie down in a field of clover.
Another how to slip my hand under her Sunday skirt.
Another how to kiss with a mouth full of blackberries.
Another how to catch fireflies in a jar after dark.

Here is a stable with a single black mare
And the proof of God's existence riding in a red nightgown.
Devil's child-or whatever she was?
Having the nerve to ask me to go get her a whip.

Blissful.

let's see...45min x, udo, 4 miles, udo, 3 miles, udo...

Busy busy busy busy week. Busy. Week. I'm covering for someone who is on vacation and it keeps me, well, busy. And away from a computer. And when I'm actually near a computer we've been busy with patrons. Though I'll be sad when school starts as it signifies the beginning of the end of summer, I cannot wait for the urchins to go back. Oy.

I finished reading "A Moveable Feast." Good stuff. Dang me if I didn't spend all these years hating something based on one horrible experience. I used to hate his prose--too sparse with dialogue, too detailed with seemingly mundane descriptions--and I used to hate the whole expat thing. They all seemed so smug over there living it up, drinking wine all day, going to festas, talking about art and writing and just having the kind of life I always wish I could afford. What a freaking moron I've been. Post WWI, the almighty American dollar was king. Everyone was broke, but their money just went further. Plus most of them were either insane or alcoholics which sort of lessens the romance of the whole thing. Still, I've finally gotten to the point I can appreciate Hemingway's writing. It's been a long trip. Many thanks should go out to Roel and Randy for reintroducing me properly to the man.

I've got a big old stack of books I wandered around and plucked off the shelves for the weekend at the G&T (where I'm fairly confident I won't actually read all that much, but if I don't bring anything all I'll want to do is read): some essays and poetry by Pound, "Tender is the Night",(clearly I've been influenced by my last reading material), some Henry Miller nonfiction, and "A Changed Man" by Francine Prose...a modern novel I've always meant to read, but never got around to.

I've been writing a lot lately. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but it seems as though Berghoef has decided we're engaged in a poem-off. Poem for poem I think I'm ahead, but actual usable work and days-of-writing I think he wins. It's been pretty good stuff. I recently compiled the whole business on google documents and discovered I had 20 "finished" poems. Huh. 20. I'm not sure if I was expecting more or less. Regardless, I have a stack of stuff that still needs titles and editing and all of that rot. I've been threatening for awhile, but I think I'm ready to submit to some online journals.

You all will be the first to know as soon as the rejections start pouring in.

So yeah, the G&T this weekend. Grilled pizza, cute dogs, campfires, lazy afternoons floating down the river, excellent conversation, and a keg of Founders.

I'm ready to go right now.

sdo but i think i'll go out for a ride tonight...

...because I've eaten 2 muffins today. One delicious whole wheat bran raisin thing the cafe bakes here in the library (It was still warm. I resisted the butter) for morning break and then one small but piping hot blueberry muffin from Chuckie. When Chuckie shows up with a basket of muffins you do not say "No thank you!"

I'm full. Really full. And feeling baked goodsed out.

So, a ride tonight around Lake Mac is going to be in order followed by some sort of spinach tofu stir fry. Or a panini. Or something else I manage to come up with based on the haul from the market yesterday.

I'm reading "The Sun Also Rises." I have been a long time hater of Hemingway. Unfortunately my introduction to him was "A Farewell to Arms" which just sucked. Last summer I did enjoy "Nick Adams Stories" based on a recommendation of a friend, but I just sort of let it lie for a year. I've recently become friends with yet another Hemingway fan and decided to dip my toe back in the lost generation. I love it. I read the bullfighting chapters last night during the wee hours of the morning when I was unable to sleep. I'm pretty sure my feminist and peta cards are going to get taken away, but those chapters were incredible. I always considered his writing the worst type of machismo. I was wrong. And I guess I've forgotten how much I, uh, like so many other misogynistic types.

Bukowski, anyone?

3 miles with Abbey Road

I lost a big ranting post. Which is probably for the best. A brief recap:

• I'm not following the primaries. It's probably going to end up being Clinton, but I'd rather it be Obama. If Guillani gets the Republican nod, I'd seriously consider voting for him over Clinton.
• I won't really vote Republican.
• The only way to get out of Iraq is to put a really nasty dictator in power. For the grazillionth time: True democracy cannot be imposed.
• Gonzales is a liar
• The Democrats in Congress better get their act together. No more pointless sleepovers to debate things you know you don't have the votes for.

On the positive side, it's still summer! I'm running! The farmers market continues to amaze me! I'm reading Hemingway! And liking it!

2 miles in the rain

Ow ow ow ow ow ow!

Legs hurting after only 2 days! I'm gimping around the library. Despite my whole slow-n-steady attitude I, of course, went out the past 2 days with a "it's only 3 miles and it's only 2 miles." I'm going to force myself to take walk breaks for awhile because clearly I'm incapable of slowing myself down to an appropriate pace.

Honestly.

Last night there was an impromptu celebration of sorts as an opportunity has arisen regarding erinbone press! Things are moving forward and I'm now in research mode--what kind, what other materials do I need, where am I gonna put this thing, and how much. I'm psyched. Just keep talking about it and you'll meet people who are interested and enthusiastic and want to be a part of it.

Tonight: return bottles in order to have a wee bit of cash on hand for the market tomorrow. Somehow I keep managing to come up with tasty meals despite a seemingly bare refrigerator. This morning was black beans with cumin, eggs, homemade Carrizales salsa with 2 of the last pieces of bread from last Wednesday's market trip. I've become addicted to organic butter. Do you know how delicious organic butter tastes?!?!?! On toast made from homemade bread?!?!?!
Tonight I'm going to split the greens I bought Saturday and make a salad with tomatoes and this huuuuuge cucumber from Melissa and Reuben's garden. I'm craving some sort of chicken-y biscuit-y gravy-y carrot-y and potato-y thing. I know my magic fridge won't fail me!

3 miles

It is finished. The HP. I managed to stay up until 4:45am Saturday, work, and finish by 7pm I'm offerring nothing--no review, no opinions, no nothing--for at least a week. And Mom and Dad if you need more time (which given the tower of books you both have in your "to read" pile) I'll refrain even longer.

My head is chock full this morning. Local cheeses and butters, handcranked letterpresses, knitting, gardening and canning, reading Hemingway next or not, finally finishing up the last of the editing on my done pile of poetry, to submit to journals or not, am I really going to be able to pull of a half this fall, being poor, my typewriter, curtains for my big windows, letters that need to be written, bills that need to be paid, the G&T, to go to Wheatland or not, and birds. Always birds.

My weekend was a bit of a blur. I held a 6 week old baby Friday morning. Slept until 8:30pm Friday night. Waited around until midnight. Got my book and read. And read. And read. And worked. And read. And read. And went to supper. And read. Went to an opening at the Ark. Went to the Sandbar. And slept. And slept. And slept. Made a delicious lunch. Talked to my neighbor. Read the paper. Ate a delicious supper. Talked about HP.

And slept. And slept. And slept.

as if coffee wasn't important enough

What a bizarre couple of days.

Monday night I got to get geeked out with Ericka over book 7 of HP. She's convinced me to adjust my sleep schedule over the next few days in order to stay up all night Friday to read "The Deathly Hallows." I'm in. If Joan can constantly adjust her sleep schedule in order to care for people in the ICU, I can adjust my sleep schedule to check people out on Saturday. I've already gotten the blessing of my supervisor as it's incredibly geeky and libraryicious to be able to check out said book to people and be able to say I've already read it.

Crazy? Me? Yes indeedy!

Yesterday I woke up with a migraine. It's the first I've had since I was about 12 years old. It was awful. Really really awful. I couldn't read (an entire day lost of reading "The Half Blood Prince!!!!), I couldn't really sleep and food sounded horrible. I ended up taking an obscene amount of ibuprofen and lying on my futon watching "Pretty in Pink." By 8pm the headache was gone and Raleigh arrived. It was a tame night for me, obviously, but I had a superfantastic time. We wandered out to the fire pit and played around with his sweet camera and I learned about exposure times and the like. I miss him. And hopefully we won't ever go 5ish months again without seeing each other!

This morning I was the only one capable of getting out of bed in time to hit up the market. It was insanely busy. Like Saturday morning kind of busy. The haul included lettuce, tomatoes, eggplant (!!!), green beans, german potatoes, eggs, bread, peaches and a big splurge on red raspberries. Originally I had offered to take the boys out for breakfast at the Windmill, but as they, uh, continued to consume High Life and Jameson at an alarming rate they both passed giving me the opportunity to go home and have cereal, vanilla yogurt and said raspberries. They were heavenly. Tomorrow night assuming me neighbor from the front house manages to procure some cream cheese, I'll be making stuffed zucchini with crushed almonds, baby swiss cheese, and bread crumbs. I somehow managed to hold onto a bottle of cheap chardonnay which I think will go nicely with this superrich but ultimately delicious splurgy dish I only allow myself to make once a year!

This weekend is already gearing up to be weird. Friday morning I'm heading north to see Tim and Anjie and their little bundle of joy armed with a Target gift card and Pereddies for lunch. Friday evening I'll be sleeping and at midnight will be heading downtown to pick up "Deathly Hallows." I work all day Saturday, have to hit up Alonso's 8th birthday party, and then I'm heading to The Ark to see Kari's hopefully finished stone sculpture. I suspect I'll be passing out rather early given my stay-up-all-night-and-read-plan which means Sunday should be lovely and lazy.

Monday I start half marathon training. I'm takin' her slow and easy. I'm determined not to get injured this year which means my ego may suffer buy my shins will not! Dad, I've got this crazy idea brewing and I'm wondering what you think of me running another half 2 weeks after Hartford? It's the Grand Rapids Half-Marathon and it's pretty small. Do-able? Stupid? Asking for trouble?

If you want a laugh/cry/you-gotta-be-kidding me moment check out this article about neo-cons who go on a cruise. It's 5 pages long, but I actually read the whole thing. Here's a little taste:

"The Iraq war has been an amazing success, global warming is just a myth and Guantanamo Bay is practically a holiday camp. The annual cruise organized by the 'National Review,' mouthpiece of right-wing America, is a parallel universe populated by straight-talking, gun-toting, God-fearing Republicans."

Unfreakingbelievalbe

And finally, Berghoef got himself published again! Here's the link. And here's him mentioned in coldfront magazine thanks to him being all self-promotional. Because if Tao Lin has taught us anything (as clearly he's taught us little about how to actually write poetry, in my humble opinion) self-promotion is key when it comes to conquering the poetry world!

if you see me at lemonjellos don't talk to me i'm trying to read the half blood prince by saturday

I think everyone in Holland came to the library from 10:30-12pm this morning. Lines and lines and lines and lines and lines of people. And cards! Doesn't everyone in this godforsaken town have a library card already?!?! And if you've just moved to Holland my I ask WHY?!?

Good weekend of Berghoefing. We went to a Whitecaps game Friday night and got to sit above the unwashed masses in a box compliments of a very wealthy uncle who rented it for the night. I actually can't wait to go back and sit on the lawn ($5.00!!!!) as long as there aren't any freaky ultra-religious camp counselors chanting Jesusness all night. The Whitecaps lost, but still the free beer and Dipping Dots and conversation was nice. Saturday night we had to attend a wedding no one wanted to attend. I was instructed to start feeling sick early on in the reception as I was the only one who wasn't really family. Thankfully it was unnecessary to put my past acting skills to the test as it turned out to be pretty fun. Especially after a previously thought to be dry wedding ended up being a kegger! And I was only asked once if and when we were going to get engaged. I was diplomatic. The best part of the weekend was finally getting closer to learning all the cousins names and who belongs to whom and all of that.

We treated ourselves yesterday by going to see Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. Now, I'm a hypercritical movie watcher. Go back a couple of years and check out my post-Oscar post if you don't know what I mean. But once again going in with really low expectations paid off. I thought it was a close 2nd to Azkaban. Really. It was exciting and visually interesting and one is able to get really geeked out especially during the Dumbledore's Army practicing scenes. They left out alot, but honestly? Who needs to see yet.another.quidditch.match?

Not me.

This week is chock full of The Half Blood Prince in anticipation of the new book coming out Saturday. Hopefully, I'll finally get to see Raleigh tomorrow night. And hopefully he'll bring that sweet bottle of Jameson we all signed last time we saw each other. And hopefully we'll get up relatively early so I can take him out for breakfast and to the farmers market. And hopefully I'll make it through Saturday at work without someone ruining the Deathly Hallows for me. And hopefully I'll get up early Sunday and read it straight through. And hopefully Harry will die and J.K. Rowling will give me the ending I'm looking for.

did you know that it's possible to bike 4 miles and walk 2 on no sleep?!

I occasionally suffer from insomnia. There usually isn't a pattern other than my head being full of stuff--work, books, politics, a poem....Last night was the first night in almost a week where the sleeping weather was outstanding and I?

Couldn't sleep. At all. Tired? Check. No caffeine? Check. But my head was full indeed! So I ended up with about an hour and a half of sleep before deciding it was stupid to just keep laying there. 5am found me making coffee and breakfast and editing some poetry and waiting for 8am so I could farmers market. I biked down for the first time and it worked out well aside from needing a basket or rack on the back for everything as my bag was just not sufficient. I also learned just how important it is to get there early as today there was eggplant!!!!!!! I snagged 2 and have a plan to make this grilled eggplant Parmesan dish tomorrow night. I also caved and bought peaches. I still think it's a little early, but I couldn't help myself as I'm starting to get a little sick of blueberries. I'm not, however, over my cherry obsession and keep finding really yummy varieties--Saturday I got some golden cherries and today I picked Rainers--a sort of blush colored cherry. I keep threatening to buy tart cherries and make cobbler but I just don't have time this week to make that happen.

I was home by 9:15, unpacked and got this crazy idea I had time to make bbq "chicken", mashed potatoes, and fresh steamed broccoli for lunch before work. Had I not gotten distracted by scrubbing my kitchen which turned into scrubbing my bathroom which turned into dusting and killing spiders which turned into vacuuming, I probably would have had time. I actually made everything, but ended up with about 5 minutes to eat, 10 minutes to shower, and 25 minutes to walk 2 miles.

This superstar totally made it to work on time!

So here I sit surrounded by Harry Potter trivia answers to go through, a ginormous stack of donations to go through, and a slightly sleep-deprived befuddled mind to work with.

And I'm slightly hysterical as in everything is hilariously funny.

I'm guessing I'll sleep just fine tonight.