a ruby a day

I was only forgiven for leaving when I agreed to sit ON THE KITCHEN FLOOR to pet her. Nowhere else would do. That is the refrigerator that she is rolling around with. 

Let the record show that I don't know why we couldn't have done this in the living room, but her pitiful meows insisted it be here. And I obliged because I am ridiculous. 

a ruby a day

Heading home to Houston...and missing my little Ruby girl, whom I won't be able to pick up until tomorrow afternoon. So let's just take a minute to appreciate how cute she is - this is her "there is a bird I need to keep an eye on!!" pose. 

what i'm listening to right now

i'm still (slowly) making my way through the podcast welcome to night vale.  this is another song from the show: "jews for jesus blues," by clem snide - great beat and i love the singer's voice:

“Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”
—John Wesley (1703-1791), Theologian

a photo a day

11 years ago this month I was taking a Civil War history class at Duke and we took a quasi-mandatory field trip to the Gettysburg battlefield. The class was half southern frat boys reliving the glory of the capital S South and half history majors who wanted to learn more about, you know, American history. I made a D on the midterm exam because I struggled with - among other things - drawing out battle plans like our instructor wanted us to...where the confederate army was at the beginning and end of the battle for Vicksburg, for example. Who needs to know this?!? Me, apparently. And then then Gettysburg trip. I drove my rugby teammate Jessica, another history nerd who we were kind of friends with, the girl that nerd was flirting with...and my professor. Yes, that's right, my professor rode in the backseat for the six hour drive from North Carolina to southern Pennsylvania. My professor and I became friends on that trip and I experienced my first blatant case of grade inflation: after that D on the midterm, a solid paper + a sold final exam + a weekend of fun in Gettysburg = a solid A for the course. I didn't ask questions.

When we were in Gettysburg with the frat boys, we stopped at the high water mark of the confederacy (Pickett's charge resulted in the farthest north the confederate army made it during the war). Our professor made us reenact Pickett's charge and then the frat boys shotgunned a beer there. You read that right. Shotgunned a beer. 

Today I am in Gettysburg again! I'm here visiting Gettysburg College and two other liberal arts colleges in central Pennsylvania as part of a tour for college counselors. We took a short tour of the battlefield today. Disappointingly - but not surprisingly - no one shotgunned a beer at the high water mark of the confederacy this time. 

a photo a day

Airplane sunsets are sometimes the best sunsets!

a Ruby a day

Let me go on the record (again) as stating unequivocally that not only do I have the cutest cat on the planet, but she is also the most affectionate sweetheart everrrrr. Only flaw at the moment: massive shedding. But that's nothing a good vacuum can't handle.

“Wilderness is not a luxury, but a necessity of the human spirit.”
—Edward Abbey (1927-1989), American Author

a screenshot a day

This? This is pretty incredible. I have two friends in Nepal currently - one lives there, one lives in Bangladesh - and this showed up in my Facebook news feed. 

Both friends had already posted that they were okay, but I know not everyone is that lucky. Huge kudos to Facebook for creating and implementing this.

Technology is not everything. But technology can be a very important thing.

a photo a day

Newest little stuffed animal for a work friend's baby girl, due in June! I am in love with this pattern - the bunny is so easy to make and so freaking adorable. 

a book i loved just won the pulitzer prize - hooray!  this book was recommended to me by my friend who is in prison…and just writing that sentence makes me laugh.  yes, everyone, my friend who is in federal prison has excellent taste in books (and he tells me that he is now reading the complete works of shakespeare because he's got nothing but time).  oh what a weird weird universe we live in.

march: 5, 6, 7, & 8

oops - 22 days into the next month, and i'm just now posting it.  but…march was a good month of reading, helped by spring break!  last month i read:

persepolis: the story of a childhood, by marjane satrapi (this is an autobiographical graphic novel about growing up in iran in the 1970s.  it was on our school's summer reading short list, though we're ultimately going to go with a different book.  i had seen the movie previously, and this is one case where i'd recommend the movie before i'd recommend reading the book.  the art is the same, and the movie evokes more powerful emotions, in my opinion, than i experienced reading the book.  i'd highly recommend you see the movie!  such an important part of world history to be exposed to.)

the book thief, by markus zusak (how did it take me so long to read this book?  it had been on my list for a while, and i finally bought it with a gift certificate that a student gave me (hooray for gift certificates for books!).  this is a fictional account of a girl growing up near munich during world war II.  the book is narrated by death, which i found a fascinating way to tell this story.  it's horribly sad at points, like all books about world war II can be, but the structure of the book and the narration and the characters made this a really interesting read.  i'd highly recommend it!  i think it's technically a young adult book (another work of great young adult literature!), and it's a quick read, but no less powerful because it's aimed at a teenage audience.  i immediately put another book by the author (i am the messenger) on my "to read" list.  see...this is how my list doesn't ever get any shorter...)

the other wes moore, by wes moore (put down everything you are doing.  READ THIS BOOK.  the premise: a man named wes moore finds out he has been selected as a rhodes scholar at the same time as he sees on the news that another man named wes moore is found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.  the two wes moores are about the same age, both black, both grew up in baltimore.  how does one become a rhodes scholar and the other end up in prison?  the book follows both wes moores through their lives, drawing contrasts between the events of each of their lives and how they respond to them.  it, of course, doesn't answer any questions fully, but it gave me a LOT to think about. this was one of those books where i was talking back to the book while i read it.  always a good sign!)

serena, by ron rash (Q recommended this book to me - the author is from the asheville area, and he knows that i love a good historical novel set in appalachia.  this book was good, but i have a hard time liking books when i don't find the main character likable…and i had a really hard time figuring out what to think of serena.  i'm glad i read it - and there are some really interesting plot points - but i'm not rushing to recommend it to you guys because i'm…still just not quite sure what to think about it.  and the ending…oh, the ending.  so maybe you should read it.  i'm just not quite sure.)

what i'm listening to right now

i know, i know, i'm behind the times again, but i just discovered "little toy guns," by carrie underwood, and i'm loving it (cheesy as it is, as times), which is not hard because carrie has such a fantastic voice:

spring salad

i made smitten kitchen's spring salad with new potatoes a year or so ago, and then (re-)fell in love with it this weekend.  i was in the grocery store and there was some gorgeous asparagus and then this salad popped back into my head.  thank you, internet, for (re-)finding the recipe for me while i stood in the produce section, assuring that i bought all the ingredients i needed.  and, caveat, i hate radishes, so i clearly omitted those.  this salad is fantastic because (a) potatoes are just one ingredient, not the whole story, and (b) the dressing isn't mayonnaise-based (i really like mayonnaise, but the fact that the dressing here is a vinaigrette makes it so much lighter).  i made it on saturday...and then again tonight.  but i made a half recipe each time…which is how i am justifying it.

you should make this salad, and then perhaps bring it for lunch alongside hummus and pita like i did.

a chewy a day

Yesterday, Ruby had a play date with my friend Carolyn's cat Chewbacca, because Carolyn may keep Ruby when I'm out of town in a few weeks and we wanted to see how Ruby and Chewy got along.

Step 1: adorable tentative touching of noses. 

Step 2: retreating into separate corners of the apartment. 

Step 3: Ruby going on the greeting offense. Hissing, noise-making, etc. from both cats. 

Step 4: Ruby, secure in her dominance, lies on the bed in a position of repose, while Chewy hides under it. Carolyn and I leave to go to the Astros game. 

Oh, that's right. We had seats right behind the dugout. Astros win yayyyyy. 

Step 5 (discovered when we get home): there is a mutual agreement that Ruby can have all high surfaces and Chewy will have all low ones. Ruby is on the kitchen counter, later the bookshelf, and finally he bathroom counter. Chewy tracks her movements from the floor. 

Step 6: in an act of passive aggressive dominance (or something? who knows what cats are thinking) like I have never seen before, Chewy casually goes in Ruby's carrier and refuses to get out, making eye contact with bathroom counter lounging Ruby the whole time. 

Step 7: Chewy is extracted from carrier, Ruby is shoved in it, and night is called a success. 

Step 8: Upon getting home, Ruby pretends like she didn't have a cat food buffet while at Chewy's house. I do not believe her. 

Cat play date: success!

domesticity

my apartment tends to go through phases…i spend time getting it super clean one weekend, then three weeks later i look around and it's a WRECK.  this morning we were in wreck territory.  today i did two loads of laundry, vacuumed, did the dishes, took out the trash, got clothes ready to give to goodwill, balanced my (electronic) checkbook, boxed up a baby gift to be mailed, started a new knitting project, and cleaned my closet.  it feels GOOD…is this a sign that i am old?!

ruby does not quite know what to do with all the floor space that has been freed up.  

this is a belated post, because hazel was born in february, but look!  smushy new baby hazel wore the hat i made her!

clearly i was/am over the moon about this.  (and i get to meet baby hazel in 3 weeks - yay!)  i still have some of this yarn, and i think another baby hat for some other baby out there is for sure in the works because the yarn knitted up so nicely.  woo hoo!

what i'm listening to right now

so, like the rest of the world (this video has 218 million views so far), i enjoy this song.  "love me like you do," by ellie goulding:



no, i did not see the movie.  yes, i did read the book and, yes, that did help me get a question right at trivia night a few weeks ago.  so clearly reading the book was time well spent.

HILARIOUS - i was laughing out loud, which either means it is truly funny or i am truly weird.  two medieval monks invent dinner parties

(one instance of bad language, so be slightly warned.)

what i'm pondering right now

on I-45 southbound, driving back from an amazing weekend celebrating becky and brandon's wedding, i listened to some sara bareilles, and a line from "chasing the sun" resonated with me:


so how do you do it,
with just words and just music, capture the feeling
that my earth is somebody's ceiling

this song is literally about walking around a graveyard, where your earth is the ceiling of the dead.  but i heard it figuratively.  my reality, my day-to-day, is someone else's best moments.  that i live daily a life full of moments that are pretty incredible.  and this weekend was full of them - surrounded by family, taking care of my sister, being taken care of by the best wedding date ever, laughing with the other bridesmaids, grinning my face off during the ceremony, feeling valued, feeling loved, feeling the community the bride and groom brought together.  it wasn't an average weekend, but all of these elements are in my life all the time…this wedding just packed them tightly together.  i paused to be reminded that my earth is pretty incredible.  my earth is somebody's ceiling.

seasons

i had a parent meeting today, and we were chit-chatting about the weather as the meeting started, and i said how much i was enjoying spring…and the dad corrected me.  "it's pre-summer," he said.  which, at 86 degrees today, is pretty accurate.  which got me thinking…what really ARE the seasons in texas?

june-september = summer
october-december = fall
january-february = fall+ (when some of the leaves turn fall colors in january, you can't call this season winter)
march = spring
april-may = pre-summer

i'm remaining optimistic that we'll have another cooler spring day before pre-summer turns into real summer…but i'm not holding my breath.

what i'm listening to right now

"if i ever leave this world alive," by flogging molly:


at some point nora put this on one of her fantastic mixes.  i've been listening to some old CDs recently and loved re-discovering this song!

Life with a cat: snuggling on THEIR terms. I just laid down on the ground near Ruby - and let the record show that almost two years with Ruby has taught me to not lie too close and not force her to full-body snuggle, which would otherwise be my goal. So I lie down on the floor near her and pet her ONE TIME and she gets up and moves 20 feet away and lies back down. 

I love you, too, Ruby. 

a Ruby a day

Dear downstairs neighbor,

(I can never remember your name. Jeff? Maybe? Sorry.) Thank you for putting in a bird feeder on your balcony. You have lured all the birdies outside this window, giving Ruby a calling in life. 75% of her waking life is now spent keeping track of these birds, and boy is she good at it. Nothing escapes her eagle eyes!

Love, 

Miss Claire