Views from a Summer Garden.

We started our summer garden about a month ago.  It's a modest plot in our backyard that we dug up ourselves (with the help of a small rototiller).  We planted peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes, pole green beans, pole peas, cucumbers, onions, and sweet corn!  We're especially excited about the sweet corn because it was an experiment we've wanted to do for awhile.  So far, we have several small stalks coming up - some got knocked down by a storm, but mostly, they're coming along pretty well so far.

This is an early picture:

Our landlords have helped us be more "green" this year - we are using rain barrels to water our garden, and Ben has constructed a string trellis for the beans and peas to climb.

I'll put up more recent pictures soon.  We can't wait to see what our garden yields this year!

morning light.

I have been so distracted lately, and probably rightly so.  This past week, I wrote 45 pages worth of final papers, and wrapped up lots of loose ends that stood between me and the completion of my first semester of seminary.  What a good semester it was.   I learned so much about faith, politics, policy issues, and how to navigate public transportation {on my own}.  Actually, realizing what I can do on my own (navigate two trains a day, stay away a night or two a week from my husband, pack on the fly, deal with unexpected complications...) has been a huge boost for my self-confidence this fall.

It's my second full day without any schoolwork to do (once January rolls around, I have to buckle down and write a chapter for one of my professor's books that will be submitted for publishing in the spring).  Yesterday, I woke up feeling like I would have no idea what to do with myself, but I found plenty of wonderful, relaxing ways to fill my time (disclaimer: my definition of wonderful).  I had a lazy morning with cereal, coffee, and the Today Show.  I went out and stopped at my favorite thrifting stops, and then spent time wandering around the city library.  I came home with an armful of books that I can't wait to read.  Last night, I practically devoured a "for fun" book (it has been so long since I've read something with no purpose whatsoever).  I read all of White Oleander last night between dinner and bed.  It is a sad, mysterious book, but it has a lot to say about resilience and the people who make life meaningful.

Today, I'm being lazy once again, trying to decide which book to read next and where I will ride my bike to today.  I had a whole to-do list of plans for today, but I forgot that I was car-less and therefore can only be as productive as where I can walk or bike to.  So I will gladly embrace today as a quiet, lazy one.

Lately I've been taking lots of pictures of the late morning light in our apartment.  Although winter days can seem bleak, there is something so still and beautiful about the late morning light of the winter.  Taking pictures of the simple everyday spots that are transformed in the morning light helps me appreciate the places that I spend my every day.

I am so excited for the weekend over here.  Ben has had a ton of work lately, so a break is much-needed.  We've been taking weeknight mini-trips this week to break up the work days: driving in the country and looking at lights plus a trip to Sonic for milkshakes, stopping by Toys R Us last night (yep, my husband is a kid at heart - and I love it) and getting fountain sodas on the way home, and tonight, we're itching for more lights and I'm itching for a night of no cooking.  The last weekend before Christmas!  What a good one it's going to be.

“I embrace the messiness of life, I find it so beautiful actually.”
Brad Pitt

“I watched the early morning light pass over and through the windows of colored glass, leaving streaks of red and green and yellow on the stone floor.  Now I know it is like happiness-- it is there or it is not, you cannot hold it or keep it.” Karen Cushman

In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.  Aaron Rose

Gestures of Love

I've been thinking a lot lately about what love is - what it looks like, how it feels, and how so many times, it is different than what you expect.  I have found that small acts of love mean a lot to me - I save each card, letter, and act of thoughtfulness that I receive and love the "bank" of memories that it gives me each time I think about them.

The past two weeks, my husband, Ben, has blessed me in so many simple and thoughtful ways with acts of love.  On the first day of class, not only did he drive an hour and a half to pick me up late at night when I missed my train, but he even came with a beautiful vase of sunflowers.

This past Saturday, I just had one of those grouchy days - you know the ones I mean?  Nothing felt quite right - my hair felt frizzy, my jeans felt tight, and I felt tired and off - and so Ben offers to make dinner (he probably didn't want me to be around knives for any period of time, but I can't blame him!).  That gesture of love ended my day on such a better note.  He made a delicious pork roast with honey mustard beer sauce, roasted sweet potatoes and vidalia onions, and green beans with walnuts and olive oil.  I had asked for something whole food-ish and with some protein, and Ben hit it on the head!  We even had homemade peach cobbler for dessert.  Yum!

There are many other little things that I have in the bank of memories that I hold on to so dearly.  These moments, although fleeting and at times small, are each meaningful and precious to me, and they sustain me through the long days, the off days, and the quiet moments of life.