the boys get down with miss marcie in the kitchen
Monday, November 26, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
lantern song (a movie)
practicing the lantern song before our candlelit walk through the neighborhood on martinmas.
Monday, November 12, 2007
the new england history tour of 2007
we've decided that we want a big part of our time here to involve learning about this area (or reminding ourselves what we already know about this area). there are so many resources in new england for learning about history, including the houses we live in, the bumpy brick sidewalks we stroll over and the crumbling gravestones we pass by. aaron and i are really trying to notice what is around us, and to learn about how it came to be and how it used to be.
so far, we've explored a bit of the south shore of boston, including the coast guard heritage museum in barstable, the herreshoff marine museum in bristol, the new bedford whaling museum and a few boatyards on the cape. we walked a bit of the minuteman bikeway in lexington and had dinner in the old rail station downtown. we've gone to the maritime heritage center in gloucester and of course the essex shipbuilding museum. last weekend we drove out to the northampton area and visited the historic northampton museum and the williamsburg general store. on the way home we stopped at walden pond in concord and walked around it "deliberately."
while aaron focuses more on the history in and of these places, i focus more on the gift shops. in particular, on the notecards in the giftshops. i'm building up a nice collection, though most of them will likely be mailed off to some of you in the near future. at the walden pond gift shop i saw some beautiful prints with thoreau quotes and block prints by artist michael mccurdy. this is my favorite:
he also has a series of animal notecards, which are really fun. here is the fox:
and at the gloucester maritime museum, we found this awesome book:
this british shipwright and artist, james dodds, set some of his boat linocuts to the words of a kipling poem. it's beautiful! and after snooping around on his website, i saw another of his books, "alphabet of boats," which has a cool boat linocut for each letter of the alphabet. here's the ark:
i can't wait for our new england gift shop tour to continue!
so far, we've explored a bit of the south shore of boston, including the coast guard heritage museum in barstable, the herreshoff marine museum in bristol, the new bedford whaling museum and a few boatyards on the cape. we walked a bit of the minuteman bikeway in lexington and had dinner in the old rail station downtown. we've gone to the maritime heritage center in gloucester and of course the essex shipbuilding museum. last weekend we drove out to the northampton area and visited the historic northampton museum and the williamsburg general store. on the way home we stopped at walden pond in concord and walked around it "deliberately."
while aaron focuses more on the history in and of these places, i focus more on the gift shops. in particular, on the notecards in the giftshops. i'm building up a nice collection, though most of them will likely be mailed off to some of you in the near future. at the walden pond gift shop i saw some beautiful prints with thoreau quotes and block prints by artist michael mccurdy. this is my favorite:
he also has a series of animal notecards, which are really fun. here is the fox:
and at the gloucester maritime museum, we found this awesome book:
this british shipwright and artist, james dodds, set some of his boat linocuts to the words of a kipling poem. it's beautiful! and after snooping around on his website, i saw another of his books, "alphabet of boats," which has a cool boat linocut for each letter of the alphabet. here's the ark:
i can't wait for our new england gift shop tour to continue!
Friday, November 09, 2007
the great iphoto fiasco of 2007
the other day peter tried to upload some of his pictures onto our computer, but our computer rejected him because it didn't have enough hard drive space. so pete suggested i delete some things and burn some things onto cd, in particular pictures and music, to free up some space. so i did. i deleted lots of music, and then i started backing up all our photos, burning them onto cd. after i'd burned a few cds, i put those photos into the trash. then i emptied the trash. then i suddenly had a TON of space on my hard drive and NO pictures in my iphoto library.
i don't know how, but somehow i deleted my entire iphoto library. sad, sad day. i took the computer to a "mac genius" at the mall but he wasn't genius enough to undo whatever i did. so most of our pictures are gone. what a lesson in impermanence!
we do still have access to the pictures i've posted on here and on flickr, and the few cds i burned before the fiasco, so not all is lost. but i imagine some of you have pictures from our lives on your own computers or in your email folders, or backed up in some responsible place. would you email those to us? in particular, if any of you have photos of things that aaron has made, we'd love to rebuild his portfolio. or maybe you could take pictures of things he's made and we'll add them in. hopefully one of these days he'll have his own flickr page dedicated to the things he's crafted.
we've learned our lesson, i swear. i'm only human. the computers win!
i don't know how, but somehow i deleted my entire iphoto library. sad, sad day. i took the computer to a "mac genius" at the mall but he wasn't genius enough to undo whatever i did. so most of our pictures are gone. what a lesson in impermanence!
we do still have access to the pictures i've posted on here and on flickr, and the few cds i burned before the fiasco, so not all is lost. but i imagine some of you have pictures from our lives on your own computers or in your email folders, or backed up in some responsible place. would you email those to us? in particular, if any of you have photos of things that aaron has made, we'd love to rebuild his portfolio. or maybe you could take pictures of things he's made and we'll add them in. hopefully one of these days he'll have his own flickr page dedicated to the things he's crafted.
we've learned our lesson, i swear. i'm only human. the computers win!
ups and downs (or, so many stairs!)
finally, an update from the east. it's quick to post little movies but harder to find time to write words. we left bellingham almost four weeks ago now. crazy!
in that time:
~we visited grandma and grandpa wedell and aunts joan and karin in fond du lac, wisconson.
~we visited the oldenburgs and the scott-brandts in grand rapids, michigan.
~aaron met with a professor and a filmmaker about the great lakes fishing history project.
~we sat in an airplane on the chicago runway for a few hours in a windstorm.
~we were welcomed overwhelmingly to our cozy new third-floor room at the julian house, full of lovely art, a bulletin board, nice-smelling soaps and lotions, pretty file folders and note cards, and a beautiful little crib for noah.
~we spent a few lovely days in lexington celebrating alan and cara's wedding, including family contra-dancing in a beautiful barn.
~we spent another few lovely days in barnstable, on cape cod, with our friends sarah, matt and avry ross, and with matt's grandma, aunts and cousin. noah played on the beach with avry, aaron went boat-scoping, and sarah made us lots of yummy food. we had a nice birthday breakfast for aaron at their house, including bacon, pastries and the new modest mouse cd.
~we have been partying quite a bit--at jesse walsh's 30th birthday party, a harvest party with margie and ian and other friends, benny's 7th birthday party and rosemary's 30th birthday party.
~we went to see the new wes anderson movie, "the darjeeling limited," trading childcare with the wassells.
~aaron bought a little beetlecat boat from harold burnham and is fixing it up in the julian house garage. he's already had help on the project from peter, scott, andrew, benny, eli and jude.
~we dressed noah up in an old wassell dragon costume and trick-or-treated around the neighborhood with all the little boys. noah got lots of candy for me and aaron to eat.
~we've walked around town a lot, frequenting the atomic cafe for coffee and cassis bakery for treats.
~aaron attended a lecture at gordon about "public history" and documentary filmmaking, which has gotten his wheels turning. (ask him!)
~we've cooked a few meals for the house, and eaten lots of yummy food (including a few cannolis).
~noah and i met my old roommate tanya's new baby harrison, who is just three weeks old. he's tiny!
~noah has fallen down quite a few stairs in this three-story house, but i think he's figured out the height dynamics at this point.
~noah has chased and been chased by tons of little boys. they have taught him a few things, including how to build and knock down block towers and how to knead bread. he also loves stealing benny and eli's "lord of the rings" swords and asher and jude's pacifiers.
yet to come:
~a trip to western mass to visit caleb, kirsten and anise and go to the massachusetts museum of contemporary art.
~a trip to vermont to see my family, with a stop in putney to see sarah bates' parents.
~boston day, and lots of riding around on trains and subways.
~a trip to connecticut to see more of my family.
~a trip to new york city when jennye's baby is born.
~a trip to portsmouth, new hampshire, to visit heidi and check out the waterfront.
~a big crafting event involving quilting, freezer-paper stenciling, gocco-printing, needle-felting and more!
~aaron's stool-making class for new hope christian school kids.
~and lots of fun hang-out time with chris, scott, benny, eli, jude, asher, henry, andrew, sarah and other friends.
more pictures soon to come on flickr. keep sending pictures of yourselves and your families and all the west-coast, mid-west and southern fun we're missing. love to you all!
in that time:~we visited grandma and grandpa wedell and aunts joan and karin in fond du lac, wisconson.
~we visited the oldenburgs and the scott-brandts in grand rapids, michigan.
~aaron met with a professor and a filmmaker about the great lakes fishing history project.
~we sat in an airplane on the chicago runway for a few hours in a windstorm.
~we were welcomed overwhelmingly to our cozy new third-floor room at the julian house, full of lovely art, a bulletin board, nice-smelling soaps and lotions, pretty file folders and note cards, and a beautiful little crib for noah.
~we spent a few lovely days in lexington celebrating alan and cara's wedding, including family contra-dancing in a beautiful barn.
~we spent another few lovely days in barnstable, on cape cod, with our friends sarah, matt and avry ross, and with matt's grandma, aunts and cousin. noah played on the beach with avry, aaron went boat-scoping, and sarah made us lots of yummy food. we had a nice birthday breakfast for aaron at their house, including bacon, pastries and the new modest mouse cd.
~we have been partying quite a bit--at jesse walsh's 30th birthday party, a harvest party with margie and ian and other friends, benny's 7th birthday party and rosemary's 30th birthday party.
~we went to see the new wes anderson movie, "the darjeeling limited," trading childcare with the wassells.
~aaron bought a little beetlecat boat from harold burnham and is fixing it up in the julian house garage. he's already had help on the project from peter, scott, andrew, benny, eli and jude.
~we dressed noah up in an old wassell dragon costume and trick-or-treated around the neighborhood with all the little boys. noah got lots of candy for me and aaron to eat.
~we've walked around town a lot, frequenting the atomic cafe for coffee and cassis bakery for treats.
~aaron attended a lecture at gordon about "public history" and documentary filmmaking, which has gotten his wheels turning. (ask him!)
~we've cooked a few meals for the house, and eaten lots of yummy food (including a few cannolis).
~noah and i met my old roommate tanya's new baby harrison, who is just three weeks old. he's tiny!
~noah has fallen down quite a few stairs in this three-story house, but i think he's figured out the height dynamics at this point.
~noah has chased and been chased by tons of little boys. they have taught him a few things, including how to build and knock down block towers and how to knead bread. he also loves stealing benny and eli's "lord of the rings" swords and asher and jude's pacifiers.
yet to come:~a trip to western mass to visit caleb, kirsten and anise and go to the massachusetts museum of contemporary art.
~a trip to vermont to see my family, with a stop in putney to see sarah bates' parents.
~boston day, and lots of riding around on trains and subways.
~a trip to connecticut to see more of my family.
~a trip to new york city when jennye's baby is born.
~a trip to portsmouth, new hampshire, to visit heidi and check out the waterfront.
~a big crafting event involving quilting, freezer-paper stenciling, gocco-printing, needle-felting and more!
~aaron's stool-making class for new hope christian school kids.
~and lots of fun hang-out time with chris, scott, benny, eli, jude, asher, henry, andrew, sarah and other friends.
more pictures soon to come on flickr. keep sending pictures of yourselves and your families and all the west-coast, mid-west and southern fun we're missing. love to you all!
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
dane street beach (a movie)
on benny's birthday aaron and i took noah and the wassell boys for a low-tide adventure. noah got super muddy but had a lot of fun.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
donuts on a string (a movie)
at the harvest party, all the kids try to eat their donuts on strings without using their hands. except noah, who used his hands.
faerie treasure (a movie)
christina tells the kids a story of how shiny golden faerie treasures came to be in the haypile at pete and pilar's harvest party...
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
passage
"the images kept coming, vague and scattered, and she thought, how could one's life keep going this way? with more and more images piling up in one's heart and crowding and swelling like music. how was one to make room and to keep all of them? the answer which ann lord knew now having lived a life was that one did not. things were forgotten. an astonishing amount of what one had known simply disappeared."
--from evening by susan minot, page 72
happy birthday, cassin!
sunday, september 16 at 10:18pm
cassin paul bates was born at home in bellingham
7 lbs 15oz
20.5 inches
darned cute7 lbs 15oz
20.5 inches
my dear friend sarah had a beautiful and simple labor and birth at home on a rainy autumn evening. she is so strong and such an inspiration for me! her experience with cassin's birth gives me hope that this kind of experience is possible.
cassin's name comes from 19th century american ornithologist john cassin, who identified lots of new birds. the cassin's finch is one..jpg)
(photos from jeff.)
Friday, September 07, 2007
currents
a few things to share...
i just came upon zooglobble, a great blog about kids music. it in turn has led me to the nodcast podcast, where you can download podcasts of great kids music performances. i just listened to one with elizabeth mitchell and ella jenkins, which was wonderful. there's also a fun one with dan zanes, who i really like. i'm excited to hear more.
the zooglobble blogger, stefan shepard, was recently on npr to share thoughts on new kids music. in that piece, he reviews a cd of lullabies by renee and jeremy called "it's a big world." i listened online to some of the songs, which were really lovely. their style is slow and almost melancholy, which is a perfect fit sometimes. if i weren't trying not to spend money, i'd certainly buy their cd.
stefan shepard also gave great reviews to frances england's cd "fascinating creatures," which luckily the library carries. i checked it out and have been listening non-stop. she's lovely! she's a san francisco mom who initially made the album as a fundraiser for her son's preschool. she sounds a bit like early 90s chick music (mazzie star/tanya donnely style). and her lyrics are fun without being super cheesy. noah loves to dance to "tricycle." check out the awesome video below.
shepard also says he loves listening to bruce springsteen's "we shall overcome: the seeger sessions" with his kids, even though it's not a kids cd. i agree! jess and andrew gave us this cd when noah was born, and we all love it, especially in the car. my favorite song is "erie canal," which dan zanes also happens to do and which i first heard being sung by christina to her boys.
----------
in non-kids music, i've been listening a lot to po girl, especially the songs "till its gone" and "9 hours to go," which you can hear here. i had a lovely girls night out earlier this summer with sarah and sarah, and we got to see po' girl at the nightlight. these songs remind me of that night and are generally wonderful driving songs.
and in the kitchen cd player is the latest innocence mission cd, "we walk in song." my favorite songs are "since i still tell you my everyday" and "happy birthday." (which is the source of the quotes in the babynono masthead lately.) you can listen to a bit of happy birthday here. thanks to sarah and andrew for sharing this music with us!
and one of the few cds i can remember actually buying in recent months was "the swell season," which includes a lot of the music from the movie "once." have you all seen this movie?! it's absolutely lovely. it's one of those movies i could imagine seeing again and again. and the music is fantastic.
from the library, amy winehouse's "back to black." i know i shouldn't really like this cd, and i don't recommend reading the lyrics, but man, i can't help but put it on in the kitchen when i'm doing dishes. "rehab" is so catchy! noah dances to it too. (when is the age when i have to be more careful about him noticing lyrics?) "love is a losing game" is also really great.
-----------
and the new season of the office starts next week! and i heard recently that itunes will no longer carry nbc shows for download! so sad! does anyone on the north shore have cable? you can see some really funny "summer vacation" interviews here.
-------------
i also just came across this trailer for the new movie "juno." unfortunately it won't be out until december! it looks really funny and nice. also lots of my favorite actors.
----------
another recent find is this wonderful video of sufjan stevens playing the innocence mission's "lakes of canada." the filming is really neat--kind of ethereal--and i love sufjan singing it. also, apparently he is working on a musical tribute to the brooklyn-queens expressway, which he'll perform at the brooklyn academy of music in november. anyone want to go? (i'm serious.)
this is from the asthmatic kitty website: "It could be a suite, a fugue, a theme and variation, a repetition of melodies, a canon, to name a few. What we can say is that the piece lasts about 30 minutes and will include a small band, a wind and brass ensemble, string players, and, of course, hula-hoopers. There is no singing. But don't worry: the remainder of the show will include Sufjan navigating through old and new songs. The same small voice, the badgered banjo, the glissandos of the piano, the pump organ, the acoustic guitar, and the inaudible thump of the human heart."
----------
next weekend we plan to head down to seattle to visit with mike and jessie and maryka and kevin. we're also planning to catch a nikki mcclure art show at eat local in queen anne. nikki did this cool papercut for their website.
i've been thinking a lot about nikki mcclure lately since i finally broke down and bought her lovely baby journal, "the first 1000 days." it's hard to make the first entry in such a perfect little book, so i made aaron do it. here it is:
mike just pointed out to me this artist who does silkscreens but in the same simple lines as nikki's stuff. i really like this one, called "boston":
she says this about it: "This piece is about the isolation that often accompanies depression. The sky is meant to feel uplifting. Things always get better. I made this to remind myself of that."
it reminds me also how beautiful the city is. i am so anxious to explore boston again!
i just came upon zooglobble, a great blog about kids music. it in turn has led me to the nodcast podcast, where you can download podcasts of great kids music performances. i just listened to one with elizabeth mitchell and ella jenkins, which was wonderful. there's also a fun one with dan zanes, who i really like. i'm excited to hear more.
the zooglobble blogger, stefan shepard, was recently on npr to share thoughts on new kids music. in that piece, he reviews a cd of lullabies by renee and jeremy called "it's a big world." i listened online to some of the songs, which were really lovely. their style is slow and almost melancholy, which is a perfect fit sometimes. if i weren't trying not to spend money, i'd certainly buy their cd.
stefan shepard also gave great reviews to frances england's cd "fascinating creatures," which luckily the library carries. i checked it out and have been listening non-stop. she's lovely! she's a san francisco mom who initially made the album as a fundraiser for her son's preschool. she sounds a bit like early 90s chick music (mazzie star/tanya donnely style). and her lyrics are fun without being super cheesy. noah loves to dance to "tricycle." check out the awesome video below.
shepard also says he loves listening to bruce springsteen's "we shall overcome: the seeger sessions" with his kids, even though it's not a kids cd. i agree! jess and andrew gave us this cd when noah was born, and we all love it, especially in the car. my favorite song is "erie canal," which dan zanes also happens to do and which i first heard being sung by christina to her boys.
----------
in non-kids music, i've been listening a lot to po girl, especially the songs "till its gone" and "9 hours to go," which you can hear here. i had a lovely girls night out earlier this summer with sarah and sarah, and we got to see po' girl at the nightlight. these songs remind me of that night and are generally wonderful driving songs.
and in the kitchen cd player is the latest innocence mission cd, "we walk in song." my favorite songs are "since i still tell you my everyday" and "happy birthday." (which is the source of the quotes in the babynono masthead lately.) you can listen to a bit of happy birthday here. thanks to sarah and andrew for sharing this music with us!
and one of the few cds i can remember actually buying in recent months was "the swell season," which includes a lot of the music from the movie "once." have you all seen this movie?! it's absolutely lovely. it's one of those movies i could imagine seeing again and again. and the music is fantastic.
from the library, amy winehouse's "back to black." i know i shouldn't really like this cd, and i don't recommend reading the lyrics, but man, i can't help but put it on in the kitchen when i'm doing dishes. "rehab" is so catchy! noah dances to it too. (when is the age when i have to be more careful about him noticing lyrics?) "love is a losing game" is also really great.
-----------
and the new season of the office starts next week! and i heard recently that itunes will no longer carry nbc shows for download! so sad! does anyone on the north shore have cable? you can see some really funny "summer vacation" interviews here.
-------------
i also just came across this trailer for the new movie "juno." unfortunately it won't be out until december! it looks really funny and nice. also lots of my favorite actors.
----------
another recent find is this wonderful video of sufjan stevens playing the innocence mission's "lakes of canada." the filming is really neat--kind of ethereal--and i love sufjan singing it. also, apparently he is working on a musical tribute to the brooklyn-queens expressway, which he'll perform at the brooklyn academy of music in november. anyone want to go? (i'm serious.)
this is from the asthmatic kitty website: "It could be a suite, a fugue, a theme and variation, a repetition of melodies, a canon, to name a few. What we can say is that the piece lasts about 30 minutes and will include a small band, a wind and brass ensemble, string players, and, of course, hula-hoopers. There is no singing. But don't worry: the remainder of the show will include Sufjan navigating through old and new songs. The same small voice, the badgered banjo, the glissandos of the piano, the pump organ, the acoustic guitar, and the inaudible thump of the human heart."
----------
next weekend we plan to head down to seattle to visit with mike and jessie and maryka and kevin. we're also planning to catch a nikki mcclure art show at eat local in queen anne. nikki did this cool papercut for their website.
i've been thinking a lot about nikki mcclure lately since i finally broke down and bought her lovely baby journal, "the first 1000 days." it's hard to make the first entry in such a perfect little book, so i made aaron do it. here it is:
mike just pointed out to me this artist who does silkscreens but in the same simple lines as nikki's stuff. i really like this one, called "boston":
she says this about it: "This piece is about the isolation that often accompanies depression. The sky is meant to feel uplifting. Things always get better. I made this to remind myself of that."
it reminds me also how beautiful the city is. i am so anxious to explore boston again!
august
apologies for my delinquent blogging. it's been a busy month! colin and nicole got married, noah started walking, aaron started sailing, lots of friends and family visited, many berries were picked, many trains were admired...
here's a little photo medley for illustration. enjoy!
sailing:
driving:
biking:
admiring trains:
eating:
reading:
playing:
grooming:
being cozy:
hanging out with friends:
now we wait to see what the autumn will bring! (more pictures here.)
here's a little photo medley for illustration. enjoy!
sailing:
driving:
biking:
admiring trains:
eating:
reading:
playing:
grooming:
being cozy:
hanging out with friends:
now we wait to see what the autumn will bring! (more pictures here.)
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