sticky notes

Essential for the functioning of family life, they conveniently fill all the little holes in my brain that seem to creep up in the mid-forties.

food

Food looks mighty good after 38 hours without it.

opposable thumbs

Lack of opposable digits are very annoying to our cat Mika, who knows all the answers to the Sunday cross word puzzle, but cannot fill them in. Am I glad that I can write!

hydrogen

Sunday nights are Carl Sagan nights at our house, at least until the kids are in bed and I switch to Masterpiece Theater. Today Carl accused us all to not give enough appreciation to atoms and so here I am, showing my gratitude for number one: Hydrogen. Like the kids say, we are all made of star stuff!

Picture from here

baby shower

A Saturday spent in the company of lovely people - some known and some new - to celebrate the coming arrival of another little girl is just a great way to spend the day and it's fun to host.

knives & spatulas

The twelve year old is helping with the dishes, obviously with an engineering mind - kind of cool, isn't it?

sunshine

Thank you sunshine, you are lovely!

miracle

I am a notorious indoor plant killer, I seem to leave my green thumbs out of doors. I received this Gerbera at Christmas and almost killed it off rather soon after. Unable to throw away a plant that is not truly dead, I moved it to the kitchen and low and behold, with a little TLC it looked not only better every day, it started to bloom again!

grey day

Calm and relaxing - grey days of spring, inviting peace.

yummy goodness

Chocolate-almond cupcake with peanut butter frosting. Who knew that a cupcake can be so delicious while being vegan, gluten-free, whole grain and low glycemic.

return to regular spring

With all of Friday's snow melted and the sun warming up earth and soul, we return to our regular spring program :)

poladroid

Today I discovered poladroid, a software that turns photos into a virtual polaroid, complete with vignetting, aberrations, scratches and all those other imperfections that make it perfect - one of my favorite juxtapositions.

spring snow

March went out with a snow storm, appropriately welcoming April with a lot of white fluff, blanketing the awakening plants like this Hamamelis (witch hazel).

crocusses

Crocusses, the radiant harbingers of an impending awakening of nature and a new season of growth, always remind me of my grandmother's lawn, they were everywhere. I looked at them closely today, knowing that April Fool's day will bring us another blanket of snow.

magnolia buds

Cerulean sky, magnolia buds like velvet, crisp air and bright sun - it must be spring.

ranunculus

After a fortnight of sickness, I am back. Still not doing well, but enough to appreciate the beauty of being again, especially looking at these lovely ranunculus. Those flowers are just the best ever, just notice those petals layer over layer.

tea pot

Some days - like today - are calling for a bit more tea than others in order to have tea induced heightened attention and energy to finish a job. My aid on those days is a vintage dutch tea pot with felt insulation to keep a steady stream of hot tea coming.

chile, chili or chillies

At the end of a very successful* day, it was time to relax and enjoy a small piece of chocolate. When I realized that our cabinet offered a rather limited choice of flavor, I actually dismissed the idea of chocolate altogether and decided for an apple instead, but was thoroughly amused.

* great concert with standing ovations

green glass bubbles

Bubbles of air caught in the eternity of glass to enthrall me, like a picturesque static effervescence of fizzing water. My favorite water glass, a small thing of beauty.

time

Absolutely wonderful to have a little bit of time alone. Serenity, how I love thee...

the force of nature

is unstoppable. Spring is coming.

be

I literally stumbled over this on a manhole in Boston today. Unintentional and very simple advice. Just be!

serendipity

After spending the entire day translating and working with words (I love words), I wanted to take a picture of just that and randomly picked a book from the shelve above my computer - a small, but extremely dense hardcover book about the history in German literature. Strangely enough to find a German academic book at a library sale in Quincy, but even stranger, when I opened it today, I found more than words, I found a pressed flower.

booked

Today I booked a flight to go home and it was like a heavy darkness was lifted off my soul.

freak

Hilarious, freaky, strange, whiny, soft, bossy, weird and cute alien cat.

postcard

This postcard means so much to me, I have two of them hanging around, pretty strange - and wonderful all the same.

music surprise

Not only did I get the surprise chance to go to Boston Baroque's 'Jewels & Discoveries' concert for the most beautiful music, hear the amazing Mary Wilson sing and the incredible violinist Christina Day Martinson play (big wow factor!), but to top it all off, Aaron Sheehan jumped in for the scheduled singer and I think his voice is just pure bliss :)

woolen throw

Sometimes the best therapy, my Irish woolen throw and a fascinating book.

reminisce

If there ever has been a person completely photo phobic, it is my mother - but she actually liked this shot so much, she is getting it for her birthday as a mounted canvas print. While I worked on it this morning, it brought me back to that day in late November and how much fun we had.

mail

Hurray, I got mail from Germany! I love the stamps, stickers, validation - ahh, beautiful ephemera as the tangible proof of somebody thinking of you.