little tree.

little tree
little silent Christmas tree
you are so little
you are more like a flower

who found you in the green forest
and were you very sorry to come away?
see i will comfort you
because you smell so sweetly

i will kiss your cool bark
and hug you safe and tight
just as your mother would,
only don't be afraid

look the spangles
that sleep all the year in a dark box
dreaming of being taken out and allowed to shine,
the balls the chains red and gold the fluffy threads,

put up your little arms
and i'll give them all to you to hold
every finger shall have its ring
and there won't be a single place dark or unhappy

then when you're quite dressed
you'll stand in the window for everyone to see
and how they'll stare!
oh but you'll be very proud

and my little sister and i will take hands
and looking up at our beautiful tree
we'll dance and sing
"Noel Noel"

ee cummings

i know.

i know it isnt summer anymore, but this poem is just too good to keep to myself, seasonally appropriate or not. most of all (and right now specifically) i like the words: wild and precious. are our lives not just wild and precious. exclamation point. and dont i love and miss you dearly. exclamation point.

to be idle and blessed.

The Summer Day
Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

volunteer park conservatory. seattle.

a couple of moments to save.

our lady of guadalupe. 50 feet high. windsor, ohio.

perspective show. fourfriends. oct nov 2007.

where does time take us.

that my days are full, this i do know. i wake up early to have coffee while the house is still quiet. i sit by the fire and dream really big dreams before the hours fill and move me on to busier places. it is late and i have tired eyes for sure. another cup of coffee at the break of dawn tomorrow as i will hit the road once again. destination:ohio. to spend some good time with a wonderful friend and her 5 goats.
my show is hung at four friends and will be up until december. the opening was a sweet sweet time. all i had hoped for. my grand parents came, we all drank wine. my grad school applications are not due for another 2 months and so i procrastinate. want to move to laos or india in the meantime. i will let you know how that one goes.
anyways, here are some shots to share.(thanks annie).
there is a crack in this life of mine, just enough for the light to get through.
i remain grateful.

whoever you are
where ever you are
be in love.


rumi

time for a little rest.

and what better place than the little ol' town of st. louis.

i am here for just a few short weeks doing a bit of dog sitting. keeping myself busy also with repainting the kids rooms. it is a quiet brick house. with a little garden in the back where i have made good friends with a family of butterflys and too many tweetiebirds to count. it is hot, just like they say. but coming from vegas, anywhere seems breezy. the nights here are just perfect. i have made a routine of corn on the cob and a cold brewski to end the day. it seems fitting...

have done some fun things... lets see. church downtown at a beautiful anglican cathedral. cardinals game (beat the braves, 4-1)... little stroll through the botanical gardens... the annual st louis midnight ramble (where we joined 10,000 other folks for a little ride around town. free beer and custard after. what could be better than that!)... had my first authentic afgahni dinner. it was incredible.

anne just got back last night from seattle. i am really looking forward to doing some tacky touristy things with an old pal. today we are going to visit the anheuser bush brewery. take a tour, pet the clydesdales, partake in a complimentary pint.

life with indiana is getting better. for those who dont know, she was not liking me all that much. ie, refuses to be on the same floor as i am. if i go up, she goes down. i go down, she goes up. to the point where she anticipates it and flys past me on the steps every time... ahhh, she is an insanely complicated creature, but lets get real here, who isnt.

okay. off to the races.
ladeda.

the greatest dane: ms. indiana

perry and i, celebrating post midnight ramble.

on the stoop.

you know.

botanical gardens, stlouieee.

the air breaths fire.

good morning. good morning. 104 and smokin' here in vegas. but let me first start with a needed apology. i was looking over my blog and realized that i never really explained at all what i am doing down here! whoopsies.
so this is what happened. i was spending some quality time in grand rapids, biking a lot. cooking a lot. reading a lot. enjoying life a lot. when my ol' pal pete from palazzolos's artisan gelato and sorbetto gave to me a shout out about a couple down in vegas who needed some help opening up their little cafe. to which i replied, um, how about if you say you know a couple in portland oregan... but anyways... one email lead to another and the next thing i knew i was lost in nevada, working what will be a 26 day stint serving gelato and teaching all my little coffee wisdoms to sean and manessawe (who have very quickly become my family!) we eat sleep and breath gelato. it is a fine fine life. and one i am sure i will miss once i leave here. i have not seen much of vegas. but just between you and me, i am alright with that. i have meet some really great people, people who when i fly away from this little town that it trying to be so big and bright, will have given me so much more than i had imagined.
what i am trying to say is this... i am finding that there are so many versions of happiness out there. so many people living such good lives... i hope to you my friends, that you are each finding your own, in whatever you are doing.
enjoy this day.

yumyum.

my view of vegas.

so this is most of what i have seen in vegas! but its pretty dang cute, eh! just plugging along... i wish i had exciting things to tell you... its the life of a small business owner. we close early on sundays so have time to go out for dinner, had fantastic thai curry. thats the highlight of this week (and it was a highlight i tell ya! manasawee doesnt settle for second rate curry!) hope you are all well. dreaming sweet dreams here down south... will be glad to come home to yall soon. much love.

buon giorno!

only have just a minute to say hello this morning. have been working 14/24 for the last week. opening at noon this sunday. so i have a minute to myself. the cafe is cute, we are selling more and more of pete's amazing gelato every day. tonight we (sean, manasawee and I) will "hit the strip". it will be fun to see the real las vegas. promise more when time permits.

looking up and out.

the point and shoot has not failed me yet, i am having so much fun putting it on things and under things and upsidedown and backwards just to see the world blured and broken up by the little things.

i shut my eyes quick a minute: think like a worm or an ant. i mosey under a raspberry bush. or a bird or a leaf. i reach up on tippy toes.

or like a little slice of sunlight... this one is hesitating. i do believe, caught for just one moment in the space between what i can not yet touch and must learn how to see. thats it. thats where the beautiful things hide. and on this glimmering day, i strike gold.

my brothers family.

aaron jen jasper and arika party post wedding. the little ones roll their first game.

wink. wink.

sally is my parents cat. she is a little one eyed wonder.