Family Dining

I try to cook dinner every night. Here are a few of our menus from this week:

menu 1:

*cifford family farms eggs over easy
*sweet italian sausages from Harmons (they make their own)
*whole wheat toast with butter
*ruby red grapefruit wedges dipped in sugar

menu 2:

*turkey tetrazzini with fresh bread crumb/parmesean crispy topping
*garlic green beans seared in olive oil
*french bread
*peach cherry crisp with whipped cream and pecan topping

menu 3:

*rice with leftover turkey and gravy
*leftover fresh cranberry/orange sauce
*shredded napa and swiss chard salad with scallions, radishes, jicama, oranges, with orange vinegarette

I already posted our Thanksgiving menu. Next week, be watching for winter squash and sweet potato menues.

Thanksgiving in Weimar!

So, I didn't end up eating anything out of the ordinary on Thanksgiving, but I did try to be extra thankful. I thought about suggesting a Thanksgiving feast in my host family, but I felt a little high-maintainence asking that a turkey I wouldn't have eaten be roasted on my behalf. Instead, I went on a field trip to Weimar, which is the birthplace of Goethe and Schiller. It was neat-- we went to a classical concert but I can't remember the name of the composer... in any case, I was enjoying it very much, but then right at the end-ish I looked to my right and what did I see? Five boys watching an action movie on one of their cell phones.
Seriously.
After that we had some free time, so I walked around with my friends (friends!). We walked past the house where Schiller was born, which was neat, and I bought some postcards. I sent one of them to Boyd, but I still have two more. Who wants one? We also went to a coffee shop where I sat around awkwardly, and a few clothing stores. I was standing by a rack of jewelry, trying to find a ring for my thumb (I only have four! my thumb is naked!), and my friend Julia, who has pink hair, said to me, "Aha, this is your world". It was cute. And then some lady thought I was shoplifting.
On the ride home, I sat by Jahn aus Usbekistan (sp?), who was slightly tipsy and very friendly. We took pictures together and I told him about Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and then he fell asleep on my shoulder. Cute.
Have I talked to you all about the weather? Because it is absolutely the most ridiculous thing I've ever encountered. On Nov. 20 it monsooned ( I know this very well because I went skinny dipping that night... but it's a long story. Just know that there were no boys) and then the very next day it started snowing, and kept at it for several days until Thüringen was buried in a foot-deep blanket of snow. Two days later, all the snow had melted and it was raining again. Do you want to know what the sky did today? It sunshined. I'm just so confused about what the clouds want from me!
But other than that, all is well. I got a letter from a member of the Bundestag (the German congress) and I wrote one back (all in German!) and my family has started putting up Christmas decorations. Hooray!

REJECTED!

I thought I might share some of my rejection letters. Did you know that most lit. journals accept 1% of submissions? Crap.

Dear l*** c******d:

We’re sorry we can’t use "gaunt swimmers ransomed," which you submitted to upstreet. We have received a great deal of work by writers who will not be included in the final selection, but certainly deserve to have their voices heard in other publications.

We wish you all the best with your writing; thank you for giving us the opportunity to read it.

The Editors

"hi my name is moses

and this is my show and tell!" That is how Moses started his show and tell today. So cute!

heart,

Miss Kelsey

Moses was laying so nicely at naptime today. He is doing a great job in this class.

heart,

Miss Christy

Before Knocking

Lula taped this sign to the door today (along with a pencil tied to a string):

"Happy Thanksgiving! Before knocking, write down something you're thankful for on this piece of paper."

What are you thankful for?

add-on

I forgot that I also need to make deviled eggs for Lula. If Eva and Ingrid were here, I'd make stuffed mushrooms. Stuffed mushrooms are the most adorable of all Thanksgiving foods, perhaps of all foods in the world, and I love the process of popping the stems out of the cute little caps and then mounding them up with delicious savory concoctions of stems, parsley, basil, garlic, cream, asiago, sour cream, gruyere, pecans, hazelnuts, sausage, bacon, sage, and the list goes on (not every thing at once though--and the mushrooms I made for Thanksgiving One had red chilli flakes, which I thought tasted quite good). Also, I forgot my other favorite things about making stuffed mushrooms--watching the mushroom liquer well up inside the caps when I sear them.

xo, mushrooms!

Mommy

Thanksgiving One

Last night we had Thanksgiving One with the Jasplund's and Emily at Bam's. It was a magnificent feast. As we speak I'm eating turkey breast dipped in Mayonaise (it's ok as long as it's white meat with no bread.) For breakfast I ate left over chilled sweet-potato cake with hazelnuts and white chocolate frosting. It is the best food I've ever eaten, and the turkey I'm partaking of right now is still ridiculously moist and flavorful. Emily also made my favorite dish of the meal (besides the other Emily creation, the cake) which was a napa cabbage salad with parsley, radishes, pecans and apples. I ate a heaping plateful.

For Thanksgiving Two, a small affair with just the littles, Bonnie, and a stray person from Mexico who has nowhere to go, I'm keeping it tres simple (C. isn't eating these days, he's on a crash diet to try to make his back feel better and the littles eat virtually nothing without their hearty appetited sisters to model for them). Here's the menu:

Brined Turkey--as of yet undetermined temperature strategy
Stuffing with sausage, apple and pecans
Garlic Flash-Fried Green Beans
Mark Bittman's sauteed sweet potatoes with sage and brown butter
Ambrosia (Cecily insists)
Mom's rolls (and I'll make some orange rolls, too)
Bam's fresh cran/orange sauce
Sour cream mashed potatoes
Apple pie with Alice Water's peach crisp topping (the best topping ever)
Bonnie's bringing pumkin pie

I'm thinking of adding an orange/jicama/watercress salad, but I don't know who would eat it besides me. I'm trying not to be sad about all of the people who won't be here and focus on enjoying the littles.

xxxxoooo,

Mommy

Lula and Me

Lula and I are sitting with two laptops trying things out. She is quite savvy with Gmail chat and got me set up on it. We tried to chat with the Engsplunds, but they are probably in bed. We also took pictures for our Gmail profiles. Lula also made some awesome hot chocolate. She told me that you need to do it on the stove top because it doesn't taste as good when done in the microwave. Lu also showed me an amazing 12 year old yodeler on America's Got Talent.

Lara, your posts are amazing. Funny and fascinating. Keep it comin'. Last night we watched Confessions of a Teen-age Drama Queen. Very nice movie actually. The moral: even if you're not in New York, if you are happy you have New York with you all the time, or something like that?

I through my back out two weeks ago while taking Ceci and Moses for a walk. It has been plaguing me ever since. Went to Seattle last week for a gig with a solo viola set, and I toyed with not going because the kind of viola stuff I was doing is very physical. So after the concert last Sat. it was so bad I found it difficult to walk or stand and actually spent Sun-Tues in bed essentially. Mom has been doing basically everything for me. She's amazing.

I am now teaching a group of students that has a combination of cluelessness and touretz-esque compulsion about asking questions. Sometimes I will answer the same question three times in a row about something that's in a handout. Fun tho'.

nausea

Did I mention that my house is always clean (by my standards, not my mother's) now? Did I also mention that I went to 7 am yoga today and it made my throw up?

cecy moment

Cecily: "What if we could call Heavenly Father on the phone?"
Me: "That would be cool."
Cecily: (in the voice of Heavenly Father) "Yes, I can make your allergies go away so you can get any dog you want. Yes I can make your Daddy want to get a pet. What else do you want?"

the same

Life in Provo in the fall of 2008 has wiggled itself into a frighteningly predictable routine. It is comfortable and comforting, verging on dull, and wonderful. I rarely go out or see people, which I haven't missed yet. I'm not sure if this is in reaction to the insanity of the past six (or is it actually the last 20?) years or if I am just sinking into my natural proclivity towards agoraphobia and anti-sociality. Either way, I'm enjoying this banal routine immensely. Here's the way it works:

Weekdays:

6.30 am--Snuggle with Moses

7.45 am--Wake up Lula

8.10 am--Give Lula toast as she walks out the door with Lola and Maude

8.15 am--Give Moses cereal/unload dishwasher

8.30 am--Kiss Moses and Christian good-bye

9.00 am--Snuggle with Cecily/story time with Cecy

(listen to Morning Edition from 7-9)

9.30 am--Go out for a 44 oz. Diet Coke in my pajamas (thanks to the Crest drive thru)

9.45 am--After caffeine kicks in, tidy house, gather laundry, start new load (listen to Diane Rheam if her guest isn't too hideous)

10.00 am--Fold and put away clothes while watching Rachel Ray

11.00 am--Take a shower and get dressed while watching The View

11.30 am--Feed and dress Cecily

12.00 pm--Drop Cecily at school

12.05 pm--Second Crest run/44 oz. Diet Coke

12.20 pm--Read emails and eat lunch

12.45 pm--Organize desk/pay bills/make phone calls to doctors, dentists, etc.

1.15 pm--Submit poetry to two journals ( five poems each)

1.30 pm--Read Emily Dickinson/write new poem

2.30 pm--Work on novel

4.00 pm--Pick up Mo, Cecily and Lula arrive home on foot

4.15 pm--practicing, homework, snacks (usually popcorn, apples or cookies), playdates

5.30 pm--start dinner

6.30 pm--eat dinner

7.00 pm--clean kitchen/Mo's bath

8.00pm--Mo in bed, Lula and Cecy in pj's for story time

9.00 pm--Lula and Cecy bedtime, Lara TV/reading time (I watch House, ER, Law and Order and am reading mostly George Pellecanos, Richard Price, the New Yorker, and THE FIVE MINUTE CLINICAL CONSULT that Kindra gave me. Sometimes I check out y'all's blogs and facebook)

10.30 pm--Letterman

11.00 pm--fall asleep watching Letterman with C.

The days have an equally predictable pattern of events:

Monday--Drive Lula to choir at 7.15 am/FHE

Tuesday--dollar scoop nite at Baskin and Robbins

Wednesday--Christian does boys nite out

Thursday--Lula has piano lessons

Friday morning--errands, story time, corn dogs and kudos at Macey's with Cecily

Friday evening--dinner out with C.

Saturday evening--movie night with kids, popcorn and treats

Sunday--Church, nap, make mashed potatoes, pick up Eliza, go to Bam's for dinner, watch Simpson's.

And then it starts all over again.

momo post-it

We are working on recognizing #'s 1-20. Moses is doing great! The #'s he needs to work on are 2, 4, 7, 10, 11, 12, 17, 20. Way to go, Mo!

heart,

Miss Christy

Moses was such a good example all day today. Whenever it got too loud, he reminded the class that "it's time to be quiet." So cute!

heart,

Miss Christy

When Moses was eating his soup he said, "Yum, I love porridge." Or however you spell that word. It was so funny to me.

heart,

Miss Christy

ABC post-it

Moses knows ALL the letters and their sounds. Oh MY GOODNESS!! WOW!!

Heart,

Miss Christy

p.s.--Miss Christy also added this verbal comment: "And he's the youngest one in the class." I'm so proud!

momo post-it

No one is obligated to read these--it's so I have proof of his existence when he's older, I mean proof that I'm a caring mother.

Moses was making the best choices today.  When everyone else was talking, Moses was sitting with a HUGE bubble in his mouth.  What a helper!

heart, 

Miss Christy

When we were eating lunch, Moses asked: "Where do pineapples come from? Do they grow on pinetrees?"  What a fun brain!:)

heart,

Miss Christy

At lunch  today we forgot to give a boy celery.  When the boy said he didn't have any, Moses immediately gave him one and said, "You can have one of mine." :)

heart,

Miss Christy

long live the queen of the dance floor!

I'm back. Finally. Here is some general stuff:
No, I haven't made official friends yet. I mean, there are girls in my class who I sit with during breaks, and I invited them to go shopping with me today (woo!) and they said maybe we could next week on our field trip, or something like that. Everybody in our school lives an hour away from each other, so I'm trying to feel like that's why they didn't want to do something outside of school with me. And please, don't tell me how pathetic it is that I don't have friends yet-- I already lie awake at night thinking about it. HOWEVER, if you have advice please give it to me.
I am back in the tenth grade. It is hard, but my teachers don't seem to expect me to do homework or take tests. They probably will soon, but for now I am still just a week in and don't know any of the stuff we're being tested on. When the teacher seems to be not busy, I sometimes ask him or her to give me a slowish explanation, and that helps.
I went to church! It was wonderful-- what else can I say on the matter?
I went to the disco! It was also wonderful, and I forgot how much I belong on the dance floor. Everybody called me Pippi Langstraumpf (pippi longstockings) on account of my pigtails, and probably 100 different people came up to me and said (in German) "Well hey there cool tutu girl dancing with uncouth vigor, what's your name?" and I would say, "Hey there neo-80's German scene kid, I'm Ingrid from America" and then we would dance some more. At one point, one of my new friends pulled me out of the fog and was like, "this boy thinks your hot", but then he was bashful so I took the next conga line back into the mosh pit and kept dancing. It was great to make friends without having to talk a lot.
Um, I don't know... host family's good, food's good, weather's terrible. I miss you all and of course advice and letters are always appreciated!

momo's prayer for flying things with buttons on them

Thank you for that Mommy can get me a rocketship with a button on it, and thank you for that Mommy can get me an airplane with a button on it and thank you for that Mommy can get me a helicopter on it, and thank you that we can fly away. Amen.

brittle portraits

brittle portraits slip


from their albums’ sticky pages

our lord, once wrapped in linen,
sits on a stone waiting to be kissed

the vintage coin, that burnished sun, glints

our lord emerges from his declivity, lids still closed

our father invents a system:
the family’s hustle blooms,
the sisters discover that slender, delectable missives
have shone beyond the albums’ pages
from behind the portraits

our mother’s stricken intensity
swirls cotton into thread
she wants to tie us all together
before she goes
her fern swoops
insects crawl up stems towards her

our lord, once discarded, composes a series,
filling flesh with blood



p.s.--this one's not from the new collection. not sure where it will go, if anywhere. it was written at the same time as the other ones, but didn't fit in there.

p.s.

Eliza was the best Moses wrangler ever at church today! Thank you so much, LiLi.

imagine my dismay

to come home from church and find NO messages from Ingrid. This is killing me. So Ingrid, if you're out there, you'd best write me a long and very detailed email/yo post right away. I have nothing to tell the millions of people who ask about you every day, and I need to send off your Christmas package before too long, so I need info!!!! I'm sorely tempted to call, but I'm more afraid of your host mother than you are.

Christian's been in Seattle this week, so we're quite bored here. Yesterday I finally got myself back to yoga. It was hard. I did a grueling dress rehearsal for the primary program with the exceedingly naughty assisting, attempted to clean the house, and then went for an exciting girl's night out with Kindra that included stops at BOTH Costco and Sears, where I found the vacuum of my dreams at a deep discount (actually it's my runner-up dream vacuum--first place goes to the expensive and complex Dyson. Maybe some day.)

We had our primary program today, and the children were amazing. They can sing like nobody's business. I took the littles to McDonald's for Happy Meals which they "ate" while we drove out to Utah Lake. We thought we'd play at the beach because it's brilliant outside, but it turns out it was also brilliantly cold, and we were wearing church clothes and sweaters. MoMo is napping, and I'm off for my own little nap time with my new Henning Menkell book from the library, then Bam's for dinner, then Daddy comes home! Daddy, how 'bout a Seattle trip post, and how 'bout a word from Eva?

xo y'all,

Mommy

preparing for snow

One more piece from GENTIAN:

gaunt swimmers ransomed

slip across the moat to autumntime
shoeless aught in their pockets
dumb pleas too slight for hearing—
for harebell and jessamine
capering tipplers humming through the chamber of august
to hallow

*

docile spectres
their clocks stealing humbler and softer ticks
sweep the meadows
scooping out earth’s last pearls

*

harebell’s and jessamine’s cloaks fall off—
slashes of yellow and purple
against dun

*

arrange yourselves for winter—
snow outweighs grasses—
the fields shooken down—

momo post-it

Moses was so funny today. I asked him to put his alligator in his cubby and he told me that he couldn't because it was snowy in there. What a goof!

heart,

Miss Kelsey

the person that lays down and other poems

Among other procrastinations, I began compiling the poems in my new collection THE GENTIAN WEAVES HER FRINGES. It's nearly done, about forty poems. Here's one of them:

september’s escutcheon espied

o preparations of her vestments—
the gauze sun hides her nimble incisions—
winter’s surplice—
spring’s kirtle
the blank easel
composed ditty
we know fall’s ruddy scrabble will end in bone
slewn tattered dandelions
lying in their dark parlors
unnumbered alms for the necromancer’s saucy predictions
(the dandelion’s baffled pall long scattered aforetime)

*

o struggling rill
that ushers in the amethyst

******
In order to get Momo and Cecy to behave while I write (I feel terrible--I try not to write when they're home) I told them they could either go to bed or play hospital. They're currently under the dining room table (bumping against my feet) taking turns being the doctor and "the person that lays down."

Procrastination II

Today, in order to procrastinate, I have:

1) watched Rachel Ray in bed

2) spend 140.00 at Office Max on office supplies, and organized said supplies in new organizer (Steven R. Covey calls this "Sharpening the Saw")

3) applied make-up

4) read a chapter in the Richard Price novel I have checked out from the Library

5)eaten sharp cheddar melted cheese sandwiches with tomatoes and freshly ground sea salt and black pepper, mini m&ms, and marshmallow mateys

what I should be doing is:

1) medical paperwork

2) laundry

3) bills

4) helping lula with beaver project

5) WORKING ON MY NOVELS--THIS IS THE HARDEST ONE!!!!! (GIVE ME SUGGESTIONS FOR GETTING OVER MY WRITER'S BLOCK!)

Today is my Special Friend Day!

(Cecily would tell you that the title of this post has an exciting mark at the end of it!)

I like to eat tuna and sour candy.

I like to play with Polly Pocket.

I like to play on the computer with my Mom.

I like to play the drums with my Dad.

I want to be an artist when I grow up.

I had a vacation at the beach in Seattle.

My favorite color is turquoise.

I have 1 brother and 3 sisters.

My name is Cecily A.

Mrs. Whitaker loves Cecily.

Always a Bridesmaid

I was asked to be a bridesmaid again in another book contest--The St. Lawrence Prize notified me today that I was a finalist in their contest. For those of you not in the poetry book contest world, that means that you will get your name on their website and have something to add to your resume, but you will not be getting your book published by them, at least not in this contest cycle. I figured I've submitted to forty or fifty presses, and been finalist three times. But that was all BEFORE I made revisions to the mss. Now that it's perfect, someone's gotta take it.

xo,

L

MoMo Post-it

Moses loves being a good example. The only way he will not get up from nap-time is if I tell him that he is not being a good example. He loves making good choices like folding his legs during listening time and letting everyone know!

Heart,

Miss Kelsey


Moses is very loving! Today he decided to KISS everyone! Not the best idea he's ever had, but still so CUTE!

Heart,

Miss Kelsey

Moses is an amazing storyteller. We were playing add-on story and he had a ton of ideas to say about ghosts and giants and doors. It was good fun.

Heart,

Miss Christy

Moses is so funny. He kept saying that he "couldn't see" when I told him he had to leave his sun glasses in his cubby. So cute!

Heart,

Miss Kelsey

Story Time

We've been having the cutest story time every night lately--after their bath Moses asks Cecily to "read" to him, so she gets out a blanket, pillow, and stack of books and they snuggle on the couch, he on top of her arm, and read together. I'm not allowed to come in. It's so adorable I can hardly stand it. And lately, Cecily has been asking to help put Momo to bed. I let her stay in his bed until they fall asleep, and then Lula starts asking if we can bring Cecily down to her bed. Both Moses and Lula like for Cecily to tell them stories. Lula says it's because she want's to hear what Cecily will come up with. I do too!

It's great to see the kids bonding, and to see a special role for Cecily emerging.

Blood

Last night I felt a little let-down after all of the election elation. I'm haunted by the interview with John Lewis that night on CNN--did anyone see it? The interviewer asked Lewis, with visible damage remaining from his severe beating in the sixties, if he had cried that day. Lewis said yes, he had cried that day, but that sometimes he felt that all his tears were gone. I'm so happy that we elected Obama, but still so sad that this election was bought for the price of so much blood, so many lives. This week created such a tangible arc between the Civil Rights movement and present times--it's never been so vivid to me before.

Old Mom

Nothing could make one feel older than being a mom over forty at the Provo City Library's story time. I actually didn't spot anyone who looked to be over twenty five. It was an accidental story time-Cecily and I went to check out books and happened upon it--and geared towards toddlers, but Cecily loved it and wanted to stay, and so we did. And I realized that I was slightly depressed by looking at all of the pregnant moms with toddlers and preschoolers not because I am old now, but because it brought back difficult memories from that terrifying and isolating time for me. I was not a happy young mother. Is anyone a happy new mother, or was it because I was so young and our life was so economically and geographically unstable then? Or because I hadn't discovered a treatment for my depression?

It was fun to sit there with Cecily on my lap and feel wiser than the other mom's there, to know that I wasn't going home to deal with putting three young children down for naps or to watch Teletubbies again. I miss my older girls terribly, and our lives have narrowed in scope considerably since their leaving, but it's nice to know for sure that there's life to be lived again after babies.

Obama Blue

Today Kindra and I went out for a celebratory pedicure, choosing blue for our nails. Then a celebratory Costco run, then a celebratory Kneader's lunch. I couldn't sleep last night I was so psyched. Eva called last night from Harlem (maybe a post about it, E.?) in the midst of a parade or street party or something. It was so moving to hear John Lewis speak. I also finally got my Obama bumper sticker and yard sign today! I put them up. All the haters can talk to me directly about Obama now, instead of whispering about it behind my back.

xo!!!

Lara

Procrastination

No one truly knows the meaning of this word until they are in college, I think.

I have compsci homework to do, reading to be specific--and it is boring as hell. That is the problem with computer science and math and other kinds of sciences... Who wants to read about them?! No one.
Also, the learning curve in computer science has flattened considerably. We are spending a whole chapter on Arrays, which are essentially lists of objects. They are actually really important, but since we haven't gotten around to really programming with them, it's hard to see why they are worthy of an entire chapter/week of my life.
Also, next week will probably be the most challenging of my college career--I missed classes last week because I was sick, and I'm going to have to spend all week catching up. Good thing midterms are over, or I'd be dead meat.

What if I want to major in Russian Lit and marry a rich person and do charity work?
Or be a pilot?
Or develop a luxury airline with gourmet airplane food?
Or be a plastic surgeon?
Or be a curator at an art museum?
Or be a freelance writer?


It's a crazy world out here...

Red Leaves

I'll try to catch up today, unless Momo climbs on my lap and preempts the post again.  So. . . .

New York:

You can see photos of Eva's fabulous b-day dinner at the Noodle Bar with Julie Turley and family. We also shopped like crazy at Loehman's and found a great coat for Eva, with a quick but productive trip to H&M thrown in at the last minute.  We went to Cafe Sarbasky for lunch, DUMBO to see Black Watch  at St. Ann's Warehouse (Hot Scots!!!!!) and watched the lights of Manhattan turn on from the Manhattan Bridge Overpass Park (while eating Jacques Torres chocolates), The Frick (and I was so happy that Eva seemed to like it as much as I do.  I think it's one of my favorite places in the world.  One night we ordered chinese and watched a television series about a group of single Manhattanites and their love lives.  One night we went to see Eva's friend belly dance at a fundraiser put on by a pan-Asian sorority at Columbia.  It was very long so we went out in the middle and got caught in a rain storm and ducked into that famous Hungarian bakery across from St. John the Divine until the rain (sort of) stopped.  My favorite thing was just hanging out with Eva and seeing her life and getting to talk with her late into the night. She is a terrific companion.  On the downside, it really increased how much I miss her.

Ingrid:

We are sort of incommunicado these days.  We send her a once a week letter.  She has no internet and we've been told to phone her no more than once a week.  I'm hoping her family will eventually get her internet working and we'll get a little more information from her.  We did get a letter from her, and it sounds like she's doing quite well.  She's starting to volunteer for a nursing home on Tuesday through the church she's been attending, and she's excited to practiced her German with people she's not afraid of (i.e. the oldies).  She said she goes for long walks and does yoga.  She says nothing about school or her language, so we're in the dark on that topic.  It's hard to believe we're not going to see her for so many more months.  I feel like she's on a mission.

Little Kids:

For Halloween, Lula was a go-go girl, Cecily a spider queen, and Moses a bat.  Things went pretty smoothly this year.  No one had a melt-down about their costume at the last minute, which is my least favorite Halloween occurance.  Lula is doing well in piano and school and is a fantastic friend and helper for me.  Cecily is "adjusting" still at school.  I think she is doing better, but it's still a challenge.  Will I ever have a normal child who goes with the flow at school?  Maybe Moses will come through.  Momo just asked me "Why do skeletons not have ears?" and "Where is the button to turn off the rain?"  Last night for movie night, Lula and Cecy, Christian and I watched Kit Kittredge and ate popcorn and Halloween candy.  Curse that candy that's so disgusting and yet so irresistable.

Christian:

Viola CD release last week at Muse Music.  He played a beautiful show including prepared viola acoustic stuff, viola and harmonium, viola and wahwah and then the beautiful finale Joseph Smith death scene from The Open Curtain.  We had a little get together at our house afterwards which was fun.  He goes to Seattle with the CD on November 15th, so check it out, Seattle.  He's currently arranging a couple of primary songs for strings for our primary program on November 16th.

Lara:

I totally revised my poetry manuscript (Alburnum of the Green and Living Tree).  Not really totally.  I guess it was more of a clean-up, so now it's in really good shape.  Even though I hate it now.  I'm not touching it again unless it's being published.  I sent it off to some book contests, and hope to see it accepted somewhere by next fall.  It's such a long and competitive process.  I don't know if it's worth it.  I also wrote a grant proposal that asked for six essays.  It is a large award, but perhaps I shouldn't have spent so much time on something that is such a long shot.    It's hard to know what to spend time on, for me.  

We're on our way to Bam's for Sunday dinner, picking Eliza up on the way.  It's raining out and the mountains are red and gold.  This is my favorite time of year.  

Love you all and miss you.

xo

L