i thank You God for most this amazing

day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees

and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything

which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,

and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth

day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay

great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing

breathing any—lifted from the no

of all nothing—human merely being

doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and

now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

- e.e. cummings

i loved you on this day.
i love this memory.

so far...

three weeks now- that's how long i've been home.
back to texas, everlasting days, and familiar streets.


i am in my third home in three years,
my hair is brown again,
and i've turned twenty years old.


i've been living on my front porch.
eating syrupy sweet peaches, watermelon, & raspberry jam.
reading three different books,
and listening to cat stevens- maybe too much.

i've spent mornings sleeping in,
many afternoons cooking curry,
and sultry nights swimming in the river.

i've spent time thinking of all the places i've been
and all the things i've learned
in the year that is near past.

september,
where has time gone?

a weekend in paris

we came upon paris early in morning- with the rain. 

the next three days went by quickly, blurring and running into one another. 

cold hands, lovers wrapped around one another under birch trees, a corner cafe to rest and coffee to warm, running around the louvre alone and tripping up the stairs, a woman selling chocolate eclairs- her hair in pin curls, the last bus home on a late night, laying on the grass under the eiffel tower, sleeping on a bench under the eiffel tower, eating bright pink cotton candy under the eiffel tower, old men selling beautiful old books with woven covers, sticky sweet macarons from laduree, more rain, sitting at the window in marie antoinette's bedroom, little parisian school children who wave hello, and walking through and in between streets with names i couldn't pronounce. 

yet with these... sunsets, that somehow recall

my buried life, and paris in the the spring,

i feel immeasurably at peace, and find the world 

to be wonderful and youthful after all

- T.S Elliot

there is a day
when the road neither

comes nor goes, and the way

is not a way but a place.

-wendell berry

on raw milk

after dinner we walked down to the farm and filled a jar with fresh milk- straight from the cow.
i've always wanted to try raw milk, and we all agree- it's better.
it seems sweeter and thicker. perfect for desserts, coffee, and just about anything.
however that aside, the nutritional benefits alone have me sold.
pure, natural, organic goodness.

italy

there is something very satisfying in reflecting on a trip through photos. I always make sure to sit down with a hot drink while sorting through each shutter click- hoping to soak up the last bits of my recent travels.

these snaps are from this past week which was spent running all over italy. verona, venice, rome, florence, and pisa to be exact. all the sunshine was a refreshing change from the constant cloudy weather in germany.
I tanned my shoulders, made three wishes at the trevi fountain, walked around rome under the stars until my feet were sore, ate enough gelato and pasta for a lifetime, admired botticelli's the birth of venus, crossed the sea to venice, and saw so much beauty in a place I'd never been.

italy was terribly romanic, so much so, it was almost a shame to be there without someone I was terribly in love with.

summer polaroids

If I never come home it's probably because I'm
collecting new freckles, eating my weight in ice cream, & falling in love with everything.

sunday: elderflower champagne & homemade schnapps in tomis's garden, a lesson on cider and making jam, a cold night warmed by many fires, falling asleep in an old sleeping bag under the stars.

monday: russian bread and tea for breakfast, a trip to leonburg, two scoops of melon gelato, a walk about, a sleepless night made right by sunrise.

today: a lazy morning spent under a pile of quilts, a long bike ride through a winding forest, the first pages of anna karenina.

life is good.

With it now officially being summer it only seemed right to start the season with a trip to the strawberry fields. There is a little patch down the road that has the sweetest, tiniest strawberries I've ever seen. There is something special about gathering your own food, and I could only imagine the joy that comes from growing it as well. The last time I visited a strawberry patch was in Oregon years ago while visiting my grandma. I can remember eating so many ripe strawberries I stained everything on and around me crimson red.
These ones taste just as delicious and have already gone to topping creme brulee, in swiss buttercream for french macarons, sprinkled with sugar, and out of the bowl plain & simple.

also I've been dancing around to this tune lately

pieces of today

 

Somehow each person in my family had somewhere to go or be today except myself. There can be a tension that comes with such closeness, and as I'm used to living alone I welcome the peace of an empty house.

I collected a handful of currents that hung over our fence from the neighbor's garden to brighten my lunch, then took myself out for a walk. My parents live in a farming village in southern Germany and there is always some little goat, hen, or cow so say hello to. I usually wander off a bit too far and find myself lost among countless identical fields, however i'm slowly learning my way around.

It was a quiet day, and for that,

I'm thankful.