nina turns 40

nudity wins out over artistic merit every time!

Well, my double dactyl may not have even made it to the finals of Blogging for Books, but my tub foto just won Kim's photoblogging contest over at Relaxed Homeskool, and I'm mighty pleased about that! Photography is something that I've been interested in for years and years, but until recently that interest has only manifested itself in visits to museums and galleries and a tendency to hang out with photographers. Only in the last year or so have I started shooting my own stuff, and digital was the medium that finally made it easy and fun enough for me to stick with it. So a heartfelt thanks to Kim for choosing my shot, and for cheering me up on a day when I most certainly needed it.

glory halelujah and praise be and thank yew jay-sus, the kidlet likes his new school!

And mommy mom gets to ride the bus to work, which I love. Let's all breathe a collective sigh of relief, shall we?

At least we can relax until after labor day and kindergarten starts...

pipian

Dinner was a smashing success last night, must be because I invoked Julia, though what I made, and what Julia cooked couldn't be much farther from each other on the culinary scale. Pipian is one of the family of pre-Hispanic Mexican sauces that survived the conquista; rather like mole, but not as complex. My version included roasted pumpin seeds, sesame seeds, and almonds in addition to reconstituted dried ancho chiles and lotsa garlic. Grind it all up, thin it with chicken broth and simmer your already cooked chicken in it for 15-20 mintues. Delicious. I also made Corn and Chile soup and a cabbage salad with lime juice and olive oil. My dinner companion was suitably appreciative and a delight to talk to, making for a most excellent inaugural hostessing experience at my new pad.

bon appetit!

Ahh, Julia. What a fabulous woman, what a great life. It just so happens that I was planning on cooking a really great dinner for someone tonight. Now, I'll be thinking of you as I do it.

Amelia, it was just a false alarm

Damn Joni Mitchell for being able to pierce my heart so thoroughly. And why the hell don't I have Hejira anyway?

are you going to leave me there?

Tomorrow is the kidlet's last day at his pre-school. He sat in bed just now telling me that he's scared to go to a new school. I was glad that he finally articulated it in that way so that we could talk about it. He listened carefully and seemed to rather begrudgingly agree with me that just maybe the new school might be pretty cool. I mentioned that they will have field trips, too, and go to the pool and the park.

"Will they take us to a different park?" he asked. And that's when he lost it, when I nodded that yes, he would be going to a new park, too. He didn't full out cry (that cry is now reserved for trauma like the bee sting), but he did get the chin quiver and tears in his eyes, and I scooped him up in my arms and rocked him as we talked some more.

the price of knowledge

Mark Twain talks about the price of knowledge, about how after he learned to be a riverboat captain, because he had gained the knowledge of what all the swirls and edddies and currents of the river meant, he lost his sense of wonder about it. Before he'd learned its secrets the river was beautiful, magical even, and now it was merely something to be navigated, to be read.

That's how I feel about love.

how to turn me on

kiss the back of my neck
dance with me
run your thumb along my bottom lip slowly
have a way with words
brush my hair gently away from my face
listen to me
whisper in my ear
beat me at Scrabble
teach me to drive your motorcycle
have a wicked smile

more animated fun with the kidlet

I've decided that the kidlet is just a big animation geek. He also loves the Triplets of Belleville, which I will recommend highly as well. It's rated PG-13 because of one brief scene of animated boobage (which I don't even think he picked up on), but please don't keep your kids from seeing it because of that--it is utterly delightful. It pokes good fun at the US (even the Statue of Liberty is portrayed as grossly fat), the heroes of the story are all old ladies (old ladies who can groove), and the animation is beautiful and quirky. When we're not watching Yellow Submarine at our house, we're watching Triplets. Netflix may never get it back.