nina turns 40

smells I love

~roasting coffee
~pine trees in the sun in the high desert in central Oregon
~handmade tortillas warming on a comal
~lilacs in the rain
~lemon peel
~freshly washed kidlet

feel free to add your own

is it any wonder I'm late to work?

The kidlet is currently bouncing on the bed wearing a pair of earmuffs and nothing else.  He's admiring himself in the mirror and quoting lines from "Finding Nemo".

there's no place like

Went for a walk yesterday at dusk.  I brought my camera, but it was really too dark to shoot anything.  I live low-down on the slope of a hill.  Just a couple of blocks in either direction from my house gives you a significant gain in altitude, and some of the most lovely views this city of hills has to offer.  There is a park that tumbles down a steep slope from my street towards the water.  Gravel paths wind through arching branches, squirrels dash about manically, and up a small flight of stairs, there is a viewpoint with an iron fence which overlooks the train tracks, the grain elevator, and the ferries gliding across the lavender grey of Puget Sound.  The air was cool on my skin, and I could feel my heart beating a little harder from the climb.  A train rumbled by; the lights of West Seattle began to blink and shimmer in the distance.  This is home, I thought.  No matter how many times I venture off to live in other places, no matter how much that leaving train tugs at my heart, I always return here, to this city built between the mountains and the water.  I stood watching the birds and the boats until the pink had faded from the sky.  Then I walked back to my apartment, admiring the Space Needle which glowed brightly against a dark forest of buildings, and went inside.

out of laziness, I repost my favorite foto from my trip

fembots

I don't have cable, so I miss out on a lot of ummm, quality television.  I was over at my friend's house on Friday evening, though, and so caught a glimpse of a show called "What Not to Wear".  Let me tell you people, I was appalled.  Appalled and rather squicked out.  The whole concept of this show is to take women who don't conform to the standard media-prescribed way of dressing and wearing their hair and then take every ounce of individuality out of them and turn them into fembots, right before your eyes.  There is an annoying hostess named something extra-girlie like Stacie or Tracy, and some preumably gay dude, and they follow around some poor, unsuspecting woman for a couple of weeks, make fun of her clothes on national television, and then toss everything into the dumpster and tell her how she should be dressing.  Then they give her a bunch of money and send her out shopping.  Once she's picked an appropriately fashionable wardrobe--which of course must include high heels--they put her in the hairdresser's chair, and then later teach her how to paint herself. 

All of this might not be quite so horrifying if said makeover victim actually approached the show's producers asking for help, but no, the girlie gets nominated by her friends and/or family.  So none of this is her idea.  She is considered to be flaking out on her womanly duties, and dammit, we're going to humiliate her publicly until she shapes up and puts on the proper shade of lipstick.

In the episode I saw, they took a firefighter who, gasp!, didn't usually wear skirts, threw out all her jeans, and put her in a dress, all after making her blonder, of course.  This woman had upper arm definition to die for, and all they cared about was getting her to show some leg?  Gak.  She kept looking at the camera uncomfortably saying, "I'm a girl, so I should start looking like a girl."  The really sad one for me, though, was the cute Converse-wearing, long haired musician chick.  She was kind of shy, but adorable, and definitely had a style of her own.  She didn't seem too thrilled about the whole makeover idea, and was actually brought to tears when they insisted on dying her hair.  But, once they were finished with her, she loved it, she loved everything!  It was if she had been brainwashed as well as made over.  It reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode where everyone is surgically made to look exactly alike, and at first one woman was horribly resistant, but after the surgery, she loved being just like everyone else.  This musician's entire personality changed, she was suddenly very outgoing and perky and it was just creepy.

I'm going to start my own version of this show called "Fuck Your Patriarchal Beauty Standards" in which I'm going to grab skinny women with lots of hair who totter around on high heels and force them to get buzz cuts dyed purple and wear Doc Martens.  Then they have to eat a big plate of pasta followed by a brownie.  Or, you know, we could just let women choose how they want to look.  I'm such a radical.

Please note: for a more thoughtful discourse on women and makeup, please go read Sour Duck's post. 

iPod random ten-I'd sell my soul for a cup of coffee edition

heaven-los lonely boys
galileo (live)-indigo girls
so far away-carole king
feels like rain-john hiatt
as the rain-jeb loy nichols
la bayamesa-buena vista social club
el sol que tu eres-linda ronstadt
one flight down-nora jones
honey-venus hum

hurricane katrina direct relief blog

Y'all know how much I love Grace.  Well, she has started a marvelous blog which acts as a sort of clearing house of information about help that is needed in the region struck by Hurricane Katrina.  It's got ways you can volunteer, and stuff that is needed.  If you want to do something more than just send a check somewhere (which I'm sure you've already done, right?), then the Hurricane Katrina Direct Relief Blog is the place to start. 

Spidey and the kidlet are ready for school

I ironed his shirt, people! First time ever.  It's just too much cuteness, I can't stand it.  Oh wait, I mean coolness-- we must always say cool and not cute.

just a reminder

Decaf sucks.

small ordinary joys

After a day filled with painful realizations and misunderstandings, I was so happy to have the kidlet back home again.  Our usual evening routine of playing board games (tonight it was Clue Jr.), and tickling games, and reading books was so reassuring, so calming to me, so healing.  My mom took him to get his hair cut, and bought him a new backpack for school (three guesses who's on it), and he looks so grown up.  The summer has left him freckled and brown-legged and taller.  I swept the walk leading up to our front door today, and he noticed it right away, which made me smile.  Sometimes, being a mommy really is the best thing.