A week in photos

This was a long week but a good one that saw the rain finally give way to sun, time spent with friends and family and tending my Nutmeg, and some good food thrown into the wild mix. I'm now on the bus to New York to meet up with my parents and enjoy a thirty six hour getaway. 

I've been wrapping Nut's cast so he can enjoy some outdoor time. 

This earnest little fern in my yard makes me smile. 

Jack and I enjoyed going to a mother-son dance.  

Fava bean purée is the ultimate show of spring.  

Can you even with Columbines? 

Oliver's first section of The New Fart Times,   a section on fart inventions. 

March for Science DC on Earth Day 2017

Happy Earth Day, everyone! It is chilly, rainy, and totally overcast in DC, but this morning, Jack and I zipped up our raincoats, grabbed my March bag (it's like a having-a-baby bag; packed and at the ready for when it's needed!), and let Tom drop us off at the Metro. 

Jack is such a passionate, curious kid but he has always suffered from a bit of transition inertia. He rarely wants to leave the place he is, but once a gentle pressure (or sometimes more aggressive force) is applied, his ball rolls happily to the next spot. Such was the case in getting him to the Metro. 

As we descended the cool concrete steps of the Friendship Heights stop, I saw his pace quicken slightly. Once on board the train, surrounded by marchers wearing spirited shirts and knit earth hats and carrying clever signs, he became totally excited. 

Jack loves math and science. They are for him what writing and language are for me, the fires that burn and excite deeply. He dreams of being a great scientist, and I want to teach him that a healthy democracy requires staying informed and participating regularly. Today's March for Science seemed like an excellent way to spend time together, support my parental goal, and help him see in an up-close-and-personal fashion just how great, engaged, and expansive the scientific community is. He also really wanted to see Bill Nye speak.

As we walked from the Metro Center stop towards the Mall, vendors sold buttons and t-shirts, environmental groups gave out posters, the crowd grew larger, and the rain fell harder. We were wholly undeterred. After a brief stop by the African American History & Culture Museum for some buttons and a warm pretzel, we joined the security line where we made fast friends with a toddler astronaut whose clever parents had turned his wagon into a spaceship. 

Once inside the rally space, we milled about appreciating the many hysterical and smart signs people had made, eyeing the offerings at the science teach-in and #poetsforscience tents, and finding out way as close to the mainstage as possible. Questlove was the MC, and the roster of speakers was vast. 

My friend, Ellen, made the poster I'm holding. Snappy, huh!

A documentary crew asked if they could film Jack and me and our signs. We also got to meet and be photographed with Congressman Bill Foster from Illinois' 11th congressional district. Jack thought all of this was extremely cool. 

After a few hours of dropping temperatures, my shorts-clad boy appeared to be freezing and turning blue, so we called it a day and headed home (we did not get to see Bill Nye but Jack said he was "ok with it. He graduated from my school. That's really cool."). It was a special morning for us, and I was thrilled with the turnout and spirit of the marchers, in DC and at all the more than 570 satellite marches across the US and the world. 

Science is real. Facts matter. Alternative facts are lies. This earth is the only mother we have. There is no Planet B. #resist

(All photos mine except for the dog/cat which comes courtesy of Mark Cuban.)

Mighty Salads! and a bit of re-entry burrs-in-butt

We got home around 10pm last night, after leaving Lake Charles just before 2. The children were, shall we say, rambunctious, and I have not, in a long while, been so glad to insert my ear plugs and call it a day as I was last night when everyone was tucked in.

Our trip home was wonderful, and I admit to crying on and off all day yesterday. I'm sure I was primed for tears not only because of a happy week in the sun with my parents but also because just before leaving for the airport, we all went to visit the graveyard in which Nanny is buried.

I miss her always, but rarely do I get to sit atop her grave, rearranging the pebbles into an obvious heart and talking with her. 

This morning I began the pleasurable task of sorting through a week's worth of mail. In it I found my new Maxine Waters "Shade" shirt, which delights me to no end, as well as two new books: Down and Out in Paris and London (Orwell) and 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do: A Memoir (Kim Stafford). 

Additionally, the new Food52 cookbook, Mighty Salads was just released, and I am very excited to have a recipe featured in it: my Farro and Golden Beet Salad with Chive-Sage Oil. 

The book has so many delicious dishes in it- salad for dinner without going hungry is the mantra. Woot!

Although some cooler temps remain in our forecast, today was beautiful, sunny and hovering around 60 degrees. I got a burr in my butt to not only plant everything Mom sent home with me (amaryllis and calla lily bulbs, indigo, lemon grass, and something that now escapes me) but also to remove two Nandina bushes that irritate me and whose absence would make room for something wonderful. I got it all done. So therapeutic and fun.

In the meantime, the boys, tired as all get out from the trip home yesterday, played and bickered, bickered and rested. This evening, after getting them to bed, I found this note from Ol to Jack. I'm going to be honest- it cracked me up. Just what I needed.

A) Jack kind of was an ass today. But so was Ol.

B) I love the "Dear" leading into the "you suck."

C) Who is Carrot?