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As an autumnal gift, Clarie sent me some homemade wild blackberry jam, from the blackberry thickets near her new house in Vermont. For a few weeks, it was the crown jewel of my refrigerator. I bought some water crackers and some extra-creamy Brie, and made these little hors d'oeuvres you see above...for dinner, several times ;) You can also see Melleray gourds in the background.
For more about Clare's blackberries, see here!
It is Donny's birthday today! Recently I dreamt that Donny was actually a set of twins, but I kept forgetting because they were never in the same place at the same time. Maybe it's a Sign for the coming year? Or maybe Donny bilocates? The boy is a mystery.
This past month, Julie got to go to Washington state to do research for her new book. (Jealous!! ;)) She writes: i stayed on puget sound in rural washington state to interview some indie catholic people. fr. rand gillen is an urban hermit who subs at the ellensburg episcopal church; he showed me the incredibly complicated steps for knotting traditional prayer cords, part of his creativity/ministry. bishop alan kemp says mass every sunday at olalla drug treatment center, so i got to see his routine. otherwise, it was enjoying happy dogs, the gig harbor marina (one of two pix in which you can see mt. rainier, regal above the trees), the ferry to seattle, in-season blackberry pie, the full moon rising on the sound, and, most especially, being enfolded in the big family of lalaine wong (small-business whiz, rose gardener, farmer, and chef) at the aloha b&b.
See pictures here!
Mary's partner Mark (in the cap, above!) sends along this news: I want to share some exciting news about the band I have joined. The band is called The Loom and we are heading out on the road for our first tour next week. The band is coalescing and there a great deal of encouraging kindness coming our way. Catch us before we get all famous and stuff, m'kay?
You can catch them in Brooklyn, Montreal, Portland, and Boston! Give them a listen, and see the full details of their tour, here. Go Mark!!!
The lab I work in is famous for "discovering" (in the Western sense) the effects of the hallucinogen salvinorin divinorum. The New York Times is running a piece on it, and we're in it! You can read it here - be sure to watch the video, too, where they interview my P.I. and show some of the lab. It's a really fun place to work (see evidence here). The article is well on its way to being Most Emailed today!
Da - maybe an idea for Melleray's garden? Teehee ;)
Julie sent some lovely pictures from a recent outing with Uncle Dick! She writes: on sunday, uncle dick and i spent the afternoon at the storm king art center, which is 500 acres of contemporary sculpture, set on rolling hills in the hudson highlands, all designed to be a nature/art harmonium. you can get on a tram, hop off at any point and walk around, and then get on the next one. it was an astonishing place; we will definitely go back! and take a picnic next time!
Julie came to North Carolina for a short, sweet visit at the end of August. In this picture, she is planting onions. We got to celebrate Nicole's arrival at Melleray and my birthday (yes, very late ;)) with big summer meals at the picnic table, featuring garden greens so fresh they were still warm from the sun. Here are some beautiful pictures she took while she was here!