New Blog Address

The truth is that WordPress and I haven’t been hitting it off too well. For now I’m trying a blogger blog. Find me regularly at mygardenside.blogspot.com.

Thanks!

Life is Sew Great!

My grandmother loved to sew. She made fancy dresses, farm animal costumes for Halloween and lots of things in between. I remember sitting in her arm chair, or on one of her steps, practicing hand sewing on a tea towel, threading through the small eye of a needle or tying a knot in the thread. I haven’t sewn much since then, but over the past couple years, I’ve had blossoming thoughts of picking up this craft again. In the past few months, I’ve started to see the possibilities of a piece of cloth mixed with some stuffing, a different piece of cloth matched to another, or just imagined my fingers feeding these fabrics through the machine, maneuvering around the fast needle.

In honor of my grandmother, the 94-year-old wonder woman for whom I am named, Justin and I picked up an old sewing table at Circle Thrift, found the drawers on eBay, and some knobs at Anthropologie. Justin peeled off the veneer and refinished our find.

And to practice using a pattern, I made a stuffed cat and a bunny. I made a ton of mistakes with these projects, usually involving holes on the seams, but I learned a lot. I loved the magic of turning the animals inside out and filling them with stuffing; the magic of seeing flat pieces of cloth transformed into two small toys for our future kids.

February, Where have you gone?

This past month has flown by, but I’ll share some of the highlights.

A bunch of us went up for a women’s weekend in New Hampshire. Our friend Caren hosted us at their beautiful little farm. We sat in front of the fire and talked about many things including children, Mother God, atonement, blogging, photography, sustainability, bread making…you get the idea. We also were able to take walks in the snow. Our trip confirmed how much I love New England and snowy little farms.

We were only about half an hour away from Concord, NH where Gene Robinson is the bishop. I’ve listened to him a couple times on NPR and, after being so close to his bishop-dom, I decided to pick up his book, In the Eye of the Storm. I’m only a little bit into it, but I love this man’s theology. I might even have a slight crush on him

The next weekend, Justin threw me the most perfect birthday party ever. The living room was cleared out and most of the dining room so that our friend’s band and our other friends Zach and Levi could set up for a night of great music. Controlled Storms played first – I’ve only heard them play once before and was so glad to have them at our house. Zach’s songs were the perfect nightcap to a great party. The best part: all of my friends in one place, including ones I don’t see that often.

Justin and I went to see A Streetcar Named Desire this past weekend. I wasn’t sure what to expect and I’m still not sure what I think about it. I loved seeing it, but it’s not exactly upbeat. It’s the first Tennessee Williams play I’ve seen and it surpassed my expectations. After the play, we went to Naked Chocolate Cafe for dessert. They make amazing chocolates and serve their hot chocolate European style. Theater and chocolate = a pretty good date.

This weekend, our friend Chelsea moved into our teeny tiny sewing room. She built a loft and was able to fit her great shelving staircase into a room that’s smaller than our dining room rug. And while I’ll miss the space that would have eventually become my personal sanctuary, I’m so glad that she’s living in our house now. That makes four adults, one small orange cat and one small hunting dog living under our roof. And sometimes Linnia, the small one I take care of.

Wildpeace

About 4 years ago, before Justin and I were even dating, he gave me a birthday present.  I love birthdays and presents so this definitely upped his desirability in my mind.  And not only was it a birthday present, but it was thoughtful.  He gave me a book of poetry by an Israeli poet (i love poetry and i love hebrew).  As my birthday creeps up again, much has changed.  Justin and I have been married for a little over two years.  We have a house and a dog.  In those 4 years, we have dreamed, traveled, grieved, hoped, loved, fought and grown together.

Four years later, about 879 Palestinians have been killed in 16 days.  More than a million need emergency services.   So while I was reading some Amichai this morning (the Israeli poet), I came across a poem that I wanted to post as a remembrance to those in Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and all the other innocents suffering at the hands of war.

Yehuda Amichai

Not the peace of a cease-fire

not even the vision of the wolf and the lamb,

but rather

as in the heart when the excitement is over

and you can talk only about a great weariness.

I know that I know how to kill, that makes me an adult.

And my son plays with a toy gun that knows

how to open and close its eyes and say Mama.

A peace

without the big noise of beating swords into ploughshares,

without words, without

the thud of the heavy rubber stamp: let it be

light, floating, like lazy white foam.

A little rest for the wounds – who speaks of healing?

(And the howl of the orphans is passed from one generation

to the next, as in a relay race:

the baton never falls.)

Let it come

like wildflowers,

suddenly, because the field

must have it: wildpeace.

*this is by Banksy. he’s done amazing artwork on the wall in the West Bank (and in other places). check him out.

On Insomnia…

I never have much trouble getting to sleep. I usually read for a few minutes or fall asleep talking to Justin. But if I wake up anytime between 3 and 5, I can’t get back to sleep anytime soon. Sometimes I’m just ready to go for the day and want it to be morning. Other times I toss and turn, dragging Bandit with me, eventually turning on the light to read again. I’m not sure what it is about the witching hour, as I like to call it, that keeps me awake. And since I’m really into posting good poetry lately, I thought I would share this:

FOUR A.M.

The hour between night and day.

The hour between toss and turn.

The hour of thirty-year olds.

The hour swept clean for roosters’ crowing.

The hour when the earth takes back its warm embrace.

The hour of cool drafts from extinguished stars.

The hour of do-we-vanish-too-without-a-trace.

Empty hour.

Hollow. Vain.

Rock bottom of all the other hours.

No one feels fine at four a.m.

If ants feel fine at four a.m.,

we’re happy for the ants. And let five a.m. come

if we’ve got to go on living.

By: Wislawa Szymborska, possibly my favorite poet

Sweet Dreams!

Searching for Fall

Lately I’ve been thinking how great it would be to move out of the city and to the beach. Preferably somewhere cool – maybe New England, maybe not. Somewhere I could bundle up and take a walk by the waves every morning, Bandit could chase sticks and Justin could start a shell collection. At night we could head back to our house, sit in front of the fire and watch tv.

This is one of my favorite beach poems:

You’re like a little wild thing

that was never sent to school.

Sit, I say, and you jump up.

Come, I say, and you go galloping down the sand

to the nearest dead fish

with which you perfume your sweet neck.

It is summer.

How many summers does a little dog have?

Run, run, Percy.

This is our school.

- “Percy (6)” by Mary Oliver, from Thirst

Bikes, Babies and Berries

Tomorrow, I leave with Chelsea, Emily and Angela to join Justin and Ross on their bike trip. They left Wednesday to visit different breweries around Philadelphia. The rest of us are going to bike out to Phoenixville, spend the night and come back on Sunday.

Next Thursday I leave for Amman, Jordan. I can’t wait! It will be great to be back in the Middle East and visit a new country. I’m excited about meeting new people and learning more about conflict resolution through the workshop. I have a friend Sarah who lives in Amman so hopefully I’ll get to hang out with her. After the workshop, I’m going to Petra with the other two people from Philly. I’m glad that I’ll know a couple people on the trip.

Last weekend, I assisted in my first birth as a doula. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. J. and T. were both amazing through J.’s long labor. J. went into labor friday night/ sat. morning and went into active labor Sun. night. Once we got to the birth center, J. progressed quickly. She did great breathing and concentrating on bringing her baby into the world. Her husband was a rock star the whole time – very encouraging and supportive. Seeing H. born was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen.

Here are some pictures from July:

For our Tomatoes…

stretching towards the sun

leggy stems struggle

thirsty for light,

drowning in water,

longing for red, plump juiciness

to weigh down their vines -

somewhere out there

past the curtains,

the pane of glass,

finally rooted in dirt

deeper than my arm.

Summer Fun

Last week Justin turned 26. To celebrate, we took Bandit to the dog park, all went to brunch at North 3rd (great bloody marys), went to see The Fall ( two thumbs up), and finally had dinner at Bar Ferdinand (a tapas restaurant). When we got to Bar Ferdinand, some friends were waiting to surprise Justin. It wasn’t an official surprise party – just a nice unexpected birthday treat.

On Monday, my regular summer began. I took Bandit to the dog park, went to the coffee shop, and topped the day off swimming. All around the city there are community pools. The two closest to us both have adult swim from 5-7. It’s nice to be able to go swim some laps with just a few other people in the water. Aside from occasional beach trips, I haven’t been swimming in a couple years. This means that I’m really out of shape.

I’ve also changed jobs. I’ve started nannying for a little girl in Mt. Airy a couple days a week. She is an adorable guatemalan baby. I like her. And I am working on getting 2-3 births a month as a Doula. I have my first birth coming up at the end of July and I am so excited about it. Tonight I get to meet with the family.

The loves of my life: Bandit and Justin