a consideration of the last year and home

ive been waiting until i had several other important things to do - finish a syllabus, write a conference paper (well, cut and paste other projects into some semblance of conference paper) - to return to this blog. ok, i havent actually had any intentions about this. i just feel like returning to it. its a yo-yo yarn, and im sorry about that.



2008 turned me into a mom and a knitter and a baltimore hon. no beehive, no glasses, no accent, but appreciation for b'more as a place i actively like, not a town i tolerate well. so there have been several personal transformations. the global political historical transformation goes without saying. we watched yesterday on a wall of tvs at the bloomberg school of public health with a rapt audience. zoe was wonderful and seemed nearly as interested in parts of the inaguration as her adults - clapping and dancing (and dumping blueberries on the floor).



noodle is the funniest most wonderful person. she smiles and laughs and hugs and kisses and learns so fast. im crazy about her. having a little person has introduced me to a whole new community, and to neighbors i had not met before. charm city is teeming with cool people with cool kids and an interest in sustainable community living. lauraville, nearish our 'hood, is booming with locally owned kid friendly small green shops; coffee, yarn, food, books, cloth diapers, beer. places that we can afford to visit and support and enjoy. And after seriously considering moving to places like san fransisco and boston, our budget (well, the future one that includes a little income, a pleasant addition coming in 2009) suddenly looks so much fluffier. going out, enjoying the town, enjoying the region, seems all the more possible.



There is also grit, blight, crime, violence, and poverty. Urban standards, but a bit of a heavy dose. I had not heard gunfire before moving to Charm City. But I like this town. I like its size, I like the neighborhoods with the bungalow homes with old wood and stairs and porches. I like that there are slightly better neighborhoods with beautiful old homes that we can imagine being able to buy in not too distant a future. Thinking seriously about moving to other cities - urban places that I always thought I would prefer to live in - helped me realize that this is the kind of home I always hope to live in. quality of life is dependent on many things, and for me the space that i live in is important. windows and sun and enough dirt to dig in. and our porch swing. i could be happy elsewhere. but i am happy here.

so thinking about the last year and the next year and how i want to live, i am finally getting ready to determine a list of resolutions. this is when blogs are especially useful. i feel all the more commited when publishing into space, even with no readers. and i cant lose the list.

1. i will always buy organic milk, even with its twice the price and i feel cheap.

2. i will not buy ice cream at the store to eat at home. (unless special occasions involving guests.) i will only eat ice cream when its delicious and we are at places like pitango. or if we make it at home.

3. i will start regular stretching and yoga, regular as in before my back hurts, not just when it acts up. if i cant keep up a regular home practice, i will join a class.

4. we will buy bikes and start to use them.

5. i will visit with friends in baltimore that i do not see often enough more often.

ok, so i miss it.

Hm, I said I was going away, and I found that 1) I am not that busy with the new job yet (the craziness will start in a week or so), 2) i sort of miss typing into space. so these are the new things that are happening:
1) there are suddenly crazy gangs of cats in our neighborhood that are in heat and make terrible noises and appear to love our backyard. husbub chases them away with a broom. but at night they just wake us up. we keep our kitty safely indoors.
2) half of my tomato seedling stopped growing. sadly stunted. pout. so yesterday we took a family trip to the lovely valley view gardening center and bought plants: tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, hot peppers, sweet potato, cilantro (supposed to attract good bugs to get rid of bad bugs eating my precious peas), fennel, and basil. so sad that the seed experiment didn't work too well once again. but the squash came up excellently, as well as my peas and beans and i have a few healthy looking broccoli! so seeds were not a total disaster.
3) also bought compost activator...hopefully it activates the compost. cook compost cook!
4) go obama go! what else is there to say? yay!
5) zozobean has a refusal to nap problem. this makes her grumpy and i get grumpy too. pout. were working on it. the good news is that tonight after an especially happy fun splashy bath she went to sleep like a charm - even laid down drowsy awake and fell asleep in her crib! (a super accomplishment that i think only other parents can appreciate).
6) i realized that even if i spend all of each day holding and playing with ms.zo i consistently have about three hours from her bedtime to my bedtime with which to work. thats plenty. so life is good.
7)now its raining like crazy. hope it helps all those plants grow big and strong. it does keep the crazy cats away. and cools this hot house. that is definitely welcome.

ah. nice to have that off my chest.

hiatus

i expect this blog to be quiet for a time. now i get my blog energy out through zoejosephine.blogspot.com, but i am also about to take on a new job, which is exciting as it will allow me to work from home on an exciting project, but im also a bit freaked out about returning to work with both a baby and a dissertation to care for. so wish me luck! im pretty sure the garden will suffer for it, but i hope not.

figuring stuff out

today i figured out at least two things:
1. what "labels" for blog postings are. so i spent silly time fixing labels to my old posts so that i have categories. whoo hoo now i have catagories.
2. that i am afraid of writing a dissertation proposal because then i have a plan and am stuck with it. (thus instead spending time doing things like adding labels to a blog that is of little importance.)

back.

here i am!
tim and i made a little pact to each blog again. ive added him to my short list of real-friends' blogs. so, here it goes: to blog again.
today i feel like i had a party last night - and i did! i had this fantastic dance party. although there was some sort of under the radar pandemic last night and turn out was a little wimpy, those of us on the dance floor had a fantastic time. all week im celebrating my birthday, and dancing is my favorite way to do so. and then today i picked up the paint brush again. a few times a year i dedicate myself to painting again, and inevitably the brushes find their way back into the drawer. but if i keep pulling them out, thats ok. so im painting, when its done ill give you a peek. who knows, maybe this time i keep it up. i do have a new spot for my art desk and that can make all the difference. so this summer ill paint, and ill garden. the broccoli and tomato seedlings are doing fantastic! peppers, not so much. but broccoli and tomatoes are my favorite anyhow. now we just need to get the ground dug up before the little seeding pots are terribly rootbound. hm. maybe after my dissertation proposal draft 1 is finished. i did build myself a potting bench. so im on my way.
well, now that i have my blog caught up on my little life, ill return to posting semi-regular thoughts. and so will tim! im holding you to it!
here we go!

I decided I want a blog

I decided I want a blog. I wanted another something to do when I was about to do work but wanted something else to do. Right now I check my friend's blog. Check the new doonesbury. Peruse Slate, NYT front(web)page and stare blankly into the web. I think blogs are best when they are read by and for people who know eachother. The only one I actually read, consistently, is just that - a nearly daily note written by someone I actually know if the real world. I think it would be great fun if everyone I know and admire put a small note out there to read on a regular basis. A little bit of conversation with those far away and those I do not regularly converse with otherwise. So my friends who have time, start a blog (it took about 2 minutes to start this one). Ill check what you have to say as I am sitting down to work before I work, if I work and I will post with you in mind, and I will be pleased to give you another thing to do when you are about to do work and want something else to do. Check the bank balance, glance at the headlines, see if there is something new at readingtheleaves. But I dont like to think someone is going to google me. So, Im keeping my name off the site, just because I can. Not that I will be particularly criptic or have need to be. Just a choice. I like choice and I like tea and I like the communication blogs bring to our new world so interconnected as it is while we are so spread about the globe.