anniversary

it's a nineteen year old prayer, to love, to laugh, and to serve together.

by God's mercy, and against odds, it's been a nineteen year answer.
every good and perfect gift is from above... james 1:17

coffee machines

it's been a little rough getting our coffee. first the krups machine hisses and burns the powder, then HOM goes and barbecues the italian espresso kettle to death and now the french press has done a molotov on me.

it's a good thing our various exotic implements come from yard sales.

the hidden meaning of things

i spy a snow shovel.

ithaca (again)

i stumble across some chinese poems with their english translations here and am enchanted. there is an aching unrestrained beauty that lurks behind the spare words and almost mundane imagery. the art of not saying is magical within the confines of a few metered lines. when you apply the same principles to a play, or prose, you end up with melodrama*, which is awful.

in a nutshell, this is my relationship to chinese literature. i love the way the poetry paints an entire world by suggestion alone, but i dislike the heavy hand when they expand that world. although for pure agony, you can't beat the russians.

*e.g. thunderstorm, which put me off an entire genre.

business travel

HOM is home. rather unexpectedly early, fresh from houston's record setting snowstorm, ahead of our own snow day tomorrow, and in time to leave for his next trip in three days. which makes me inexplicably and gloriously glad, and grateful.

balance

i pull up beside a smartcarfortwo at the gas station. the large gentleman is filling up his tank and we chat about my dream car, after which he bids me good day and inserts himself back into the driver's seat.

the car chassis descends a full six inches onto the tires with the load. i think there ought to be a weight restriction on purchasers of cute subcompacts, in order to preserve aesthetic and mechanical congruence.

provisions

autumn and spring rains in season... the regular weeks of harvest. - jer 5:24

so peace and stability, and bounty, or trying times and grief, or quiet, or turmoil, are not accidental bequests of quixotic fate or the result of unpredictable probability, but what God chooses to give in keeping his promise that my strength shall equal my days.

it is a two part promise, but it's easy to forget that days are given, just as strength is promised.

business trip protocol

when HOM is away,
1. reading dinners are standard,
2. we eat what i wouldn't serve him (like fast food), and
3. i get to go to bed as early as i wish,
but it still makes for a cold bed.

nomenclature

J2 bakes up a big batch of double chocolate cookies, denudes the snacks pantry, and lugs the lot to school. she is co-hosting the inaugural meeting of her brainchild food club today.

if you ask me,

1. it sounds like a party, not a meeting, and

2. it sounds like an excuse for more parties, not a club.

a song to old friends

beyond the distant pavilion beside the ancient road

jade green and fragrant high grass joins the sky

evening breeze sways dripping willows dying flute notes linger

on the hill behind the hill the sun sets

to the ends of the earth and corners of the seas

half our friends are scattered

with a jug of thick wine let's enjoy what remains

and keep at bay tonight's cold dreams

-li shutong