fantastic five (senses)

so today i've been dreaming of california and more specifically, mendocino. i think it is the perfect place to indulge your senses. everything is dreamy there. sigh!

speaking of dreamy, you all are leaving the dreamiest comments...thank you so much! i'm so glad you enjoy my pictures and my words. i cannot tell you what that means to me!! again, many thanks.

okay, you know the drill...


sight:

1. beautiful colorful vegetables fresh from the farm

2. serrote--i first saw these notebooks in rare device while visiting friends in nyc. then paula posted about them as she is from portugal. you must go and explore their website and look at their notebooks. the covers and paper inside are all different. very cool.

3. labour and wait

4. aviary press

5. shade


taste:

1. bok choy steamed with garlic, sea salt, and fresh cracked pepper

2. chocolate milk

3. pimiento cheese sandwiches on whole wheat

4. vanilla bean yogurt

5. dark chocolate chip muffins


smell:

1. the light floral scent of shampoo

2. rain

3. honeysuckle

4. tom's of maine peppermint toothpaste

5. the earthy smell of farm life


hear:

1. rebecca pearcy

2. podcasts: design sponge and npr food

3. baby goats bleating at fickle creek farm

4. the whistle of an amtrak train that you should never set your clock by...it's usually late

5. the splash of a little frog who lives in our backyard pond


touch:

1. soft cotton socks warming my feet on a cold night

2. cold wetness--being caught in the rain without a raincoat

3. a piping hot bowl of spaghetti

4. sticky kitchen floor after "oak pollen esb" bottling

5. the cool, rectangular feel of my camera...which has been my constant companion this week

wishing everyone a happy weekend. what are your plans? i'm hoping to see some art, go to a play, and just relax.

xo,
shari

a map of my cloudy day (with visuals)

everything in my neighborhood is SO green and it looks even more so when it's cloudy!


here's a photo of me playing at a neighborhood playground. by the way, lately, i've been totally embracing my gray hair. i like how it looks with my gray sweater and blue eyes and i have no plans to dye it!


this is the whole reason i went on a picture walk today. to me, this is accidental (but cool) art.


old see saws are beautiful to me.


a tiny egg shell on my way home.


did i not tell you yesterday that everything is inspiring me lately? a rubberband in a random pattern on the road.


i think of these as urban mandalas and want to draw them and their different patterns.


fyi: i have a crush on brooklyn. oh, and i made delicious (not too sweet) chocolate chip muffins today.


xo,
shari

today, i enjoyed a wonderful little farm visit. while wandering around the farm, i kept thinking to myself i could live here. i could get up early with the sun and walk through these pastures and be totally content. i loved the old barns and especially the pastel green colored eggs we collected. be sure to check out my pictures on flickr.

lately, it seems like i'm being inspired by everything around me. first, i had the treat of hearing maria's interview on the d*s podcast this morning while driving to work. it is certainly fun to HEAR the voice of a friend whose words i'd only read before! two words: card club!! i can't wait.

check out this beautiful fashion photography by siren lauvdal via the newest ruby mag.

cute skirts by simple me.

that's all for today friends. looking forward to more soon.

xo,
shari

the farming life

ahh, the farm tour. there's something so idyllic and peaceful about farms. instantly calming to be driving down back roads peering out at fields of green and livestock munching away. on sunday, we visited four farms as a part of the annual farm tour, and each was very different from the next.

our first stop was at piedmont biofuels co-op. i drive a diesel beetle, which we regularly put b20 in but we were interested in learning more about the process and joining the co-op so we can fill up with b100. it was a great little tour and very informative. they also grow veggies and are experimenting with growing canola, rapeseed, etc. to see if they can be used to create biofuels.

our second stop was at dew dance farm. the farm itself was lovely and there were many animals to see: angora goats and rabbits, interesting breeds of chickens, sheep and llamas. this was a quick stop and we soon headed a few miles down the road to the next farm.



mystic farm was wonderful. they are a certified organic farm with many orchard trees including persimmon and asian pear. matthew was an excellent speaker and told of the plight of the modern farmer who could not sell his crops to a local market without first having to go through the distribution center. therefore, he would have to ship his crop to the distribution center and then they would ship it back to the local store after taking a cut of the farmer's profit. ridiculous, huh?! he also spoke to the fact that farmers could not really make a living selling wholesale and needed to sell crops at a retail price (at a farmer's market or through a csa). he also showed us an amazing crop of shitaake mushrooms grown on logs. at the end of the tour we purchased a small bunch of cilantro and homemade apple juice concentrate to mix with water. yum!

our last stop was harland's creek farm which was a very beautiful historic piece of property with an 1810 farmhouse and a parterre garden. there were many old barns, an herb garden, and three large plots for growing veggies and cut flowers. their newest crop is edamame.

the farm tour was grand and i am looking forward to the totally local dinner in june.

even more exciting farm news: t just got a job working at timberwood organic farm. he is very interested in sustainable and organic farming and wants to learn more about the day to day life of an organic farmer. he will be delivering csa boxes to the doors of members and also doing basic farm work such as picking and planting and learning the ins and outs of organic farming. he is even more excited after visiting the farms this weekend.

coincidentally enough, tomorrow my colleagues and I will be taking the preschoolers to the neighboring fickle creek farm. this is the farm which now houses jafar the rooster that used to live at the preschool.

seems like it's the farming life for me!

cheers!
shari

the weekend report

so our weekend began with a nice long walk followed by a dinner of veggie burgers and blue corn chips on our porch. a little later our friend matt came over and we went to the art walk. my overall impression of the art walk is this: i need to move away from durham. just kidding. in all seriousness, though, i was pretty disappointed.



first, we went to the scrap exchange which is a really cool place. they have so many great things there. i want to take you all there. i decided to pick up some different kinds of paper to make myself a journal inspired by this and this, although mine seems like the more industrial version. now, g & l, can you come and visit me for a weekend and teach me the secrets to bookbinding?! oh and i found a great old spanish poster of a theater prodcution called mr. meow. love. my paper + poster=54 cents.

however, their art-o-mat was broken!! i was very very bummed. i had my five bucks ready and had picked out a few artists that i liked and was in the process of asking t his faves when he pointed out the out of order sign. {strike one}



so, we headed outside with paper and mr. meow in tow to check out the shoe labyrinth that i was so excited about. well, it did not impress. it looked like someone quickly put some shoes down in a semi-spiral shape. i took a photo to show you all how disappointing this was. it looks like a trashy vacant lot instead of art. i mean, picture in your mind, a grand shoe labyrinth and i guarantee you do not see this image in your head. {strike two}



but okay, i often have high expectations and anyway, we were now headed to the branch gallery to see the megan whitmarsh pieces. when we arrive, we realize that the door is locked. locked. locked. what the hell? what kind of art walk is this? so, i took a picture from the outside. {strike three}

at this point, i think t and matt were wondering why i dragged them to this event in the first place. but we plowed ahead and visited the new arts collaborative building. one of the businesses featured is a letterpress studio. we saw three presses: two vandercook and one chandler and price and many cabinets of type. i was super excited. they had a few cards for sale and many examples of their work displayed. then, i overheard a conversation between one of the owners and a woman who asked if he would be offering letterpress workshops. the answer was probably but not for quite some time. what?! i couldn't hear exactly the reasons but something about not wanting to give skills to competitors. so we left.



we ambled on to visit one of matt's friends and stopped by one more gallery and then hightailed it for cannoli.

i am still in disbelief about the event as a whole. it does not leave me optimistic about the future of durham's downtown or the art scene in general. let's hope the farm tour is not as disappointing. we may not even be able to go. we are having thunderstorms as i type.

hope you all are having a good one.
shari

five senses friday

mav made this beautiful custom print that i gave to t for his birthday yesterday. isn't it wonderful? i love the different sized numbers and the gold and copper inks. t loves acorns and likes to plant them to grow tiny trees. he is the best. happy birthday t!



sight:
salmon pink and lavender azaleas
t's new striped russian sailor shirt he received as a gift from his brother
thank you for smoking
abby's wonderful block print
tenth & grant (love the carson ellis cards)

taste:
raw cashews
pesto pasta with cherry tomatoes and chapel hill creamery pheta cheese
stuffed poblano peppers
pomegranate izze
berry cobbler

touch:
the soft warmth of my peacock blue cardigan
sticky cd label paper
my bike's handlebars
eardrops trickling down my eustachian tube
the pinch when a bandaid is removed

hear:
music swap cd mix i made for my partner (shh! i'm not telling)
t' family's voices
the state of things
the tiny ding of my bike bell
my stomach growling

smell:
chocolate tea bread
thai curry
dutch babies cooking in the oven
charcoal on the grill
that overall breakfasty diner smell (the smell of toast, coffee, bacon, and hashbrowns rolled into one)

happy weekend! take good care everyone.

shari

ps: we are going to the art crawl tonight. there will be a shoe labyrinth which i have to see. wouldn't you? also, megan whitmarsh has 2 pieces in the branch gallery. i'm super excited! we are bringing along our friend matt. he agreed that he would come with us if we would stop off for cannoli a little later in the evening. deal! stay tuned to see the rest of the weekend happenings.

weekend plans and more

why does it always seem that weekends are hit or miss? do you know what i mean? for weekends on end there will be nothing happening and then voila! tons of things to do. so much in fact that there is no way you can do them all. such is life in a small-medium city like durham. here's a list of possibilities for the weekend. what sounds good to you?

farm tour
open air dance performance
live music at a small bar
earth day "procession of the species" parade featuring paperhand puppet intervention
farmer's market
art crawl

i've been tagged by louise. i usually don't do these but since louise is one of my favorite bloggers, i'll indulge her curiosity and participate. ooh, and amy tagged me too. ok, ok. here goes:

Five minutes to yourself: how would you spend them, ideally?
singing a song with t but if he's not around then flipping through favorite magazines while drinking a good cup of coffee

Five bucks to spend right now; how would you spend it?
photobooth...and with the change i'd buy a pack of gum


Five items in your house you could part with, right now, that you hadn’t thought of already?
my dry cleanables
lots of little insignificant knick knacks picked up along the way
the sugar ants that have a tendency to visit this time of the year
leftover candy from halloween and christmas stockings
the ratty cat tree that the cats love but that looks pretty awful


Five items you absolutely, positively could never part with in your house?
my cats
my converse allstar hitops
my favorite jeans
my music collection
my book collection

Five words you love (today):
cardigan
cake (it's the double hard c sound)
ensemble
blast (this word needs to make a comeback)
quite


i forgot to tell you that monday night our power went out. not quite sure why. anyway, t lit about five candles and we sat in bed singing songs together as he played his guitar. had to say i was pretty bummed when the lights finally popped back on so we just turned them off and continued singing. lovely night if i do say so myself.

wednesday is for post office package drop offs (goodbye little music swap cd...hope you like your new home). wednesday is also for creating an ocean costume to wear to the party...t and i are thinking fins...just fins made from aluminum foil and coat hangers to wear over our clothes.

til next time,
shari

hello tuesday!

monday=fabulous mail from roxy marj and gracia and louise. pics of the goodies will be posted soon on my flickr site.

after a brief summer dress up with temps into the high eighties (even creeping up to ninety), the weather has turned rather spring-like again. cooler temperatures and rain storms. spring indeed!

one of the ways we mark the change of seasons from winter to spring is by changing our bed linens. in the winter, we cozy up with an ikea gray windowpane print duvet cover. in the spring and summer, a denyse schmidt quilt takes its place. with the recent rain and cooler weather, we may just wait a few more days before making the change.

do you use different linens to mark the season change, too? if so, do tell.

i also like to mark the season change by investing in a few new pieces for the wardrobe. i really need tshirts and a new pair of sneakers. has anyone spotted super cute shirts or sneaks? i'd love some suggestions. :)

yesterday, we spent much of the day relaxing. we did venture out to fill up the beetle with b20 (biodiesel), to buy ten more goldfish for our outdoor pond, and to purchase a public space. we also watched four episodes of lost. ok, i think we are hooked.

tuesday=teaching. we are preparing for the culmination of our ocean study...an ocean party.

tuesday also=music swap final preparations.

what does tuesday= for you?


cheers!
shari

too much cake

so, this has been the third weekend in a row that has been super busy for us. we had t's family down this weekend to celebrate his 40th birthday. it seems like we have been celebrating forever...well, three weekends in a row to be exact and the official day hasn't even occurred yet. and while the celebrations have all been lovely, i am feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and behind on life. not to mention the fact that i am pretty introverted and have had to play little ms. extrovert for the past three weekends. oh, hurry birthday!!

actually, i imagine that the real birthday (this thursday) will be quite nice. just the two of us and a nice cake...or maybe something else. already we've had spice cupcakes, chocolate kahlua cake, and (this weekend) betty crocker yellow cake with milk chocolate frosting. can it be that i'm already tiring of birthday cake? hmmm. maybe i will bake us a nice fruit cobbler using my mom's tried and true recipe.

so, yes, i am feeling behind and a little out of touch with everyday life.

it's monday. we just met up with t's dad and stepmom for a quick breakfast at elmo's diner before they hit the road. now, i am sure i will collapse. i am overstimulated to the nth degree and couldn't fall asleep last night despite the fact that i was very tired. i really need my routine back. my morning coffee alone. my grocery shopping. my list making.


to do:

go to yoga!!! i haven't been in five weeks. no wonder my stress level is high.
go for a walk.
make my music swap cd and figure out some creative packaging. quickly.
ease back into things. slowly.


xo,
shari

happy 5 senses friday!

another close to another week. hope you all had a good one. a little update for everyone who was reading my sense of place posts: t and i have decided to stay in durham for another year, and i have accepted a job teaching at a reggio inspired preschool (the one where i currently work two days a week). it is a part-time job, which will leave me plenty of time for examining other possibilities so i'm excited about that.

hope you'll play along this week, too! i cannot tell you how fun it is to read what others come up with for five senses friday. everyone does it slightly differently. i love it! oh and rilke (see above) sends his love. now bring out the senses!


sound:

neko case LIVE last night in carrboro, nc at the grungy but loveable cat's cradle. did i say live and last night?!!!!
the lovely eclectic sounds of mav's mix cd (thanks mav)
d*s podcast with lotta jansdotter
sirens around our neighborhood last night
red winged blackbirds at my grandmother's feeder


sight:

focus, balance, and courage via penelope whose blog i love!
yellow rose corsage on the cute little wrist of neko case
silver and white trees bleached by the sun on bull's island, sc
reptiles, reptiles, reptiles-more this week than i've seen in a LONG time
the glorious sight of an abigail percy package and this treasure inside


touch:

t's hand clasped around mine
the spongy ethiopian bread in my fingers, serving as my utensil
rich dark potting soil cool and moist while planting our small herb garden
the rhymthic feel of the hula hoop as it circled my waist last evening
the spot behind my knee left irritated by the unfortunate tick bite i received last weekend


smell:

freshly baked waffle cones--that distinctive sugary sweet smell
the absence of smoke (wow) at the show last night
the sea
lemon blossoms on our new dwarf meyer lemon tree
sunscreen


taste:

decadent chocolate milkshake made with maple view farms milk on site at their farm stand near the preschool
vegetarian deluxe burrito from cosmic cantina with friends before the show
a sunday afternoon dinner at gullah cuisine with my family in charleston, sc
delicious ethiopian food on the outside deck with my new teaching partners
peanut butter and honey crackers on the drive from sc back home to nc


have a great friday friends!
shari

gardening part two

here are a few pictures of the herbs i planted yesterday. golden oregano and sweet basil.



lemon thyme and upright rosemary.





when i lived in denver, one of the most wonderful things i found there was the abundance of urban community gardens. it always amazed me to be driving down city streets only to happen upon a beautiful, magical wild garden with bits of art here and there and with many denverites tending to the plants. these gardens are so attractive to me because they bring people in neighborhoods together despite their age, socio-economic background or ethnicity. see some of the beauty here.


i love these gardening gloves and these tools. fresh and new like spring itself. also, these aluminum planters would look very nice on a windowsill in my opinion.

i would love to know if any of you have favorite gardening books...instructional or otherwise. i have jamaica kincaid's book on my to read list. has anyone read this?


finally, i wish we could all meet up and have a meal here or here. doesn't it just sound wonderful?

have a happy day!
shari

gardening part one

ever since i was a little girl, i have been surrounded by houseplants and gardens. my pop was an avid gardener who nurtured many houseplants, shrubs, and a large vegetable garden. i spent every summer walking barefoot in his gardens, picking tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and squash. my mom inherited her green thumb from him. she loves plants and really has a knack for working with them. the above photo is a picture of her traditional charleston garden. the pathway is marked by manicured boxwoods and the path itself is crushed oyster shells. (the cat is named tabby and he likes to bite!).

i, on the other hand, do not quite have a green thumb yet. i am trying to cultivate the patience needed for gardening. at times, i am too impatient...checking in for a few days on a new plant only to forget about it when i don't see any changes occuring. lucky for me that t has a green thumb and more than enough patience for the both of us.

so like i said, i have always been surrounded by plants. in fact, i cannot imagine living without them. recently, t and i visited a friend who had purchased a home in a brand new subdivision. i was amazed and a little shocked to see that she had no trees or mature plants in her yard and upon entering her home i realized that she also did not have any houseplants. plants add so much to a space that a place without plants seems lifeless to me.

as for our favorite plants, we have a little grove of miniature citrus trees that we are very fond of. because t loves trees and had grown several from acorns, i decided to buy him an orange and a lime a few christmases ago. my mom added a meyer lemon tree to his collection this weekend as an early birthday gift. these trees are very special to us and have survived the shock of traveling from california (monrovia nursery) to boulder to denver to durham! they dropped their leaves a few times, but t has nurtured them back to health. right now, we have many limes on the tree (tiny little babies) and both orange and lemon blossoms.

my mom also bought us a few herbs to begin an herb garden. golden oregano, sweet basil, lemon thyme, chives, and upright rosemary will soon be gracing our plates. herbs are a big favorite of mine as they add fragrance to a house or garden and of course you can munch on them while gardening, too.

what are your favorite plants? do you enjoy gardening? have you ever lived without plants? do you have your own garden? do you grow your own vegetables and herbs?

now for some links:

i always enjoy the beautiful gardening photos at gayla's flickr site. gayla wrote an amazing gardening book called you grow girl. i highly recommend it! beautiful projects and tons of useful information.

aren't these handmade flowerpots gorgeous?

til tomorrow!
shari

home again home again

hi everyone!

seems like i've been away from my computer forever. i am REALLY looking forward to catching up on everyone's blogs and flickr photos this week!

i just returned home a little while ago from charleston, sc, where i was visiting with my family. it was a nice trip. on friday, we enjoyed a home cooked meal and some time catching up. saturday rolled around quickly and we woke up early to take a small ferry to the neighbouring bull island for a little adventure. and what an adventure it was! on our way over to the island, we saw dolphins, rare oystercatchers, and pelicans diving for fish.

after hiking a little distance, we saw at least 40 alligators...one of them was so large that the captain of the island cat swore that this gator would break a record in terms of length. alligator tracks are beautiful if you've never seen them, and we saw many zigzagging in different directions across the soft marsh mud. we were so close to the gators it was a little scary at times. we also had other reptile run-ins as two snakes (one black and one brown) criscrossed in front of us on the long trek back to the ferry.

another highlight was boneyard beach, which was an area of forest that was overtaken by the tide over time. there were many trees in the middle of the sand bleached silver and white by the sun. it was like being in another world. i also enjoyed happening upon little bits of colorful debris from fishing boats that were tangled in the gnarly tree roots. t decided to take home a black and white buoy (or boat bumper?) that we happened upon. we felt like real beachcombers with our jeans rolled up hands full of shells and colorful seaweed.

sunday we spent the day browsing in a bookstore where i picked up a few magazines including the most recent selvedge (thanks mom!) and then we went to a nursery to look for some plants. for the rest of the week i'd love to talk gardening with you (what plants mean to you, your favorites, the role gardening plays in your life and of course good gardening links) so i will stop here for tonight.

i'll be posting photos from my island adventure on flickr soon so be on the lookout. now, time to cozy up in the covers with a glass of water and my new magazines!

have a good evening friends,
shari

5 senses friday

smell:
the lovely sweetness of wisteria
almond extract (in a glass of steamed milk)
slightly sour lemon yogurt
earthy dried gourds
first whiff of citrus upon peeling an orange


taste:
sliced bananas with melted dark chocolate and crumbled tea biscuits (an impromptu dessert)
crunchy spring rolls with sweet and sour sauce
cold, chocolatey ice cream
cilantro
thai iced tea

hear:
luna
rainer maria
an owl hooting in the early evening
yoga peeps podcast
electric guitars, drums, saxophone, bass (t celebrating with friends)

touch:
gritty sand in the sandbox at school
the familiar comfort of that certain pair of blue jeans
a sun hat resting gently on the top of my head
croquet mallet in hand
the wind on bare legs (while wearing the first skirt of the season)



sight:
nearby by maureen dulong
college friends who we haven't seen in years...ah, the sight of them!
lilly piri art. i adore cuscus 2.
a beautiful turquoise blue volkswagen beetle sixties' vintage
this artist...is coming to durham to create!

i am actually traveling to the ocean today to visit my mother and grandmother (and sister and brother and stepdad too). perhaps, i'll post from charleston. if not, i'll talk to you again on monday evening. stay tuned as i want to talk gardening! here's wishing you a delightful weekend! xo, shari

whites, browns, blacks

tomorrow, i will be posting my 5 senses friday entry here and my orange photos on my flickr site. hope you've been enjoying color week so far. thanks shash for such a good idea. it's been fun!

and more green

green

brevard,north carolina
glacier national park
mendocino, california
durham, north carolina
denver,colorado

true blues

my day through a blue lens!

week of colors/yellow

kerstin had the wonderful idea to have a color week in which we posted photos grouped by color. i was very excited about this idea and had planned to take a color walk each day, photographing things in my neighborhood that are yellow, for example. however, this morning i awoke to thunder and lightning so i just dug through my archives and pulled out a few faves. hopefully tomorrow i can go back to the original plan.

monday's color is yellow. bright, cheerful, buttery, golden yellow!



t and s--our pseudonymns. see also here.


t's crocs are butter yellow. they match his 240 dl.


have you had tupelo honey from savannah? it is the best!


the walls in this cafe are bright yellow which make for a cheery outing in the afternoon.

hope everyone had a great weekend. mine was busy and included an april fool's day surprise party! i think it's great that it is so dreary outside today so we can just play catch up with life.

until tomorrow!
shari