A new year...

Making pizza with Papa in Rockford, IL. Who needs pants when you have an apron?!

Back in Brooklyn, the girl wakes up with the stomach flu, which sometimes seems to give us all a glimpse of some other realm...  "Everything comes alive when we're not looking, mama," she says.

Today we'll probably hang out in our jammies in the new Christmas flannel sheets as she recovers. P and I will eat leftover Hoppin' John and greens, for luck.

We're already feeling lucky, though - thankful for the love and good health of our family and friends. Excited about the adventures 2013 will bring. And broadcasting love to all of you far-flung dears.

Tree Girl

After long hiatus, here we are in a December that sometimes wants a t-shirt and sometimes wants wool, with a girl who's four and a Christmas tree that takes up half the apartment. Life's been busy, but always sweet. Learning some new fiddle tunes, trying some new recipes, working in some new traditions, watching our girl grow tall and then taller. More soon soon soon.

Tucked behind the Buddha's Ear...

Apples. Childhood.

Just a train ride away, apples turned into the taste of fall. And we ate the season's last, sweetest ears of corn. And the hawk hung overhead so close you could see its feet tucked up under the feathers. And we all watched the kids: childhood in action.

In which...

...we are all really, really happy to be exactly where we are.

In which...

...girl digs for Monhegan clams whilst within giant heart.

In which...

...Anna and I are loved up by a draft horse named Scarleg who thinks he's a cat, at the Windsor County Fair in Maine. His owner says that the horse lays right down to take a nap, and he curls up along side him and naps too. More to come...