1. this cake.
{and the three-year-old who’s told every person he sees about how his papa made it.}
2. this robe.
{for being so soft.}
3. these winter colors.
{they’ve been on this shelf for weeks now—but they’re still making me happy and so here we are.}
4. this book.
{and the library for having it. now off to see the play.}
5. this reorganized closet shelf and basket.
{but mostly the space we cleared for someone new.}
other things:
a midwife in the north country.
the emotional act of vacating.
the land that never has been yet.
items you can probably go without.
an unsweetened doughnut with rigor mortis.
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12 Comments
I just finished reading that book, with a headlamp in bed as to not wake the sleeping baby. All the tears at the end.
I’ve been itching for a new Scene on Radio season and am so happy the first episode is out! Already loving it after this first episode.
That cake! Details, please.
Yes please!
It’s the “Sweet and Salty Cake” from Baked’s New Frontiers cookbook!
Happy birthday Silas fellow Capricorn
That cake looks lovely & you can’t go wrong with chocolate.
I loved and so related to the cut article. Our family of 5 learned a lot this year and realized it’s extremely not helpful to take a 10 day family vacation to the beach in the start of December when we will be together for 16 days 24/7 but the articles quote “ We made it, though. It’s a new year, in which our children will get older and further away from us.” made me grateful we did it anyway. Thank you for sharing it and so many other lovely things.
Wishing you all good things this year!
Thanks for showing us how climate change is effecting our most vulnerable and economically challenged populations here in our own country. Climate change and social justice go hand in hand, as the poor suffer disproportionately from the effects and yet they have contributed the least carbon to our atmosphere on average. I grew up in Omaha, and have visited the PineRidge/Rosebud Reservations several times. It is a such a complicated place full of beauty, life, despair and grace….like most places it is conundrum: how to repair and restore the dignity of the land and people manipulated for generations. Have you seen “The Rider”? It is a ray of light. https://www.military.com/undertheradar/2018/08/28/cowboy-brady-jandreau-portrays-his-real-life-brain-injury-rider.html
Thanks for these links, Erin! That article about the midwife breaks my heart and makes me frustrated on so many levels. I had the privilege of an uncomplicated homebirth with a CNM that was largely possible because of a region that found value in the work of midwives, though that has changed some in the four years since my daughter was born (my second daughter was delivered by a midwife in a hospital because the fewer CNMs were doing homebirths). I’m baffled and occasionally enraged by the complexity of our current healthcare system, which rewards expensive, invasive, often unnecessary or at least preventable/avoidable procedures. I’m also grateful for modern medicine, which has saved the lives of a few of my friends and their babies. But I just wish we could stop being so scared (like that comment in the article from a doctor about never being sued for a c-section!) and start being curious and trusting.
Thanks for the article A midwife in the north country. I live in Mallorca and in almost all deliveries of public hospitals, births are attended only by midwives. The obstetrician can supervise and if there is any unforeseen event, of course. I gave birth to my daughter in a public hospital with only one midwife, and they did not perform episiotomy or epidural. It was very painful and very beautiful at the same time.
I greatly admire the work of the midwives!
I hadn’t heard of that book before. I checked and my local library does indeed have My Name is Lucy Barton! 🙂 I will be checking this book out!
How did you like the play?
It was great! Still in previews so there were a few little hiccups and set pieces etc. I wonder if they might shift, but Laura Linney was terrific, especially in the moments when she played Lucy’s mother!
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