I, Blue, Grass Sorceress and Frog-Hat-Wearing Extraordinaire

Dear Simone–

I am so sorry to have missed you this weekend. I know we both tried, and it sucks that nothing worked out. I WILL find you for winter break, when I am sure we will both be in town. That is a promise, babe. In the meantime, let me tell you about things. :)

So I got home on Tuesday night, having hitched a ride with Duncan. My philosophy-major sister came along for the ride home, and we played philosophical games for a large portion of our travel time. The three questions we discussed ran as follows.

A leaf landed on a skylight in my house and my dog thought it was a squirrel. The wind didn't blow it away for the longest time, and in the interim my dog barked herself hoarse as she jumped on and off the sofa and spun in little circles beneath it. Letting her out for a minute didn't derail her either. She was exhausted that evening.

Seven pies. And that is all that I need to say. Persimmon, pecan, pumpkin chiffon, repeat. The makings for another persimmon pie are out in the extra fridge in my family's garage, but none of us can stomach assembling something that we would then (oh God) have to eat. Thanksgiving is an excess of desserts.

Childhood jewelry has been broken out, and in addition to my usual somber wardrobe, it made me look like a witch on Thanksgiving day. In a good way. Kangaroo earrings, my charm bracelet from when I was seven, wedding bracelets from Egypt and Oman, wicked cool rings from my mom... things that I almost never wear.

Things I did on Thanksgiving. Explained Chapel Hill's Humans vs. Zombies game to Daniel (cousin). Discussed anime and a little manga fluently with David (cousin). Took oodles of photos on my family's Nikon (which was harder than expected now that I've gotten used to using a Canon). Went to two back yards that the owners had voluntarily designed and opened to the public, one in a European court style and the other with a Japanese aesthetic. Received a blanket and became a sorceress of the grass. My magical cloak not only allowed me to hide in the grass, but it also allowed me to turn people into grass. Hell yeah. Here are some pictures of all that I've said. I took the first two, and I'm in the last two.

I have been eating leftover cranberry sauce for almost every meal since Thursday. If not for my Oma's stuffed mushrooms and the holiday potatoes that the Dutch side of my family makes at every Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration, cranberry sauce wouldn't even face contest as my favorite thing about Thanksgiving cuisine. The leftovers ran out this afternoon with lunch/dinner.

There is a coyote around. My mom and sister saw it while walking Pippin on Thursday evening. My dad saw it on Friday morning when my Oma and Opa came over for coffee. I heard it Thursday night (or Friday morning). There was howling for a while and a gunshot followed by a little more howling. It is good that the coyote survived the shot–it is definitely illegal to shoot them around here, a law which I agree with.

My family went hiking on Friday but I stayed home to meet up with friends/dance around the house to loud music. I invented some cookies through a little freehand baking when I found a bowl of thick whipped cream in our fridge, a leftover accompaniment to the pies I mentioned earlier. They are fluffy chocolate things with a sprinkling of sugar on top, oranges that I candied in the bottoms and a bittersweet cocoa-spice drizzle over the whole yummy mess. For the first time ever, I wrote down a recipe for what I did! And I took photos:

Later that night, it was time to meet up with friends. Lauren, wearing her adventure goggles. Jack at his hipster-y finest. Duncan, who emerged from his house just as we prepared to abandon baked goods on his doorstep. We drove up to Kannapolis to walk around just as a movie was getting out of the Gem and to wonder at the inhuman proportions of the Dale Earnhardt statue across from studio. Then, hearing that I'd never been the driver in a drive through, we made a run up to Salisbury to find the Cook Out there. We drove back to Charlotte to spend an hour or two at Amélie's. Tickle fight/gossip times were shared over Russian teas, caramel lattés and pomegranate sodas. Some people coming out of a theater group's party gave us this HUGE bowl of little sweet potato cakes drizzled in chocolate and requested that we pass them out among the patrons of Amélie's. We got to two tables before this big group of poker players at a third table claimed all the remaining cakes for themselves. Right.

We drove home to Frank Sinatra and the Beatles, very classy and very cool. Jack and Lauren got out together at Jack's house, with Jack's word that he would walk Lauren home. Duncan and I drove back to his house to spend the night. After showering, we watched this series from an anthology of Japanese animators that is called Genius Party. The videos each lasted twenty minutes or less, and were all very mind bending. Fortunately for you, the clip that has haunted me the most (in a good way) is available to watch online. It is called "Happy Machine," and you should totally watch it. :)

Next morning, after sleeping in, we walked out to the Greenway for a few minutes. Duncan let me borrow his flickin' adorable frog hat from New York, and he told me to hang onto it for another day when I left for home. How does a hat get sillier or more fantastic?

What followed was tree choosing and decorating. This is the first year that my family has been all present to do it since I was in middle school. It was always either traveling or Nutcracker or college. But this year we were all there. The tree I spotted was the one that my family picked, so go me? What followed was A Christmas Story, Medieval Baebes, eggnog, and a flurry of ornaments.

Now what remains? Grand parents to visit, hopefully delicious waffles to eat (my dad makes the BEST waffles), and Chapel Hill to return to, traffic and all taken in stride. I'll try to write again soon, dear. I will call you again soon. I wish I'd seen you this weekend. But hey, winter break. :) Looking forward to it, babe.

Your frog-adorned friend,
Blue

Making Up For Lost Time (But Proust Isn't Invited)

Dear Simone,

So here's the deal. No roofing lately. No art projects lately. No wandering late at night lately.

Pretty boring, right? But there's more to life than the void left by those things:

Writing poetry over chocolate milk and ginger cookies at the local co-op. Reading about so many things online, from street artists to Martiniquaise intellectuals to apple cider processes to spooky original fairy tales. Finding time to read for fun: I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett, Flight, Vols. 2 & 7, Cahier d'un retour au pays natal by Aimé Césaire, Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (my current read). Taking time to stop and sketch from real life, with messy attempts at learning to shade well. Stretching and dancing and getting enough sleep. Slowly mastering a new character in Smash Bros. and drinking fancy teas on a regular basis. Things have been peaceful.

I've basically been living in Duncan's room for the past month. I don't always sleep here now, as I did during October and the better part of September, but I spend most of my free daylight hours in and out of his room. Things have been so different, and not at all in a bad way.

Adventures: Cherry Pie with friends and a lot of naïveté on my part (it's an adult store and I missed all the sex ed. classes that I could have taken in previous years, so my friend have been crash coursing me for over a month now). Seeking out film for the 1970s Olympus from my mom's college years studying art (fitted with loads of accessories! so pumped). Slowly collecting musical instruments in Duncan's room (his old trumpet, his grandfather's guitar, several harmonicas, my old lap harp, a slim black recorder). Spending three days in the mountains with friends for fall break (hot spiced cider, watching a gorgeous meteor shower from the roof of the isolated mountain-top house, tag and climbing on the jungle gym in town, music and massages by firelight, walking in the pitch of night, candlelit baths, oven s'mores and so much delicious cooking). Experiencing the State Fair for the first time. Going in full garb to the Renaissance Festival (I had a totally awesome green and black costume, topped off with some borrowed elf ears). Surviving until day two in campus wide Humans versus Zombies. Being the Original Zombie (OZ) in the version played on Duncan's hall (I got to play because I'm always around). Running through flood conditions because WET. Seeing Stars in concert for the second time ever and getting mind-blowingly yummy street food afterwards. :D

And, because it was awesome and deserves its own paragraph: MOOG Fest and the Saturday that followed in lovely lovely Asheville. Austra, Holy Fuck, Tangerine Dream, The Antlers, Moby, and TV on the Radio. Malaprop's (twice!), the crêpe place, Laughing Seed and just the town itself. Julia's eclectic and wonderful apartment. Halloween sprinkle pancakes with rainbow marshmallow hot chocolate for breakfast while watching Buffy and wondering if Mowgli the cat would ever stop sulking under the bed and come say hi.

So life has been more attention to music and pushing harder at the arts in exchange for all the fast-paced physical-experiential drive of last semester. This semester has been very sensual in its own way though. And it is definitely nice to relax a bit.

I will be taking up my bike project again, now that I have black tape. I think I told you about that, right? I am building a cardboard bike, in case I didn't. With working pedals and everything. I just have to attach wheels, but I'm a lazy butt and wheels are going to be several hours of work. I ran out of tape. My mom gifted me new tape. So life will go on in that field. Maybe this weekend? I'm excited.

Anyway. I will probably try to write to this blog more often, but in shorter punches. Sorry for the long bout of silence. Eat some madeleines: cookies make everything better, right? Totally.

Miss you babe.

Love and all that jazz,
Blue