Sigur Ros - Little match girl

And oh my goodness, this-Sigur Ros and ballet!

Christmas Is Coming...

Today:
breakfast polenta, fat snowdrops on our cheeks and tongues as we carry our tree home, cold fingers! hot chocolate from a tiny teapot, chickpea hotpot and black bean brownie leftovers for lunch, listening to sufjan stevens christmas music as we decorate, cinammon orange clove water simmering on the stove, drippy wet windowpanes, this amazing website for sigur ros live, this shop. also, making this granola bar recipe and missing my camera!

Word of advice

If you take the oh-so-popular Megabus (with it's free wifi) to NYC-don't wait to book your return ticket till the last minute (especially if it's the weekend of Halloween and a marathon) or you could end up like Keith and I-hanging out in Borders for hours, and walking around laden down with backpacks and hefty bags of tsog in times square until 10:30 on a Sunday night!

So, the three week Karma Kuchen extravaganza truly ended with a bang at Queens Palace where 1000 Sherpas squeezed into a tiny hall...very reminiscent of my Kathmandu horror bus stories...there was a crush of people in every inch-nevermind the frantic pushing trying to get up to the stage to receive the empowerment substances! Babies crying, people yelling. I was trembling by the time i found myself in front of KK! NYC equals the exact opposite of the Ohio experience!

In other news, a few terrific Halloween costumes were spotted, namely a skinny teenage boy dressed as a fairy in H&M and another guy as Tom Cruise in Risky Business walking the streets of Manhattan in underwear, long shirt and umbrella!

How did the food not run out? The people! The crowds!

Ohio

Hmm, it's weird to find yourself on a youtube video! It seems the guy sitting next to me took this footage from Saturday night!

Rumor Has It, Enquiring Minds Want to Know...

So on this gray Baltimore morning, inside Jenn's head:

1) Soon to make the long-awaited apple chip nut cake of my childhood

2) Preparations (albeit still mental) for the long drive to see HHKK (so young--and of course so serious--in this picture)--round two of the Karma Kuchen three week extravaganza (PS Drew and Dizzy we wish you were coming with us!).

3) Where is my Gobblidigook cd?

4) Ryan last night, "I'm so darn it about tomorrow!" (followed by a slightly questioning look--I didn't have the heart to tell him that wasn't the right way to use that expression. and who knows, maybe it is possible to be "so darn it" about tomorrow when there's a chance your pumpkin patch birthday party might get rained out).

5) Utah...???

6) The blog 3191

Oh Samsara!

Not so into writing here anymore! As so many things do these days, it seems futile. And while Dzongsar Khyentse says that while you see the futility nature of things, you should still do them, I just can't seem too lately...

Not a Fan

of headaches and DMV's!! not seperately and certainly not together! especially a 90 minute wait all for naught! yikes!

Despite the Heat...

There's the smell of pignuts, dried brown leaves crumbling beneath my feet Acorns still wearing their caps

Today

as I was walking Ryan home from kindergarten, he somehow got on the topic of babies. a subject that had come up a few weeks ago when he informed me that his mom wanted another baby and just had to get a cell from his dad.

so anyway, ry says, "it's really easy if a girl wants a baby."
"it is?"
"yeah."
"well, what do you have to do?"
"well...a girl just has to..."
"...get a cell?"
"yeah, she just has to ask."
"she just has to ask her husband for a cell?"
"yeah. it's so easy!"
"it is?"
"yeah."
"but how does she get the cell?"
"well, it's amazing. it's just goes flying through the air. and then it goes right through her skin into her stomache. and then she makes her own cell too. and then she just waits like a month or ten weeks, and then she has a baby. and that's how it happens. i think (he giggles). i think that's how it happens..."
"well, that does sound very easy! so if i want a baby, all i have to do is ask keith for a cell?"
"yeah! but he might not wanbt to give you one."
"why?"
"because babies can make you really crazy! but do you want one?"
"well...i don't know. babies are a lot of work."
"yeah, but don't you love this little baby?" (and he touched his little ister amaia's head oh-so-gently).
"i do love this little baby!"
"me too. but i love her so much that sometimes i hurt her!" (he likes to hug her too tight).

anyway, so now you know...if you want a baby, all you have to do is ask!

Good Fings*

A visit to the Migyur Dorje stupa

Last weekend's fish release with Ralo Rinpoche's sangha

Sour cherry juice

Sun warmed watermelon

Perfect plums

*As in "Good fings" vs "Bad Fings" -Ajam Tulku (with his German accent)