"Ode to My Socks" by Pablo Neruda

Mara Mori brought me
a pair of socks

which she knitted herself

with her sheepherder's hands,

two socks as soft as rabbits.

I slipped my feet into them

as if they were two cases

knitted with threads of twilight and goatskin,

Violent socks,

my feet were two fish made of wool,

two long sharks

sea blue, shot through

by one golden thread,

two immense blackbirds,

two cannons,

my feet were honored in this way

by these heavenly socks.

They were so handsome for the first time

my feet seemed to me unacceptable

like two decrepit firemen,

firemen unworthy of that woven fire,

of those glowing socks.

Nevertheless, I resisted the sharp temptation

to save them somewhere as schoolboys

keep fireflies,

as learned men collect

sacred texts,

I resisted the mad impulse to put them

in a golden cage and each day give them

birdseed and pieces of pink melon.

Like explorers in the jungle

who hand over the very rare green deer

to the spit and eat it with remorse,

I stretched out my feet and pulled on

the magnificent socks and then my shoes.

The moral of my ode is this:

beauty is twice beauty

and what is good is doubly good

when it is a matter of two socks

made of wool in winter.

translated by Robert Bly

Grammar matters, people.

Something Pete just said reminded me of this gem:

A Conversation

Me: Pete, can we finally watch every existing episode of Doctor Who together?

Pete: Well, I can't promise I'll get into it, but I'll watch it with you.

Me: So if you don't like it, you'll still sit through every episode with me? Or will you say, "To hell with this, woman!"

Pete: I'll say, "To hell with this woman!"

Me: I didn't hear a pause there. Do you mean you'll abandon me or the show? That's a pretty essential comma...

Pete: Of course I meant, "To hell with this show COMMA woman." I'm surprised you couldn't hear it.

Me: I'm going to blog about this.

AND SO WE COME FULL CIRCLE! DONE!

one monthaversary!

We celebrated one month of long-distance married bliss by moving all manner of hand-me-down furniture into our home in a topsy-turvy fashion.  Immediately afterwards, Pete rushed me to the train, and, in my haste, I didn't even kiss him goodbye. 

So to atone for that transgression, I bought two skeins of deep grey wool and a knitting booklet called Family Felting.  It includes the pattern for a manly pair of moccasins just like the ragtag store-bought ones that are always falling off his feet.  And I cast on and started knitting, trusting that the strangely shaped stuff that resulted would take the shape of a slipper eventually....Cross your fingers.

DONE!

Food Processor:$-10

You heard me. I just hit up Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a food processor,

and with the help of a rebate, a few coupons, and store credit, I wound up receiving $10 to take it off their hands. Yup. That's just how I roll.

Sock it!

I finally have decided to break into my Noro sock yarn and begin my first pair of adult-sized socks. Noro's vibrant colors just seem to call out to be striped.I fell in love with the Spring Socks pattern after reading about them on French Press Knits, a gorgeous blog I've been addicted to lately. Here goes!

veganyumyum breakfast

We just debuted our brand new waffle iron this weekend, which was a gift from one of Pete's groomsmen and his wife.

As always, veganyumyum's dairy-free waffle recipe brightened up Great Lent for us. Lauren Ulm wrote a cookbook by the same name, which is definitely worth it, and this recipe can be found both in there and in her now-defunct blog for free!

The secret ingredient is soy yogurt. We opt for vanilla and omit the frozen

blueberries, as they wreak havoc on the iron. I was so astonished that our grocery store happened to carry the yogurt and couldn't wait to make these. It's an elusive ingredient even in NJ.

They also had Earth Balance margarine, which is absolutely lenten and as healthy as margarine can be. Lauren Ulm sings its praises in nearly every post.

Pete concocted one of our favorites--1/2 cran-apple & 1/2 orange juice. It originated in a Denny's and is the brainchild of one of Pete's best friends. We have yet to come up with a snappy name for this delicious beverage. Thoughts?

If you're in need of a lenten pick-me-up, try these waffles. I very nearly confessed breaking the fast after enjoying them.

San Francisco

I knit this beret up this weekend out of memento yarn from my August trip to SF to meet Pete’s family. We got to go to a Giants game, so of course I kept my eye out for something orange when we made it to Imaginknit, the SF yarn store I'd heard so much about.

This madeline tosh vintage was different somehow--coppery with that irregular kettle-dyed look that I love so much. And its name--Saffron--just did it for me. It was a joy to work with--worth every penny, especially for a one-skein project like this Star Crossed Slouchy Beret. The rambling cables reminded me of the steep streets of San Francisco.

I even have a small ball left to work into my crocheted hexagon blanket eventually:

Knitting this beret kept me happy on the long trip back and forth to upstate NY. Halfway through, I discovered how to cable without a cable needle, thanks to grumperina. So I am now obsessed with cables. And berets! I just cast on a red version...

OUR WEDDING!

The photos have arrived from Nick Kita, one of our photographers. More soon--I promise!

Farewell, dairy...

Pete and I made our first quiche this weekend to use up every last morsel of cheese before Great Lent. We cracked open our brand new copy of How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman and just went for it. Six eggs, a stick of butter, milk, cheddar cheese, brie, and a few scrapings of a garlic cheese spread later, we actually felt sick of non-lenten food.

Inconceivable!

StorylineOnline.net

Check out this amazing website, which is full of free videos of celebrities reading children's books. I showed one of my favorites in class today, Sophie's Masterpiece, by Eileen Spinelli. I know you'll enjoy it as much as we did.

These are a few of my favorite things

In the midst of writing thank you notes, I can't help but share a couple of the multitude of beautiful presents we received. I'll try to get photos of more as we find places for them in our little home.

In the category of Gifts Most Likely to be Saved in the Event of a Fire, we have, tied for first place, wedding icons of Christ and the Theotokos.

Pete's parents enlisted the iconographer Fr. Paul Drozdowski to make these wedding icons especially for us.

On our wedding day, my lovely niece and nephew carried them into the church in lieu of the more common flower petals and ring-bearer pillow. The cloths are heirlooms in Pete's family. His grandmother embroidered them by hand.

At the moment, they're propped up on our dresser in our makeshift icon corner. I can't wait to find them a more permanent place in our home.

Oh yeah, this happened...