May 2025: There is always hope

Hello reader! May 2025 seemed to pass by quickly, though it's a long month so plenty of things happened. Like these things:

 

Drawing studio

I went to an evening drop-in session at the local art school where I had taken a drawing class last year. I wanted to get some pages messy in my pretty little lavender sketchbook. They have good props at the art school--here's a drawing of a feather and a bone.

 

 

Cat grief, cat joy

We were devastated to finally have to say goodbye to our sweet good loving beautiful kitty-cat. She had lived for 20 years and taken care of us with snuggles and supervision since we met her 10 years ago. We were so sad to have to let her go due to declining health and no longer being able to get around. She left a gaping cat-shaped hole in our home and in our hearts.

As a result, we went to "take a look" at a nearby Humane Society, and we fell in love with a new kitty who is 2 years old, very sweet and playful, and seems to be made of stripes and muscle. Her shelter name is Baja Blast and she is wonderful. I am trying to do "cat training" with her to maybe teach her things like jumping over objects and learning to fetch. We'll see! We are grateful to be able to have another sweet cat in our lives.

 

Summer Farmer's Market

The outdoor version of the Brattleboro Farmer's Market started up the first weekend of May, and we were there to buy things and see the May Pole dancing!

May Pole & ribbons in the background

 

 

MIT Swapfest

One Sunday I took two teenagers to Cambridge, MA, for an electronics flea-market-type-thing that takes place in a parking garage on the MIT campus from April to October. If you are in the MIT area and interested in computer bits or even just swap meets, I highly recommend this event! There are no regular cars in the garage on the day, so you can just walk up and keep spiraling around floor after floor to see what vendors have to sell.

 

Looking up one of the aisles of the parking garage

I loved this vendor--something for everyone

Did you want an ancient television?

"Cage Free Organic Computer Parts"

Old old old tech

All kinds of tools

Typical scene

Another typical scene

High School Jazz ensemble concert

We went to an outdoor concert of the High School jazz band on a lovely spring evening outside a local church. They are a very talented group and sounded great, taking solos and they even had a guest singer (also a high school student) for a great rendition of "Blue Moon." I drew the musicians while sitting on a folding camp chair listening to the show:

 

April 2025: We Will Outlast Them

Oh hello! It looks like April has now passed, like rain on the mountain. Here are some things I got up to this past month.

More Running

I'm now up to running 3 times a week, which feels good! I'm mostly running in the woods, doing 2-3 miles at a time for now. I like to ease into things slowly so I don't scare myself off.

Rutland Farmer's Market

I'm continuing on my mission to learn more about local farms and food systems. One Saturday in April I made a round trip to Rutland to visit the Vermont Farmer's Food Center, which I had heard about at the NOFA-VT conference I attended in February. It's an organization that is refurbishing an old industrial site to be a food hub, commercial kitchen, and farmer's market. Their winter farmer's market is in a big hall and full of vendors of all kinds of interesting and delicious produce, meats, and prepared foods.

My haul includes spinach, apples, chicken, chevre, and Scottish shortbread.

An old train car on the site

Open flag flying!

Part of the complex... with sculpture

From a corner of the big, bustling hall

 

 

Greens CSA

Another thing I'm doing to support our local food system and local farmers is taking part in Community Supported Agriculture (where you purchase a share of produce in advance, then make weekly pick-ups for a set period). This is a Greens CSA with lots of  goodies from the greenhouse, as well as roots and squash left from last season. It is VERY exciting to go each week and see what my selection will be. I get to pick 7-8 items each week, and they vary slightly each time. So far the selection have included beets, carrots, Tetsukabuto squash, kale raab, regular kale, collards, parsley, spinach, mustard greens, and Claytonia (see below). I am loving the influx of farm-fresh surprises.

Each item says what it is and how many to take

There are 7-8 bins to choose items from

Noisy goats

This is claytonia, a succulent salad green that's great with a light dressing

Some Claytonia leaves have little flowers in the center

 

Other April Photos

This is garlic cream pasta with chicken & spinach

First creemee of the season!

Blood root in bloom

Crocus blossoms & snowdrops early in the month

 

March 2025: To Whatever End

March felt busy and long. Our country continues to reel as wave after wave of bad and/or weird news emanates from the many idiots who have taken charge. At the same time, days go by and various personal things happen. Here are some!

Back to Running

I never know when I'm going to start running again in the new year, and March is when it happened in 2025. I start out with just a couple of miles on a Sunday, then build up to another run during the week... just slow and casual-like. I don't like to trap myself in complicated patterns or promises, so I kind of sidle into things that I really want to do. It's working so far! 

Huntertones Concert

If the Huntertones, a swingin' Ohio sextet, ever play near you... GO! Lots of crisp funky horns, lots of energy and happiness, this show was LIT. We saw them at the Vermont Jazz Center and the band and audience were fueling each other with love. It was so much fun to be in a hoppin' room full of their talent and our appreciation. The Huntertones had also done a master class at the local high school the day before, so our kid got to see them in action. I bought their latest CD, Motionation, to enjoy them at home. 

Margarita's family dinner

When we were all together for March break, we went to Keene, New Hampshire one evening for a cheese-filled feast at Margarita's Mexican restaurant. I had the "Mexican flag" burrito platter, which is a red, a white, and a green burrito (maybe too much food but dang it was delicious).

Farmer's Market, continued 

I continued getting local meat, vegetables, mushrooms, and even cornmeal from local producers at the Saturday Farmer's Market. I also started making "Farmer's Market Soup," which involves a winter squash, leeks, carrots, and chicken bone broth, all purchased at the market from farmers within 5-15 miles of where I live. I simmer until everything is soft, then blend it up into a beautiful orange puree that is soul-warmingly tasty.

A Visitor!

We had a guest come visit from several states away--very exciting!! We wandered all around town and talked for hours. They took us out for a delicious meal at one of our finest local restaurants, Peter Havens. I had the short-rib over polenta and both my companions had the scallop special, which looks fantastic. We also got a few oysters. 

Happy Spring my dears!!

February 2025: Dark Have Been My Dreams of Late

Oh hello! The world is just getting weirder, but there are some glimmers. People are pushing back, standing up, and doing the right thing. It's hard to even keep track of what is going on in the USA right now, but I'm pretty sure the rest of the world thinks we are mostly complete idiots. Which we deserve.

ANYWAY. Here are a few of my own glimmers from this past February. Just to keep track.

Organic Farming Conference

I got to attend an incredible 1-day conference put on by NOFA-VT (Northeast Organic Farmers Association of Vermont) and went to sessions of Vermont food security, intentional communities, and food hubs (which are like distribution and marketing facilities that help local farms get produce out to more people). I am very inspired to learn more about the connections between soil health, relocalized agriculture, and improved public health. I'm pretty sure this is already a thing, but I want to find the people who know about it and talk to them! Also I can't wait to go back next year.

Vermont Senator Peter Welch spoke at the opening of the conference. Cool!

More Snowshoeing

I managed to get out into the woods on snowshoes 3 times this winter. On my second trip, the woods were full of perfect fluffy snow and at one point I just flopped onto my back by the side of the trail and stared up at the tree branches and the sky. I thought about how each tree is like its own person and I was in their neighborhood and they have been there for years and will be there for years more. I've been reading Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and thinking a lot about how humans are nature, and nature is full of creatures that we walk in kinship with, and how grateful I am to live near trees and woods.

 

Annual Museum Trip to MassMoCA

Yep, we wended our way to North Adams once again to go on our annual pilgrimage to the Museum of Contemporary Art there. This time we really like the Road to Hybridabad installation by Osman Khan. It is a multi-media fantastical imagining of a US+Pakistan+Muslim+AI journey. It included information on djinns/genies/I Dream of Jeannie, flying carpets, a re-reading room full of texts to reconsider, and a "Land of Milk & Honey" that was full of convenience store shelves filled with conventional milk + honey products (think milk chocolate bars and Honey Crisp cereal). It was very cool. We also played a long time in the Gunnar Schonbeck experiential music room and I got to see some of the Lori Anderson installations for the first time (they were always too crowded before).

magical being + moon craft, Osman Khan

Scheherezade 2.0 will tell you stories

Schedule in the "re-reading room", Osman Khan

Another exhibit was about 2-spirit people in indigenous & queery communities, called Power Full Because We're Different, with a huge room divided into two parts, one light and serene, one dark and pulsing with music

A Prayer for the Internet by Petra Szilagyi

CRAVING SALAD

It's that time of year when I've had ENOUGH of carb-y winter foods and suddenly my body-mind switches over to wanting lots of green and crunchy things. We've been having some toothsome arugula-laden salads lately. I can't wait until the snow thaws and the dandelions come up and then I'll EAT THEM!

 

100+ Pancakes

At work there was a breakfast-for-lunch day and I volunteered to make pancakes for an hour. Here is only part of what I made--I think it was well over 100 pancakes. I like making pancakes.

January 2025: And So It Begins.

The month of January felt really long and chaotic. First there was the joy of having some time off, the fresh feeling of New Year's and a birthday. Spending time with family and having some cake. Then, Los Angeles burned down. Apart from the horror of watching this happen, we have family who live there and were evacuated, so we were concerned about them and watched the fire perimeter creeping toward their home (it was okay). Then, the new fascist regime took the reins of power in this country and started wreaking hateful, reckless, idiotic havoc. They don't care about anything but themselves, and they definitely don't care about the America that I was raised in and that I loved for its openness, its brotherly courage, and its dedication to freedom, self-expression and the pursuit of happiness. These new, self-centered, twisted people want 100% of the power and the money, and they don't care about anyone's happiness or dignity or humanity. I am desperate to find places to help and voices of hope or just anyone who has a plan, but I have not found much of that yet.

ANYWAY. I still have a list of some things I did this month, and I did enjoy them. It's not frivolous to enjoy some parts of life, otherwise THEY will have won and beat us down completely. Just know that behind this list is an apocalyptic backdrop that is making me and many other people feel sad, hopeless, furious, depressed, outraged, disgusted, and much more.

Local Meat: Investing in Community

For years I have said I wanted to buy meat locally so I know how the animals were raised, that they were cared for and treated humanely, and that I'm supporting somebody in my own community. This January I took action! I have started going to the local winter farmer's market that happens every Saturday. I also go weekly to a farmstand that is practically on my way home from work and pick up beautiful large local eggs and any other things we need--onions or mushrooms for example. I strongly believe that investing back into our communities and local food systems can help sustain us now and into the precarious future. So far I've gotten local beef, chicken, and pork, including a ham steak. It's all been delicious, especially the local chicken.

Chicken thighs, stew beef & eggs from the Farmer's Market

Ground beef, mushrooms, eggs & onions from the farm stand

Bread Machine & English Muffins

One of us was given a small bread machine for Christmas, and we've been experimenting with making 1-pound loaves (which is the capacity of the machine). We've found that a 1-pound loaf is the perfect amount to bake up fresh and eat with dinner--alongside some thick black bean soup for example. The bread machine is really easy to use and an exciting addition to our appliance family.

Butter melting into fresh warm bread + black bean soup

I also made some English muffins this month from sourdough starter discard. They are not hard to make and quite yummy! I like to eat them toasted with butter and orange marmalade.

Miso Soup Season

In addition to buying meat locally, I'm also still trying to have several vegetarian meals each week because I think non-meat days are important. One belly-warming combo is to make a batch of miso soup and a batch of brown rice, and then put the hot warm rice into the soup for a nourishing and satisfying meal. For this soup I used the shiitake mushrooms shown in the farm stand photo above.

I like to make diagrams of meals so I remember the ingredients

Gaming Log

One of my newer hobbies is playing games on our Nintendo Switch system. I've now made my way through at least 9 different games, include Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild & also Tears of the Kingdom, Inside, Portal & Portal 2, and Wytchwood. Exploring the worlds and quirks of each game is delightful. My most recent game was called "Snufkin, Melody of Moominvalley" and my partner saw this cute Moomin notebook and had to get it for me. I immediately decided to use it as a little gaming log so I can keep track of what I'm playing and how I liked it. (I gave Snufkin 3 out of 5 stars, for example. Breath of the Wild got 5 stars and 3 plus signs because it's my FAVORITE.)

Cover of my Moomin notebook

One of my gaming entries (for Snufkin)

Photos

I like to take pictures of squash. Sometimes I draw them later, sometimes I just admire the pictures.

I took this at golden hour (sunset aka 4:30 pm) while snowshoe-ing in the woods. Gorgeous.