and the cotton is high

Happy June 21, the first day of summer!  It seems to me that summer is already in happy full swing.  I've ticked off a couple of my i-really-want-to-do-these-this-summer items, like jumping on a trampoline, running in the sprinklers, having a fresh strawberry shake, canoeing, making a fondant cake, and sitting in the heat for a small town parade. (side note: is PG still considered a small town?)

Here is my cake made in honor of my beautiful sister Bonnie.  Special thanks to Susan for her easy fondant recipe and to Emma for her mad rose-making skills.

Next on my little mental summer list: go to the pool, make a smallish Americana quilted something or other, go on vacation with the boy and the family, and move into my classroom and make it a first grader's (or a teacher named Bethany's) dream come true.

Huzzah for summer!

*title from Gershwin and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.  Listen here. You really should, it is beautiful.

you know what is the best?...

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owl eyes

For some reason this time of year always reminds me of The Great Gatsby.  Perhaps that is only because it was about this time 5 years ago that we were to have read it in 11th grade Honors English. Or perhaps it is because Nick (who was always my favorite character) moves to West Egg in the late Spring of 1922 and it is something of a springboard for the futile interchange of Tom, Daisy, Gatsby, Jordan, Nick, and Myrtle. 

Or it could possibly be that I am simply thinking on The Great Gatsby because of how it demonstrates a sort of cynical and cyclical version of what is past. I may or may not be a little bit cynical about life just now.  I may or may not feel like I am going in circles. Ever felt like that yourself? Ever wondered just where you needed to look for just a little bit of respite?  I'm not sure if Gatsby has the answer to that one, as I never felt entirely satisfied with the ending (betrayal, murder, suicide).  I guess with Gatsby the answers to the questions do not come at the end, they come throughout the tale as the plot unwinds and rewinds and forwardwinds.  Perhaps some of them aren't even there.

And maybe that is how it is with life too.  In fact, if we only looked for answers at the end or at the beginning, we would likely miss the wisdom of the middle pages and the pages that no one has written yet.

“If all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you would not be without friends.”  

-Helen, Jane Eyre

may the fourth

geez, Louise. I love Star Wars.  Everything Star Wars.  I love Darth Vader and pod-racing and  Qui-Gon and Princess Leia hairstyles and Han and Obi-Wan and Mos Eisely and those ultra cheesy lines in number 3. And I love quotes like this:

Today, as you know, is Intergalactic Star Wars Day! What a legit holiday. It has its own Wikipedia page and everything. This calls for celebration, I should think.  Perhaps a marathon of Star Wars movies tonight?  Perhaps a light-sabre battle on the front lawn?  Perhaps playing a little Lego Star Wars on Gamecube?  Perhaps the heavy consumption of blue kool-aid in imitation of that drink Aunt Beru gives Uncle Owen and Luke?  Perhaps all of the above.  I mean, look at all of the fun we had last year...

Yeah, we are nerds. Super exciting nerds who love super exciting things like Star Wars.  And, in celebration of this great day, this lovely little announcement was made. Come September, you and I can have this:

Huzzah!  Happy Star Wars Day!  

Make sure you do something festive.  

Destroy the Death Star. Hug a wookiee. Have fun!

look at me embracing the digital age

It took me quite awhile to get a cell phone, even longer to get an iPod, and now I am getting what I probably should have had from the very first: a camera! 

Cute little Canon Powershot A3100. I'm pretty much really excited!  I'm kind of a little bit fanatical about recording, capturing, and sentimentalizing random things, happy memories, and the like, so this is going to be my new best friend.

the king's speech

Last night I received word that my family would not be arriving home from their Disneyland trip just yet, but would be staying over in St. George and driving the remainder of the way this morning.  Well, in order to console myself about having to be all alone with 4 cats for one more night, I took myself to a movie.

It was fantastic! Months ago when I saw the preview I built up a happy anticipation for it...until I discovered that it was rated R.  Rats.  Then it won a bazillion Academy Awards, and  THEN it was re-released with a PG-13 rating because someone realized there was no reason to rate it R.  Anyway, I saw it and I loved it.

Aside from the 15 seconds of straight (and impassioned) profanity that maintains that -13 rating there isn't anything that could make this movie better than it is.  Don't tell, but I will allow that slew of profanity because it is actually completely integral to the film and to King George VI's character's journey.

The King's Speech is full of our favorite fantastic British actors.  I love these guys.  See, we have Mr. Darcy, who is the son of Dumbledore, and the brother of Fernand Mondego.  He is also married to Bellatrix Lestrange and receives speech therapy from Captain Barbossa , who also happens to be married to Elizabeth Bennet.  Not to mention that  the Scarlet Pimpernel is the Prime Minister, Mr. Collins is the Theatre Director, and Peter Pettigrew is none other than Winston Churchill.

See?  Awesome caliber of actors.  Awesome film. Awesome story.  Awesome music (Alexander Desplat is always fantastic).  Awesome visual style...you get a great sense of how constricted the King feels.  Awesome everything. Go see it.  Plug your ears for that 15 seconds or so if you like, but go see it.  Here is one of my favorite parts:

King George VI: "Listen to me!"
Lionel Logue: "Listen to you?  By what right?"
King George VI: "By divine right if you must, I am your king."
Lionel Logue: "No you're not, you told me so yourself.  You didn't want it.  Why should I waste my time listening?"
King George VI: "Because I have a right to be heard.  I have a voice!"

I love it.