In Honor of Spring!

I love flowers. Who doesn't? They're these perfect, beautiful, symbolic, fragrant things that just burst spontaneously from the ground. So here's a little post for my fellow floraphiles. My faves:

Tulips ~ The first year of our marriage, Jesse and I lived in a tiny basement under a shop. In the winter, it felt like a cave. A cave with 70s carpet and 2 rooms. But in the spring, hundreds of tulips popped up all around the yard, and we had them in the house for weeks. Then it was a sunny cave with tulips--a vast improvement.

Dapne ~ If you've ever smelled a daphne bush, you know what I mean. This flower means Spring. It's my favorite smell in the whole world, including chocolate cake, my mom's perfume, old books, fresh-cut grass, and my grandparents' garage.

Crocus ~ After long, long winters in Rexburg, these dear faces pop through the snow around the Taylor building, and sometimes you see little groups of people huddled around them, cheering them on.

Hydrangeas ~ These are my Oregon coast buddies. I can't wait to have them in my yard.

Oh Wisteria. ~ I have had a life-long love affair with Wisteria. My window faced the sideyard as a kid, with a view of the fence and the gravel. One spring, we got a wisteria plant and my parents put it in the sideyard. Love. If I had my way, my entire house would be covered in Wisteria. Don't care if it takes over everything else. Some things you just can't fight.

Stargazer lilies ~ I took a semester off one fall in undergrad and worked at a call center for one of those online florists. It was a terrible business, during a displaced time, and I used to look at these lillies during calls and imagine having my own house someday and keeping Stargazers in the kitchen.

Zinnias ~ I was not a spoiled child, except in one respect: we had a pool. My Dad, a landscape architect, designed our pool to look like a pond, with a sort of kidney bean shape, a black bottom, and planters. In the summer, these were filled with Zinnias in all the colors of a sunset.

Peonies ~ At Pike Street Market in Seattle, the stands just spill over with Peonies in the spring and early summer.

And so many more.

These Days

On Friday morning, our dear Emma's father passed away. The last time we saw him was Christmas, which he spent cracking sly grandpa jokes. He was sick for only a few months, and their family was able to all be with him when he died. I can't speak for the rest of the Pilgrims, but at this stage in our lives, when sometimes it feels like we've sort of scraped together our little temporary family, it has been so nice to be a very small part of a very real family. Here's to good examples and families holding together.

Hello from Ireland!

Welp, Jesse and I rode Ryanair successfully and didn't perish in the process. We arrived at Shannon airport around 2 and climbed in our rental car (yippee!). Jesse, being a highly versatile, highly talented driver, took to the left like a pro. Ok, not a pro. But he managed just fine driving on the wrong side of the road in the wrong side of the car with a manual and a nervous wife.

We drove from there to Ennis, a smallish town known for its traditional music and great food. We parked the car and walked around the city a bit. Our Ireland book recommended a little pizza place which we stopped into. The pizza was kind of meh, but the proprietor turned out to be Danny DeVito's cousin and had pictures of himself at Danny's house for Easter Sunday, etc. So that was cool.

After lunch, we set off looking for a good Irish CD to keep us company while we drive. After a lot of searching, we came to Custy's Music. We found this to be a cute small shop with a pleasant looking man sitting behind the desk plucking his violin along with the music playing overhead. We sort of screamed tourist already with our backpacks and tennis shoes (uh, trainers...), and when I asked for help picking out "something up-beat and kinda drummy" I really proved how non-Irish we are. How is it that my whole life I've felt connected to Ireland and loved Celtic music, and I don't even know what a bodhran is? Anyway, we bought a cd, and he asked where we were staying. We didn't know, and he recommended The Rowan Tree hostel, and here we are! It's very nice and new, and we're sort of cheating by getting a private room for tonight. Still, it's very nice to be in a hostel again. I forgot how relaxed the atmosphere is and how there's a homey feeling with the communal kitchen and common rooms.

We took a little nap, then headed back out around 7, hoping to find a live music session at a pub. Turns out Monday night isn't a real party day. No live music to be found, but we did have some really swell seafood at a cozy pub.

We made an early night of it, and are now in the hostel dining room catching up on computer stuff. Know what I love? I love that in the kitchenwas a couple grilling bruschetta and making pasta together, with a bottle of wine and a nice table all set up. People are cool. Anyhoo, didn't take a lot of pictures, sorry to say. Ennis is really cute and old, and we both agree that there is a big difference between Irish people and English people. While the English are polite and everything, they are very reserved and don't often smile or look up on the street (unless you're in a tiny town). Everyone here seems very nice and approachable. We were looking lost and a woman just walking by asked if needed help. Everyone seems like they have a joke up their sleeve.

Looking forward to picking up Sarah tomorrow and exploring some countryside.

"Not my fault I'm awesome."

Jesse is, at this moment, attempting to write his requests for letters of recommendation for teaching positions next year. He has his headphones on and is looking very absorbed. Every few seconds, he mutters random words: "kiss." "checkers." "Laura Linney." Sometimes he shouts: "squeegee!" "brillo pad!" "Ronald Reagan." Sometimes he speaks with solemn assurance: "New Zealand." Some of these utterances are followed by a triumphant fist to the air, while others are punctuated with a head shake or chuckle.

"Hannah. Hagar! Dang it!"

Has he lost it?

"Guacamole."

No, he's just listening to--not watching--Jeopardy as he works. Have you ever heard of such a thing? I love that guy. This is silly.

Help

So, remember how Liz used to make awesome mixed CDs for all the roommates as an end-of-term gesture of BFF love and premature nostalgia? CDs that somehow managed to sum up your time together with those certain songs you all found yourselves playing or singing in the shower a lot? Because she's cool and proactive and musical like that? Yeah, well. We wanted to be cool like that, too. Unfortunately, the only songs that have been popping up enough around here to warrant inclusion on the Silly Pilgrims Playlist so far are as follows:

"I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" by Danny Kaye
"Midnight at the Oasis" by Maria Muldaur
"F(orget) You" by Cee Lo Green
"The Cheat Is Not Dead" by Strongbad
"Toxic" by Brittany Spears
and... wait for it...
The Chicken Dance.

Which is pretty much the saddest playlist EVER.

I think we need to get out more.

The effin' CHICKEN DANCE.

True Grit

Today True Grit opened in England. We have all been very impatient waiting for it to finally get here. And I have to say that it lived up to my expectations and then some. I did however wonder how our British friends thought of the film. I, an American, struggled at time with the thick accents. I have no idea how much the British understood. I did notice that they didn't really laugh when we did. Then again maybe we just differ in our sense of humor.



Some of our favorite quotes were:

"I do not know that man"

"You are not Le Beef"

"Well that didn't pan out..."

"Abandoned me to a congress of louts!"

"You do not varnish your words."

among other gems.

So at home I decided we would all pose as Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn since I happened to have an eye patch in my purse. (What doesn't everyone?) These are the gorgeous shots that came form that adventure.





The only sad part on today was that we all missed America just a little bit. I mean how could we not? Horses, Cowboys, Deserts, guns... etc. Plus this movie just made me think and miss my Dad. But it was an incredible film, and had amazing performances form its stars! I would recommend this to anyone. But I do have to say that the western violence is a bit much. I'm not sure how it passed the PG-13 rating. Be warned... it still is a Coen brothers movie!

Girls Day!

This term Kathleen, Annie, and I have classes on Monday and Tuesday. (I have the occasional seminar on Wednesdays, but they don't really count.) Jesse has a class on Thursday, and so we've decided that Thursdays will be our girls day out. We have started a tradition by going to the Chartham Farmers Market.

The walk to Chartham was gorgeous! It really was a beautiful fall day! (Yes I know it is winter, but it really felt like a fall day.)




And the Farmers Market was held in the community center. It was so awesome! They had cake for 50p a slice! Brilliant.



We ended up getting apples, bananas, fresh local juice, and bacon! It was quite a successful adventure!



And then we had a wonderful walk home with a gradual sunset. Truly an awesome outing!



Can't wait for next week!