east west

if we moved to the country...

If we moved to the country, I'd utilize those tomatoes rather than letting them go to waste in our 10' x 10' garden. I would learn how to can, and would somehow develop a taste for tomato juice.

If we moved to the country, spider webs wouldn't bother me. I would let the spiders out conscientiously, and wouldn't even wash my hands afterward.

If we moved to the country, I'd be happy with my own mug of coffee in the kitchen and wouldn't feel a pressing need to consume it in a place filled with mid-century modern furniture.

If we moved to the country, I'd let the dog run wild. He'd catch rabbits and would lay them by the front door for us, grinning proudly.

If we moved to the country, I'd take my walks along a road lined with a barbed-wire fence. The dust would kick up, and my ankles would be stained the color of the land.

If we moved to the country, I'd read more often and would become content with my music collection. I like to think that I wouldn't need broadband access, but am 100% certain that would not be the case.

If we moved to the country, I’m afraid I'd still be me. I would drive 30 miles out of town for a decent cup of coffee and would lock my doors against the night and tell my children there's a mountain lion in the woods so they'd decide to build their forts in the living room from now on, and they will grow up and immediately move to a suburb so they can have the experience of having neighbors. But they won't really know how to have neighbors and will end up interacting with them quite awkwardly and then - maybe around their mid to late twenties - they'll develop an over-romanticized desire to move to the country, and the cycle will start over again.

posted by jessica @ 4:54 PM 0 Comments

i love my roommates.

layovers. too much pulled pork bbq and coleslaw. caught myself saying "you might could check with grandma about that". stuck in some nebulous time zone between eastern and pacific. arrive back to portland around eleven pm. have to go to work at eight in the morning. splitting migraine that just won't go away. am happy to be home. open my closet door to find this:

posted by jessica @ 6:52 PM 0 Comments

I don't think the phrase "eco-ninja" is quite appropriate.

I've been missing deciduous forest recently, and couldn't seem to get the Appalachians out of my mind. Allowing myself to act on an impulse, I bought a ticket east, and will leave in less than 48 hours. I haven't experienced summer in Southwest Virginia since 2003, so seeing a lightning bug is long overdue. Plus, my perfectly southern grandma, who makes a damn good ham biscuit, is turning ninety and is having her first ever birthday party. Actually, I feel guilty for putting "grandma" and "damn" in the same sentence. But she doesn't have a computer, let alone Internet access, so I think we'll be fine.

The past few weeks have been spent avoiding the myriad hipsters in our driveway (see article: Do You Have Hipsters? )Stumptown Bikes, apparently, has been born.

In a few weeks, we'll take this brown dog and head to Montana for who knows how long.

On a different note, TQ left this morning. She took I-5 south towards Los Angeles. Headed to California, she is. I sat in her old upstairs bedroom for quite a while this afternoon. For once, I didn't listen to any music. Just sat there.

posted by jessica @ 6:49 PM 0 Comments