1. I already loved Elliott Smith when I lived in Brooklyn, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that he sounds even better in Portland. Especially on a beautiful rainy gray day.
2. Leonard Cohen sounds awfully good on a rainy gray day too.
3. I gave up caffeine about a month ago. Expecting that low-grade detox depression to lift any minute now.
4. (I’m drinking decaf now, so I didn’t REALLY give up caffeine.)
5. I’m reading this now, and liking it, but sometimes it makes my head feel kinda funny. But maybe that’s the lack of coffee talking.
6. One of the more entertaining side-effects of still breastfeeding a two and a half year old is the kind of conversation that results. Ever wonder what your seven-month-old is thinking while nursing? A few of Thumper’s recent nursing-related musings:
7. I’ve wanted these boots since I was sixteen. Wanted them bad, but I don’t spend that kind of money on pretty much anything for myself. Well, Billy bought them for me for the holidays. (awww!) I love them. I wear them constantly. I never want to wear anything else on my feet ever again. The problem? All my handknit socks are now obsolete. (Except for these.) How fast do you think I can knit up an entire wardrobe of knee socks?
(Just saw there’s a comment on that old sock post from Max. Sigh… How many of you were around way back then and remember Max? I do. I remember you, Max. You are missed.)
8. Yesterday was a rough day, until I ate a tempeh reuben for dinner. Apparently fermented soy beans, cheese, and sauerkraut make everything okay.
Now I have to go find out who Elliot Smith is. I’ve always been a Leonard Cohen fan, and once, two or three lifetimes ago, in 1966 (or it might have been 67), I attended the Aspen Program in Contemporary Arts, and Cohen was also there. He read some of my poetry and was kinder than necessary. We drank a lot. He was the first “star” I ever met up close and personal, so he set a standard difficult for others to meet. Later he wrote me a nice letter and I was stunned and thrilled to find it in an overstuffed file during our packing preparations.
What’s wrong with caffeine? Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. Or is it just a nursing mother thing? If so, that’s all right, because it doesn’t apply to me. But I wonder if you eat a lot of strawberries? I have strawberries in my cereal everyday. I bet it’s not the same thing.
It is also a gray, rainy day in DC. But I bet it is at least warmer in Portland. It is in the upper 30s this afternoon.
I am so with you on the tempeh reubens. I haven’t had one in a long, long time – thanks for the reminder.
My daughter nursed until she was 4 years old. A week after she’d weaned, we were in a group of nursing moms, babies and toddlers and so she asked to nurse again. She climbed up on my lap, made a move toward nursing position, sat up again and said, “Actually, I’d like some REAL milk.” I guess she’d moved on!
If cheese can’t make you feel better than nothing can–unless one is lactose intolerant or suffering from food poisoning.
Your boots are awesome and I really have to learn to turn a heel.
Interesting how you felt better after you ate the Reuben. Maybe it wasn’t all comfort food-related but a little dietary? The soy? The grey can really get some folks down.
Have you given up all caffeine so you can’t even enjoy comforting cups of tea? I know, it isn’t really a bad idea. I did it a few years ago and found I slept MUCH better which lifted the blues I was feeling at the time.
I should probably be following your example. 🙂
oh, boots. sigh. those are so beautiful. i love me some fryes. it’s definitely knee sock time for you. or legwarmers. no one will no there’s no foot attached.
Oh no, I didn’t need to see those boots, because now I WANT those boots! They look like they might even fit my ridiculously, um, buff, yeah, buff calves.
I have nothing profound for you, except that I miss you and wish you lived closer so I could invite you over for some herbal tea and cookies. I actually thought of you last night: John and I went on an exceedingly rare date to the theater to see “August: Osage County,” which is extraordinary. I think you would really appreciate the writing, which is why you came to mind. I hope all is well. Strawberry milk? So friggin’ cute.
Ooh! Your new boots are such a treat! I love them. I think a new pair of knee-high socks are in order.
mmmm…tempeh reubens
mmmm…Elliot Smith.
Oh, those engineer boots! I’ve wanted them forever, too. Fortunately for my budget, it’s too hot where I live to justify them.
Oh Cari-thank you for remembering Max! I still read your blog because it was one of the first he directed me to when introducing me to the world of blogging. And he, of course, taught me how to knit. He was my very best friend in the world and I miss him every single day and always, always will. I am forever grateful for the web of support he had from the online knitting community who loved him so much. He died 11 days before the birth of my first (and so far, only) child. A little over a month after Iain was born, I received a package from his husband Michael, that had been sent to him from another knitting blogger whose name I have sadly forgotten. She knew Max had been too ill to knit all of the things he had wanted to for me and his godbaby and so she made the most beautiful and tiny cashmere hat in the bright reds and oranges that he loved most. It is one of the most precious things I’ve ever received. Sorry this is long and rambling but thank you, thank you, thank you for not forgetting my boy. The best of everything to you and your family in 2009.
Those are damn cute boots. I’m sure you wear them well.
Maybe instead of knee socks, you can save time and just make cuffs? They can either fold over the top of the boots, or be like wrist warmers which start below the knee and go for a few inches? Glad your day got better – sauerkraut would not improve my day, glad it helped you.
Thumper’s comments are hilarious! Those boots!! Oh lordy. Me likey.
Cari,
I’ve been reading your blog for ages but have never commented. Your past few months have been really difficult for me to read because they are just too close. I’ve got a little boy who turns three in April. I stopped nursing him last summer when I got pregnant, and ended up reading about your lost baby as I was losing my own. I still have not got over nursing. And he still asks about it (“Want boobies. Oh, want to see if milk left.”) So nurse and nurse and nurse and be part of every minute of it. The tempeh reuben sounds like a good cure for a bad day. I may have to make myself one.
I hope this year brings you everything that last year couldn’t.
I miss Max, too. What an amazing comment from April.
You’re allowed to go and buy a bunch of knee socks. Tall socks now count as a necessary foundation garment.
Are the boots comfy? They look so … hard. Do they flex OK?
Love those boots!!
My two & a half year old still nurses a lot. She says things like “that one’s empty now mama” & “drink some more water”. She also thinks I should nurse myself, her dad & all of the stuffies. Every time I consider stopping I think about the amazingness of having her curled into me, snuggled up & nursing while I bury my face in her hair. Nursing rocks.
YAY for the boots!!! Way to go Billy!