the sunset tree

this lovely indian summer we've been having 

has found the pillar house bunnies 

basking in the late summer sunlight on the lawn under the trees.

AllySnack warbles.

Kato reads us interesting facts on her iphone.

And I daydream about pumpkin pie and new running shoes.

But even though the weather has been amazing and good things keep hopping right into my life, the real magic of it all is that, 

well,

for fear of sounding overly sentimental (actually, I don't really care. Watch me), is these little angel people I have here. 

Seriously.

I am so so so lucky to have the friends I have. Friends that make me brush my teeth and share their closets, beds, and other-worldly cheering-up powers and speak with me in an accidentally-developed dialect incorporating baby talk, bunny speak, and overall incomprehensibly incorrect grammar. And they write songs with me and sing them and generally just make my life a happy thing to live.

I guess it can only be summed up thus?

"Oh wonder!

How many goodly creatures are there 

here!

How beauteous mankind is! o brave new

world

That has such people in't!"

-The Tempest,  Willie Shakespeare

Now how 'bout them fall leaves?

eh?

love love love,

Nan.

Things I like

1. Sunday evening lawn-sitting with twice-baked potatoes, beans, and my favorite, most strikingly beautiful sister duo.

Mika and Elyse

Lambert the knee spot making a full summer appearance.

2. Monday afternoon Chattanooga Choo Choo dancing on the table with a giant bowl of cookie dough. 

3. How Brookie knows every word to the Chattanooga Choo Choo

(not to mention Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z).

4. Lovely, lovely school books that come every day in the mail.

They smell like learning and life. Today Chateaubriand and Milton surprised me in the mailbox. What's up, guys?

Things I don't like:

1. Bunn ran away. Have you seen an adorable rabbit with floppy ears? Probably faint with dehydration?

2. They razed the rose bushes. Plucked out the pear trees. And when we got Mika to ask them in Spanish, they said they hadn't even seen a bunny in the process.

No roses and no Bunn.

Is this an omen? 

Is this a breath of the end  of summer love?

Love, Ken Burns, and the end is near,

Banana 

Sunsets in cars.

And we: spectators, always, everywhere,

facing all this, never the beyond.

It overfills us. We arrange it. It falls apart.

We arrange it again, and fall apart ourselves.

Who has turned us around like this, so that

whatever we do, we find ourselves in the attitude

of someone going away?

Just as that person

on the last hill, which shows him his whole valley

one last time, turns, stops, lingers--,

so we live, forever taking our leave.

-Rilke

from The Eighth Elegy

 

love, late morning poetry, and last weeks of summer,

Banana

p.s. I am now a working woman. Feel free to praise me.

Don't mind me, I'm just a summer fairy

My Brookie in Christmas Meadows

In my current jobless, schooless state, my primary project is to fill in some of the pot holes of this, the pot hole summer. (On a good day I call it "The Summer Without Men," On a really good day I call it "Girl Power Summer," And in Paris I called it "Un été sans les hommes.")

That means

1. bunny.

her official names are: Noble Beast (Bea for short) and Tulip.
But mostly she is Little Bunny Naughty Bun.

 2. sunday croquet matches.

complete with puppy, kitten, and a lot of candy.

 3. crafts and arts and readings on the lawn.

Brookie and Bun.

 4. mountains, meadows, nature, best friends, skinny dipping, making music, and daisy chains.

Don't mind me, I'm just a summer fairy.

 Banana.

I am back with my bunnies.

Which means...

The banana is back in her happy, hearty habitat...

Thank you, Courtney Jones, for this stunning portrait. A wonderful likeness, I think.

...AND that we got a bunny.

Because sometimes you get home from Europe at 1 in the morning, and when you wake up you realize you need a fluffy little replacement boyfriend that curls up in the cutest ball and hops around the tree in the front yard and nibbles carrots from your fingertips.

I love her I love her I love her.

And we (the bunnies and I) are ready for summer fun!
Which means
the first order of business upon returning to the Utah place (after the bunny) was to see the baby elephant at the zoo.

Hello, summer (or what's left of you). I'm ready to play.

Love, loveliness, and catching crawdads too,

Banana

P.S. All pictures (except the one from my Holga) are via Matt's lovely old camera.

Well said, self.

view from backyard of best friend Mary's lake house. This summer has been so magical.

My cherished, tattered notebook of thoughts, lists, and the occasional be-scribbled poem, inspired me today.

yeah, it's a little narcissistic to inspire myself, I realize.
but still.

It was the last line of this:
Freedom List (LIBERATING TO-DOS)
travel. everywhere.
backpack (travel on meager means. everywhere.)
SCUBA.
skydive.
elope.
become completely financially independent.
motorcycle.
caravan .
sail around the world.
rock climb (real rocks).
live in the city.
live in the boonies.
and here it is:
*get lost in the lustre of existence*

my own profundity astounds me sometimes. (Note the use of the "re" ending. Very European.)
ummm I really hope I didn't read that phrase somewhere.

How should I go about doing that?

love. banana.

Doe, a Deer

I finally officially got a summer job and it is most likely, officially, the best one in the world.

Some would call me a nanny or some such nonsense, but

as any enlightened theatre goer knows, I am, in fact,

A Governess

I get to spend all day, every day, with two delightsome children. I get to be outside. I get to get a tan. It's not such a bad deal, really.

We spend most of our time singing, longing for our father's love, and hiding from Nazis.

Love, Hunter, and Sarah,

Nina