I milked a goat

She was very nice about it. I'm trying to finish an epic post about visiting Redwood Hill Farm with my friend Miss Steak that will go up on Sunday on the other blog. Goats are the sweetest, most curious, nibbly creatures. I loved meeting them. Baaah!

Pig love

I wrote about meeting this little Red Wattle piglet over here. Isn't she CUTE? Alas, in order to save her, we're going to have to eat her.

Proud to be an Ammarican

My friend Ammar became a U.S. citizen last week. Ammar is married to Jen, one of my best friends, who works for the State Department. They met and fell in love in Damascus, Syria, where he was born; they were married two years ago. I knew from the first time she talked about him that she was a lucky woman to have stumbled into his antique shop, and so I know that we are an especially fortunate country to be able to claim him permanently.

Jen wrote this to me: "I just can't tell you how relieved (and exhausted) we are.... months of gathering and preparing paperwork, and Ammar's studying for the written and oral exams. They played a video of Lee Greenwood's Proud to be an American with images of newly naturalized citizens celebrating after they were all sworn in. I teared up....I know the song is cheesy, but it was, nonetheless, somehow very moving."

I wanted to hear the song, so I went a'Googling. I couldn't find the video Jen and Ammar saw, but I saw another one that some random person made, setting the song to images of Hurricane Katrina. Somehow that works, too. America both inspires me and depresses me,it contains beauty and squalor effortlessly, and there is no place else I would rather live.

I too am proud to be an American. (Mostly.) Ammar, welcome to my country. May it be worthy of you.

Why I love Hüsbando, Reason #71

Because he's willing to spend an entire weekend helping me with my anal-retentive organizing projects. Case in point:


Not only did he help put up the knife racks on the left and the pot rack (custom designed by Hüsbando himself) on the right of the stove, but see that ordinary-looking pantry on the right? Well, when you go to open it, you might notice that the door is kind of thick, like a refrigerator's. That's because on the inside is ....

a built-in spice rack! With clever shelves for all of my many spices! (It took me the better part of a day to consolidate, label, and alphabetize them, as if I were auditioning for the family of The Accidental Tourist.)

Hey, if you can't find meaning in life, it's comforting to know where you can find your crap.

And it sure is nice to be loved.

The Meaning of Life, Part III

I can't help it: I have to collect quotes like this one, now that I have this easy way to save them for future reference. From a New York Times Magazine interview with singer Katell Keinig, whose music sounds very compelling:

For me, listening to music is akin to a religious experience; it's the closest thing to a religion I have. I mean, I wouldn't put it in terms of God, because I'm an atheist, but I think humans are hard-wired for religion, hard-wired with a sense of divinity, however you interpret that. There's probably some evolutionary advantage to it — this urge for meaning."