My First Birth

Had one of the most fantastically inspiring nights of my life last night. Nutmeg and Carpenter Man's sweet second baby was ushered into the world and I had the great honor of attending the birth (can words express what kind of a friend-gift that is???? I think not.)  at the side of the midwife who delivered most of own children. I cannot even describe to you all the sheer, scream-at-the-top-of-your-lungs feeling of peak experience I felt walking out into the crisp, cold February air re-playing the visual in my mind's eye of Baby's placid, buttermilk-velvet profile, slipping into his mother's waiting arms and then being cradled to her face for first kisses.

Life is peppered with a few crystal moments and I knew--standing there on the curb, helping my mentor load her birthing supplies back into her trunk and then hugging her under the golden halo of the streetlights---that I had lived one of those great times. A time that will always be hung in space as significant.

So, to better remember, there on the sidewalk at 1:45AM, I pulled out my camera, squeezed my cheek against hers and held it out and snapped a memory. A little salute to one of my heroes.

So, here's to you, Martha, I feel so blessed to have knelt at the side of a laboring mother, next to you and to have peered over your shoulder as you worked and helped you lug your bags out to the car. I know that yours are big shoes, and I hope someday I'll be able to keep a pair on as I slosh down the road of midwifery. You're super inspiring.

A Fabulous Wind Up

Had a great end to the week today. Visited with Nutmeg, took a delivery of grassfed beef for our second freezer from a local farmer, picked out paint for my new trash table project, made another apple cake, did some picking up around the house, ran the laundry and generally kicked some patootie.

This latest apple cake is a strange animal. A really yummy strange animal, but an odd one nonetheless. Its not really a cake. Its maybe a pastry? Coffee cake? Pudding? Not sure exactly, but as it isn't a cake it isn't gonna be able to take the prize. Its still not what I was looking for although as noted, its good.

 It has a shortbready crust, a lot of sliced apples piled in the center and then a thickening dairy laden sweet batterish thing poured on top and then a streusal over the whole thing. Oh....and you bake it in a springform pan, and it requires a genuine European pudding mix to make it just the right way. The fabulous things you find yourself mixing up and tasting when you let your brother-in-law sail away to Europe and bring back an extremely lovely woman as a wife. Thanks Gigi! Its really yum!

I also am finally ready for the full reveal on the living room paint job. See? Raspberry...not Barbie. I told you. Whew!

I think its good although the mirror needs a frame and needs to be raised and I'm nervous about the balance and arrangement of all the "stuff" I have in here to decorate. I am never sure if I'm arranging correctly or if I'm over-cluttering which is my tendency for sure.

And look at the new valance I put up in the kitchen? Isn't that winning? I love it. Now I'm just dreaming of a narrow little glass shelf mounted halfway up the window to put houseplants on.

And one more treasure, witness this intricate mother-of-pearl crucifix I found in the cellar! And also this beautiful antique malted milk bottle found in the same treasure hunting spot. Gotta love old houses. I cannot even tell you how cool I think it is to find these little hints of the past that were left here. Major bonus.

Oh....and one more thing. You should all go check out my wonderful friend Sam's website. Sam is a cartoonist (for real, that's his real job) and he lives in Vermont and he's an old school friend of mine from my theatre days. Does he get cooler? Perhaps, he's only in his 20's. Isn't life grand? Anyhow...his website where he recently featured my family in one of his cartoons can be found here. Stop by, check his stuff out and tell him I sent you. He's a good man, is Sam.