Finally, Facebook has been good for something.
YOU GUYS.
I'm not even going to talk about it; I'm just going to give you the link.
GO
NOW
PLAY
LOVE
NEVER LEAVE YOUR HOUSE AGAIN
My name is Jen. I live on the edge of reality.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Monday, May 20, 2013
Springtime Picture Time
Everyone is doing it, and I am too.
First, let me tell you something. A few days ago, I had the most sincere flip moment of my life. You know, a flip moment. Maybe that should be Flip Moment, for they are rare and somewhat significant. And yes, for the record, I did just make up the term, but does that matter? It's still important. A flip moment is when you go on for a time believing something, generally about your current surroundings and circumstance, that ends up actually being completely wrong, the opposite, and that moment you realize it is, you guessed it, the flip moment, when your stomach and psyche do a little whoa! flip and you feel like you just stepped in and out of some kind of alternate universe.
Mine, a few days ago, was that I was standing there, looking at our radiator. The radiator that, in the winter time, hisses, spews out steam, sometimes leaks. For one split moment, pure and honest, caused (I believe) by THE World's Longest Winter Ever in Recorded History EVER (TWLWERHE), I literally, actually believed we were on the seasonal edge of not spring, but winter. For surely, SURELY so much time had passed since the start of last winter that we already had spring and summer and it was now winter again. I really felt that way, and I thought, boy, i should prep the radiators for the leaks and whatnot. And when the moment flipped and i jolt-remembered we were just coming off of winter, I rejoiced in my heart, and as I left that crazy thought by the wayside, I sucker punched winter in the gut, again, for good measure. But it all felt so very weird, so very weird indeed.
On second thought, that's a bit harsh. I don't love the winter, but I appreciate it for what it is. It takes a lot of flak from the world and me, but I've learned a lot about it this time around and have come to a conclusion that it's not the absolute worst. But instead of expanding on that, let's move on, because I've talked enough about it these days. Maybe instead of punching it in the gut i just give it a strong shoulder check.
And in light of that, to celebrate, here are my pictures of springtime. I hope you like them but I also hope you view each one respectfully, with a quiet reverence, paying proper tribute to this thing we thought would NEVER. COME.
I almost think the best part about cherry blossoms are when they're on their way out, falling off the trees. a) confetti in the wind so your random leisurely walk just turned into a party in your honor, and b) the pink carpet covering the floor. Magical.
Other around-the-town pictures. Here is some giant flowering thing:
Maybe a dogwood? It's been about 3 times recently that Sean asked me what the name of a flower was and I was like, "what? Hey if I know--oh, maybe a ____? Maybe? I don't know where that came from, seriously." And then we look it up and I'm right. One was a hyacinth and the other was an iris, which Sean first called a DAFFODIL and my brain suffered a small explosion, especially since there is a substantial length of time when the entire borough of brooklyn looks like this.
Here's a picture Julian took:
Brooklyn flowers are so beautiful. People have these tiny gardens out front and their compactness (due to necessity) and stark contrast with the cement and city-ness just makes them all the more glorious. You never see a people so happy than Bklyn-ers at springtime, in my experience.
You also get to see everything up close. In the 'burbs people will have beautiful gardens and it's not like you can just stroll onto their lawn and help yourself to an up close gaze down at their flowers. At least without looking like a vagrant, or a burglar, or worse, a vagrant burglar. It's all just in your face and you are welcome to immerse yourself.
Saw these out on a walk. What's that about? i don't know, but I love it.
Reminds me of the lonely pink leaf. (yeah, you're going to have to scroll for a while to find it. you're welcome)
We've twice visited the botanic gardens recently. I am always struck by their splendor, particularly in May. Here are some pics.
First, the strange. What are these weird things? Who knows? Who can say? Actually the plaque can say. It's Witch Alder.
Everything is beautiful here. The non-flowers.. everything. What are these green.. blossoms? on this tree. Clumps? The Green Clump tree, i think that's what it was called. It's just so cool.
We walked by this tree-bush of the strangest leaves. The leaves were large and green and half of them looked like they had been dipped in white paint. I would have thought it a disease of some kind but then we saw the white leaves fully formed and knew it must have been intentional, though wacky.
It's like they had gone through a caterpillar's metamorphosis or Gandalf's transformation. They were now [name of plant]'s leaves, the white. (< -- roll eyes if you must. that was for me and me alone. ) They just dangled, fluttering in the wind. Isn't that weird??
The field of bluebells. Love it. It's one of those places where you just want to dive in the air and land in the middle of it and live there forever, but you know you can't because if you actually did it, you'd have dirt down your pants and it would probably be super uncomfortable. Like living on the sun or amongst the glowy embers in the underbelly of a campfire-- other places I want to live in forever but probably won't.
Julian took a picture of me in the rose garden. The roses aren't out yet but everyone's anticipatorily excited about them. It's nice that the flowers often give each other their moment. The roses know they'll have theirs.
We walked to grasses and thickets heretofore unvisited. There's this
little stream and it was so strange to play in it. Like, we both had to
learn how to be a kid with a stream. "Ohh, uhh... let's see. Grab that
stick and poke the mud?" all awkward. But the adjustment was a quick
one.
It's a little bit sad for me that Julian isn't used to playing in nature at all, because I really am a nature girl at the root of it all (HA). I am also a city girl, but I do feel a strong pull to nature after I've been away for too long. But this kid is city-born and raised. Still, it's inherent in him too and he took to it very well, though I did have to urge him to get a little bit wet, a little bit dirty.
That little hidden meandering stream through the meadow-like lawn with weepy trees was also added to my list. Orchard and cottage and a meadow-like lawn with weepy trees and a hidden meandering stream. And a lilac bush right at my bedroom window of my small cottage. Is that too much to ask?
The gardens are a happy place. They welcome you heartily and usher you out giving you a wild and beautiful salute on your way.
And speaking of salutes, here's to you, Spring. Here's to you. Wait, I guess I'm doing a toast. Well, picture me doing both, at the same time.
First, let me tell you something. A few days ago, I had the most sincere flip moment of my life. You know, a flip moment. Maybe that should be Flip Moment, for they are rare and somewhat significant. And yes, for the record, I did just make up the term, but does that matter? It's still important. A flip moment is when you go on for a time believing something, generally about your current surroundings and circumstance, that ends up actually being completely wrong, the opposite, and that moment you realize it is, you guessed it, the flip moment, when your stomach and psyche do a little whoa! flip and you feel like you just stepped in and out of some kind of alternate universe.
Mine, a few days ago, was that I was standing there, looking at our radiator. The radiator that, in the winter time, hisses, spews out steam, sometimes leaks. For one split moment, pure and honest, caused (I believe) by THE World's Longest Winter Ever in Recorded History EVER (TWLWERHE), I literally, actually believed we were on the seasonal edge of not spring, but winter. For surely, SURELY so much time had passed since the start of last winter that we already had spring and summer and it was now winter again. I really felt that way, and I thought, boy, i should prep the radiators for the leaks and whatnot. And when the moment flipped and i jolt-remembered we were just coming off of winter, I rejoiced in my heart, and as I left that crazy thought by the wayside, I sucker punched winter in the gut, again, for good measure. But it all felt so very weird, so very weird indeed.
On second thought, that's a bit harsh. I don't love the winter, but I appreciate it for what it is. It takes a lot of flak from the world and me, but I've learned a lot about it this time around and have come to a conclusion that it's not the absolute worst. But instead of expanding on that, let's move on, because I've talked enough about it these days. Maybe instead of punching it in the gut i just give it a strong shoulder check.
And in light of that, to celebrate, here are my pictures of springtime. I hope you like them but I also hope you view each one respectfully, with a quiet reverence, paying proper tribute to this thing we thought would NEVER. COME.
I almost think the best part about cherry blossoms are when they're on their way out, falling off the trees. a) confetti in the wind so your random leisurely walk just turned into a party in your honor, and b) the pink carpet covering the floor. Magical.
 |
| We called it Candyland |
Other around-the-town pictures. Here is some giant flowering thing:
Maybe a dogwood? It's been about 3 times recently that Sean asked me what the name of a flower was and I was like, "what? Hey if I know--oh, maybe a ____? Maybe? I don't know where that came from, seriously." And then we look it up and I'm right. One was a hyacinth and the other was an iris, which Sean first called a DAFFODIL and my brain suffered a small explosion, especially since there is a substantial length of time when the entire borough of brooklyn looks like this.
Here's a picture Julian took:
Brooklyn flowers are so beautiful. People have these tiny gardens out front and their compactness (due to necessity) and stark contrast with the cement and city-ness just makes them all the more glorious. You never see a people so happy than Bklyn-ers at springtime, in my experience.
You also get to see everything up close. In the 'burbs people will have beautiful gardens and it's not like you can just stroll onto their lawn and help yourself to an up close gaze down at their flowers. At least without looking like a vagrant, or a burglar, or worse, a vagrant burglar. It's all just in your face and you are welcome to immerse yourself.
Saw these out on a walk. What's that about? i don't know, but I love it.
Reminds me of the lonely pink leaf. (yeah, you're going to have to scroll for a while to find it. you're welcome)
We've twice visited the botanic gardens recently. I am always struck by their splendor, particularly in May. Here are some pics.
First, the strange. What are these weird things? Who knows? Who can say? Actually the plaque can say. It's Witch Alder.
Everything is beautiful here. The non-flowers.. everything. What are these green.. blossoms? on this tree. Clumps? The Green Clump tree, i think that's what it was called. It's just so cool.
We walked by this tree-bush of the strangest leaves. The leaves were large and green and half of them looked like they had been dipped in white paint. I would have thought it a disease of some kind but then we saw the white leaves fully formed and knew it must have been intentional, though wacky.
It's like they had gone through a caterpillar's metamorphosis or Gandalf's transformation. They were now [name of plant]'s leaves, the white. (< -- roll eyes if you must. that was for me and me alone. ) They just dangled, fluttering in the wind. Isn't that weird??
The field of bluebells. Love it. It's one of those places where you just want to dive in the air and land in the middle of it and live there forever, but you know you can't because if you actually did it, you'd have dirt down your pants and it would probably be super uncomfortable. Like living on the sun or amongst the glowy embers in the underbelly of a campfire-- other places I want to live in forever but probably won't.
Julian took a picture of me in the rose garden. The roses aren't out yet but everyone's anticipatorily excited about them. It's nice that the flowers often give each other their moment. The roses know they'll have theirs.
And I took his picture as he fled.
The lilac arena is adjacent to the rose garden and lies at the foot of a steep yet windy path. Hidden by other foliage of loveliness, you can smell it before you can see it and by the time it comes into view, you're half-running into it like into the ample arms of a purple lover. It's so delicious, and all around you.
Here is Julian doing the lilac victory dance.
I have always thought that if I ever live
in the country, all I would want or need is a cottage and a small
orchard of fruit trees. (is that redundant? I'm pretty sure I'm fairly certain it is) I
love picking fruit. It delights me. When i was young, my mom would have me pick apricots from our tree. One day i was up in it, with my bucket dangling on a limb near me. At some point the cat joined me, and then the dog, at the foot, and then eventually the cow in the pasture the tree leaned against. I was tickled and raised my arms out and pretty sure I declared, "I...am one with nature!" It was a beautiful moment.
Back to the gardens. On our walk, we happened upon this meadow with weepy trees and I added one more thing to my must-need: weepy trees on a meadow-like lawn.
It's a little bit sad for me that Julian isn't used to playing in nature at all, because I really am a nature girl at the root of it all (HA). I am also a city girl, but I do feel a strong pull to nature after I've been away for too long. But this kid is city-born and raised. Still, it's inherent in him too and he took to it very well, though I did have to urge him to get a little bit wet, a little bit dirty.
That little hidden meandering stream through the meadow-like lawn with weepy trees was also added to my list. Orchard and cottage and a meadow-like lawn with weepy trees and a hidden meandering stream. And a lilac bush right at my bedroom window of my small cottage. Is that too much to ask?
 |
| it's weird that i'm mixing up together pics from two different days. oh well. |
Sean sat on a rock at one side and I sat on one at the other and Julian made several jumps in-between. When I emailed this picture to myself I called it Stream Jump with a Creeper.
 | |||
| made me laugh |
 |
| contemplative )en |
The grand finale. One thing I can't get over no matter how hard I try: Azaleas and their outrageously bright colors. This one is called Azalea Explosion:
Those colors! Just so beautiful! Arrgghhh! can't get over it.
The gardens are a happy place. They welcome you heartily and usher you out giving you a wild and beautiful salute on your way.
And speaking of salutes, here's to you, Spring. Here's to you. Wait, I guess I'm doing a toast. Well, picture me doing both, at the same time.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Because You Made Me a Muffin
Julian, my favorite. Sometimes his name just rolls off my tongue in the most loving, delicious way. Isn't it great to love the name you give someone? For Mother's Day, let's have some Julian quotes.
"Mom, I give up! I just forgive up. " and then, "I forget up." :D
________________________________
Julian, playing with a game in the other room and then out of the blue declared,
"Mom, do the commandments!"
Yikes. Fortunately I wasn't in the middle of a some big sin but i was a bit shaken up by its suddenness.
_______________________________
Instead of expressing his dislike for something, often something that frustrates him, he turns it on the thing itself and personifies it. For example, let's say he doesn't want to go to a place. Instead of saying he hates it there, he will say,
"I don't want to go there. It hates me."
The thing he doesn't like doesn't like him. As if it has something personally against him, which I think is a very interesting way to view things. What does it mean? I don't know, but it's funny.
"I don't want this; It hates me."
________________________________
Instead of "what did you say?" Julian says, "what you said?" It will be a sad day when this is no more, like when Eeyotes became Eeyore. :(
________________________________
"Mom, when you die, I'll have a cheetah mom."
_______________________________
Julian turns everything into a verb sort of as an abbreviation and it's kind of ingenious. For example:
Doing the dishes = dishin'. "Mom, we're dishin'!" I also love that he's being consistent with that one.
Being grumpy = grumping. as in, "I'm not done grumping!"
Action words make life more fun.
_______________________________
In the middle of church one Sunday, he was playing near me and whispered,
"Mom, I will marry you."
_______________________________
Julian also calls Sean "Sean" and I not-so-secretly love it. It's not to be funny, at least not anymore. He just does it. When we're out, when we're at home. I just read in his baby journal from Oct. 2011:
"You love saying Dad's name. You will call for him throughout the house. 'Non? Non! Where are you, Non!' Dad isn't super pleased, but I am."
Non. so funny.
_______________________________
And to make my heart burst with pride:
Jen: Ok, let's start!
Julian, busy at my desk: Wait! Wait for me, I'm writing down the thoughts of me.
_______________________________
Lastly, at church today we were having a special lovey moment and I whispered closely in his ear, "I'm so grateful for you because you made me a mother." He stared at me for a couple of seconds and said, "I thought you said "muffin." Which, let's face it, is just about as good.
3 cheers for kids!
"Mom, I give up! I just forgive up. " and then, "I forget up." :D
________________________________
Julian, playing with a game in the other room and then out of the blue declared,
"Mom, do the commandments!"
Yikes. Fortunately I wasn't in the middle of a some big sin but i was a bit shaken up by its suddenness.
_______________________________
Instead of expressing his dislike for something, often something that frustrates him, he turns it on the thing itself and personifies it. For example, let's say he doesn't want to go to a place. Instead of saying he hates it there, he will say,
"I don't want to go there. It hates me."
The thing he doesn't like doesn't like him. As if it has something personally against him, which I think is a very interesting way to view things. What does it mean? I don't know, but it's funny.
"I don't want this; It hates me."
________________________________
Instead of "what did you say?" Julian says, "what you said?" It will be a sad day when this is no more, like when Eeyotes became Eeyore. :(
________________________________
"Mom, when you die, I'll have a cheetah mom."
_______________________________
Julian turns everything into a verb sort of as an abbreviation and it's kind of ingenious. For example:
Doing the dishes = dishin'. "Mom, we're dishin'!" I also love that he's being consistent with that one.
Being grumpy = grumping. as in, "I'm not done grumping!"
Action words make life more fun.
_______________________________
In the middle of church one Sunday, he was playing near me and whispered,
"Mom, I will marry you."
_______________________________
Julian also calls Sean "Sean" and I not-so-secretly love it. It's not to be funny, at least not anymore. He just does it. When we're out, when we're at home. I just read in his baby journal from Oct. 2011:
"You love saying Dad's name. You will call for him throughout the house. 'Non? Non! Where are you, Non!' Dad isn't super pleased, but I am."
Non. so funny.
_______________________________
And to make my heart burst with pride:
Jen: Ok, let's start!
Julian, busy at my desk: Wait! Wait for me, I'm writing down the thoughts of me.
_______________________________
Lastly, at church today we were having a special lovey moment and I whispered closely in his ear, "I'm so grateful for you because you made me a mother." He stared at me for a couple of seconds and said, "I thought you said "muffin." Which, let's face it, is just about as good.
3 cheers for kids!
Thursday, May 09, 2013
The Birthday
Well, we just finally finished celebrating! Ok, not really. But perhaps I am suffering a bit from a birthday hangover? Or maybe I'm just really lazy. It could be anything. You don't know. Irregardless, here are the pictures from Birthday Week 2013!
So, for me, what Birthday Week means is doing everything in the name of Birthday. This can be anything. Because guess what? If you give something a birthday title, no matter what it is, it makes it special. For example:
Birthday Playground
There are a thousand playgrounds in this town. Every once in a while we like to playground hop. There's the one closest to home. Then there's the one in the park, the one further in the park--it's awesome and by the lake, but it's a bit of a walk to get there. There's also the gungy one down the road that's ok, and then there's our latest favorite, the 5th avenue playground,or the J.J. Byrne playground. It's new and magical. It has small kid swings, big kid swings, stuff to play and climb on that look like art sculptures they're so cool, water stuff, etc. I love the big kid swings. Since I am now elderly and growing ever elder, (as the birthday implies) I can last approximately 5-7 minutes before i want to heave. But those 5-7 minutes are just heaven. And this year I introduced to Julian The Spider, which I have probably not even thought about since I was 9. You know, it's where you sit on the swing and your lighter friend sits on your lap, facing you and you swing with your legs dangled, each taking turns pumping, and talk to each other 5 inches apart.
I asked a nearby dad to take a picture and he did and then tried it with his kid and I felt good about spreading the joy of The Spider. Here is a bonus pic of the joy of the playground:
Elephants are so cool. We loved them and applauded but then the clapping quickly turned uneasy and with pity for the elephants, and we felt a little sick in our hearts, confused as to our feelings on the subjugation of circus animals and all of the conflicting feelings pertaining to all things circus, etc etc ETC.
The terrified-but-still-clapping-and-trying-to-enjoy-it pic:
We sat with a group of about 15 friends and enjoyed some pre-movie trivia with prizes (I tried hard not to win, i swear!) and as the movie started, I felt my heart start to race in a reverential way, and with quiet exhilaration, Val and I clasped hands a la Thelma and Louise, as she put it. All of usspent the movie loving it, laughing, tooting our silent dino-blowouts at all the good lines, and swooning over Dr. Ian Malcolm.
So, for me, what Birthday Week means is doing everything in the name of Birthday. This can be anything. Because guess what? If you give something a birthday title, no matter what it is, it makes it special. For example:
Birthday Playground
There are a thousand playgrounds in this town. Every once in a while we like to playground hop. There's the one closest to home. Then there's the one in the park, the one further in the park--it's awesome and by the lake, but it's a bit of a walk to get there. There's also the gungy one down the road that's ok, and then there's our latest favorite, the 5th avenue playground,or the J.J. Byrne playground. It's new and magical. It has small kid swings, big kid swings, stuff to play and climb on that look like art sculptures they're so cool, water stuff, etc. I love the big kid swings. Since I am now elderly and growing ever elder, (as the birthday implies) I can last approximately 5-7 minutes before i want to heave. But those 5-7 minutes are just heaven. And this year I introduced to Julian The Spider, which I have probably not even thought about since I was 9. You know, it's where you sit on the swing and your lighter friend sits on your lap, facing you and you swing with your legs dangled, each taking turns pumping, and talk to each other 5 inches apart.
I asked a nearby dad to take a picture and he did and then tried it with his kid and I felt good about spreading the joy of The Spider. Here is a bonus pic of the joy of the playground:
 | |
| This is a chair that spins around and around and if you get it going, it NEVER. STOPS. It's kind of freaky,actually. But the kids sure do like it. |
Birthday Brunch, or more
specifically, Birthday French Toast. I don't have a picture of the toast, but here we
are at our favorite place:
Oh
wait, yes I do--it's there in Julian's mouth. You are welcome.
|
Birthday Colors
my new favorite color combo, peacock blue and lemon yellow--YES
my new favorite color combo, peacock blue and lemon yellow--YES
Birthday
Booger
Birthday
Tulips
There was also Birthday
Concert. The plan was to watch a NY Philharmonic rehearsal but due to his
extreme all-consuming fear of semi-darkness and semi-loudness, the boy did not
last 10 seconds. This may or may not be due to subjecting him to ride
after dark tunnel ride with scary animatronics at Disneyland. Oh and the
circus a few weeks ago, which is totally confirmed to be absolutely terrifying
for people of all ages. Here are some pictures from that, as a side
note:
Elephants are so cool. We loved them and applauded but then the clapping quickly turned uneasy and with pity for the elephants, and we felt a little sick in our hearts, confused as to our feelings on the subjugation of circus animals and all of the conflicting feelings pertaining to all things circus, etc etc ETC.
The terrified-but-still-clapping-and-trying-to-enjoy-it pic:
And the
still-terrified-but-could-i-have-some-popcorn pic:
 |
| makes me laugh |
So, instead of the concert, we
walked around the Lincoln Center compound for a while. Here's the
Avery Fisher hall, where the Phil plays:
|
I
asked Julian to take my picture. I am trying to smile through the tears
and heartbreak:
And the hall where the Met Opera
performs (i forget the name):
After that, we walked over to the
Central Park and walked amongst the pretty flowers and grassy knolls. It was
nice, though I didn't hear any orchestral music coming out of those flowers, but
whatever. They're nice to look at, I guess. If you're into that.
I had brought some binoculars for
the concert that turned out to work very well for long distance hide and seek.
On the way home, Julian immediately
passed out and took a subway nap. It was adorable until I had to wake him and
he transformed into the (as legend has it) Abominable Subway Monster.
Fellow passengers were lucky to catch a glimpse that day.
Birthday Bum.
A pit stop on the way to or from the bathroom. Either way, some emergency reading needed to take place:
A pit stop on the way to or from the bathroom. Either way, some emergency reading needed to take place:
I picked up my birthday cake at the
most delightful Italian bakery. Every time I go i see these hamburger cakes and other
fun shape cakes on display and this time I thought, you know what? I'm getting my hamburger. This is
funny because after, I came home and walked to the post office to pick up a
birthday box from my sister who had sent me an assortment of doughnuts from my
FAVORITE doughnut place, which exists only in Utah. How happy was I?
There were plain glazed, cake doughnuts, a giant chocolate ring doughnut, and...yes...
a hamburger doughnut, for long ago in the days of yore, whenever we would visit
this doughnut place in my youth, I would select either the largest (chocolate
ring) or the strangest (hamburger). I loved that she sent me this and
that i had brought home the hamburger cake because not only does it reflect how
much a sister knows you, but also that you are the same girl you were at 13. It
makes the heart happy. Behold the cake:
Finally, Sean and I fled the scene
and Jen's Jurassic Park 3D Party officially commenced. Here we are with
our t-shirts:
We sat with a group of about 15 friends and enjoyed some pre-movie trivia with prizes (I tried hard not to win, i swear!) and as the movie started, I felt my heart start to race in a reverential way, and with quiet exhilaration, Val and I clasped hands a la Thelma and Louise, as she put it. All of usspent the movie loving it, laughing, tooting our silent dino-blowouts at all the good lines, and swooning over Dr. Ian Malcolm.
Afterward, some birthday froyo with
candles--aww
And lastly, some presents:
And thus ended Jen's Birthday, an
event made far, far larger than necessary as witnessed on/from this blog. But what
of that list,
you ask? Weeeeell...
And
one more thing:
 |
| Thank you, MelBroek |
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