Me and the boy at the NW WA Fair.
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I too have tired eyes. I've been reading all morning. Good stuff, but like I said, my eyes are tired.
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I think in the next few hours I'll try to put down some pages and try to organize a new manuscript. It's a very different manuscript--allegorical, dystopian. Not a happy feel-good manuscript, but something I've been working on for the past two years, off and on.
***
I need to look up some art. Something with orchards or apples.
***
Current Spin:
The Gossip.
Basically it was a trip to Stanley Park and all the various establishments around the park--the aquarium, the petting zoo, the sea wall, etc..
I'm definitely getting a Nexus pass because the border wait time coming back sucked.
***
The aquarium was L's favorite.
I didn't make the bed, so I didn't come all the way into the room for a picture. Sorry.
It's a mess because I have books, a toner cartridge, and other things here and there, but it's very sunny and pleasant.
Here's where I've been since Monday. I can only stay for a few days this week. I will be coming back, though. Once Meredith's done with summer classes it'll be much easier to coordinate our schedules, what with the baby and all.
Either way, I've managed to read four books of poetry, write five poems (going to try for more this morning), and I plan on putting together a rough first draft of a new prose poem manuscript. It's been a productive two days. That's what happens when you're working with the proverbial gun to your head.
Since many of you on Facebook were asking, here's the recipe as well as directions. I have a grill and a pretty wide paella dish, so I heat this dish up on my outdoor grill.
Ingredients:
4 cups vegetable broth
1 chopped green pepper
1 chopped yellow pepper
8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
5 cups chopped spinach
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
2 cups rice
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup pimento stuffed green olives, chopped
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped basil
pinch of saffron
6 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp pine nuts
In a separate skillet, simmer the vegetable broth, cumin, turmeric, parsley, and basil and set aside for later.
In a paella pan, add the olive oil and the pine nuts and lightly roast the pine nuts. Then add the garlic, the onions, and the chopped peppers to the paella pan until the vegetables are transparent. After a few minutes, add the chopped spinach and the chopped olives and heat until the spinach is wilted.
After the spinach is wilted, add the vegetable broth mixture along with the mushrooms and the rice to the paella dish. Cook until the rice is soft.
Top the dish with grated manchego cheese and a little dash of paprika for color.
This past weekend my aunt and uncle came up from Long Beach, CA, to be the godparents of L.
It was really unbearably hot in the church. On top of that, L. didn't want to stay still, thus generating more heat.
The service was a very long hour and fifteen minutes in the heat with a squirmy baby.
Life was hectic for the past 48 hours, but now we're all smiles.
***
It's been a muggy 80ish degrees around here. Very uncomfortable working conditions.
***
The reason why I'm concerned about the working conditions is that I feel like I'm on the verge of a productive burst. I'm getting ready . . .
I'm not sure how, exactly, I'll be productive, but I feel like I've been playing the waiting game and now I'm getting restless. It's a weird way to work, I know, but that's just my deal. I've tried to retrain my brain, but I wind up resenting the writing desk. So I've fallen into this rhythm which, so far, has kept me writing.
***
Current spin:
A.A. Bondy.
Robyn Bateman - December 1992 from Christian Saxton on Vimeo.
The writerly-type weather has returned to the Pacific Northwest . . . at least my part of the Pacific Northwest.
I've got a list of things to do a mile long and still I manage to procrastinate. I suppose it's par for the summer course.
***
In other news, I've had some recent journal publication successes. So all's not lost.
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With July ending, a part of me feels my summer break's just melting away. But then almost in the same moment, I remember I teach on the quarter system, so I've got until the end of September.
***
I am trying to teach myself how to play the guitar and the ukulele . . . so there's that.
***
Current Spin:
Zee Avi. Ukulele player and inspiration.
I'm writing to you from the fabulous Alderman Library.
The coffee machine is humming behind me and there's lots of writing going on.
I'm glad I'm here.
Travel was hell.
I woke up early Tuesday morning so that Meredith could take me to the airport. My flight was scheduled to depart at 7:30AM. Anyway, no hitches until the plane got on the runway, when it was discovered one of the engines wasn't working. So the took the plane back to the gate and had all of the passengers deplane. The pilot said that the delay could be anywhere from 2-3 hours. It was, of course, longer.
I wound up getting rebooked to a later afternoon flight. I originally would've gotten in to C-ville at 7PM, but instead got in at 11PM. At least I made it.
***
Anyway, the Kundiman Retreat is in full swing. The fellows are, as I mentioned, writing. Workshops will kick off this afternoon and boy am I impressed by this group. Some of the folks have already published a couple of books.
***
Current Spin:
Bowerbirds.
