Html...gotta learn it... maybe

That last post nearly did me in...
so many pictures...
I tried to format in an interesting way, and then I had to try to tweek the code to get it to come out the right way.

FRUSTRATION

Maybe I should get a book or something...

Has anyone before me been so inclined?? any suggestions??

Maybe I will just stick to centered photos...
Maybe
JMB

Chronology, who needs it?...

I have decided that, this late in the game, to just throw caution to the wind and tell my travel stories as I want to, rather than chronologically. Challenging though it may seem to one so desiring linearity and order, I am just going to make it work.

I was going through my Estonia pictures and figuring out which ones to post, when I came upon the pictures I took at Rosendals Tradgard. I think that it means "Garden in the Rose Valley", or some combination of those words. I guess I am not very concerned with what the words mean, so much as this PLACE is so very much ME and where I would LOVE LOVE to spend the rest of my life. I feel now that I have seen what my slice of heaven could look like. How's that for a piece of drama pie??

Really, to be honest, my friend Yazmiene kept talking about this "garden" and how her family liked to go there and how it was so nice....and I guess I just thought, 'yeah, yeah, they have gardens in the "states" too, I want to see some museums and things like that.... Swedish things...'

WELL, I was IN AWE as we walked over a little kind of dark hill and the vista just opened up to this beautiful, lush, make you want to sit down and just pass out from the wonderfulness, this sanctuary to all things animal, vegetable and mineral. The sweetest waddle fence "enclosed" row upon
row of the most beautiful and luscious leafy greens that I will ever see. Kale waves cresting upon waves of marigolds.

My secret dream garden full of both eye-catching flowers and bushels upon bushels of vegetables. It is too wonderful a place...

Just look for a while...

There was garden art tucked in here and there...never really anything too over the top, but very complimentary to the plantings and hardscapes. I loved these two little turtle stools, I thought that my boys would have enjoyed jumping over them.

The borders lining the road where also full of flowers and food, with little hiding places for any gnomes that might be passing through...

Yaz told me that during the summer time people can come here and buy little picnick-y things and eat with their families, or they can pick their food and some flowers to take home.

I would encourage anyone who is curious to look at the link above and read about this wonderful, wonderful place.

The pink building in the background is a palace that is now a museum, I always love a nice bit of pink architecture!

These eggs were so big and fun, it was like a dinosaur from the Flintstones came and left them here under the bushes.

I also LOVED the "Roomy-ness", meaning all the hedges that would just have an opening to yet ANOTHER one of the coolest areas...in the world.

I took a bunch of pictures of this border, because it looked LOVELY, water-wise, AND low-maintenance... The THREE MOST IMPORTANT GARDEN RULES...maybe we will be seeing more of this closer to home...

When I first neared the orchard, there were these fluttery gossamer things that kept coming in and out of my sight line.

Around the hedge, stood these simple flags, but so artfully done. I could have just sat and watched them in the breeze for a long time...but the sprinkles were on their way.

More neat borders, I took this picture to show my husband what I thought look like a cool path....Guess what?

I arrived back home and he had started a path in our garden....just the same!! Hooray!

These flowers begged for a portrait...

Below is a view from the greenhouse where we ate our most WONDERFUL lunch. As luck would have it we made it inside before the downpour. There is nothing better than the coziness of a candlelit lunch in a greenhouse listening to the rain patter down on you.

Everything was well-done, but really not ostentatious, like these arrangements done on the dessert table. It was as if they just walked in the garden and picked some beautiful things and then they just looked beautiful together on the table.

And what would a garden lunch be without some spy shots... You know shots of some "up-and-comer" who was getting her portfolio taken and as she came in from the rain to munch her air sandwich, she nearly set her chic hairball (ball o' hair? Hair o'sphere?) on fire by frowning too close to the candelabra in the background.

Very exciting times! Caught!

There were even pretty flowers outside the WC (the international sign for potty!).

I didn't even buy anything at the Butik (if you say it out loud it really sounds like boutique!), having stuffed myself to the gills with the MOST DIVINE FETA SALAD EVER! Topped off with a coffee and the MOST DIVINE GIANT-SIZED THUMBPRINT COOKIE.... EVER!

(Sometimes when writing with such joy, I am overcome with capital letters, please pardon my exuberance.)

I don't think that veggies have EVER looked so good...and I like them, I do!

A parting view of the picniking orchard, where I will be enjoying my lunches next summer, if only in spirit.

The next few are simply for me to remember and be inspired by...trellis, paths, plants galore...

Memories to bring home and make my little home plot a little more me.

The rain that day only helped me believe that this garden, no, oasis is possible here at home in Oregon.

I hope that you enjoyed my memories,
will be inspired for next spring,
to plant, and to eat good things,
in a beautiful way.

JMB

rusty and grumpy...but trying to welcome the new...

I am trying to blog again...

trying...

It is hard to keep up on a date with one's self (is that right?). At least it is for me.

The past week has been full of doctor's appointments and pain and frustration...

not being able to walk properly, hold my kids, clean up ye olde' sty.

I also was having the best pity party...

because really I knew that my back HAD to get better, that I probably didn't have some kind of rare cancer, that other people deal with so much more than me, that they are still good mothers and worthwhile members of society... Yada yada yada.

So I am moving on...trying to get perspective...understand limitations of my body, but also to appreciate what this body has done for me (everything right?). But not to be too trite, I am not that woman, that one who is satisfied with their body...you know that one?? Is there one?

Anyway, I have been meaning to tell you body, tell you this:

Thank you body for housing this silly sometimes mixed mind.

Thank you legs for getting me around, from place to place, for letting me jump for joy on occasion.

Thanks to you arms, for hugging people, when I maybe thought that was "uncomfortable" but when I needed it as much as they did. For lifting my boys with they are happy and sad.

Thanks ample belly...for growing my boys and always "keeping it real".

Thanks back for support in all things, for steadiness, for strength.

I will strive to appreciate this body that I have everyday, being gentle with it, but also pushing it to become stronger still.

This letter was long overdue.

JMB

Re-entry is bumpy, or reality bites...(not the original title)

I love to travel...I love the new sights, new foods, new languages...

I hate to travel by plane...

I guess to be more specific, I hate to travel in economy, economy-xtra, not so bad. But econo sucks for some one who has a 35inch inseam...
Wait, I am already getting off track...

I am still dealing with jet lag which makes me not want to post, but I am slowly slipping into the "REALITY-REALITY" of my real life and I am losing the carefree traveling spirit that has been with me the last two weeks. The next few days I am going to give a pictorial highlight, to share with you all my fun trip, but more importantly to help process and remember the abandon and joy that I had on my premier solo excursion abroad.


A bit of "cafe" after 20 hours of travel...and who doesn't love boxed milk?

Just one of the many architectural details that make up the the beauty of Stockholm. The buildings here are so much older, but Stockholm had the easy walkable feeling that I felt in Boston.

Gamla Stan, the old town square. So pretty and peaceful, no cars, and lots of benches for sitting...

Sunlight,

brisk autumn air,

Swedish cobblestone street.

I could not ask for more.

Two friends chillin' in the plaza...

(I love that sunglasses can cover eyes that haven't slept in 36 hours, don't you?)

Another pedestrian friendly street, no wonder the Swedes are so Svelte.

Beautiful marketplace, chantrelles and lingon berries were the specials of the day!

Eagle in a crown, part of the facade of one of my favorite buildings.

On the water looking toward the Grand Hotel, beautiful day.

When all else fails, you must stop for a "cafe" at an outdoor Cafe... so Swedish.

Two happy mommies leaving on the Victoria for Tallinn, Estonia.

Stay tuned for our Baltic adventures...

JMB

Who doesn't love being globally connected??

Hi all--
I am in my hostel in Tallinn, Estonia. Yes, sitting right here in a chair typing a blog entry...

How cool is that?? It is all about the internet, free internet...I hear that this whole town is wired for free wi-fi...I think that they write it wii-fii here.

How is it?

GREAT! I miss my boys with a vastness that I perhaps did not foresee, but freedom and un-impeded movement does have it's own allure. I sat on a bench today with my friend Yaz and we just watched tour groups go by, listened to all of the different languages, looked at all the different fashions....

AND then

I sat and watched the sun shine through some leaves...beautiful. We just sat, because we had ALL DAY, 3 DAYS!! Then, wouldn't you know it we had to get a bit of coffee.

Great fun.
Beautiful town.
Recommend it to all.
Be back in reality next Friday, maybe I will catch you there.

Until then.
JMB

more of the same...passing the time...

What would you do if you were supposed to be washing clothes and packing for a trip?

Would you be:

Sitting next to the computer in a newly finished hat organizing your ipod?

Deciding that "right now" was the proper time to reveal the state of your house after parties, projects and packing? (alliteration rocks!)

Posting pictures of your latest applique attempts?

Or would you be doing ALL THREE???

I know what I am doing!

--I need to give this little bird a perch...hmm, I wonder where I put those applique needles....

JMB

Things I choose to do...

Sometimes I think that I am just riding aboard the crazy train. I am leaving for Sweden tomorrow, it is the end of the summer and this is the crazy that I chose this past week:

1) Canned green beans...after picking them of course.
2) Hosted a dinner party for 15+ because the Great-Grandparents rolled into town.
3) Bought a flat of Peaches to freeze, because they are just going to be no good by the time I get back.
4) Sewed little gift bags for my friend's kids and my own boys, so that everyone can know what a great and crafty mom I am.
5) Broke sewing machine trying to sew a zipper into my OWN bag, the one that I have been meaning to make myself for months now.
6) Shopped for the perfect traveling attire...found some nice things, but I really hate shopping for clothes.
7) Felt REALLY SUPER EXCITED about a trip for just me.
8) Felt really weepy and crabby because gosh darn it, I am going to miss my posse.
9) Alternated between #7 and #8 vigorously until I drove everyone MAD, myself included.

So, enough. I just kept trying to find things to fill the time because I really want to go, but I am a bit sad too that I will not be with my boys and sweet husband.

I am going to go and have a glorious time, but it will be bittersweet. No matter how nutsy it's gets around here, I sure do love my little family.

JMB