I'd like to dance with you, if you'd like me to.

So, last Friday (so long ago!) Mama and Daddy snuck away and went to see Devendra Banhart play at the Mystic Theater in Petaluma.
If you know Devendra, you know what an awesome treat this was. If you don't, poke around the internet a bit and you'll soon learn. Most of my near and dear friends don't quite share the same degree of (ahem) enthusiasm that I have for the man and his mythical music. Which made the morning after kind of stifling for me, for there was no one to get super excited with me about all the details still swimming melodically around in my head.
But my husband, dear man, was with me all the way.
I still vividly remember when two good friends of ours introduced us to Devendra's first album. They actively argued about which songs should be played in which sequence to properly initiate us. I think they went with Pumpkin Seeds, then Michigan State and for days I couldn't stop singing Legless Love, Spider Love. (Still with me?)
This was about seven years and four or five albums ago, and we've all come a long way since then, but the love hasn't died.
As for the show, he absolutely rocked. I'm sorry I don't have a picture to share, but I was much too engrossed. He played Mama Wolf (my song) and everyone in the theater was howling by the end.
Nothing like letting go in a room full of people who've let go, too.
His music may not be for everyone, but Oh Me Oh My, it is for me.

Reasons I Love My Husband #1

He cooks with his pocket knife.

A Beaster Celebration

No, I did not misspell Easter. I'm talking about Beaster! A holiday made up by our dear friends that involves the friends-family. The friends you are so close to that essentially they are your family, just not blood related. Otherwise known as your tribe. This is my tribe. The ones who have helped raised my daughter, who have cried with me in times of sorrow, who have rescued me at 2 am in a blizzard, who encourage me at everything I do, who give me strength when I feel like I'm about to crumble, who jump at the opportunity to celebrate ANYTHING, and who have provided my daughter with siblings and multiple parents.

We spent the day enjoying good food, searching for arrowheads in the field, playing ladder golf (I've never heard of it either, but it's really fun) and catching up with each other.

The kids ran around climbing trees, riding down the hill on numerous cars and bikes and bailing out in the grass, searching for Easter eggs and then hiding them again for each other.

And it wouldn't be a true celebration without a jam session.

It was such a pleasant day. I came home filled with love and gratitude. I love and cherish these people. Happy Beaster Everyone!

Go hug someone you love.

proof in a pattern

A little while ago, a few of the ladies in my life approached me about teaching them to knit. Nothing formal, just me and seven friends and yarn and needles and a little bit of direction, but somehow or other I felt unworthy. Intimidated, even. Although I've been knitting for years I still feel like a beginner. A one-trick pony. I make hats. Not sweaters or vests or socks or ponchos or mittens, just hats. And the one hat that I'm really good at making is fairly simple, to be honest.

So I set myself on a personal mission to put a few more notches in my needles. I get a lot of joy out of knitting and I'd love to spread it around, after all. I picked out a couple patterns with some tricky stitchwork and cast on. One for Eden and one for Mazzy. I changed the sock pattern into a hat (baby steps), and they both turned out awesome. So now that I've graduated from beginner to, say, fourth grader, I think I'm ready to teach. As long as all they want to learn is hats.