pedestrian saga

In fits and starts I’ve been getting a real kick out of LibraryThing (the brilliant book-cataloging-tool-cum-social-network), categorizing the books I own, borrow from the library, work on, want to read… In an outburst of Web 2.0 love, and as an early birthday present for myself (”precious”), I even shelled out 25 clams for unlimited cataloging as a lifetime member.

Allow me to direct your attention momentarily to the right sidebar, where you’ll see the books I’ve been reading lately. That’s a LibraryThing widget! On my blog like magic!

So I’ve been going through a self-help phase (I’ll spare you the details), and then for fun—war comics! I came across Palestine on a “graphic novels aren’t just for kids and hardcore comic shop nerds anymore” list (around the time I was reading Marjane Satrapi’s books) and added it to my own 1.0 reading list. I returned for it when it was time to grab some, you know, light summer reading for my recent vacation.

Palestine collects Joe Sacco’s reports on life in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank during the First Intifada (early ’90s), and his follow-up, Safe Area Gorazde, takes us into a besieged Muslim enclave during the Bosnian war (1992-1995). And that sentence right there demonstrates how much I’ve learned from them! It’s like suddenly I can navigate the language, geography, history, and politics of these terrible wars that raged right under my nose and so over my head. (more…)

We were cookin’ today, 102 degrees Fahren-hot. Hoo, boyo! As soon as the clock struck 5:00, I unstuck my sweaty tush from the office chair and staggered away to join Scott for a slightly delirious ride over to the farm truck parked in a North Corvallis neighborhood to bring veg to the faithful. It was our first week as members of Gathering Together Farm’s community supported agriculture (CSA) program. That’s right, folks. We bought the farm!

And it’s a thing of beauty: We paid up front for a weekly box of farm-fresh veg, assembled for us and delivered every Tuesday evening, today through October, to a rendezvous conveniently located between work and home. Truly this program is a boon to two dedicated herbivores who nonetheless often struggle to eat enough veg (chips and salsa and pasta and s’mores, sure) and who experience streaks of laziness and indecision. No more feeling guilty or deprived when we sleep in and miss the Saturday farmers’ market (me). No more crippling indecision (among the market hordes) about what to buy when we actually do make it there (Scott). No more crippling indecision about what to make at all (me). It’s monster salad time, baby!

Yeah, I’m still a little delirious from the heat. Here’s my portrait of our inaugural plunder: new potatoes, white satin carrots, Walla Walla and baby onions, arugula, Swiss chard, zucchini, cilantro, snap peas, cucumber, Siletz tomatoes, and blueberries. Those are poblanos and jalapeños (from local grocer Richey’s) in the pan, soon to be quesadilla-fied and topped with guacamole.

Not only are Montana and Erin a stunningly beautiful bridal pair, they are also quite adorable, playing DDR and Guitar Hero and Wii at their reception. Congratulations, you beautiful, adorable people!