six senses saturday

see

• this amazing green velvet.  we recovered the mid-century dining room chairs.

hear

• i turned down a public event with ken this weekend, saying, "i'm kind of done with people."  he laughed and said that sounded like the antidote to "up with people".  since then we've been rewriting with "up with people" songs with a soft, cozy, quiet, introvert's perspective. 

taste

• i realize that i need to taste something new and amazing each week if i'm going to be keeping up with this series.  honestly, there is nothing more sad than a week with no memorable tastes.

smell

• burning leaves.
• peeled grapefruit.

touch

• my old dog luca is stuck to me like glue lately.  he always wants to be touching me.  i don't want to think about what this means, but i'm happy to place my hand on his curly mess of dog body any old time.

know

• this morning's new moon in scorpio has me all kinds of mystic.  i can't help but see synchronicity and connection in the tiniest of things.
• i had an epic dream earlier this week that was poetic and scary and beautiful and wonky and telling.

six senses saturday

see

• a wee brown bat has roosted in the tiny space between the storm glass and the screen of our bedroom window.  
• on my friday morning commute a giant amber moon set in the direction of my destination while a fluorescent pink sun rose over my home behind me.
• autumn leaves.  evidence that this earth, this life, always offers exquisite respites from suffering.

hear

• having a cars moment, candy-o on repeat over here.

taste

• roasted brussels spouts
• honeycrisp apples
• whisky

smell

• backyard fire
• smoke of just-extinguished candles
• that heater-just-came-on-for-the-first-time smell

touch

• cushy new sweater
• the prick of the needles during topiary shaping

know

• the bat is a visitor (not sure who)
• deep sense of settling down, time to rest, inward-bound

six senses saturday is a revival of five senses friday, a regular way to note how my senses were delighted and challenged during the week with the addition of intuition.

five senses friday

it's been a while, five senses friday.

{see}

• brilliantly white fresh snow
• pink, purple and blue january sunsets

{hear}

• the sound of my own voice learning yoga asanas in sanskrit (my new favorite sound)
• listening to my own "om"
• last week i stayed in a hotel that played barely audible house music in the elevator and hallways, i still hear the echo of the beat.  

{taste}

• medicinal herb-infused bone broth
• rose-cardamom syrup in hot cocoa

{smell}

• purple hyacinths on the window sill

{touch}

• each sacred ordinary object as i arrange and rearrange the tiny altars throughout the house
• folding one thousand paper cranes

five senses: fall

{see}

{hear}

on a crisp and quiet early morning in abingdon, the wind whistled through the trees and a fountain softly gurgled and splashed.  even though it was way too early for actors, i imagined i heard muffled voices in rehearsal inside the theatre.  echoes of way too many hours of shakespeare in my lifetime.

{smell}

i enjoyed hearing the crunch of this confetti of leaves underfoot and the scent of woods and sweet decay released with each step was intoxicating.

also i cannot get enough of nag champa.  my house smells like peace and love.

{taste}

harvest table is a farm-to-table restaurant in tiny meadowview, virginia.  i discovered it while on a work trip in southwestern virginia.  friends, it is not easy to eat vegetarian or organic in some parts of virginia.  harvest table is a lifesaver and my new favorite place to eat.  locally-sourced organic whole foods are used to create simple and splendid dishes.

case in point (above):  frittata with caramelized onions, goat cheese, heirloom green zebra tomatoes and greens.

i devoured the plum bread pudding with fresh cream before i remembered to take a photograph.

they take food stewardship seriously, even putting up their own sauces, spices and herbs.

(purchased above-mentioned nag champa spritzer in the general store.)

{touch}

handfuls of leaves.
warm mugs of chai.
ugg-snuggled toes.

five senses friday

• seeing skies dressed with giant fluffly white clouds, lightning bugs and tiny periwinkle blue butterflies
• smelling honeysuckle; the yard is encircled in blooming vines
• tasting cardamon gelato, white zinfandel and ginger ale over crushed ice
• hearing the first cicadas
• touching the paper pages of a book; my toes curled into the ropes of a hammock

it's almost summer, let's welcome her with a big beautiful weekend.

five senses friday*

{the dreaming-of-spring&summer edition}

all week i focused:  sunshine, sunshine, sunshine.  warmth was experienced through the senses despite freezing temps.

{see}

• me wearing and enjoying all of the above, floral shorts included (hey, i'm dreaming here)

{hear}

• michael franti always puts me in a sunny state

{taste}

• my summer go-to meal:  fish tacos and a margarita

{touch}

• nothing feels more like summer than bikram yoga (still sticking with it...who knows, maybe those shorts can be a reality for me!)

{smell}

• malibu lemon blossom body butter
• the scent of the sea captured in a jar of sand and shells that sits on my desk

happy weekend bunnies!  i hope you have sun and warmth and fun.

*fsf inspired by abby

five senses friday*

{see}

• holiday color everywhere in anticipation of annie's color week!  see here for more deets.
• perfectly clear blue skies.

{hear}

• driving to richmond on wednesday, i found a radio station playing only instrumentals of john lennon music.  it was magical.  i cried. 

{smell}

• christmas pine
• cinammony-peppery-chocolately mexican cocoa
• paperwhites

{taste}

• indian pumpkin soup

{touch}

• heat, sweat, power, grace:  i love bikram yoga.

*fsf inspired by abby

five senses friday* {the squam edition}

{see}

• four perfect sunrises
• a pink moon ascending above a blue horizon
• a woman dancing with fire
• a mother's pure love in action
• the art we made

{smell}

• the briny scent of the sea
• mingling with campfire smoke
• i put a handful of sand, some found shells and a tiny chunk of the charred wood in a jar to take home; when i open it the scent takes me back

{taste}

• brilliant fish tacos
• margaritas
• rice krispies treats

{touch}

• unabashed handholding
• the sand beneath my bare feet
• fingers.  paint.  canvas.

{hear}

• jen lee's voice
• jinny's soft south african accent
• spoken stories of accomplishment, fears, ideas, joy, sadness, hope
• with a steady background song of waves and random bursts of distant laughter

*fsf inspired by abby

five senses friday

taking a different path today beyond see, smell, hear, taste and touch:

• a sense of sadness for things that end before i am ready.
• a sense of anticipation for the sea.
• a sense of cocooning and patience like fall bulbs planted months in advance of their potential fabulousness
• a sense of gentle acceptance of the way things are
• a sense of gratitude for this beautiful life and the beautiful, tragic, loving, difficult, ridiculous, complicated, authentic, hilarious, forgiving people that keep me company

five senses friday*

{taste}

• the abundance of gorgeous juicy july tomatoes
• with the ayurvedic diet, you eat according to your dosha.  i'm pitta, so that means foods that are sweet, bitter, astringent.  turns out, the tastes i love the most--bold and spicy--are the ones i should be moderating.  not sure how i feel about this...

{hear}

• if you are a regular listener of speaking of faith, you know that the music accompanying the talk penetrates your soul.  when you visit each show's page, you can stream the entire soundtrack for that episode.  beautiful.
• in the mood for some silence.  my own, particularly.  sometimes, the words clog up the flow and i need a break from my own rambling.  i'm participating in susannah conway's august break...for the entire month of august, it's photos only here.  every day.

{smell}

• a lavender field

{see}

• just when i'm trying to be more spiritual, the autumn catalogs start arriving and the beast of a material girl stirs inside.  it's war.  i'm talking to you boden and j.crew.
• but wait...the boots, the coats, the cardigans...a polkadot coat for pete's sake.  i'm a goner...

{touch}

• yesterday afternoon, i was sitting in the purple adirondak when a quick and dirty thunderstorm came through.  i closed my eyes and felt the progress from hot stickiness to gentle wind to soft rain to pounding shower.  i rode the whole ride.

happy weekend beautiful souls.

*fsf inspired by abby.

five senses friday {san francisco edition}

see

• a thousand red silk lanterns blowing in the westerly wind
• california sunsets.  i miss them.
• the giant full moon over the city
• an entire city decorated with rainbows

hear

• the clank and bells of the trolleys
• barking sea lions at pier 39
• packed in tight on the 8x through chinatown
• the weird silence of a suddenly empty trolley

taste

• apricot and fig samples at the ferry building farmers market
• even with all the foodie options the city offers, i must have clam chowder in a boudin sourdough bowl and an anchor steam at least once per visit
• chrysamthemum and red rose tea
• the perfection of the carne asada taco with avocado at la taqueria in the mission
• the zuni burger.  sweet jesus on market st.  the zuni burger.

smell

• roasting duck and brewing tea
• salted air
• it may be my imagination, but i think coffee smells even better while sitting on a park bench at the edge of the city in the cold wind waiting for the sunset

touch

• the cold pacific rushing in to say hello, welcome back
• mia (all 104 lbs of her) instinctively putting a protective arm through mine and confidently navigating me through a dodgy section of sidewalk in the tenderloin.  it was total role reversal.  in a good way.

happy weekend friends.  more san francisco memories to come.  there are many.

five senses friday*

{see}

• the lovely vintage teal that results when a bright blue sky is tinted green with pollen.
• green, purple, red, pink, green, yellow, white, lilac, green, green, green...this is my ninth virginia spring and the most brilliantly painted by far. if this is what a crazy winter produces, i'll gladly endure it year after year.

{hear}

• still loving mumford and sons. especially this line from after the storm: there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears; and love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears. get over your hill and see what you'll find there with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

{smell}

• just mowed grass.
• lollia wish. it's totally in line with this sweet feeling of grace i'm momentarily experiencing.

{touch}

• rich fragrant earth.
• the power of the hose pistol.

{taste}

• avocado omelette.
• the fairy/rainbow roll sushi combo.

*fsf is beautifully inspired by abby.

five senses friday*

 {see}

• so grateful to live in a city that continues to spend on brilliant public garden beds despite financial issues.

{hear}

• I dreamt last night that I had a remote control that put things and people on mute. sadly, it was one of the best dreams I have ever had. lately I feel so assaulted by volume.

{touch}

• it's in the eighties this week. sun kissed skin and inaugural lunch al fresco.

{smell}

• you know when the first raindrops touch warm pavement and that scent briefly rises? it happened this week. it's always the most pleasurable the first time it occurs in the year.

{taste}

• nothing new this week, but totally finding comfort in the old standbys: almond flavored coffee, greek yogurt, anchovies on my caesar salad.

have a beautiful weekend loves!
*fsf inspired by abby.

five senses friday*

{see}

• color. good grief color, I've missed you.

{hear}

• truthtelling. you can tell the truth with love, but it sure isn't always received that way. "in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." -george orwell
• she & him
• chirpy little birds.

{taste}

• not much of anything. back on the diet and totally uninspired to create something healthy and fabulous.

{smell}

• hyacinths still perfuming the house.
• windows left open clear that wintry dullness from all the rooms. heaven.

{touch}

• working on a theatre poster featuring a most beautiful set of abs. trying to balance lustiness and tastefulness and worried the finished product might be a bit much to post around my conservative southern town. I want to reach out and touch them. I hope it makes people want to see this sexy little play (featuring said abs). I feel old.

{bonus sixth}

• last night I dreamt I went about my everyday activities dressed as a barnum & bailey ringmaster. I kept misplacing my whip and hoop and my tophat was too big and covered my eyes. it was not a good look. but quite telling, no?

happy friday beauties.
*fsf inspired by abby.

five senses friday*

{see}

• a new vision for the family room...the colors of seaglass
• lonny magazine
• beautiful colorful functional bags for my camera and lenses and a new baby to look through? enter the best giveaway ever sponsored by epiphanie

{hear}

• the open road calling my name

{touch}

• anticipating the sun's debut this weekend with a giant stack of catalogs, magazines, gardening books...I can already feel the warmth on my winter-parched skin

{taste}

• to celebrate holi in my own little western way sans a colorfest, I improvised the traditional celebratory drink thandai: almond milk, honey, rose water, pistachios, cardamom, pepper, poppy and anise seeds. I threw it all in a blender with some ice and it is officially my new favorite thing

{smell}

• I woke this morning to the scent of coffee brewing mingling with the jasmine and hyacinth blooming on the window sill

for each of you, I'm wishing a beautiful day experienced with all five senses fully alive.

*five senses friday inspired by abby (I love to visit and swoon over her lavender blog banner).

five senses friday*

{see}

• rainbows everywhere
• winter sunrises
• the most perfect purple-red of passion tea

{hear}

• the happy chatter of the downtown work crowd at the new woolworth's-style lunch counter
• sawing and hammering and drilling and whistling coming from the workroom. I don't know what he's making in there but it's bound to be useful or beautiful.

{smell}

• baby head
• a whiff of a clove cigarette that launched me back to 1982

{touch}

• the soft thaw of chilly fingers once they are wrapped around a hot mug of goodness
• cashmere socks (how did I ever live without cashmere socks? it's a mystery.)
  

{taste}

• clementines (te quiero españa)
• darjeeling with almond milk & honey

this first full week of a new decade was filled with subtle and quiet sensory goodness. I hope yours was the same. happy weekend loves.

*thank you abby for fsf.

five senses friday*

see

• awesomely exhilarated to see my photos on apartment therapy and used in an upcoming zine ad. it's kinda weird at the same time...
• the big picture.

hear

• when I wake up in the middle of the night, it's so quiet outside I can hear the deer and squirrels going about their business, crunching the ground and munching their finds. {I hope they're deer and squirrel anyway.}
• being at a conference and hearing the words "keep fighting for kids" and "don't stop talking about what's right" over and over and over again. affirming.

smell

• I preserved some lemons for a moroccan dish. the lemony spicy scent that floated through the house as they cooked was divine.
• throw in a hint of a blooming paperwhite and you have the most exceptional fragrance. I wish there was a candle that captured this.

taste

• too much. the holiday indulgence crept up on me. and I was doing so well.

touch

• I'm obsessed with arm warmers. I've acquired about ten pair this season and wear them all day long. now when I take them off, I feel naked without their cozy warmth.

have a beautiful weekend my friends. we're expecting a big snow and I can't wait to cozy up inside by the tree with a cup of darjeeling and a good book. except there's that pesky last-minute shopping thing...

{*inspired by abby}

five senses friday*

see

• the indigo blue and fiery orange of dramatic december sunrises
• colored lights and sparkle everywhere

smell

• balsam
• peppermint
• clove-studded oranges

taste

• sparkly berry-red cava
• pistachio/cranberry shortbread

touch

• much woolly warmth
• the weight of added blankets on the bed

hear

• christmas music, too much too soon
• the absolute silence of cold clear winter nights
  

*inspired by abby

five senses friday

{see}

• did you see it? that subtle shift of the light from summer bright to autumn demure? it's my absolute favorite atmospheric experience.

{taste}

• still grooving on summer's bounty of health and goodness: tomatoes and nectarines are my new best friends. I'm still training myself to (mostly) stick with locally-grown organic produce, cheese, meats and other products. lucky for me, our little 'burg has a great farmers market and a lovely little shop that specializes in this area.

{hear}

• some written words were meant to be spoken. one of my favorite storytellers is pat conroy. I'm reading his new book south of broad. I cozy up in bed at night and the story insists to be read aloud. the prose is lush. so much so that it compels me to use my voice as if reading a play. there is laughter, shouting, moments of quiet and the trembling hush of speaking aloud a tragic secret kept hidden for years. and it gives me the opportunity to practice my soft southern accent (which is quite lovely and different from the harsh variety so often heard around here).

{smell}

• I am loving all things honey-scented: this and all of these, especially the body cream. oh and this too. yum.

{touch}

• always included in my sensory-fest associated with all things autumn is the anticipation of wearing coats again. I needed a new (two sizes smaller!) peacoat and just purchased this one (in rust). its wool is soft and formidable at the same time. coats and scarves and hats leave me feeling protected and safe and I can't wait to go through my days sheltered away beneath their luscious armor.

here's to a beautiful weekend for us all.

five senses friday

{see}

I'm heading to richmond today for a free friday. above is my anthro shopping list (well, probably not the bag...jeez can I like a bag under $300?!). I'm also hoping to see lots and lots of things to spark my interest in taking a photo since I've been feeling way uninspired in this area lately.

{taste}

one word: kuba-kuba. or is that two?

{touch}

I am especially loving the feel of gripping a steering wheel and writing on paper with a pencil right now. but not at the same time.

{smell}

craving the beach and all those lovely memories evoked by the scent of salt, sea, sand and suntan oil.

{hear}

voices in my head (the good kind!) laying out the choices of paths ahead. I'm listening closely.

have sweet, sweet weekends my friends!