and this is maine

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Spending a week on the coast and soaking up all the sunshine and beauty that I can. I've always wanted to come to Maine and my first visit has been more delightful than I even imagined. Early morning runs along the cliff paths, elaborate breakfasts with the family, and finding quiet places to read nestled among the rocks . . . can I stay here all summer please?

"The sun was out and every second the sky's hues perished with no fuss."
(Annie Dillard, The Maytrees)

[brother, dad, and I out on some rocks yesterday]
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banana, oat, & dark chocolate bread

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Before I left college, my beautiful sister flew half way across the country to visit me for a weekend. Despite sickness, delayed flights, dying cell phones, missed trains, enormous amounts of homework, and already-booked concerts, we managed to have a delightful time. On Saturday, we stopped by my favorite little French bakery to pick up a treat before heading into the city. I had this amazing banana chocolate chip muffin and knew that I wanted to attempt to replicate it when I got home . . .

And this is the result. I wanted to make it without any white sugar, so I opted for agave nectar. I also added in some extra whole wheat flour and oats and some dark chocolate, of course. And the buttermilk makes them perfectly moist. Yumminess all around.

Banana, Oat, and Dark Chocolate Bread (or Muffins)
adapted from Eating Well

Ingredients:

3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup light agave nectar
1/4 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2-3 bananas)
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup whole organic rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease loaf pan or muffin cups. (You can use any size loaf pan; just adjust the amount of time that you bake according to the size of the pan.)

Whisk buttermilk, agave nectar, oil, and eggs in a large bowl. Stir in bananas.

In a separate bowl, whisk whole wheat pastry flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add dry mixture to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips and oats. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, approximately 50 minutes for a 9x5 loaf pan or 15-17 minutes for muffins.

(And p.s., speaking of sugar, this little intro to natural sweeteners is wonderful if you're looking to stay away from white and processed sugars.)
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new and finer layer of distinctions

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Read this a few days ago and found it so true . . . I want to pay more attention to things, to life . . .

"One thing struck me as odd and interesting. A gesture drawing took forty-five seconds; a Sustained Study took all morning. From any still-life arrangement or model's pose, the artist could produce either a short study or a long one. Evidently, a given object took no particular amount of time to draw; instead the artist took the time, or didn't take it, at pleasure. And, similarly, things themselves possessed no fixed and intrinsic amount of interest; instead things were interesting as long as you had attention to give them. How long does it take to draw a baseball mitt? As much time as you care to give it. Not an infinite amount of time, but more time than you first imagined. For many days, so long as you want to keep drawing that mitt, and studying that mitt, there will always be a new and finer layer of distinctions to draw out and lay in. Your attention discovers - seems thereby to produce - an array of interesting features in any object, like a lamp."

(Annie Dillard, An American Childhood)

[pictures from the new jersey beach last august]
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a day in wicker park

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A little trip to Wicker Park (a neighborhood in Chicago) with some lovely ladies during the last weekend of school . . . breakfast at the Earwax Cafe, a lot of shopping at all the little vintage sales, sunshine, coffee, sitting around the park at dusk, a poetry reading at Myopic Books, etc. Grateful for these lovelies, for spring in the city, and for the chance to explore the neighborhood a bit more . . . I will miss it this summer.
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simply ten good things

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01. the sister visiting for the weekend
02. resurrection
03. annie dillard's poems
04. canceled class tomorrow morning
05. cinnamon gelato
06. navy blue tights
07. art projects
08. summer so soon
09. fresh strawberries
10. arcadia by tom stoppard

. . . and then there is extreme sleepiness, numerous papers and tests ahead, failed plans, a sore throat, etc. but all this will soon pass - so I try to breathe deeply and take it all in and be grateful.

[picture of my bed at home - another good thing.]
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cathedral of the moment

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Tonight I am . . .

thinking . . . about the old testament reading that needs to be completed before tomorrow + whether or not I should double major + how much I miss the quiet silence of my morning room back home

listening . . . to the sound of majesty radio program for a music history class assignment + the civil wars

feeling . . . tired + overwhelmed about how busy the next few weeks will be + worried if I can really make it as an art major + grateful for sunshine today

planning . . . my course schedule for the fall + tomorrow's to-do list

reflecting . . . on the fact that perhaps what we need most to overcome temptation is not more willpower but more grace

looking . . . at my roommate's paris metro poster + the stack of messy papers on my desk + the dying yellow daffodils on my windowsill

wanting . . . my mind to burst with creativity for my sculpture project + to be more grateful + to know what I should do with my life + fruit leather

hoping . . . spring decides to come soon (please?) + I manage to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight + I learn to prioritize prayer again
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summer travels

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"When you're tired of London, you're tired of life." Or so says my friend Ruth who, having started traveling at the age of 50, has now spent just 10 days short of a year in England.

Saturday over coffee and cinnamon buns we met to study maps, look at guidebooks, and talk about my trip this summer during which I will be spending nearly eight weeks in England. She deluged me with literally dozens of little guidebooks that she has collected over all her travels and told me about all her adventures and favorite places. She gave me specific instructions to make sure not to miss the knocker on the wall of Durham Cathedral or the gingerbread at a cafe near Wordsworth's Dove Cottage. It was a perfectly lovely Saturday morning and made me all the more excited for the coming summer and all the more grateful for Ruth's friendship.

[pictures from last summer - in order from top to bottom: cliffs of dover, oxford, and canterbury cathedral]
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