Happy Birthday, Holly

Here is the birthday girl on her birthday last Tuesday. She and Prema and I had the biggest yummiest slabs of sushi at Holly's favorite place in Sellwood, Saburo. If you missed the story of the rest of her day, go here (and see 38).




This seems like a good time to do one of those gushy birthday posts people do... Because Holly has given me such a huge gift of friendship this year, that's there's really no way to sum it up here. But this week was also our year anniversary of meeting, and we have both been through so much this year. I could most definitely not have done what I did this year without Holly and her wise words and late night conversations (on my couch or via a phone or computer on the other side of the country). And I am so blessed that she has shared her two beautiful crazy girls with me. I wanted to write something longer here, but I've been stuck on it for a few days and mostly I'm just speechless.

So Happy Birthday, Holly. Big, big love.


And I just love this picture, from last Monday at the Rooster Rock beach.

What Book Are You?

So I took this quiz twice (sorry, that's sneaky, I know) and the first time I was The Poisonwood Bible and the second time I got this. Not a bad quiz.... Let me know what you get!

You're A People's History of the United States!

by Howard Zinn

After years of listening to other peoples' lies, you decided you've had enough. Now you're out to tell it like it is, with all the gory details and nothing left out. Instead of respecting leaders, you want to know what the common people have to offer. But this revolution still has a long way to go, and you're not against making a little profit while you wait. Honesty is your best policy.
Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

Writing Meme

Alright, Holly tagged me, so....

1. I have wanted to be a writer ever since I could write. Starting around third grade I wrote stories and kept journals. In 4th grade, my friend Emily and I made up our own language and used it at school.

2. In high school I won entry from my school (of about 2300?) into a writing contest of the National Council of Teachers of English.

3. In college I took some literature classes, but neglected to pick a school that had any creative writing program. After that I forgot that writing was so important to me, much less that I wanted to be a writer, although I still kept a journal (I now have a few boxes of about fifty-something volumes).

4. I didn’t really get back to writing seriously (seriously??) until about two years ago when I took a class with Ariel Gore at The Attic Writer’s Workshop.

5. I took a pretty big leap this summer and decided to take a trip to find/write the story about my mother/my family/myself that feels like it needs to be told. It was amazing, I got more out of it than I could have hoped, and now I am plugging away at working with the material I collected and making sense of it, and honestly I am pretty terrified about whether I can turn it into an actual book. The actual word book is scariest of all.

6. I am so eternally grateful for all the writing buddies I have found in the last year, for everyone who has read any of my writing or supported me in doing it. Thank you. Also grateful for the music and the musicians that have kept me inspired (and employed) through this process. And the kids (see below). ☺

7. I tag Terry, Jonah, and Rebecca. And I'll tag Prema (again), just to be sure. :)

PS What is a MEME??

My favorite girls

Well, I can't help it. I have to post pictures of my favorite girls again, since it's been so long since I have. Its been so great to come home this fall and have them to hang out with. And I am so excited that my friend Prema and her daughter River have moved to Portland. A new friend here, and a very cool new almost-three-year-old to hang out with (just the same age as Josie).

Willa and Josie in the sandbox in Willa's backyard.

Love this face. :)

Willa and Amelia in my living room during brunch at my house on Sunday (in honor of Kate visiting from DC). I love this one.

Prema and River in the living room.

Willa, Amelia, Holly and Josie reading a book.

Josie reading to me ("reading") from Charlotte's Web. Love that outfit.

Amelia and Kate, who hit it off pretty well. :)

A few pictures from the DP&M show

The blog posting has slowed down lately, sorry about that. Things were very busy with the Deva Premal & Miten show in the last stretch there, and then right afterwards I got sick (I'm better now). But the show was quite amazing, we had over 500 people there, the musicians were among the sweetest people I've ever worked with, and the music was beautiful. I wish I could experience it a few more times (the show, not the preparations and promotion!).

Here are some other pictures from the show (the ones in the bottom two rows are from Portland, the others are from Omega in NY).

My grandmother went to the DP&M show in Seattle with a friend and she compared it to Pete Seeger because they were getting the community to sing together. :)

DP&M have their own blog, too.

I'm taking a hiatus from concert production for a while to hang out with my favorite girls (those in the five and under category) and to write.

PS Isn't that a cool shirt? Thanks, Prema (for the shirt and half your living room on the stage)!