title: august, round two

my mom's side of the family recently came up for my grandmother's memorial service. we planted two sugar maples at the main entrance to the stony brook millstone watershed center, one for her and one for my grandfather. this corresponded with the weekend of the watershed's butterfly festival. here are some of the celebrated lepidoptera:
we also rode in the back of my uncle's pickup truck. such are the joys of moving fast during the summer:
tomorrow my dad goes back to work (which is also back to school. imagine that double header.). he and i went on a walk at swinging bridges (behind the insitute of advanced study in princeton). the bridge is awesome! it was super muddy, and we both came very close to taking some major spills.
august is royally and officially over. most of my time is devoted to alternatively worrying about and being excited for my trip to the netherlands. it's all about planning weekend trips and stuff--i wonder if there is a single person on this trip who is thinking about the schoolwork?here's to summer as a big kid.

title: "jorb"

this hangs over the head of my bed, because jorb is my favorite word.

title: how august feels

title: madame hana's carrot menagerie

hur-ry! hur-ry! step right up! admission is free and the subjects are fascinating! SEE the carrot lovers! GAPE at the carrot that looks like some legs! GAZE IN AWE at the carrot giving a smaller carrot a piggy back ride! not for those with weak constitutions! women and children, look away!

title: tuvan throat singing

a couple of thursdays ago i was fortunate enough to take in a free performance by the amazing ensemble alash. they are comprised of some of the greatest musicians in tuva, a small republic of russia located in southern siberia.
they are all throat singers. if you've never heard throat singing, you will be blown away. even if you have, these guys are among the best. listen to their samples on their site, and seriously think about buying a cd.
for some reason stephen colbert has been all about throat singing lately, so maybe you heard about it from him. at the suggestion of chris (nathan's mom's boyfriend, but i know him a lot better than that title makes it seem), alash is going to try and get on the colbert report. they deserve the colbert bump.the igil, a stringed tuvan instrument played with a bow, always includes the image of a horse's head because of a legend about a boy and his beloved horse. nathan is building one of these, and he got a lot of tips from the group's interpreter/friend/agent when we went to the concert.

if you live in the princeton, nj area, there is talk of the group returning for another performance. i highly reccomend going! the concert we went to was presented by the arts council of princeton, so checking their website would probably be your best bet. now go visit the alash website (linked at the top of this post) and listen!!

title: memories of colonial williamsburg

so, remember that girl who used to update this blog? no? well, allow me to introduce myself...

the pictures from colonial williamsburg have been sitting on my computer for quite a while. there aren't very many of them, because much of the time i was trying to fit in and look historical. clara and i looked so good. we took that town by storm. we were in at least ten vacation photos (meaning people actually posed with us!!), and got some very suspicious looks from the real colonial williamsburg staff. it was really fun! we didn't last very long camping--it turns out that the mosquitos in virginia have giant fangs that can pierce everything you might try to use to keep them from your blood. we spent one night at that campground, packed up, and checked in to the days inn across the street. i spent most of the time with my camera in my basket, because it was really fun to pretend we worked there. we were definitely living out a fantasy. clara doubly so, because she looked like felicity.one of the things i was most enamored with was the brightness and variety of the wallpapers and fabrics that people (mostly the wealthy, actually) decorated with in the 18th century. i guess with all the stoic portraits we see in school it's easy to believe that everything looked that way. not so! i present to you a few of the textiles of colonial williamsburg:
all in all, colonial williamsburg is a beautiful place. it's worth a trip, but even more so in costume. you feel like royalty, even if you dress like a peasent or a middle class person. everyone says hello to you, and little girls will freeze in their spot and begin to drool on sight.
i have a lot of catching up to do with my photos. keep your eyes peeled all week!!