chookooloonks blog

special day

Karen Walrond — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:00:20 +0000

As it happens, yesterday was not only Thanksgiving, but it was also my mother-in-law Diana's birthday. So naturally, instead of making something traditional for dessert like pecan, or pumpkin, or apple pie, I made chocolate chocolate chip birthday cake.

With candles. And sprinkles. Lots and lots of sprinkles.

Naturally.

Song: Super trouper by ABBA. Today's song brought to you by Diana.

love thursday: 100+ things i'm thankful for

Karen Walrond — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0000

Halfway through setting the Thanksgiving table.

In no particular order:

1. Marcus' quirky sense of humour.

2. My parents' warmth and friendliness.

3. Oreo cookies.

4. Learning how to make Trinidadian cooking, well enough that my parents look forward to when I make it.

5. The ease with which Alex tells me her deep, dark, personal stuff.

6. My friends Trish and Carl, particularly how at this point in my life, they're not so much friends as family, and how they have a standing invitation to come to our house on the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas to eat leftovers, and they always take advantage of it.

7. My Houston posse, particularly Laura and Jenny and Katherine and Brené.

8. Fires in our fireplace.

9. Our family Friday night camping night.

10. Rum punch.

11. Caribbean beaches.

12. The way my English inlaws always make me feel welcome every time I see them.

13. Alex's very keen wit.

14. Saturday morning pancakes with my family. Even though I don't really like pancakes.

15. The Shawshank Redemption, When Harry Met Sally, Juno and Lost in Translation.

16. To Kill a Mockingbird and all of Bill Bryson's books.

17. My friend Mark. Who, like Trish & Carl, is also much more like family. Which leads me to ...

18. ... the fact that he found the lovely and very gracious Morgan to spend the rest of his life with. Their impending wedding thrills me to no end.

19. Dark chocolate.

20. Stinky cheese, coupled with a glass of really great port.

21. Manzanita beach.

22. My cameras.

23. My Mac.

24. The fact that I'm from a beautiful country like Trinidad & Tobago. There are aspects of it that frustrate me to no end, but ultimately, at its core, there is no sweeter place.

25. All of the opportunities -- educational, professional and otherwise -- that I've been afforded by living in the United States.

26. Origins Ginger Essence cologne. It has become my signature scent.

27. Nag champa incense.

28. Family vacations, particularly when it's just the three of us.

29. My newfound but thoroughly addictive way of journaling.

30. Our relatively small, relatively old, but oh-so-comfortable home.

31. My studio.

32. Rufus.

33. Papermate Flair pens. Seriously, if they're ever discontinued, I'm not sure what I will do with myself.

34. Cost Plus World Market, IKEA and Target.

35. All bookstores everywhere.

36. Plum wine. Particularly the glass Marcus just brought me as I was typing this list.

37. Scuba diving.

38. Cayman Islands.

39. My friend Victoria.

40. London.

41. Mangoes.

42. Marcus' culinary gift.

43. Tea.

44. Ghost Hunters. Don't judge me.

45. My sister.

46. HGTV. Don't judge me.

47. Calypso.

48. Bossa nova.

49. Steelpan.

50. Star Pizza.

51. Paris.

52. Blogs. Particularly really good ones.

53. Random acts of kindness.

54. Shockingly white, puffy clouds.

55. The arrivals gate at any airport.

56. My friend Everett.

57. Cafe Brasil.

58. Candles.

59. Handwritten letters.

60. My friend Cash.

61. T'afia restaurant.

62. Annie Leibovitz.

63. Eddie Izzard.

64. Jon Stewart.

65. Barack Obama.

66. The woman who I met on one of my 5 mile walk/runs who stopped to stay something very nice to me once. I have no idea who she is, I don't know if I'll ever see her again, but I'll never forget her.

67. Cookies & cream ice cream.

68. LEGO.

69. iPhone.

70. The cartloads of photographs that keep coming for my photo drive. I can't tell you how moved they make me. Really.

71. A perfect Texas weather day.

72. Santa Fe.

73. My grandmother, and her memory.

74. Handbags.

75. My summer trips with the Lovebombers.

76. Squarespace, Flickr and Twitter. And all the friendships that have resulted therefrom.

77. My engagement and wedding rings.

78. How hard Marcus and Matt worked to build me a Lazy Susan for our giant old dining table in time for Thanksgiving dinner. I thought it would be a 20-minute job, instead, it was hours of backbreaking toil. I love how it turned out, and I love them for working so hard on it to make it perfect.

79. My friend Lori's cranberry sauce recipe (1 package of fresh cranberries; 1 cored, peeled, sliced apple; 1 peeled navel orange; 1 cup of sugar. Puree in a blender until the consistency of apple sauce. Perfection).

80. Large meals shared around a table with family or friends that last for hours and hours.

81. Mexico.

82. The Spanish language.

83. Big, warm, heartfelt hugs.

84. My grandfather, and the memory of him.

85. Marriage. And adoption.

86. Really beautiful, photogenic flowers.

87. Steelpans.

88. Musicians.

89. Children's plays, choirs, or any performance or recital. I cry at all of them, whether my child is involved or not.

90. Staedtler pens.

91. Ecosystem journals. Just like Moleskines, but made of 100% post consumer recycled content. Fantastic.

92. One-on-one times with close friends.

93. One-on-one times with Marcus.

94. Sunsets by the ocean.

95. Christmas.

96. Morning and evening snuggles.

97. Beautiful postcards.

98. Shared unspoken sentiments.

99. Belly laughs.

100. Those of you who visit me here at Chookooloonks. It sounds so trite to say this, but seriously, your notes, comments and visits have been literally life-changing; without them over the last 5-1/2 years, I likely would've never rediscovered my passion for photography and writing. I owe you all deep, heartfelt thanks.

* * * * * * *

Happy Love Thursday, and Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you, wherever you're from, or wherever you may be.

Song: Golden by Jill Scott

taste of texas

Karen Walrond — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 06:00:35 +0000

There is an unwritten law in Texas which states that if ever you are hosting people from out of town, you must -- without exception -- take them for authentic Tex-Mex cooking. So, being law-abiding types, that's just what we did last night.

Helen, above, is my sister-in-law: Marcus' brother Matt's wife. She is kind and patient and true, not to mention smart as a whip. She just finished medical school, and is currently doing her residency. This is a good thing, not just because of the generally-accepted ideology that pursuing a career in medicine is admirable, but also because when you are married to fearless (and somewhat reckless) types like Marcus and Matt, it's often advantageous to have a doctor in the family.

Song: Patience by Take That. Today's song brought to you by Helen.

stealing away

Karen Walrond — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0000

There is a downside to working for yourself: there are far fewer vacation days. When you have an employer, you know you can pretty much take your allotted days off with impunity (or at the very least, feel righteously indignant if you can't), but when your employer is yourself, it can be a lot tougher (particularly if it means that you're not going to get paid if you don't get your work done). And so, it can be tricky to get "time off" for the holidays.

I am nothing if not a hardass boss, apparently.

Luckily, I have an understanding family, and while they drove south to check out Galveston beach yesterday, I stole away to my favourite coffeeshop to get some work done. For the most part, I was successful -- I made my deadline, and even managed to get a shot of my keys for NaBloPoMo purposes.

And it looks like I'll even get to take Thanksgiving Day off.

Song: Lullaby by the Dixie Chicks. Yesterday while I was working, a friend sent me a link to a gallery of photographs of her recent wedding, and this song was playing. It made me very happy.

poohsticks

Karen Walrond — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:00:24 +0000

Marcus' mom, brother and sister-in-law arrived at our house early Saturday evening, duly jetlagged. Because we knew this would happen, we made absolutely no plans for Sunday, so that they could sleep in, if necessary, and get acclimated to Houston time.

The next morning, after we had the pancakes that Alex suggested*, we asked them if they had anything that they were looking forward to doing while in Houston. Because it was a beautiful day, they suggested a walk.** And so, we wandered down to a nearby bird sanctuary to take a stroll through the woods.

Since I'm not a huge fan of walking in the woods***, I went along with a slight bit of trepidation, bringing my camera along for solace. But little did I know that spending a good 45 minutes playing poohsticks would be so relaxing and fun.

I'd say Thanksgiving week is off to a decent start.

* She didn't so much suggest, as ask everyone in the house, "Would you like pancakes for breakfast? They're really good. I think you'd really enjoy them. Seriously, do you want some? You should try some!" I took that as a hint that she wanted me to make pancakes for breakfast.

** Ah, these tourists from countries where people actually walk places! Don't they know that here in Houston, there is no walk, only Hummer?

*** Beaches, yes; woods, no. There are bugs in the woods, man. I'm not good with bugs. Marcus reckons that spending my formative years in the tropics ruined me.

Song: It's the same old song by the Four Tops. Today's song brought to you by Alex's Uncle Matt, shown in an intense poohsticks contest, above.

anticipation: 4:01 p.m.

Karen Walrond — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0000

The above image was taken minutes after I'd pulled the apple cinnamon muffins out of the oven. The house was quiet; Marcus and Alex had left 30 minutes earlier for the airport to pick up his mother, brother and sister-in-law.

I love those still moments when you're waiting for houseguests to arrive.

Song: The sound of silence by Simon & Garfunkel

weekend wisdom

Karen Walrond — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0000

“Stress: The confusion created when one's mind overrides the body's basic desire to choke the living daylights out of some jerk who desperately deserves it.”

- Unknown

I admit it: I sort of love that.

And on that note, here's hoping you have a great, stress-free (and nonviolent!) weekend.

Song: Respect by Aretha Franklin

Image: Little jade Buddha Marcus bought for me in China. Photographed with Nikon D300, 50mm manual lens.

random thoughts

Karen Walrond — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:00:41 +0000

Remember that rule in physics that says that gas expands to fill a vacuum? It occurs to me that a chock-full to-do list does the same thing.

I am spending far too much time wrestling with whether sunflowers or gerbera daisies are the happier of flowers. So much so, in fact, I am starting to believe that my tenacity in trying to resolve this dilemma is just my new way of procrastinating.

(Which, now that I think about it, might be the cause of my to-do list ever-expanding to fill the vacuum of my day.)

When I ate meat, I was of the firm belief that bacon made everything better. Now that I don't eat meat, I have made another discovery: whipped cream actually makes everything better. Seriously. Try it on apple slices.

Yesterday, I ran by my post office box to pick up the photographs I'd ordered for the photo drive, and discovered a considerable stack of photos that many of you had already sent me. You're awesome. Please keep them coming -- we have about 500 children to make happy.

Song: For something rather astonishingly calming and meditative to end your week, I thought I'd share this video, even though it makes me miss scuba diving terribly. I'm told the song is Please don't go by Barcelona.

love thursday: preparations

Karen Walrond — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:15:31 +0000

In 2 days, my in-laws will be coming to visit. Probably like most of you, when I have guests coming to stay who I haven't seen in at least a year, this means that there is a long list of things to do to prepare the house for their visit: things to clean, linens to put on beds, that sort of thing. Because my regular to-do list has been exceedling long lately, I decided that instead of waiting until the night before they arrive to do all my preparations, I would do a little bit each day leading up to their arrival, intermixed among all my other obligations and deadlines.

This is, quite possibly, the best idea I've had in a long time. It's been lovely to take a break from writing to take the linens out of the dryer, smell their clean scent as I spread the sheets on the guest room bed, and then returning back to my work. I left a little early to pick Alex up from school, so I could stop and pick up some fresh gerberas on the way. While I was at the grocery store picking up a few staples last week, I picked up some scented candles to put in the rooms where they'll be sleeping.

Now, I suspect that I won't get everything that I'd hoped to get accomplished finished by the time they arrive -- I can think of a few things (like Christmas shopping for everyone in England!) that I know I'm not going to be able to get to before they come. But still, by not waiting until the last minute to at least start preparing for their visit, it's afforded me a little bit of mindfulness about each act: if I'd waited until the day they arrived, I frankly might not have considered flowers or candles. Doing a little each day has allowed me to daydream a bit: think about the looks on their faces when they see their son, happy and healthy; not to mention Marcus' getting to have a little bit of his family and his homeland around him again. And, of course, it'll be great to have our usual, weirdly Trini-English-American Thanksgiving with extended family at home.

So, I suppose that's my public service announcement for Love Thursday today: as we start nearing the holiday season, rather than freak out about everything that needs to be done (because, I admit, it's terrifying when you think about it in toto), simply add one or two easy things to accomplish on your daily to do list. Need to buy milk? Grab a packet of cranberries to throw into the freezer, so you have them at hand when you're ready to cook a holiday dinner. Going to the pharmacy? Pass by the holiday aisle on the way out to grab some string lights. And then once you've done your one easy thing for the day for the holidays (or the day gets away from you and you don't get around to do it), don't sweat it, and don't think about what else you need to do until you make your to-do list tomorrow.

In other words, take it easy on yourself. Take it slow. Slow works: little chores may actually start feeling like small acts of love.

* * * * * * *

Happy Love Thursday, everyone. Please leave your stories or links to your images or words of love in the comments below.

And breathe. You're doing great.

* * * * * * *

According to Random.org, the winner of the signed Kirtsy book is augustmarie. Congrats! I'll contact you via email to get your address. And thanks to all of you for all of your comments yesterday!

Song: Sweet scented figure by Scott Matthews

houston, we have lift-off: the kirtsy book launch (and a giveaway!)

Karen Walrond — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0000

The scene.

Last night, I attended the Kirtsy book launch. It was pretty fabulous: Laura Mayes (my good friend, who also happens to be one of the founders of Kirtsy, and is the book's editor) was there, along with several other women who contributed to the book. The event was held at the beautiful loft space of Bubblegum Tree Photography, and was full of great food and great cheer.

Laura Mayes and designer Kris Kleis, who did the layout of the book.

The best part of the night was, of course, getting to finally see the Kirtsy book, which is beautiful. It's filled with images and essays and blog posts and tweets from some of the most intelligent, funniest and insightful people on the web. I can't wait to really dig into its pages.

This space was so very, very awesome.

Erica O'Grady signs her page of the book. Photo by (I think) Laura Mayes.

Author Katherine Center, who wrote the introduction to the book, and Laura.

So another cool thing: since, this is a beautiful book that you or any woman in your life would be thrilled to receive for the holidays (hint, hint), I also managed to score a copy of the book (signed by both Laura and me) to give away! All you need to do is leave a comment before midnight tonight (saying anything you like), and I'll pick one person at random to receive the book.

Good luck! And for those of you who came out to the launch, thanks so much. It was lovely seeing you.

Song: Think by Aretha Franklin