why i can't go to the famer's market alone

showing remarkable self-restraint, i bought one thing i don't normally cook with (fresh sugar pie pumpkin) and one thing i've never cooked with (sunchokes or jerusalem artichokes). it was hard not to get a huge head of cauliflower or some winter greens or another winter squash or ... but when you're only feeding one or two people .... it's just so easy to get carried away by the pretty. still planning out turkey day menu - cheese ball and olives, turkey bomb with mushroom gravy, acorn squash braised in apple cider, mashed potatoes (duh) and roasted brussels sprouts, i think. maybe i'll get adventurous and do a sunchoke-potato gratin instead of mashed. right. and maybe the yankees will win the world series. oh wait ...

things that make me feel better

when i am stressed about school, life, love, work, employment, animals, poverty, usw., i listen to ....Grunt: Pigorian Chant from Snouto Domoinko de Silo .... and i feel calmer.

although, to be honest, you really need the libretto to fully appreciate the nature of the work.

if your birthday is the 13th and it's friday ...

is it somehow better? i say yes.
10: Steinbrenner gets rid of Mr. October through free agency.
16: Sonny & Cher reunite on David Letterman.
21: Metallica plays the Velodrome in San Sebastian Spain.
28: opera in Vienna about Anabaptists (see http://bit.ly/1wEUaB).
tomorrow: ???

my law school experience is so not like the others

or maybe it is. but somehow i doubt it. i'm just saying.
today, i went in to the international law library, for the first time since a pre-admission tour. they have a lot of books about international topics. go figure. i love the smell of the old books; these were international law journals from the 30s and 40s. i was tempted to sit and read by an article on the munich agreement. and while i'm not sure i need to know about new zealand tort law, legal same-sex relationships in europe might be useful in my future.

for good measure, i downloaded the school's little software program and successfully printed and picked up something from one of the networked "public" printers; thus, learning the meaning of 'not worth the paper it's printed on,' as i then promptly forgot to use said printout during my fake deposition.

twenty years and two days ...

i did not quite realize* the renovations to the east side gallery that have been done over the years. i couldn't quite translate the full story, but you can see the trabi in monday's picture from 1990 to 2009 at the artist's website (http://birgitkinder.de/Album_ESG/index.htm). you can also see pictures of all the restorations at http://www.eastsidegallery-berlin.com/

*story of my life. e.g., musee de l'orangerie: totally redone in 2006 with skylights above les nympheas. cannot wait to go back. but had no clue until about three months ago.

** i suppose i should get back to work or schoolwork instead of reminiscing through photos and across the internets. after all, tomorrow's my mock deposition. good times.

*** now have urge to plan trip to berlin, paris and a location to be determined in austria.

**** happy veteran's day. no matter your opinion on war (mine is fairly simple = war is generally bad), thank you to those who volunteer to do things that are beyond my ken.

twenty years ...

i was a freshman, not quite yet 18, away from home and struggling to find something (oi, i sound so melancholy, but 'twas truly not the best of times for me. enough said.), and i knew. this was something. the end of the cold war? who would have imagined the quiet collapse of the soviet union two christmases later. the end of nightmares wrought by the day after? not utopia. no, never that. but something truly remarkable. it was coming, but entirely accidental at that very moment.

i was fortunate enough to go to berlin, to leipzig and even to prague in '92. to see parts of the wall that remained standing, to stay with students in leipzig who had first learned russian, then later, english; to whom i stuttered in german as we slept in their communist-block apartment. a few years later, on to budapest where we rented a room in a family's apartment from istvan, who we met at the train station; then on to krakow and oswiecim.

finishing

lately, i've been finishing my soups with my bottle of kuerbis kern oel (or pumpkin seed oil for those who can't see the label). i was wondering why, but then, one of my favorite food/recipe type blogs posted a broccoli soup, finished with olive oil. and it all made sense. sometimes, it's that last bit of nutty flavor from the oil. sometimes, i just think it looks fancier. whatever. tonight's soup was cruciferous. some cauliflower and broccoli with a smattering of sweet onion and garlic, chicken stock and milk, with a little cheddar cheese at the end. tasty.

broken

sometimes, on the metro, i get to see the av3da girls (and one boy) after class. if i'm really lucky, they are carrying their heads tucked under an arm or hanging upside down. and then, sometimes, i decide to rake the leaves. maybe it's karma, i don't know, but this is the rake now.
i did almost finish the front yard, which, for the sake of keeping up appearances, is all that really matters.
it has been a busy fall and it just keeps getting busier. oddly, i'm less stressed about school and more stressed about hours (at work-work and intern-work). after all, there are 24 hours in a day. that aside, i'm headed to philly tomorrow for a white coat ceremony at the vet school. i'm constantly amazed at CS' dedication in her drive to become a vet. i know she's gonna be a good one. trust me, i've met the not so good and the good in the last fifteen years of caring for the furry creatures who call me mum (or ignore me, as the case may be). now back to work!