rainy days are here again

(scattered thunderstorms too)

while delirious at the Frick

among all the ingres, manet, and toulouse lautrec,

we ordered star trek tickets and then

bought a lot of unnecessary snacks.

NEW YORK MoMA

i saw my two favorite paintings

(1 version of matisse's the dance

but w/o nasturtiums, and rothko's no. 3/13,

which i wrote a 13 page research paper on once)

midway through our visit, ellen turns to me

and declares "i suddenly remembered i

don't really like modern art"

we got yelled at more but we still took pictures.

"linda comes to new york

and says  o0o00o buildings!"

while ellen was at a doctor's appointment,

i wandered around crate and barrel across the street.

it was like a wonderland inside.

after looking through the cutest

dinnerware designed by marimekko,

i taught an elderly indian lady from new jersey
how to use her iphone's camera

and photographed fancy fruit bowls for her.

 melting weather:

ice cream & the guggenheim.
we got yelled at a bunch for taking pictures inside
the museum, but we kept taking them..
when else will i be able to see a mobile by
alexander calder?! and paintings by mondrian,
miro, picasso and kandinksy all condensed in
a giant snail shaped building?

coleus is my favorite foliage.

also, ellen solved my rainy-day problem and found me

a pair of dark blue oxfords at payless for $7

in the kids section. apparently, i wear a size 4

in little girl's shoe sizes.

reunited with nick!

i opened the door and there he was!

we've only seen each other abroad

 (in new zealand, singapore and malaysia

and now, new york). during his elevator ride up,

he met a lady taking her bird to a "parrot play date"

 nick is great; i think he's the fastest close

friend i have ever made.

"we are born not all at once, but by bits"

tonight, i photographed nyc dancers in brooklyn.
i even gave choreography advice.

some of my best memories at uc santa cruz was

the afternoons spent with may walking through

campus and surrounding state parks.

this was the day we finished classes,

got kombucha and drank it under a tree.

lesson learned today:

do not submit assignments at 11:59pm

it usually works BUT, sometimes,

you don't make it...

 :((

 last day in santa cruz!

*sold my books at various used-bookstores downtown

and got $42 of store credit & cash.

so i bought a waterproof reusable grocery bag,

a book on north korea and asked for the rest in $$.
*now i'm off to donate my clothes.

i also tried baking this today:

kathy and i got macarons & ate them at natural bridges.

 we saw a great blue heron. then i was so overcome with

intense nervousness when it hit me that

i'm leaving santa cruz in 4 days,

so i threw up.

 kathy is such a wonderful person.

she is always so cheerful and warm.

once, she commuted 1.5 hours

to take me out for lunch on my birthday.

she also gave me best cupcake i ever ate.

it was bright pink with heart sprinkles.

two quarters ago, we stayed up until 5am
together working on our assessment on teacher's
attitudes towards multicultural education.

normally, i dread emails from Public Affairs because
they usually are about a rape or suicide on campus.

but today's is a "Deer Fawning Season Alert":

"Finding a fawn (baby deer) alone in the woods or a meadow is fairly common. Many people assume that young wildlife found alone are abandoned, helpless and need assistance for their survival. In nearly all cases this is a mistake, and typically human interaction does more damage than good. If you see a fawn or other newborn wildlife, enjoy your encounter, but for the animal’s well being, it is important to keep the encounter brief and maintain some distance."

found an apartment for seattle!

"she asked students in one first-grade classroom in a very transient neighborhood to tell what came to mind when she said twenty-four.

the children immediately gave a variety of answers:
two dimes and four pennies, two dozen eggs, four nickels and four pennies, take a penny away from a quarter, the day before Christmas, my mother was 24 last year, when the hand (on a grocery scale in the classroom) is almost in the middle of twenty and thirty.

When she asked this question in a third-grade classroom

in a professional community, 24 was just a number that is written in a certain way, that appears on a calendar or a digital watch."

there's something so magical about

children that our current system takes away.

i am so interested in this

and how to keep the curiosity and creativity alive.
i am certain this is possible.

i cannot stop roasting & eating brussel sprouts.

i must be getting so much

(2S)-2-[(4-{[(2-amino-4-hydroxypteridin-6-yl)methyl]amino} phenyl)formamido]pentanedioic acid

(folic acid)

**preheat oven to 400 F
**cut brussel sprouts in 1/2
**cut up onions & potatoes
**drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper
**bake for 40 minutes

i have been searching for a sunhat for the last 4 years.

today, i found the perfect one.

it's light green and red and made from hemp.

what a nice way to remember santa cruz by.

now i'm off to my and ryan's "going away get together!"

M A Y  
may skipped her class & we went on a farm adventure.

a bee kept flying violently in my hair,

then it stung my leg.

roasted brussel sprouts & spring onions!

(and some peaches with leaves)

"some of the most intelligent

people i know are farmers."
-a. matthews

i had a dream that i found an abandoned koala.
it was very soft and didn't bite me.

i went to great lengths to find it

the right type of leaves, flowers and plants to eat.