Spoetry

Below are some samples of "spoetry," the randomly generated text that arrived in our email inboxes every day in the form of spam. These come from a particularly funny example, rife with strage adjectives and recurring characters.

Sentence 1: "Most people believe that a food stamp figures out a cowboy, but they need to remember how hesitantly an inexorably surly skyscraper gets stinking drunk."

Sentence 2: "An ocean, a vacuum cleaner over a corporation, and a blood clot of the buzzard are what made America great!"

Sentence 3: "A fruit cake beyond a bartender competes with the unstable polar bear."

Perhaps because we'd just driven for several hours in an ever changing mix of snow, sleet, and rain, Ivan and I found this particularly hilarious last night.

Away!

Well, we're off to Montreal tomorrow for a short trip to a) see a new green building with really cool heating and cooling systems, b) see a circus show in said green building, since it's a circus performance venue, c) have a wee bit of a honeymoon. The weather's supposed to be awful, there might be snow, but are we worried? No. Throw boots, a shovel, and hats and mittens and things in the car, be prepared for the worst blizzard since the ice age, and nothing will happen. It's practically Vermont law.

Sad, Sad Worms

Well, the worm composting has come to an end, at least for the moment. A batch of fruit flies came in on something, laid their eggs in the compost, and took over the kitchen. Having declared all out war on the fruit flies and having killed hundreds of them, Ivan and I finally had to bid a fond farewell to the worms in the box. We are saddened by this, as it means (we think) no composting until we have a house and land for a compost heap. Which means more garbage, etc. But hey, at least it also means that our house will be fruit fly free for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, we have hit the depressing part of New England autumn--most of the leaves have fallen, the skies are gray, and it's rainy and cold. Hot cider helps, especially when there are cider donuts around to eat with said cider. Being a newlywed helps, too--lots of hugs and snuggles.

Reality Sets In

Monday morning was hard--48 hours of being a total princess, the center of everyone's attention, and the total master of my domain, followed by an average Monday at work. Ok, not so much an average Monday. Everyone wanted to hear about the wedding, there were gifts given and cards and well wishes and lots and lots of hugs. And I had the table decorations with me for company. But still, it was a lot like the day after Christmas.

Now, the bouquet is ready to get thrown away (in the woods, of course), the table decorations have lost their luster, and I'm starting to get back to normal. Married life is returning to the patterns of pre-married life, only now Ivan has a ring on his finger. We get up, we make coffee, we eat breakfast, we go to work, we come home, we make dinner, we read our books (or sort through 400 wedding photos or write thank you notes), we go to bed.

Our life is a simple one, but one that is newly reinvigorated with fullness, richness, and meaning. Suddenly, Ivan's wedding gift of wool clogs to keep my feet warm becomes the "comforting hand" of our vows, my gift to him of graphic pens the "call to adventure" of drawing again. The patterns of our life are the same, but the meanings are suddenly quite different.

MARRIED!

Well, we did it--we got hitched. It was a beautiful fall day in northern Vermont, and we were surrounded by our families and a very close friend. The wedding was all we could have dreamed of and more.

Without further ado, a few of the better formal portraits...

Pictures!!!

I came home early from work, and before I unpin the shawl, I thought I'd share..

The Shawl, It is Done

6 feet wide, 4 feet long (it's a triangle), and spread out on my living room floor for blocking like a dried butterfly. Beautiful, intricate, and 80-100 hours worth of work.

I will be the prettiest princess of all come Saturday afternoon....

I promise all sorts of good tales and pictures from the weekend, which is supposed to be in the 50s and clear as a bell--a perfect Vermont fall weekend.

I'm p-syched!

The Wedding Readings

Yay! Ivan and I, in a fit of relaxation, wrote our wedding ceremony. We chose two readings:

The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you, not knowing
How blind that was.

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere,
They’re in each other all along.

(-Rumi)

......and......

For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation. Loving does not at first mean merging, surrendering, and uniting with another person—it is a high inducement for the individual to ripen, to become something in himself, to become world, to become world in himself for the sake of another person; it is a great, demanding claim on him, something that chooses him and calls him to vast distances.
(-Rilke)