Welcome to the World, Baby Niece!

Julia Paz Reed

Born 11-20-2010 at 3:23am

6 lbs 15 oz

19 inches long

Baby Time! (Almost)

My baby sister is due with baby Julia Paz in exactly one week! I head down to Reno on Thursday, dayafta tomorrow, to be with her. So graciously she's made me part of the birth plan. I'm extremely thrilled, to say the least, to be present at the birth of a baby, and the first baby of my only sister no less!

I'm taking this privilege most seriously. I've pulled out our copy of "The Birth Partner..." something something tips for dads, doulas and others in the room. I've already read this book and understand the concepts, but just to be hilarious I joked to my sis that "isn't a doula like the person who juggles and does magic tricks during labor?" That would be the court jester, and apparently her birthing class teacher already covered "humor while in labor" a couple weeks ago - it's not funny at a certain point, she says, and Jamie says Matt looked somewhat disappointed hearing this while he drew "battle goats" on his class notes. In the room will be Jamie (of course), Matt, our mom, me and of course, the assorted and sundry birthing professionals. I'm there to just encourage, support and probably play nice music and, also, cry and look agape while I stand in awe. And cry.

That is, of course, if the baby comes on time. They are notorious for being early or late, showing up to the party naked and crying. Oh, babies!

Whenever this little girl makes her grand entrance, I know that she is coming into a world of love love love to surround her. I can't wait to meet her, hold her, make silly faces at her, and also, see my little sister become a mother. It will be beautiful, and leaving in a couple days to not only go see my sister, which is exciting, but also to go in order to await of the coming of a new person whom we already adore is unique, astounding and absolute joy. I love the whole idea of surrounding family, being near to and helping women while bringing a new human into the world - it seems old as time, yet its new to me. J'adore participating in new-old life tropes. Hurry up baby Julia Paz!

Fall Photos

Boeuf Bourguignon fills the house with a delicious warm aroma so perfect for chilly Autumn days.

The view from our suite in Seattle. Looks a lot like Alaska.

Bridge over the Missouri River.

The LOVE pumpkin.

For our Zombie Prom Halloween fete, we projected B&W zombie flicks over the fireplace. I got really excited about watching movies in the living room and I think SOMEONE is getting a projector and pulldown movie screen for xmas.

First snow on November 1 covers the Halloween pumpkins and fake cobweb decorations on the front porch.

And, speaking of Zombie Prom, the hosts with the ghosts: Jim the "Pox Zombie" + Sarah the "Totally 80's Zombie" posing for their "Night to Remember DISmember" prom photo.

A little bit closer if you dare.

New Banjo Rock + Kitchen Utensils!

In my ongoing hunger for more uptempo banjo/rocking folk music since falling hard for Mumford & Sons, I've just come across the Canadians known as Elliott Brood, a so-called "death country" band (which is as dumb a label as, well, as it sounds), and I'm heartily enjoying their album Mountain Meadows, a foot-stomping rollicker.

Below, a video of "Write It All Down For You" - in which they hand out kitchen utensils to the crowd in order to bang along. I appreciate this wholeheartedly - the all-around utility and DIY-simplicity of kitchen utensils is something very well acknowledged in this house that absolutely deserves heightened recognition. Just ask anyone who has been over here late when the homegrown karaoke/dance party starts - it's whisks, potato mashers and spatulas all around!



p.s. and re: my previous post in which I couldn't figure out how to sort by newest addition, my whipsmart hubs explained that if you control-click on the iTunes category bar there will appear a whole host of sorting options. Of these, the "Date Added" option did the trick. Brilliant!

Ain't For Metrical Reasons

Tonight I downloaded a very good album, Colorblind by Robert Randolph & The Family Band, coming a bit late to the RR&TFB circle of fandom, but I was only just introduced. Then I got a couple more albums after that being in a musically desirous mood this first snowy eve of the season. Then again experiencing how these new musical additions tend to get so totally lost in the vast vacuum de iTunes when you download more than two things and then can't remember what you just purchased or figure out how to configure the blinkin' application to sort by "Newest Addition" which would seem obvious, clever and defaultish...

Anyway, remembering that on the first album I bought - Colorblind - there's a song Ain't Nothing Wrong With That which is a fun, jammy, danceable blues/gospel tune, I search "ain't" and lo and beholdsky, what an absolute goldmine of songs include the notword "ain't" in their titles within my very own confoundingly unsortably giant iTunes liberry!

The online free Merriam-Webster Dictionary tells me that ain't "is flourishing in American English" despite being "widely disapproved as nonstandard" and commonly used by the "less educated" (than what/whom?) to mean: am not, are not, has not, did not, etcetera and other things you already know... Not included in the definition: "works really good-like in song lyrics being monosyllabic while lending a certain unpretentious low poetry and downtobusiness twangy familiarity." It does concede, however (and this is for reals): "...also used for metrical reasons in popular songs..."

Herewith, the "Ain't For Metrical Reasons" Playlist:

Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got That Swing - Nina Simone

Things Ain't Like They Used to Be - The Black Keys

Ain't No Easy Way - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross & The Supremes & The Temptations

There Ain't A Girl Alive - Joan Armatrading

I Ain't Got Time - Fern Jones

I Ain't Proud - Langhorne Slim

Ain't No Cure For Love - Leonard Cohen

Ain't Going Down to the Well - Tom Waits

Ain't it the Truth - The Gossip

People Ain't No Good - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds