they know how to party

Posted on April 29, 2009 - Filed Under kiddo life | 1 Comment

The kids are jaw-droppingly able to have fun anywhere, anyhow, anytime. Case in point: the grocery store yesterday. I mean, woohoo Harris Teeter, right? Um, no. Not usually. Although I have heard that the Harris Teeter can be quite the pick-up spot for singles on Friday nights, I tend to equate grocery shopping with running [...]

this just knocks my socks off

Posted on April 28, 2009 - Filed Under honeymilk farm | 1 Comment

From the yard:

The Angel of Irises was having a really good day when she designed this one.

unexpected benefit of living in a round house #27

Posted on April 26, 2009 - Filed Under mayalife | Leave a Comment

Paul and I were having a fight one day, I don’t remember what about, something stupid probably—aren’t most of these fights about something stupid? It’s too bad you only realize that after the fact. Anyway, the fight reached a head and we both stomped off dramatically, as one is wont to do in those moments. [...]

yurts: the downside

Posted on April 22, 2009 - Filed Under alternative building | 1 Comment

We love our yurt. I am really glad we decided to go this route.
But no space is perfect in all ways, and yurts are no exception. After nearly four years in ours, here is the unvarnished truth to living in a gigantic, glorified tent.
Sound
If you put up your yurt on a mountaintop, 100 acres from [...]

the circus comes to the yurt

Posted on April 20, 2009 - Filed Under kiddo life | Leave a Comment

Oh, man, I feel AWESOME today. I’m back on my absolute FAVORITE drug of choice: COFFEE. I am SO HAPPY about this. I’m AWAKE for the first time in WEEKS. (And there seems to be SOMETHING wrong with my CAPS key. It’s not ME. I SWEAR.)
In honor of my new delicious, caffeine induced mania, check [...]

that’s just gross

Posted on April 19, 2009 - Filed Under food | 1 Comment

Here are side-by-side pictures of common fast food items with their advertising-world counterpart. If you wanted motivation for NOT eating this stuff, look no further. The ads may tempt you, but the reality is flacid, ugly, and just plain yucky. And of course, you already knew that, but somehow, seeing it laid out so clearly [...]

how I blog

Posted on April 18, 2009 - Filed Under geeklife, writing | Leave a Comment

I’m hardly an expert, but a friend asked me the other day, after reading my one year anniversary post, what my thoughts were, at this point, on blogging. Heck, having a blog is all about spouting one’s opinion, right? So here you go…
—They say to have a single topic blog, and I get that. It [...]

happy anniversary, mayaland!

Posted on April 13, 2009 - Filed Under adventures | 4 Comments

Today is mayaland’s one year anniversary! Woo hoo! I’m still here! One year ago I was getting a half dozen hits a day, and I knew all of those people (hi guys!). Now I’m getting over ten times that, still a tiny number in the blogging world, but still, wow! That’s so cool! It’s not [...]

sneaking around, early in the morning, taking pictures

Posted on April 9, 2009 - Filed Under goats, honeymilk farm | Leave a Comment

I thought the yurt looked very pretty this morning.

All the bushes in front are blooming with tons of these crazy white flowers. I can’t remember the name, something about ‘bride’ or ‘maiden.’ Typical.

Fancy was happy to see me. Ma-a-a-a.

Luc, still asleep when I got back from the barn, looked gorgeous, too, if you ask me.

Shhhh….

cooking up a mess of oysters

Posted on April 8, 2009 - Filed Under adventures, food | Leave a Comment

What are these people hanging around in the cold for?

Fresh oysters!

I love how suspicious Sophie looks in that one. But there are several key ingredients to a successful oyster-based gathering in this shot. Oysters, of course. Shucking knives. Shuckers. And, obviously, beer. Lots of beer. A pretty, oyster-proof table is nice, too. My aunt made [...]