KITKA--WOW!

I am in Kitka heaven! Kitka, the wonderful and amazing women's ensemble from Berkeley, CA came to Yale today. They had a concert on campus, and Slavs got to open for them AND sing two songs with them--it was such an honor. In the world of Slavic and Eastern European music in the US, Kitka is pretty universally regarded as Goddesses. Slavs certainly thinks so. We want to BE them.

I sound a bit fanatical, don't I?

I first heard Kitka about 5 years ago in Santa Fe at the St. Francis Auditorium. I sat through the entire concert with my mouth hanging open. I was enthralled.

I listened to their Wintersongs CD a lot during my year off, especially while I was in New Zealand. Never did I think that I would get to do a workshop with them (which Slavs go to do last night), much less sing in a concert with them.

I shall sleep well tonight.

Spring Thaw

Alright, that might be a it optimistic, but a week ago, the high was 14 degrees, and the low was 2--yikes! Today, at an easy 33 degrees, it feels almost balmy. I rode bike bike up science hill without even having to tie a scarf around my face. Squirrels are scurrying about (there is one outside my window now, watching me), clumps of snow are falling softly from the limbs of trees. There is something to look forward to.

This has been the view outside my window of late:

Snow, snow, snow. I don't mind it.

R & R

... Was what most of my break was made up of. I baked a lot--mostly granola, due to the fact that my mother gave me a 50-lb bag of oats--yikes! 50 lbs is A LOT of oats--Graham and I figured out that it's roughly equal to 400 servings of oatmeal. If you need some oats, you know who to ask. Also, yeast bread, a lot of cookies, and some chocolate banana bread (pictured).


I also sat in front of the fire in the absurdly comfortable recliner, which apparently used to belong to a philanthropist, and which he might actually have died in... I'm not that kind of superstitious. I read books, watched movies, didn't set my alarm clock, went to Ojo Caliente.

I ate very well: We made beans, both of the pinto and mung variety, vegetarian crock pots, chilaquiles, tortillas, root-vegetable salads... not all at once, of course. We also made a batch of sprouts in a mason jar, which were delicious. Graham and I even got to go to dinner at Pasqual's, which I really think is the best restaurant in Santa Fe. It's worth going just for the ESPRESSO MILK SHAKE, which is transcendental (pictured, finished).


The moon was spectacularly full the night before I left. It was the biggest moon I have ever seen, I'm fairly certain. It was a beautiful time to be in New Mexico (though it always is, as far as I'm concerned).

From the Ashes a camera shall spring

I finally got a new camera--it was a long six weeks without one. Behold: the evolution of a Canon Powershot Digital Elph:



Starting on the right, The Original, which I got before my trip to New Zealand in 2006, and which mysteriously stopped taking pictures last year while on Slav Tour, some months after it had been chewed upon by a dog. This prompted an emergency trip to Costco (nightmare of all nightmares) in order to procure The Replacement, which you see in the center, which stopped working not-so-mysteriously at the beginning of November when I spilled water all over it. Oops. I hemmed and hawed over perhaps sending it in to get it fixed, and finally just got a new one. Now I have three versions of essentially the same machine, all of then essentially fine except for lens problems... If you need to buy camera parts, you know who to contact.

I'm Baa-aack...!

That's right, I'm back at school, after a wonderful and restful winter break... Spring Semeseter: it just sounds more optimistic, doesn't it?

I also have a camera again! I got a new one over break. I figured that by the time I shipped mine in to be fixed, and paid for the repair, and waited to get it back, I might as well just get a new one... Our Disposable Culture.

I'll post pictures and stories from break soon, perhaps tomorrow, but now it is very late, I have been traveling all day, and I need to floss and go to bed!