the humanity!

Today I dragged Lev to a farmers' market in our neighborhood. He power-walked through it, waiting at a safe distance when I stopped to buy something. There's this stereotype that men hate farmers' markets, and only go because their significant others make them go and...look no further than Lev walking back to the house with me, saying that was enjoyable but he was done for the day doing "girly stuff." 

I got some beautiful flowers at the farmers' market. They are in a pitcher that I found at the thriftstore before we left for Korea.

Some more pictures from our trip.

downtown Helsinki

downtown Helsinki

Market Square, Helsinki

Seoul Street

Seoul Street

Lev on the high-speed rail to Seoul from Daejeon

Daejeon

Daejeon

oh, hi, hey

We are back from our trip to South Korea and Finland. Both of us really loved Korea--South Korea is a great example of how nice one's country can be if everyone in it decides to be considerate of each other, among other things. My brother got married, his wife Sang Hee is really nice and was a terrific host. Helsinki was beautiful; it reminded us of Portland in a lot of ways, except that Helsinki has an AWESOME public transit system whereas Portland definitely does not. Helsinki is green, small, and easily navigable by foot, bus or train. Lev waited outside while I scoured Marimekko. (What a great husband!) We got back at 6pm the day before yesterday and I had to go to work at 8--I was wrecked from jet lag but feel great today.

Tonight Levy is making homemade pizza, including the dough. Woo! And we are watching the always stomach-turning "Papillon."

Below are some photos from my journey. Enjoy!

this is a fort from the 1700s on the island of Suomenlinna in Finland.

tiny dwellings on Suomenlinna

ahh! Finland! The ocean!

Suomenlinna, Finland

Lev and my brother, Seoul, Korea.

ten minutes

In ten minutes we leave for Helsinki/Korea/Helsinki. Yesterday I tripped in my new high heels and fell on the ground, splaying out and embarrassing myself. I also learned that wearing heels that like to slip off your feet is bad, bad, bad. Danger! I gave them away--I couldn't even return them because they got chewed up from the cement. And I now have a bandaid on my knee. "I come from Oregon, with a bandaid on my knee." Sing to the tune of "Oh! Susannah."

The thing about falling out of your shoes is that it sucks plain and simple, but it sucks even more because other people (or just Mom and Lev) have invariably said to you, "You're going to wear THOSE to work?!" And you're like, "Um, yeah, like, stay outta my business," and then you're on the ground, right in front of your car.

Wow, we are leaving. To travel the world! Levy got some new pants (or "slacks," as he likes to call them). He looks very handsome. He's entirely camera shy, so you will just have to take my word for it.

forward-looking

My life is getting quite dreamy, so is this photo. We fly to Helsinki on Tuesday, and then onto Korea.

and i wouldn't change a thing

Today I read an article in the New York Times that was basically about a man's summers in a fire lookout tower in the southwest. He spends two to three months in complete solitude--no Internet, no telephone, and tons of books and typewriter ribbon. When I was a kid we'd go on vacations in central Oregon, and I'd stare up at Black Butte and look at the little tower up there, thinking about who was in it and what they were doing.

This article made me realize that I've been somewhat paralyzed by my stuff--like, I want to paint a picture, but then again maybe I'll look something up on the Internet instead, and shouldn't I be reading a book? Let's watch TV. My show is on. You see? And I'm not complaining, I love my life and everything that comes with it--but the idea of being completely cut off from everything is attractive, too. I mean, with isolation comes either intense focus or intense longing to not be isolated. I wonder how I would fare in isolation.

Before I turned about 11 or 12 I was able to play pretend with my dollhouse for long periods of time, alone. I loved it. I guess that could be called intense focus. I seemed to have lost that focus as I entered adulthood--you can come over and the TV will be on, my laptop is in front of me, a book is open across my legs; and I'm fiddling with the radio. (Maybe I shouldn't have arranged all those things in such close proximity.)

One way I've tried to deal with my distractibility at work is to cut out visual chaos. I'm an editor--there is a great potential for desk chaos. Style sheets, books, papers, printouts, you name it! But I keep my desk almost ascetically clean (I hope they know I'm doing stuff). But it doesn't matter! There is so much distraction to be had behind the screen of my computer. Sometimes I just want to turn it off; Lev says that I lack self-discipline which may be true (I was supposed to be at the gym right now) but seriously I can't help it! I mean, if I hadn't've looked at the NYT online while I was at work today work I never would have even read that article about the man who spends his summers in a lookout tower. Did I just talk myself in a circle?

summer

The woods and sidewalk by my work. I love summer.