Today felt like the first day of the rest of my life.
Author: Sarah Zureick-Brown
Trip to the Rose Garden
I’ve noticed over the past week or so that roses are blooming in Atlanta and wanting to find a lot of these beauties in one place I Googled “Rose Garden Atlanta” this morning. One of the top hits was the Fernbank Rose Garden, which features around 1300 roses and is free and open to the public.
I went around 5:00 p.m., which is a little earlier than I would have liked to have gone because the sun was still high in sky making it more difficult to photograph the roses. Nonetheless, I left having taken around 180 photos. Below are a few of my favorites.
This photo utilizes the sunlight. I love the pink tips of the petals: 
This one captures the sensual curves and folds of rose petals. Coupled with the soft pink hue this photo reminds me of a vintage silk negligee: 
In this photo, I wanted to capture the contrast between the delicate petals and the sharp thorns:
Mushrooms
On one of my regular walks through the woods, I happened upon some beautifully grotesque mushrooms growing on a fallen tree. 
Music for a Rainy Day
It’s going to be a rainy weekend in Atlanta. I’m planning on spending it reading, writing, and working on costumes for a Gatsby party and a Steampunk picnic that I am going to attend this coming week. I want to listen to music while performing these activities, and given the weather and my general state of mind on rainy days, Kings of Convenience is a perfect fit.
Although I imagine that I had heard their music before, I recently rediscovered this band through Pandora after giving a number of their songs the thumbs up. I listen to Pandora at work because for the most part music helps me to stay focused on the tasks that I need to accomplish. There are some artists, though, who I allow myself to take a mental break for, closing my eyes, putting my head and my hands, and taking some time to escape the confines of the office by submersing myself in the music.
A few songs to take your mind off of what worries you and to wrap yourself up in on a rainy day:
Misread
I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From
I’d Rather Dance with You
Kissing Frogs
I recently told a story at Carapace about my first kiss, which happened on New Year’s Eve when I was sixteen with my then boyfriend. I dated this guy for a few months, but we only kissed that one time. I enjoyed the kiss immensely; however, he later described it as “not really” a kiss.
I enjoyed writing and telling this story because I am intrigued by the two themes that emerged from it: (1) how two people can have very different interpretations of the same experience and (2) how adolescents are generally pretty bad at communicating in relationships.
Reviewing my journals from this period of my life, I came across another detail of our relationship that I will add to the story the next time I tell it. Namely, after we had kissed and after he had described it as “not really” a kiss, this boyfriend gave me a Valentine’s Day card with several frogs on it whose message read, “You’ve got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.”
I’m pretty sure that was his way of communicating that he was sorry that he’d never really liked me in a romantic way and that he hoped I had better luck in the future.
Aguas de Marcos
Sometimes I listen to music because I want to feel all the feels. This song makes me feel it all: excitement, happiness, sadness, and an overwhelming sense of urgency. It makes me want to live life in the moment.
The definitive version of this song (according to Wikipedia) is the duet between Antônio Carlos Jobim, the composer, and Elis Regina:
My dad’s favorite cover of this song is by Susannah McCorkle, and I like this version because it includes English lyrics as well as the original Portuguese lyrics:
The Unfortunate Soapmaker
Woe is the soapmaker
Who gets caught in the rain
While selling his wares.
Without an umbrella or a waterproof sack,
All of his efforts wash away
And never come back.
Iris
Almost as soon as I had blogged about the photo of daffodils being my favorite of the season, I took this photo of an Iris, which has now seized the top spot. I love how the purple petals stand out against the beige background but still look two-dimensional, like they’ve just been drawn on the wall. I also love how the beauty of the flower in full bloom is complemented by the arc of the stem to the right and the pink and purple peeking out of the bud.
Peanut Butter Ground Pork Stir-Fry
Our bounty from the East Lake Farmers Market last weekend included ground pork, turnips, leeks, and green garlic. We got to harvest the leeks and green garlic ourselves pulling them straight out of the garden beds at the market.
Inspired by Thai peanut sauce, I wanted to make something that would combine the ground pork with peanut butter since we usually have that on hand. I stir-fried the vegetables and ground pork and then added the sauce at the end making sure that it was nice and juicy so that it would flavor the rice.
Ingredients:
1 T Canola oil
2 leeks sliced
2 green garlics diced
2 carrots sliced
5 turnips chopped
Turnip greens chopped
1 pd ground pork
1 T water
2 T peanut butter
1 T soy sauce
1 T chili garlic sauce
Directions:
- Sauté leeks, green garlic, carrots, and turnips for a few minutes in canola oil.
- Add ground pork. Sauté until browned.
- Add 1 T of water and turnip greens. Put on lid to steam turnips and carrots for a few minutes.
- Add peanut butter, soy sauce, and chili garlic sauce. Steam for a few more minutes.
- Serve over cooked white rice making sure to scoop up the tasty peanut sauce.
Yum, yum, yum, yum….
How do you procure A’s?
We were having a vocabulary lesson in my seventh grade reading class taught by Sister Diane. She introduced the word procure.
“How do you procure A’s?” was what she asked us. But what we all heard was, “How do you procure AIDS?”
We shifted uncomfortably in our chairs, giggling softly under our breath, a bubble of nervous excitement blooming among us as our minds collectively turned to thoughts of S-E-X.
The silence was broken when a boy raised his hand and delivered an answer our behalf. “Sex?” he said shyly.
“Sex?!” Sister Diane shouted back at him. “Is there something you need to tell me? That’s not how to go about getting good grades.”
Comprehending the miscommunication the class broke out into laughter. The quiet giggles transformed into hearty belly laughs.
This comedic exchange, so perfect in its timing and tone, might be the best representation of unintentional humor that I’ve witnessed in my lifetime.
Sarah Zureick-Brown 