We got married and I graduated from graduate school in the same weekend!

We had a lovely wedding with our parents as witnesses at Discovery Park. It was perfect and the best part was NO STRESS! Of course Indigo and Ari were there to celebrate with us and stayed during the ceremony with no leashes. The ceremony only took 5 minutes and my Mom read a poem that really seemed to fit Ben and I by Walt Whitman. We had 3 bouquets of flowers picked out by Frances from the Pike Place Market displayed in mason jars on the railing of the overlook. The clothes that Ben and I wore were picked out 2 days before the wedding and were not even close to traditional . It was nice to only have our 4 guests for the ceremony, but we are very excited to celebrate with everyone in August 2009!

Our Wedding Poem.....


We Two, How Long We Were Fool'd

---

We two, how long we were fool'd,
Now transmuted, we swiftly escape as Nature escapes,
We are Nature, long have we been absent, but now we return,
We become plants, trunks, foliage, roots, bark,
We are bedded in the ground, we are rocks,
We are oaks, we grow in the openings side by side,
We browse, we are two among the wild herds spontaneous as any,
We are two fishes swimming in the sea together,
We are what locust blossoms are, we drop scent around lanes mornings
and evenings,
We are also the coarse smut of beasts, vegetables, minerals,
We are two predatory hawks, we soar above and look down,
We are two resplendent suns, we it is who balance ourselves orbic
and stellar, we are as two comets,
We prowl fang'd and four-footed in the woods, we spring on prey,
We are two clouds forenoons and afternoons driving overhead,
We are seas mingling, we are two of those cheerful waves rolling
over each other and interwetting each other,
We are what the atmosphere is, transparent, receptive, pervious, impervious,
We are snow, rain, cold, darkness, we are each product and influence
of the globe,
We have circled and circled till we have arrived home again, we two,
We have voided all but freedom and all but our own joy.

Here our some photos that my Dad took....

We went to Golden Gardens park in Ballard to have portrait photos, which will be available in 20 days. For dinner we went to Ray's Boathouse, an amazing seafood restaurant on the water. They have lots of sustainable fish and pasture raised meat options. More about that meal in my next post.

The less important things that have been going on....
We traded Kuro for another of Diane's puppies - Kael. What a sweet dog! Of course Indy decided that he was a suitable replacement playmate and showed him how to race around the yard like maniacs. We dropped him off on on Wednesday and had a great herding lesson. Indigo is getting over her "plateau", which I am happy about because she has been doing pretty badly lately. It has been as if she never saw sheep before. In order to get her excited again I was instructed to run after the sheep and growl at them. That was weird, but I went with it and it worked!

Ben had his first herding lesson with Tess (Diane's dog). He practiced moving the sheep around the round pen and using the right flanks (come bye and away to me). He did great and I have a feeling he'll be back for more lessons with Tess until he gets his own little border collie. We talked to Diane about starting to get our dog meat (sheep) and beef and eggs for us for us. It would be great to support her farm and get our meat from someone we know.

Kael and Indigo looking adorable

Ben working with Tess

Me looking like a serious shepherd

We have been eating out a lot with family in town this past week. We went to the Steelhead Diner and had their fish and chips - the best in Seattle as far as we are concerned!

The best fish and chips in Seattle!

We went out to Carmelita, a gourmet vegetarian restaurant with dishes that sound like strange combinations, but end up being heavenly. We were celebrating this amazing meal with Ashley and Mike and Ashley's mom (Jill) and the Shryocks. The highlights were Ben's pizza with a sunny side up egg, grapes, rosemary and goat cheese, a surprisingly good combination...and then there was the 3 desserts split between the table - homemade mint and berry sorbets, chocolate muck muck and a coconut panna cotta. I highly recommend this restaurant for artfully created vegetarian dishes that are as good as any fancy restaurant can do.






And somehow during all of this craziness, I did not allow my sourdough starter to be forgotten. I stirred it everyday for 7 days and then made a simple white bread with it. It came out well, despite being a little too dense and not as sour as I would have liked. I think it was good for a first try and I'm sure it will get better with practice.

my first loaf of sourdough

the starter looking nice and bubbly