Old Videos from Noah

Anna's dreams

This Sunday marks two long years of missing Anna. This is a hard week of remembering, because the memories are the painful details of two years ago. But summer is here, and Anna was summer...we all have zillions of summer Anna memories. Here is a list of her dreams that I found in one of her journals. Summer dreams, all (well, except for snowboarding and the Knicks!)...

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Hiking on the salmon river
Oregon coast – hike in to fields sleep listen for seals
B’way shows – annie a chorus line, Oklahoma
Spend every summer on the beach
Snowboard
Do Puzzles
Have BBQs on summer evenings
Dance in summer rain
Watch for Oregon rainbows
Ride bikes – long rides too and camping
Read Charlotte’s Web together
Go see outdoor music concerts
Crafts: tie dye, batik, potato prints, make t-shirts make jewelry
Eat dinner together and talk about our days
Write/tell stories
Drive cross country
Play wiffleball
Go to a Knicks game
Go to a Mets/Yankees game

Mostly now I am worried I am not living full enough – where are my mountains, oceans, hikes, camping, ice-cold water, swims, running dogs, spicy foods, shining sun, snow boarding, organic salsa + chips + large pine trees
I crave these things
Sharing the love and joy of these experiences

I too want to live as madly as deeply as I can

Be so acutely aware of love and small pleasures – savoring the moments

Still able to be radical, and live freely, and still feel connected to the earth – the beautiful earth.

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Ruby and Dario, these are the things she did with you, and the things she wanted to spend 100 years doing with you. You are her love and joy.

The picture at the top of this post is from the forest in Oregon where a bunch of us (including Chico, Ruby, and Dario) are going camping this summer. We'll be sure to post pictures of us in this very spot looking for amphibians and rainbows!

Gratitude

I remember Anna from college. Her and Emilio and Nelson and I don't remember who else would have me over for dinner in their big shambling house. Lauren was there usually and Julia and Hannah. Great tasting food was served in heaping portions, and I would drink wine until I was happily drunk. The thing I loved most was that everyone who came had some particular brand of eccentricity or quark, some creative dis-ease, and were equally embraced as part of this wonderful extended family. It was a safe place, where I remember breathing easier, outside all the self-judgement of that time in my life. I always thought that Anna set the tone. She was like a mother, even then, regal in her idiosyncrasy and understanding. She was solid, playful, wise, generous, and passionate. She embodied the values I've always cherished, and brought them into those settings in a palpable, nonjudging way: integrity, generosity, community, hope. She did it with so much love, was instrumental in creating and holding this space. I loved her for that, and for the closeness she made possible. I always felt some recognition of the type that goes unexplained in this little life, one of those big essential feelings that seems too obvious and deep and healing and real for words. The word that says it best is gratitude.

--From Frank M., a friend from Reed, who sent this memory to Nina last fall

Cheesy delight!

stewed tomatoes, black beans, corn
Originally uploaded by esthakoopoo.

Here are some more quick food stories-- anything with a lot of cheese was a "cheesy delight". The classic cheesy delight was a flour tortilla with cheddar cheese and chopped garlic toasted in the toaster oven.

One of the dishes Anna made out in Oregon was good old "3 Can Stew". Correct me if I'm wrong, friends, but I believe the classic 3 cans were crushed tomatoes, black beans, and corn. Yum! What could have been better than Anna saying with complete joy, like it was the absolute greatest event of the year "Hey! Let's make 3 Can Stew
tonight! Right on!" I don't know if she invented it, but she sure made
it taste good.

lovelove Jody