02.13.13

Good morning to all my Valentines!  You are beloved.  I hope you know so.

Yesterday was my birthday.  I am officially 31.  Let me tell you about it.

We had glorious plans to do a yurting trip again with our wild pack of friends but at the last minute, the trip was cancelled which made for an unplanned day here in town.  I’ve been spoiled rotten with birthday backcountry ski trips the past few years so I was only a little sad about our canceled trip.  I have much travel coming up in the next five weeks and I’ll put on a festive mood when I go to take those journeys.

I woke up early with a delicious cup of pear ginger white tea.  The day was soft, bird belly grey, obtuse and wide open white on sagebrush, soft with the swoop of diffused light.  I put on some clothing (my polka dotted cobalt blue dress with my favorite cropped coral wool cardigan), my favorite vintage cowboy boots and the birthday ring I made for myself the day before and we promptly left for breakfast with all our dear friends — breakfast out with friends is a birthday tradition of mine.  I love breakfast from proper diners.  There’s nothing like it!  My friends were all of good cheer.  There was plenty of laughing and the food and coffee were fine.  Jade made me feather earrings.  Now I’m more bird than girl.

Robert had a date with all his boyfriends on the racquetball court and while he was off playing, I pillaged the local art supply (it is going out of business, which makes me want to cry), found two cute tops at my favorite vintage shop, and picked up some sandpaper at Ace Hardware — I know, a random set of errands, but aren’t all errands rather random?  Then I went home and painted for a couple of hours; I fell right into the slash and bend of color on canvas and it was very good.

When RW came home, we harnessed up the dogs and headed up the mountain for a ski.  I had Tater Tot and Farley pull me as a double skijor team for the first time ever, it was terribly fast and wild and I thought I would go hoarse from encouraging them to go faster, faster, faster!  What a marvel dog power is!  Those pups gave me a very good birthday present indeed.  We unhitched my double team and each skijored a dog to the top of the mountain where there is a lookout I like to go to and rest for a moment.  We poured a cup of tea from the thermos I had in my pack, and enjoyed the wintry view of rolling mountains and timber lines.

Skiing down was fast and zany, as it always is.  I took a short-cut on a hair pin turn because it was my birthday and I was feeling festive and crazy — I wound up doing a pancake belly flop into a snow bank which made me laugh hysterically for a full five minutes.  It always feels so good to laugh until you are out of air and your entire face hurts and your abdominal muscles feel as though they’ve been doing crunches for ten hours straight.  Robert, too, took his turn being pulled by a two dog team and marveled at the speed and power of sledding German Shorthaired Pointers.  We’re so proud of the way they are able to do diverse work.  We made it back to town and Rob departed for his cabinetry class for a few hours.  I began a batch of whole wheat bread and when it was on its first rise, I popped out to the grocery store, which was utterly berserkers with crowds, to gather provisions for the week.  When I arrived home, I made pizza dough as well as a batch of cherry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, punched down and rolled out my bread loaves, and began cutting toppings for our pizzas.  The kitchen was warm and bright.  Once all my prep work was finished, I had a glorious one of these with extra hot water and positively delicious bath salts:

Robert came home and the pizza was eventually delicious.  The bread I baked was perfect.  I mean, perfect.  For years I have baked extremely delicious bread but these two loaves are perfection — light and lofty on the interior with a gorgeous golden crusty outer layer that flakes away gently.  I had a slice of it for breakfast this morning with butter and honey and as I bit into it I thought to myself, “This toast is miraculous.  I may never bake bread this perfect ever again.”  I savored every fresh crumb.
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 Last night, when I was falling asleep, I remember thinking my birthday this year was perfectly ordinary in every way.  Allow me to clarify, by ordinary, I mean, not particularly any different than any other day of my life, but I think my life is quite extraordinary and has been especially so lately.  Perhaps it’s merely the optimist in me, shining light onto every matter, seeing the best of the situation on hand — but I really don’t think so.  Something wonderful is happening to me, I don’t exactly know what, I know it has to do with love and the way I recieve the things around me and respond to them.  It also has to do with how I am spending my days.  Every day, for weeks now, I have managed to be outside, create freely from the heart, breathe the air on a mountain peak or two, eat delicious foods, read wonderful books and so on and so forth.  I’ve been wild with joy in the studio again, at long last.  I tell my friends all the time, but it bears repeating, this has been a really wonderful year for me.  So, perhaps it is better to say that it was yet another extraordinary day in my life.  Because it was.  And I am blessed.
Last year, when I turned 30 years old, it was a milestone for me and I spent much time thinking about what it meant to be 30 and to be starting a new decade.  There was trepedation in my heart.  I felt old.  My year of being 30 turned into such a gracious and spacious year for me, a year of quietude and deep rest.  I changed so much, learned so much, lived so much.  It felt like a holy little year, set aside, meant for me to become comfortable and ready for the rest of this decade.  Now that 31 is here, life feels replete with motion, impetus, momentum.  Sometimes all I can do is focus on the point directly at my feet as everything around me blends with speed into a glorious impressionistic blur.
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Thank you to everyone who has remembered my birthday this week, yesterday, today…your emails, Flickr comments, snail mail and packages filled my heart with joy and continue to do so.
I love to have you here, in my world.
I hold you in my heart.
Love,
Jillian
:::Post Scriptus:::
I failed to mention the gift Robert gave me for my birthday!  He bought a pair of tickets to the Don Williams show at the performing arts center here in Pocatello in April!  I am so excited!  We love Don Williams!  He’s a country music icon! Hearing him sing reminds us of when I was 19 and Rob was 21.  We were living in New Zealand and used to drive the highways there while listening to Don Williams’ greatest hits (and Dido and Sublime and classic Michael Jackson).  The windows were always rolled down in the car, the wind was always wild in our hair, we spent so much time in the ocean and in the backcountry hiking and fishing and camping and looking at glow worms under the Southern Cross…and I already loved that fellow of mine.  Indeed.  I did.

Comments

  1. i can *see* you are changing. i’ve been thinking about it quite a bit lately, how you are spreading your wings and life is taking you on one heck of a splendiferous flight. i really like what i see….

    ….just sayin’….

    xx

  2. Happy Birthday to you…how can one forget your birthday, it is attached to Valentine’s Day after all…one can forget time however and not send you birthday wishes on time…I felt you did all the right things on your birthday… xx

  3. I’m so glad your day was beautiful. Keep interacting with the world in your own beautiful way. Keep receiving and responding to the love and life and opportunities you’re given in the way that is so uniquely and gorgeously *you.*
    I am glad to call you friend.
    Love you.

  4. What a full and wonderful birthday you had! The same really could be said of your life – full and wonderful! I’m enjoying your blog and Flickr posts very much.

  5. Happy happy Birthday dear Plume, reading about your day made me so happy. It was strange, I really felt turning 30, but in a good way, My 20’s were hard, and really I was glad to see the back of them, but I know now that my 20’s helped shape who I am now, I turned 31 In November of last year, and it was good, I really felt that I finally knew who I was and could face this new decade with positivity and productivity 🙂

  6. Happy Birthday! You brilliant, talented woman. How you bless me all the time. xx
    “Why are we reading, if not in hope that the writer will magnify and dramatize our days, will illuminate and inspire us with wisdom, courage, and the hope of meaningfulness, and press upon our minds the deepest mysteries, so we may feel again their majesty and power?” – Annie Dillard, The Writing Life

  7. Heidi Wiebe says

    Happy belated birthday! I think the 30’s are good. I’m glad you are experiencing the same. 🙂

  8. ….what the what?? You’re turning 31?! Wow, I totally thought you were older.. not for looks but for your sage-like soul and poise and creatively honed skills!! I’ll be 33 this year, and currently feel like a total dweeb by comparison (don’t worry, I know better than to compare.. we’re each uniquely crafted masterpieces!). Just sayin, you rock my socks. Happy birthday valentine! ;o)
    xx
    mel
    needle and nest

  9. Sherri Tiedemann says

    Happy Belated Birthday! I am SOOO happy to read of your heart soaring!!!
    Much love from Canada.
    xoxoxox

  10. mashed potatoes says

    I feel like squealing but I have a lump in my throat!!!!!!
    Oh this is so very beautiful. I am sooooooo happy for all of it. So happy to know all 31 years of you!!!! Happy New Year!!! xoxo

  11. HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY JILLIAN!!! You are so amazing!! My wish for your Birthday is that all your days will continue to be as extrordinary and as special and as beautiful as YOU!!!
    Peace love respect and multitudes of blessings to you always –Jocelyn

  12. Happy Belated Birthday sweet soul. February Birthdays are the BEST. mine was on the 8th. Cant wait to see what you started painting.

  13. Happy belated birthday!! Your year has reflected the beauty you have nourished in your heart! I am so happy for you that your days are filled with so much glorious life and that you share it with us! xoxo

  14. perfection! your day sounds super lovely & it is so uplifting to hear such pleasant joy in this current state of life emanating out of your words… out of your you.

    xxx

  15. you surely did have a fabulous, day, and i hope that remains your “ordinary” for the rest of the whole year! congratulations on completing your 31st trip around our big, beautiful sun!

  16. Mine is in five – I wish I could make you another piece. Still working on my own kiln. On to barter!

  17. Happy, Happy Birthday!

    and I for one would love that bread recipe.:D

  18. Happy Birthday Jillian!

    The thirties are the best! It just keeps getting better and better….

    In a few weeks, I will be turning 49…I’d rather be turning 31… But I plan to make the most of this year upon 50. It goes so fast now.

  19. Happy Birthday, Jillian!!! My life began for real at 30. The 30s are AWESOME!!! Your birthday sounds perfect! And I love your present to yourself!! 🙂
    You are a great encourager, you know. I’ve started being more mindful, and am praying for more joy. So thanks for that!
    I recently made similar cookies: whole wheat chocolate chocolate chip with cherries…divine!!

  20. Happy Belated. It sounds like a wonderful day. There is something so homey, warm and comforting about starting your day at an honest diner. We frequented Butterburr’s for breakfast, though Elmer’s had hash…and I like my corned beef hash. 🙂

    I adore ya’lls (yes, I’m from Texas) brightly colored winter duds against that beautiful snowy backdrop. It makes for a nice pic.

  21. Thank you for sharing your insights with us… your life is quite lovely.

  22. NEW ZEALAND!!??
    pwhpht
    But of course.
    So glad you had a Happy Birthday!
    xx

  23. As long as there are extra hot baths, homemade bread and a door to fling open for you to leap out of like a white-tailed deer, I think your days will remain extraordinary.
    Your best Birthday yet, you “old soul”. X

  24. Happy belated Birthday! It sounds like a perfect birthday!

  25. Beautiful, glorious you. I have been sending you happy birthday wishes and energy along the wispy clouds floating your way. That way, they will continue to roll in for the next week! What an amazing birth-day adventure. I am fascinated with how you harness those pups up, how they pull, and what kind of training went into that. I remember seeing the post of Tater as a fairly young man pulling a sled with another dog in a cage upon it, in the snow. Incredible. I am so glad that you have been part of my life. Yay, 31!!

  26. Hey! Thanks for all these lovely birthday wishes everyone!!!

  27. Beautiful Jillian, I hope that the rest of your 30s are as luminous and peaceful and wild. I have so enjoyed your posts of late. Your words feed my soul.

    (oh and we are fellow aquarians, I had my b-day on the 11th. 43 this year. If you think the 30s are great, wait until the 40s!)

  28. Plumey, I remember around the time I started reading your blog you were talking about being 26, ho hum! You do look beautiful and radiant and flighty as ever. Birthdays are made all the more special with breakfasting, baking, outdoorsing and a soak on the tub – I hope mine will include all of that. Oh happy day! and p.s. I do so love that image of you are RW seeking out glow-worms in NZ, they are rather magical aren’t they? xxxx

  29. Happy birthday, Jillian! Happy New Year! 🙂

  30. Happiest of belated birthday wishes to you – what a perfect day it sounds like you had!

    And I agree with Nicole (above) – I’ll be 44 y.o. soon-ish, and have absolutely loved this decade the best so far!

    xo

  31. Some more belated birthday greetings to you. I hope your coming year will be just as extraordinary and joyful.

  32. Happy belated birthday my friend!!! I took a moment this morning to catch up on plume and I’m glad I did. BTW I’m going to send you a pic or two of the salon…your photos have truly made my spot a space. Everyone that comes in mentions the beautiful shots. Thank you!

  33. happy belated birthday to you jillian ! your immense creative energy has never left my memory when i visited with a friend on route back to vancouver. sooo many blessings to you !!

  34. Thank you all, once more, for all your wonderful comments here! XX