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By Kate, 15 March 2010

We had the immense pleasure of hosting Laura, Jesse and June Ransom this past week for a grand tour of Washington.

We saw the sights.

We ate great food.

But, the highlight was most certainly our JUNE TIME!!!!!

She is such an expressive and wonderful little imp. And, boy was she happy when Uncle Neil was holding her.

BEST PIC EVER? I think yes.

We are so happy that Jesse’s new job at JetBlue allows them to fly for free. Three cheers for great benefits!!! Hip-hip-hooray!!

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By Kate, 14 March 2010

Hey team.

Check out a post my friend Ann just did with a list I made about being a woman. If blogs indeed can be beautiful, her blog is it!

Also… I quoted from Sojourner Truth’s famous speech “Ain’t I a woman?” That was one rockin’ lady. Click on her portait above to learn more about her & more Americans Who Tell the Truth.

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain’t I A Woman?
Delivered 1851
Women’s Convention, Akron, Ohio

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that ‘twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what’s all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what’s this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That’s it, honey. What’s that got to do with women’s rights or negroes’ rights? If my cup won’t hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn’t you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can’t have as much rights as men, ’cause Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say.

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By Neil, 10 March 2010

You absolutely must try a south Indian dosa with coconut chutney and sour rasam soup. Dosas are crispy sourdough tasting XXXXXXL crapes made from rice and lentils. You tear off a little piece and scoop some soup and chutney. Yum!

Kate’s dosa at Amma Vegetarian Kitchen in Georgetown, DC.

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By Kate, 8 March 2010

HAPPY International Women’s Day!

Some of my favorite women!

Trunk full o’ beautiful women in Thailand 2005!

These ladies have had my back since middle school!

Some brave, beautiful friends!

Three cheers for women!

She-blogs I like to follow:

I love singing with women! (most especially this childless housewife)

I love catching a good Freak Show with Jill & reading her hilarious blog.

On Tess’s blog you can learn how to dye your own yarn, make your own Ethiopian food and grow your own mushrooms!

I love reading Sarah THE Vranes‘ insights & adventures.

Anne blogs about Doula adventures and issues.

Briana is a midwife. She delivers babies (including my niece June-bug in this shot) at home!

Thelma is a rockin’ activist in Thailand and blogs about it here. Ashley is one of the most creative and thoughtful people I know & when she blogs, you can read it here. (btw…this is a shot from a random day of classes at BYU back in the day. It was such a lovely coincidence that we all went for the “rainbow coalition” look that particular day… and, let’s face it, every other day too.)

AND, how could I leave out the premiere Food blog of the decade, run by my mom & sis: Fab Frugal Food!

I also really like Rowena’s Rants, but Jen and I go so far back that our photos together are not in digital format! She rocks.

Ann is a friend-of-a-friend and her blog is a sweeping tribute to the feminine and beautiful.

Lately, I’ve been on a Feminist Mormon Housewives kick. Although, shouldn’t there be a non-housewife feminist Mormon blog? I think yes.

FINAL PROPS to these two women for founding my law school in 1896 because they were rejected by other schools and told, “women do not have the mentality for the law.”

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By Kate, 5 March 2010

I just got a wave of compliments from an 80-year-old woman who was in line with me at Ace Hardware.

Oh, man. She was in LOVE with my latest acquisition that I purchased thanks to a recent gift from my grandma. She was a white-haired glory & she was just gushing.

I love that my fashion peers are octogenarians. (But, mostly I just love that word.)

Neil calls it my Darth Vader hat.

For obvious reasons.

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By Neil,

Kate was sick and did not want to Thursday adventure with me. That said I really didn’t want to adventure myself. I was feeling extra lazy and Kate had to kick me off the computer and throw me out the house. It was sunny but not particularly warm so I decided to head for the great outdoors. I landed a short 15 miles outside D.C. at the Great Fall National Park, a small park overlapping the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historic Park.

My first thought after getting out of the car, was, “really, 15 minutes from D.C.?” After 6 months of living in the city and working in a strip mall I had all but forgotten nature. I was flabbergasted to find such natural beauty only 15 minutes from my house! As soon as I arrived I was greeted by two friendly Canadian Geese who walked right up to me as I took their pictures. My other amazing animal encounter was seeing my first real in the wild woodpecker (a Red-crowned woodpecker to be exact). I didn’t have much time to get a nice shot, but at least I’ve got some proof! Also, I snapped a few shots of a bird of prey (still trying to identify it). The falls were actually quite impressive. There was a long boardwalk that took you to an overlook of the falls.

When I got home Kate was feeling a little better. To end the day we made Alice Water’s simple six ingredient free-form apple tart (apples, butter, sugar, flour, water and salt). It was tasty and we ate almost the entire tart before going to bed (Kate finished it for breakfast this morning).

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By Neil, 25 February 2010

With Kate in school and me working afternoon shifts it’s hard to find time to do something together. Serendipitously, Thursdays are more or less free for both of us and so we’ve decided to take a little adventure every Thursday. Today we went to the National Geographic headquarters in downtown D.C. to see a show on the Terra Cotta Warriors Horses. On display were around 15 soldiers, one horse and a boat-load of artifacts unearthed with the soldiers. These are but a few of the over 8,000 soldiers buried in the tomb complex of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor to unite (through bloody war) and rule all of China.

The show was amazing. The soldiers were so intricate and each one unique. If you are in D.C. before the show ends in April you should go!

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By Kate, 23 February 2010

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”
- President Dwight Eisenhower

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By Kate, 21 February 2010

Our obsessing over nieces (or nephews) is about to get a boost!

Pete and Chrizelle Ransom have just announced that Chrizelle is with “future object of obsession”

Hurrah!

Chrizelle first arriving in the U.S. Fresh off the plane in the Salt Lake City Airport in 2008.

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By Kate, 17 February 2010

1. He is so creative. Today he took a sketch pad into the bathroom with him to jot down some of his latest ideas!
2. He is so kind. He suggested instead of taking our next trip, we try and get down to Haiti to do some volunteer work.
3. He is a hard worker. He slaves away every day selling computers to rich people so that we can have food and a place to live.
4. He is supportive. He helps me achieve all of my goals (& even some goals that I don’t want… like finishing all of my homework!)
5. He’s a charmer. Even though some people find him shy at first, everyone always warms up to him right away & he can strike up a conversation with anyone. He often ends up chatting with random people & reports back all of the amazing things he’s learned from them to me.
6. He’s got good taste. Women, food, films… you name it, Neil loves the best in life.
7. He’s patient. He is really good at teaching people skills slowly so that they can learn for themselves how to do things. He always has patience with me (except when I am procrastinating my work by doing things on the internet!!!)
8. He thinks of others. Neil is always coming up with ideas of things we can do for others. He loves to make cards for people or call them just to keep in touch.
9. He is funny. Neil always knows how to tell great jokes and stories & since he’s not one of those people always starved for attention and talking (who me? no!) his punchlines are always that much punch-ier!
10. He loves me! Neil always puts me first whether it is making my eggs first in the morning or moving 3 times in one year to help me follow my career path… he is always looking out for me.