i love order, but i love almost-order even more. a perfect birthday cake is beautiful, but a perfect birthday cake missing a big fat finger swipe of frosting tells a story. i don’t know what the story is behind the random extra square on this grid, but something in me said it needed to be there. i think i learned this growing up in my big, rowdy family, where perfection was distantly admired, but imperfection was celebrated. The beautiful flower arrangement was nice to look at, but it was so much more interesting when the dog knocked the vase off the counter and it shattered on the floor. tomorrow is my family’s annual sausage making event, where we will all get together to make 80 pounds of romanian sausage, and celebrate our imperfections, and laugh when the dogs steal food from the perfect appetizer trays, and the wine glasses get dropped on the kitchen tile.

striped beach stones and reed stems in winter

stones from bretagne, france,  stems from saint paul, minnesota