unaccustomed earth.

(visit flickr to see who's who - and know that I take great pleasure in having "editorial license" here...after all I was the one with the camera, absolutely committed to getting a photo, and it was my birthday :-) thank you to everyone else for playing along with me!)

...I felt so stupid asking vanessa about the title of the book. she said "oh, it was at the very beginning" and I said "oh, I guess I missed it". [note to self - do not do this often - it's not good!] and she read it for the group:

Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil. My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth. -- Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Custom-House"

those words made the book sing for me. not exactly like specific stories (especially "only goodness") spoke to some, but more broadly. reminding me to always keep replanting myself, and encouraging my family to do the same. unaccustomed earth.