Subtle blue ~

 

How will you know the difficulties of being human,
if you're always flying off to blue perfection?
Where will you plant your grief seeds?
Workers need ground to scrape and hoe,
not the sky of unspecified desire.

--Rumi

 

Soft sounds

First down

Blue covering

 

Blue kayak

Second blue jacket, going down

 

 

Blue coverings must be the norm.  Hand paddles.

Sunday wandering - 3/6/2011

 

Today I'm out wandering, turning my skull
into a cup for others to drink wine from.
In this town somewhere there sits a calm, intelligent person,
who doesn't know what [s]he's about to do!
-- Rumi

 

 

 Understanding

 

 

 

 

Heartfelt conversations with self ~

Where we sit together every night, sharing love and food.  A photo from Summer 2010

• Can a blog have recipes and no pictures?  Yep. 
• Am I still blogging for myself, a hobby and my children?  Yes.   
• (Annie was amiss when I said I was thinking of ridding myself of this hobby...she enjoys this little corner of myself.) 
• Can I continue to stomach using my current camera, pointing it at my children, the things I love the most?  I don't think so.
• Have you ever cleansed your spirit of material goods that held unloving energy, retaining only the lesson?  
• Who is nodding?   
• Does the search for a camera overwhelm me?  Sort of.  I take mediocre pictures anyway.  I only need something that makes me happy.  Happiness is easy.

Costco has some really cute little cameras for close to a hundred dollars.  I'll be mulling that over.  Until then --

I have several older pictures of food in my files, items I meant to write up the recipes and post.  I could just plug those in until a fresh camera makes its way into our little hood home.  Or I could simply wait to blog when I do get a new camera.  Internal conversations.

The Guest House
by Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Sustenance Sunday ~

~
From last weeks sponge starter batch, I made whole wheat bread with oats and walnuts, walnut scallion baguettes and fig-walnut bread.  The first two were almost a straight take from recipes in Amy's Bread baking book.  Though I didn't get the nice airy holes in the end result with the baguettes, it was a tasty bread.  It made three loaves, one frozen.  The baguette did not freeze well, even being in the freezer only less than a week.   The walnut-scallion bread was nice split lengthwise, brushed with olive oil, a dash of kosher salt and broiled to toasty, then rubbed with fresh garlic.  :)  The whole wheat sandwich bread was only frozen three days, and it did just wonderful for toast.  It was particularly tasty with jam or honey - kid approved.

Beauty

Buried in the earth, a kernel of wheat

is transformed into tall stalks of grain.
Crushed in the mill, its value increases and it becomes bread, invigorating to the soul.
Ground in the teeth, it becomes spirit, mind, and the understanding of reason;
Lost in Love, that spirit delights the sowers after the sowing.

- Rumi

Outdoor Wednesday ~

January 19th, 2011   8:34a.

My moment of morning gratitude

Now I'll be quiet and let silence separate what is true from what are lies as threshing does.

  -- Rumi