First day of christmas*

* what Cap called yesterday, quite appropriately.

#1: My sister and brother-in-law's very sweet tree.  Their cat, Girl, was underneath for awhile (rather than in a cupboard and under the bed covers, her usual spots when people come over.)

#2, 3, 4: My auntie M sent the kids Nano Blocks from Japan via my cousin M.  This is my aunt who is my gift-giving idol.

#5: Snow.

#6: The kids set up their Wii this morning.  The sounds of an Indiana Jones game trills and thumps in my background as I type.  They are very excited and happy.

Holiday cheer

By the time this is posting, we will be celebrating the Season with my side of the family.  We will have gone over two rivers and through an island :-)  We will be driving home in snow as a nor'easter bears down on the region.

We are doing a secret Santa for the grown ups.  I drew my 20 years younger-than-me cousin, M.  After some deliberation, I decided to give her a gift card to Anthropologie.  I've only been in the store once or twice and thought they had some fun, interesting stuff.  Nice clothes, but way too pricey (and 'skinny') for me.

My cousin is naturally hipper than I, simply by being her age, but she is also an artist and has a strong eye for design, so I think she will appreciate the store (if she doesn't already).

Above, I am holding the "envelope" for the gift card.  I love that this store retains creativity and whimsy in the smallest of details.  The "teeth" of the creature are the edge of the note card which has the "to" and "from" info on it.  Cute!

Present(ation)

More from the North

Candied pecans are back in the house

The recipe can be found here.  A simple seasonal sweet.

Orange snickerdoodles are next on my agenda.  Then sweet potato biscuits.  Tomorrow we celebrate with my side of the family.  Food, fun and family time.

New song from old fave

The library messed up and sent Cap home with Norah Jones' new cd rather than the cd I had requested months ago and have been waiting oh-so-patiently for. Serendipity. I really dig this song from Norah's new album. Providing some warmth during these cold days!

Scooting in the park

The day was fleeing fast.  We went out to the park as a foursome.  A rare treat.  Sag loved riding his new scooter.  Gem is quite comfortable on his and glides around like he owns the place.  The air turned from chilly to frigid and it was dark by the time we piled into the car.

Alicia and Stephen

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

It's all nordic

Loney Dear, Ólafur Arnalds, and now, Sigur Rós.


The music I've really been digging lately is from Sweden and Iceland.  Interesting.  Analysis welcome :-)

Wordless Wednesday

I can't get enough

Waiting for the bread to cool at 11pm.  I've been making this bread nearly every day since last Monday when I turned out the first loaf from the bread machine.  Yesterday I mixed up a big batch of the flour blend to have on hand because I will be making this nearly every day, perhaps until I draw my last breath.

It's that good.  You know what's even better than the bread?  The utter joy of Sag's whole being when he eats the bread.  He LOVES it.  He has proclaimed it the greatest bread ever.  He keeps saying, "and we know how to make it so we can have it whenever we want".  There's something so pure and sweet about that statement...the solidness of the belief and purpose behind the words.

What you may not understand is this: when you've been eating bread that comes into your house frozen, from a factory (a relatively small operation, but still, mass produced), biting into and chewing soft bread with loads of flavor and a sweet, yeasty aroma...it's like coming home.  It's like walking into paradise.  It's like tumbling into an awesome embrace.

(Julie, I'm sorry!  I will try to shut about the bread now.  This late night loaf has caught me in a weak moment.  Please forgive me my rhapsodizing.)

Wild Geese, the poem

Thank you Elizabeth. I so needed this right now.

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

---Mary Oliver

Dollhouse

I started watching Dollhouse with some trepidation (it is marketed for its sex and violence...yawn), but as a big fan of Joss Whedon's went with it. It has proven itself to be a really good show. The story has grown in depth and nuance and rewards regular viewers by building as it goes. It's cast well (and thrillingly for fans of the Whedonverse :-), the writing is solid, and as the series approaches its finale in January, the suspense, action, and angst are in full crescendo.

Check it out on Hulu (they have the Season 1 recap and the last five episodes of Season 2 on there), rent Season One, watch the final episodes on Fox, and enjoy!

Oh, and it's got a kickass theme song :-)

'Tis the season

Lights, branches, stars, colds...reminding us out of the mundane.  Nudging us out of complacency.

Off to Vermont today to commune with our "cousins"/godkids.  And, Moonie, the cat.  And, A and N, the grown ups.  And the new house!

P.S.  The kids hung the lights themselves this year.  Photo #6: "the stockings were hung with the utmost of care...on the light saber"  :-)

Baby S is here!

ETA: This baby is not my friend's baby :-)

My dear friends M, N and my birthday mate, big sister, S, have welcomed baby S into their midst. He was born last Monday and everyone is doing well :-) Wish I could teleport to Berkeley to give the little guy a big snuggle...

One of the balls

...I could take that title in a number of directions...  But, what I am talking about is the growing feeling lately, that I am juggling a lot of balls.

Normally, I don't like to juggle.  I decided years ago that multi-tasking is not for me and I have been a happier person for it.  But, these are not usual times.  Despite my natural inclination to not pay attention to it, Christmas comes, jamming right up against Winter Solstice when all I want to do is curl up on the couch and read or knit or watch tv or cry.

Dealing with the atmospheric aspects of Solstice have been easier this year.  I am more in balance (I have more Qi) and so my sensitivities and responses have smoothed out somewhat.  So instead of feeling depressed, nestling my head into the sand, and riding the roller coaster of wallowing in low energy/experiencing extreme stress, I have been focusing clearly on, and placing as high priority, functional and meaningful activity.

Ah, but there is so much.  And toss in the seasonal stuff, and you have so much+more.

The ball I want to write about at the moment, is money.

I promised my dad I would input expenses every day this month.  I tried picking a time to keep firm every day, but with our non-schedule kind of schedule, that has not worked.  Though, I picked a time in the time evening.  And I've been thinking I should pick a time in the morning.  Because my day and my time is at its clearest in the morning.  (For example, I told myself to finally just practice Qigong in the morning, and I did this morning, and it's the first time I did a full practice in a long time.)

So, tomorrow, I will do money work first thing.  Back-to-back with Qigong.

I've done money work a few times this month.  So I have done more than I ever have before.  But, it's not where I want it ot be yet.

Money is on my mind for another reason.  We usually spend quite a bit of it this time of year.  It's emotional spending and so...dangerous.  In talking with Cap I know I'm bringing up the right questions, but I have not had the courage to make ultimate hard choices.

Next year will be different.  There is a budget going into place for the first time ever...well, for the first time in a long time and I am highly motivated to push through with it come hell or high water.  Becoming financially responsible, as well as, financially literate, are really important practices that I want to embody for myself and for my children.  If they can learn, and they can not be like Cap and I were in our 20s and 30s, and still are in our 40s, in this regard, that would be a hugely good thing.

New Year's cards?  Not sure they're happening this year.  Extravagant gifts for the kids?  Pretty sure they are.  (They still believe in Santa...but I think this may be the last Christmas for that.)

Cancer Vixen

Graphic novels are my speed this Fall.  I can't seem to read anything else to completion.  (I had Barbra Kingsolver's The Lacuna from the library for 2 weeks and couldn't get past chapter 2.  And I love Barbara Kingsolver.)

Except Sports Illustrated articles.  Some of which are quite informative and entertaining.  Like this, this and this, all written by Selena Roberts.  And read you know where...captive audience, that sort of thing.

But, I digress.

The good news is that there are enough great graphic novels out there to keep a part-time, yet highly selective, reader like me satisfied.  And, for me, that I have a access to a fantastic online library system which allows me to search for titles (from a huge array of library systems), request them immediately or store them in a 'bookbag' for future borrowing, and pick them up at my local branch when I receive an e-mail alerting me of their arrival.

I read about Cancer Vixen in this NPR piece that highlights three graphic novels that don't involve "superpowers, fantasy worlds, horror, sci-fi or armed combat" :-)

If you may be interested in catching a glimpse into the life of a 43 year old New Yorker/cartoonist/fashionista as she discovers she has cancer and how her life proceeds from there through surgery, chemo, radiation, life with family (especially "(S)mother" :-), and love with her fiancé-husband, all without requiring gobs of time or attention span, then this book is for you.

The art is colorful, playful and smart.  Marisa's got a clear voice and I found her story interesting.

The other graphic novels I've read this Fall: La Perdida, American Widow, Stitches, Rose, and some of the Bone series (pulled down from the kids' bookshelves).

Edith Wharton's words

"...interested in big things, happy in small ways."

Love that. That's me.

Thanks Expanding Life.

Another song

I was saying to V on Wednesday that I could not keep everything on my plate. I am trying to stay focused on meaningful, functional activity, and, well, there's just too much to do. So something is always being jostled off, and lately, it's been blogging.

So, another song.

A story: I am one of those people who steal music by borrowing cds from the library and uploading them into my computer. Gem recently put 2+2 together and is mostly fascinated and a smidge disgusted.

She and Him songs have intrigued me, but honestly, didn't hold up for me as single songs I'd listen to on YouTube. I got the cd from the library and listened to in toto, they do come together nicely. They resonate when layered.

A sunny ditty for you on this dark dark late afternoon...

Always music

Music as meditation...brings me back...

• from bitter cold seeping in through layers of woven fibers and cracks in the structure

• from a wind that blows about and through upon which I would ride and coast and leave

• from the series of moments which comprise my days...a wobbly tower of disorganized blocks...threaded with as much joy and peace as possible

• from my nights of strange dreams punctuated by blinkings wide awake

• from a necessary but not preferred head-down position as I burrow through the "to do" list

• from learning this morning that Lego curtailed production on their over $50 sets for the holiday season and everything in that range is sold out...heard from a reliable source, I hadn't even hit the Lego store yet...

• from the carb-y daze of eating more rice and pasta lately

• from living out at the edges, running (well, okay, this is me we're talking about so jogging) along the edges, herding, containing

Pausing and listening...taking a brief breath...before I get pulled out again.

Common meal: the morning after

I was pretty much on my own for common meal yesterday.  (Cap did make himself available to help the night before and baked two kinds of cookies---thanks, Cap :-)

As I struggle to do some financial accounting every day, I am also working on being more mindful of expenses.  So, when it came time to plan a menu for the meal, I went into the pantry, literally, to see what I could see.

Root vegetables is what I saw.  A lot of 'em.

I roasted 3 varieties of squash (butternut, kuri and kabocha), parsnips, beets, and red onion.  Tossed with canola oil, sea salt and herbes de Provence.  So simple to make and beautiful to look at...and very comforting to consume.  (Just allow plenty of time for the peeling and chopping and roasting.)

I immediately thought a simple green salad would be a nice counterpoint.  I was inspired by a kickass dressing my sister made at Sag's family birthday celebration.  (Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic powder, mustard, maple syrup, salt, pepper and the wonderful ingredient that pulls it all together, a tiny dollop of grated onion.)

A protein seemed to be in order.  I've been eschewing meat at our gatherings because it's expensive to feed 14 when incorporating meat into the menu.  I still don't cook much with beans so my mind drifted towards tofu.

I found a 30-minute Mark Bittman recipe for curried tofu that was essentially GFCF (just subbed in Bragg's for the soy sauce) so I gave it a whirl.  It was a hit!  And so easy to make.  Another comforting dish.

D brought her scrumptious quinoa salad leftover from her office holiday potluck.  It was as delicious as it was pretty and festive.  I had some for breakfast this morning :-)

Clean up was not much of a hassle.  A testament to the simplicity of the dishes.

Have you tried any new recipes lately?  Do you have any "winter"/seasonal favorites that are warming your kitchens, friends, and bellies?

Wordless Wednesday

Bill T. on Colbert

My dime

You know the saying "turn on a dime"? Well, this "dime" changed my mood drastically in the last hour. I can't stop hitting "replay" :-)

Not a cover

The song is Oh Mandy, the band is The Spinto Band. The cool video can be found here. (Sag was riveted trying to figure out how the videographer did everything.)

Thanks to K for sharing this on Facebook. The lyrics are actually kind of dark...once I realized that, the juxtaposition with the sunny, boppy music was a touch confusing, but never mind, music and song are about moving in many directions.

Simply profound

I almost kept this post wordless.  For me this series of photos bring me close to tears.  But, then I thought some words may be helpful...that it may be a bit much to expect gestalt to, well, simply happen.  For you.

GF breadmaking has been, for me, almost an oxymoron.  The gluten in wheat is what holds the bread together as it is kneaded, rises, is punched back down, rises, and then bakes.  It has taken GF bakers and bread makers (mostly lay people) years and many "hockey pucks" to develop recipes and tips on how the home baker can bake a lovely GF loaf.

Over the years, I have gained a better understanding of, and more intuition about, GFCF baking.  And it has showed.  Corn bread in a cast iron skillet, those brownies that everyone loves whether they are GFCF or not, and my banana bread (not really mine, the recipe comes from this book)...total comfort food unrecognizable as being a "special needs" product.

But, homemade bread, that you could have with bread or jam, or to make a sandwich with?  That has eluded me.

I have tried to make GFCF bread in our bread machine before.  And it was good, but no one else in the family liked it.  Especially the kids.  But, I'd been thinking about pulling out the bread machine again (the last time I used it we were living in Sacramento).   

Since moving to NJ over three years ago, we probably spend a minimum of $20 a week on three different kinds of store bought GFCF bread.  The bread is good enough (toasted, always toasted because it comes into our home frozen...and defrosted untoasted GFCF bread is...inedible) that it is a staple: French toast, grilled cheese, toast with eggs, ham sandwiches, tuna sandwiches...all are on high rotation in our household.  That's a lot of money to be spending on a food item that is "good enough".

So, from an economic standpoint, I was thinking I'd like to make some changes.  Then, I began to notice on my GF blogs that folks were sharing photos of amazing looking bread they were baking at home.  So, finally, I printed one of those recipes a few weeks ago and had all the ingredients ready to go in the fridge and pantry.  Then, today, I had one of those, well, simple gestalt moments, and I thought, I'll make the bread with the kids.

(I have this history with Waldorf homeschooling which I'm not going to get into here other than to say it involved making bread with gluten and for many years I have felt bad about not being able to share that with my kids and so it no longer occurred to me that this was something I could do with them.)

(My kids enjoy occasional, independent, experimental, sometimes edible, cooking.  Neither of them have naturally gravitated towards cooking in that hanging-about-my-apron-strings-to-watch-me-cook kind of way.  Therefore, I haven't pushed them in this direction and so it didn't occur to me that this was something they would do with me.)

(In the past couple of weeks, I've been playing around with applying some structured time into our homeschooling.  Because I learn by doing...which to some may look like "winging it", but hey, it's my method and even has a Harvard professor created designation called kinesthetic learning, I decided at first to follow Cap's lead and do "table activities" (why reinvent the wheel if you don't have to?)  His table activities are pretty school-y thus far, and so it didn't occur to me at first that this was something I could do with them as a "table activity", which, for me, turns out to be code for something I want you to do with me, as opposed to, something you want me to do with you...or the more likely, something you want to do by yourself or with each other.)

All background aside (now that I've laid it all out for you :-), the concrete trigger this morning had very much to do with me and my present process of attempting to align my authentic desires and needs moment-to-moment, day-to-day, with my behavior.  I'd been wanting to make bread for a very long time (seriously, for, like a year) and I'd had the recipe and ingredients for over a week.  I wanted to be with the kids in a hands-on way this afternoon (after a lovely morning playdate).

Then the gestalt happened.  Do both.  At the same time.  I announced that we'd be doing a kitchen table activity today and to the kitchen we went.  And we made bread.

Photo 1: Living Without High Protein Blend (scroll down the link for it).
Photo 2: flaxmeal ground in the mini-processor.
Photo 3: M.A.G.'s GFCF sandwich bread in full loaf glory.
Photo 4: dinner tonight: the bread, sweet potato fries, garlic-paprika chicken, cold prevention tea.
Photo 5: the surprisingly and so gratifyingly lovely crust.
Photo 6: the monstrosity that makes it all possible.
Photo 7: my post-dinner jasmine pearl tea with agave.

What really got to me tonight, besides all I have just elaborated, was the smell.  I do happen to be an olfactory learner/processor, in addition to being kinesthetic, but my kids could smell it, too.  There is something incredibly essential...and spiritual...about the smell of baking bread.  It's simply profound. 

You get it or you don't. 

And I haven't had it, hadn't given it to my kids, for way too long.

Cello song

Found this gem early this morning.

After a hormonal-emo day yesterday I felt a little like the groundhog this morning, peering out from my night linens wondering if it was going to be more winter or if spring was on its way.

I took a listen to this and connected right to my calm center. It felt like redemption.

Busy-ish day today. Hung out with T and her kids this morning (so grateful to have found this kindred spirit and have her growing presence in my life) and this afternoon will read some Peter Pan with the kids and try out a new sandwich bread recipe in the bread machine. For dinner I'm thinking garlic-paprika chicken and sweet potato fries...

And, oh yes, accounting work...there is accounting work to be done.

Peace and love my friends. Hope you're having a good one wherever you are.

Seedy seeds

I know nothing about this band except they're from Cincinnati. But, man, I heard this song and they had me at first pluck and beat.

Morning light

There's a certain early winter quality to the look of the trees, light and air...can you see the snow?

A long distance dedication

When I was a girl, I used to listen to Casey Kasem's American Top 40. And I really loved hearing the long distance dedications. The kind of desperate and romantic situations evoked by these dedications...I ate that kind of stuff right up (hmm a part of me still does today...)

Last week, S posted a song to her Facebook profile and said she thought of me. When I saw that, a felt a thrill go through me. It wasn't a long distance dedication, but it felt something akin to one and I was taking it :-)

This was the song and I love this line in particular:

The force created by its (Earth) spin,is the force that stops the chaos flooding in.

Thanks, S. You made this girl's day with your dedication :-)

I got pampered

I hosted a Pampered Chef party today.  I think that is an official sign of female adulthood ;-)

It was a lovely afternoon.  Four friends came over, two kids were very cooperative and stayed in their room and took care of themselves for a couple of hours, and J, my PC consultant, treated us to Satay Chicken Pasta Salad.

The pasta salad was so yummy. 

We adapted the recipe to make it GF (it was already CF).  I prepped a 16 oz bag of Tinkyada spirals taking care to cook it optimally.  (Boil plenty of well salted water, put pasta in at full boil and boil for 1-2 minutes, cover and turn heat off and let sit for 20 minutes, drain and rinse thoroughly with cold water to stop the cooking process, then drain pasta thoroughly.)

Instead of bottled Asian dressing, J made her own using Bragg's, rice vinegar, vegetable oil, powdered ginger, and sugar.  She eschewed the seasoning mix and used the fresh ingredients mentioned at the bottom of the linked blog post.

The finished dish was unrecognizable as being special needs.  It absolutely looked and tasted like "pasta salad".  Everyone agreed on this and J was excited to now have a GF dish in her PC repertoire.  I wish I had taken a picture!  It looked fab in the PC bamboo serving dish.  But, I was too excited about digging in and once I tasted it, I was very focused on eating :-)

I also served deviled eggs, braised cabbage with onion, and the delectable chocolates.  Also, cold jasmine pearl tea with agave, as well as, hot tea.

It was so relaxing watching the first snow of the season come down outside while chatting with friends and enjoying good food together.  J was a wonderful "face" of the company.  Warm, funny and down-to-earth.

Cover love

I can no longer remember the first time I heard a cover song. Or when I first learned that cover songs existed. I love a good cover. A cover song is inspired by love and artistry and community and sharing.

I came across the Beachwood Sparks cover of By Your Side via a Paste magazine article about the best cover songs of the decade. I liked it, and was further delighted that the original was a Sade song that I had never heard.



I had a huge listener's crush on Sade when she crooned her way into the hearts of so many 20 years ago. Her voice is marvelous...so beautiful and emotional.

My plant

My heartleaf philodendron, the first plant to survive my hands, ever, has been looking like it needs a new pot for awhile.

When we bought our pumpkins, the place had some ceramic pots on sale so I bought one.  I've been a little nervous about the transplanting because I've heard that the process can kill some plants.  When I was finally ready, I put some potting soil into the new pot and then left it alone for a few days.  The soil was really wet (it came from an already open bag sitting out behind the house) and I wanted it to dry out, as well as, get it to a hospitable temperature.

The plant has normally been kept in the kitchen in a spot where there is never direct sunlight.  The new pot has been occupying this prime sun spot, but will be moved to a lower light area somewhere else in the front room.  I am eager for my plant to start cleaning and clarifying the air in this room.  I envision its babies populating each of our rooms eventually...

The deed is done.  I had to break apart two of the roots which had grown together out of the holes on the bottom of the old pot.  Ouch.  I reassured the plant as best as I could as I bumbled and fumbled.  It is quite responsive to this kind of communication :-)  So far, so good.  I do love this plant that has taught me quite a bit in its humble, wonderful existence.

Spotlight on NJ next

Budget for the good stuff

Good chocolate...is so utterly satisfying and complete.

Last night after dinner I trundled the kids over to our local chocolate shop for a re-opening celebration sale. 

I am hosting my first ever Pampered Chef party this weekend (never would have thought it was my thing but had a lovely time at L's party at the beginning of the summer...her PC consultant, a good friend from college, turned out to live a few towns away from me, and so I am now having my own party...)

J, the PC consultant, and I talked yesterday and she will be demonstrating/making a Satay Chicken Salad Pasta dish (GFCF :-)  She is only making one dish because it's a small group.  I wanted to add a sweet component and out-of-this-world chocolate came to mind as a nice complement to the savory dish.

The choco shop came through (as it always does).  I sampled the B.T. Berry Poinsettia pictured above and was deeply, pleasantly surprised.  I am not normally a fan of berries mixed with chocolate, but this treat just burst with flavor and the texture follow was a perfect mixture of firm and creamy.

There will be 7 of us all together and only five in a box, so I picked up a second box of Peppermint Buttercreams.  White chocolate peppermint ganache...sounds good (despite the fact I am also not a fan of peppermint and chocolate together!)

My mouth is watering...  Have you had any outstanding chocolate lately?

Older now

Grant Lee Phillips singing Older Now. I love the mood he and the musicians and engineers capture here. Really wonderful. Warm, melodic, understated yet emotional. His is a name I've seen and heard, but I had never heard an actual song of his till now.

Good health

I saw Dr. V yesterday. 

He could tell by looking at my face that I was tight.  So he had me sit in the chair and worked on my upper back.  And, oh my goodness, I was like a sheet of rock. 

When my upper back tightens up like that, I typically don't feel it.  The good part of this is that it doesn't encumber my day-to-day life.  The bad part of this is...how the frak can I not feel that?

I gave the good doctor a work out.  Which is truly saying something.

And then it began.  As I left his office, I coughed a few times.  Rattly chesty coughs that brought up very small, but solid, pieces of phlegm.  My responsiveness to Qi/energy work amazes even myself even after all these years.  I had no doubt that this was a release of physical manifestations of emotional/mental "stuff".

A few hours later, during dinner, my nose started to run.  Then, a whole mess of snot insisted its way out in a multiple tissue blow.  And it stopped as quickly as it had come.  Again, no doubt in my mind that this was a physical moving out of what had been stagnated energy turned into removable form.

This morning I woke up and felt pretty crappy.  I had body aches, a headache and fatigue throughout the day, the symptoms kind of took turns, as if I were hopping on and off different colored horses on a carousel of change.  Somehow, I thought, this is related to yesterday's treatment.  Having stale, dead energy moving through you and out of you, well, it feels a lot like getting sick.

I was fully convinced by an episode of nearly projectile expulsion.  I'll spare you the details.  But, once it passed and I felt fine in that regard right after, I knew, again, that this was all part of a greater healing process.

By tonight, my lower back was in pain not felt 'round these parts in a long time.  I remembered that V had encouraged me to do kick backs and I thought, those would totally help relieve pain in this area.  But, I didn't do many, I was in the middle of dinner prep/eating.

V had mentioned coming in tomorrow or Saturday for follow-up.  I may go tomorrow.  I feel like there's some blockage in the lower back that could use a little nudge.

What an amazing reality.  Intuitive healers, bodies that will work with and for you given half the chance, awareness of channels opening, and of my own role in keeping those paths as clear as possible, and energy, healing and healthful...swirling, flowing, inside and outside, connecting and abundant. 

Good health, a good, clean, deep health, is something to consider.

Funny, how? (caution: "language" ahead)

Manatee musing 2.0

I'm feeling glacial.  Rattling cracking accompanies the labor of an elemental water cycle .  Beyond my sight, way under and below, the earth is razed and reshaped.  Outside of me, the northern world rushes into contraction as the light and dark hew to the rhythm of the approaching Winter Solstice.  But inside, even as the gravity of the most dark pulls me at my roots, I can feel it: the path of Infinity shifting from concave to convex again.

Change is in my air.  In my hair.  In my lair.

I know what some of the changes will be, some are still a mystery.  Bear with me (or not) as what you see here reveals itself as altered or familiar.

There will be a new blog dedicated to documenting our homeschooling.  I am envisioning a space where Cap and the kids might join me in co-authorship.  It may require Blogger membership/be invitation-only.  That is to be determined.

This blog will remain as is.  For now, I will keep the "original" content (the posts that have come before).  But, from here on in it will be make-no-mistake-about-it me-centric.

Recently, I've come to realize that my blog has grown itself to be a new organ within me.  It processes information and emotion, it clarifies my blood and air, it beats and pumps and moves living material through me, keeping me warm.  And healthy.  And happy.

If you know me at all, you know that I am open.  This is an essential part of who I am and how I am.  As I continue my trip of self-reflection/-realization/-actualization (and it is a trip), I want my blog to continue to be the extension of my intuitive and un-self-conscious self that it has become... 

Writing (and taking pictures) my way is a critical tool of communication and understanding for me.  Sharing that with readers (kindred spirits and curious onlookers, alike), well, that's one of the things that makes life what it is for me.

How does one keep from “growing old inside”? Surely only in community. The only way to make friends with time is to stay friends with people…. Taking community seriously not only gives us the companionship we need, it also relieves us of the notion that we are dispensable.
-Robert McAfee Brown

But, this isn't every person's cup of tea. 

So, I am decluttering and streamlining.  Come here for me.  For homeschooling/home life stuff, go to the other blog.  Nothing is up there yet, but if you want to get it into your feeds, you can find it here: Every Day Eclectic.

Thank you for reading.  For opening your heart and mind to me and welcoming me in.  Peace and love to you.

Wordless Wednesday

Wakey wakey

Jumped awake at 4:45 just missing the P train. Lay back again in the dark and relaxed until I realized I might as well get up.

Jostled the children awake for a trip to the airport. Time again for Cap's (annual) "big" reading conference.

We determined east by the yellow tint to the lightening band on the horizon.

The air outside bit through their thin layers of cotton, a hole busted open at the knee of Sag's pajama pants.

We saw a man selling papers on a highway overpass. The children discovered a new occupation.

Sag became more aware that human life occurs while it is still dark outside.

They opted to stay awake once we were home. And are quite awake.

I'm easing in with a warm breakfast, warm tea, and a warm oldie.