Refrigerator Pickles and Other Late Summer Reflections

I'm having a new tea on this overcast Monday morning.  There's always several boxes of Numi Organic Tea in the house, but usually the same three.  I have to have the Gunpowder Green - Temple of Heaven and the Breakfast Blend - Morning Rise is our standard black tea these days.  Then there's always a box of the Ruby Chai -Spiced Rooibas on hand.  When I was at the store yesterday, and was stocking back up, the teas were on sale so I decided to get one of their variety boxes and try a few new ones.  Today it's the White Rose - Velvet Garden and it's a success.  I love rose in my tea and have several herbal blends that I mix up myself that have rose petals in them, both for the flavor and their medicinal and magical benefits.  The Numi White Rose Tea has a good amount of rose to it but the white tea still comes through as well.  Nicely balanced.  A winner on this grey late summer day.

As I look out the window I am seeing more and more color show up on the trees in the neighborhood.  One cluster of chloroplasts at a time, the green disappears and the yellows, golds, reds, oranges and browns begin to appear.  Soon leaves will be littering the ground and then my bookshelves and tables and counter tops and vases as I collect them and bring them into my home.  I can't resist a pretty leaf or three or thousand.  Already I've been tempted by the few that have been tossed to the ground early by recent winds.  I'm attempting to refrain until after the autumn equinox.  Let summer linger a little before I eagerly embrace fall.  Though, I have slipped a bit.  Three mums came home last week and now adorn my front porch, lighting it up with bright gold, deep rich orange and an even deeper richer red.  They stand out against the lime green of their companion Lime Cypress that came home as well.  A plant I've always admired but never had for my own until now.  Two of the mums and the cypress are planted in the ultimate treasure - a lovely large glazed pot that had a little wobble to it, so was marked down 40%!  I've been wanting a nice glazed pot for my front porch since we moved into this house last fall.  And I've wanted one off and on forever - whenever I had a spot for one, and sometimes when I didn't.  Tucked in between the mums and cypress are treasures for spring  - a few miniature daffodils awaiting the return of the sun to start them growing.  Just knowing they are there will help get me through the long wet winter that awaits.  But first there is fall.

The change in the season became more apparent to me while up at a mountain lake last weekend, when the temperatures dropped fairly low and there was an obvious crispness in the air that hasn't yet reached the lowlands. Our first backpacking trip in four years took us up to Janus Lake along the Pacific Crest Trail north of Hwy 2.  We found the perfect site right near the lake in the midst of a small cluster of trees.  A marshy meadow on one side and more trees and huckleberry bushes on the other.  Very few insects were still about, color was more apparent, though many of the huckleberries had more than just begun to set.  I can only hope for all the critters' sake that they get a chance before winter really sets in.  Autumn is short in the mountains.  The birds were in mixed flocks feeding along the trail and the lake's edges.  Chestnut-backed Chickadees, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Chipping Sparrows, Townsend Warblers, Brown Creepers, and both Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches chattered and flitted among the trees and shrubs near our camp and along the trails.  Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels came to check out our camp, one being so bold to try and climb into my backpack shortly after arriving.  Pikas posed on rocks and called out.  One came to check me out up close while I sat having a snack along the trail near a large rock slide.  Its round eyes in its round head on its round body with cute little round ears - all focused on me, or rather the granola bar I was holding. Ravens were talkative with their loud "cronking" echoing between the mountainsides that the lake was settled between.  A White-tailed Ptarmigan, just starting to have more of its winter whites showing among the more mottled summer browns and grays, made its way through the meadow, stopping to gobble the leaves off certain lime colored meadow plants and then grabbing up an insect or two as well, popping its head up from time to time and cocking it just right to look at the lady watching it from among the trees.  A lady with a big grin on her face, always happy to have the rare treat of seeing a Ptarmigan.  A treat that had become rarer over the last few years as she - I - got to the high elevations less frequently.  That backpacking trip was a reminder to get out there more often again, a necessary thing for my wellbeing, for my soul to be refreshed by crisp mountain air far from a road and all the distractions and to-do lists that await back at home.

To-do lists that I've been slowly working my way through since returning home.  Many things on the list are things that can only be done this time of year.  All the preserving,  that comes at harvest time - each in its season.  Now all lined up on the shelves we set up in the basement - strawberry, raspberry and blackberry jams, peaches and apricots.  A little space left on the shelves for the applesauce yet to be made.  Maybe some green beans if I break down and deal with my pressure canner again.  Then there are the refrigerator pickles we line the back of our fridge with each year.  Twenty quarts of fresh picked pickling cucumbers sitting in a brine with plenty of garlic, hot red pepper flakes, dill and onion. Cucumbers and dill we picked from a farm not to far away near a little town called Snohomish.  The same farm I'll most likely visit again if I decide to do the home canned green beans I love so much but dread doing because of the more complicated processing they take and the pressure canner that for some reason I have to manually adjust the pressure on.  But I know they are worth it.  So I'll most likely be adding that to my to do list.  The to do list I had best get back to now, no more long blog posting to procrastinate all the baking that needs to be done and the house cleaning and the.... oy.

I'll end this post by sharing the Refrigerator Pickle recipe I use, in case any one else wants to line up the back of their fridge with the worlds most delicious pickles ever.

Refrigerator Pickles - this makes approximately nine quart jars

For the brine:

13 cups water
3 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup sea or kosher salt

For the pickles:
Onions, cut into wedges, a wedge or two for each jar
Garlic, pealed, several for each jar
Red pepper flakes, 1/4 teaspoon per jar (heaping if you like them nice and spicy!)
Fresh dill heads, 2-3 per jar depending on the size
8 pounds pickling cucumbers, washed and cut into spears.

Wash your quart jars and then place the onions, garlic, red-pepper flakes, and dill in each jar.  Then pack the cucumbers into the jar nice and tight.

Heat the brine till it just starts to boil.  Remove from the heat and using a funnel to pour into the jars, completely cover the cucumbers.  Place fresh canning lids on each jar and screw down with canning rings.  Place the pickles into the back of the refrigerator and let sit for at least one month before starting to eat.   The longer they sit the better they get.

I make about twenty jars and they barely last till the next pickling season.  But then we do love us some pickles!

The Page of Pumpkins and a Bit of the Inner Me

A friend recently sent me what she calls "fun money" and I'm to use it for something fun - no necessity purchases, but honest to goodness fun.  I like that.  It makes me not have to be the practical penny pinching girl of most every other day.  So in honor of that and the friend who sent the gift I headed out to find myself a fun new Tarot deck and when I saw the Halloween Tarot I knew it had to be.  This friend is also a late October birthday girl and has a love for Halloween and all the crazy fun stuff that goes with it.  I just know I'll be getting her a set of these cards in a month or so.

The traditional suits of the Tarot have been changed from pentacles to pumpkins, cups to ghosts, wands to imps and swords to bats.  At first the deck seems whimsical, not too serious.  But when you look closely all the traditional elements are still there but with enough of a twist in most of the cards to give a fresh new opportunity to explore the meanings of the cards, possibly find new ways of seeing them and applying them and as I looked through it carefully last night I started seeing that it indeed has some incredible depth.  Perfect for personal meditation, which is what I like to use tarot for.  I like to use the symbolism to open up my mind and dig deeper.  So I pulled one card from the deck last night and started contemplating it.  It started on simple enough, little observations, then a few surprising ones and then a flood gate opened up and suddenly I was writing deep personal reflection and when I was done, I was amazed.  Who would have thought such a silly seeming deck could unlock so much.  But it did and I am making myself be brave and actually post my reflections here.  So with out further ado, I present the Page of Pumpkins and a bit of the inner me.

The page here, reminds me of Wednesday from the Adams Family, with her long dark hair and her black and white striped socks.  She's stopped along the path she's walking for a moment, sat down her school books and takes the time to contemplate where she's going and what it means.  She's picked up the pumpkin/jack-o-lantern - looking into the face of it, studying it - there's even a feeling of scrying as she looks long and hard at it.  I see in this card an idea of pondering what you want to be when you grow up, where you want your life to go.  What will her studies manifest into in the future?  How will they effect her practical everyday life - her livelihood, her home, all those physical, tangible aspects?  I'm reminded of the kay sera song, the questions that were asked.  It's a clear starry night, a perfect time to see things clearly, at least what can be seen in the dark.  The bright things, the things that stand out. There's the smiling moon looking down on her, a friendly ghost hovering nearby, watching and the black cat that is in every card is at her feet, looking up at her.  There's no expectations from the others in this card, just warm companionship, watching the page,waiting to  see what she might decide, what she might become.  I love how everyone else in this card seems to be joyfully, eagerly watching the page.  Kind of like how it's easy to watch a child as they discover new things and by watching you can get just as much delight and joy from the discovery as the child has.  There's a freshness about this card in that way.  Where all the curiosity, hope and excitement for life and the future is expressed and it makes those around the page joyful to watch it.  I recall how Mark once told me, when we had only been together a short time, that he enjoyed seeing me enjoy things even more than just enjoying them himself.  He enjoyed my excitement and exuberance about life (in spite of all that that life had dealt me) and that being around that brought him joy.  Great joy.  I had been so happy when he said that and have always held it close to my heart, a shield, a form of protection.  Because not everyone who has come into my life has responded that way to who I am.  They've judged those qualities in me and even tried to squash them.  Something that hurt so deeply each time it happened because my heart was pure, I had shared myself openly, giving of my heart and energy freely, and was met with far less enthusiasm than my loving husband had expressed to me that day.  It is interesting that this card came up.  I had a moment or two tonight where I almost  felt I should pull back, not just be myself in all my enthusiastic expressiveness because of fear of being hurt again the way I had been in the past.  I kept telling myself that I need to just be myself, but that can be hard when doing so in the past seems to have caused people to react in negative ways and brought them onto me, trying to make me something I wasn't, something they were more comfortable with or had more control of or whatever other notions that were in there minds.  So opening up again, especially in groups is a scary thing for me.  I meet people that I enjoy their company, we have fascinating conversations and I let myself enjoy it only to find out that the others were not being open and truthful, but were judging - my intentions, my heart, my personality - me, everything about me.  It's hard to open yourself up over and over to that, taking that risk of it happening again - knowing you might get burned and hurt deeply yet again.   But a flower that never opens has little to offer the world and never gets to put its face to the sun and is a dark and dreary and somewhat pointless existence and that is not what I want my life to be.  So I'm trying again and hoping for the best.  And in this card I can see myself as that page, though not just starting out in life, but in a new direction with new possibilities and new people.  The Moon like that Universal Spirit that I am a part of, the ghost like an ancestor - my mom - who stays near, and the cat like my spirit and physical companions who have chosen to walk with me on this journey.  A journey of learning and pausing to ponder and getting to wear cool striped socks!

Tropical Salsa and Gourmet Fun

As I write this I'm munching on the last little bit of a tropical salsa I threw together recently for a friends birthday party.  It seemed pretty popular and there wasn't much left for the requisite food photo!

This salsa was simple compared to the effort that went into the central player of the party, home made piña coladas, and I mean home made from scratch, all the way!  Well, they didn't make the rum, but if they could they probably would!  The coconut cream that usually goes into piña coladas is full of all sorts of sickly ingredients and tastes and smells like cheap coconut scented tanning lotion.  This stuff, on the other hand had a natural coconut flavor with a toasty nuttiness to it that made drinking only a little very difficult!  I can't really share a recipe since there really never was a recipe followed.  There were mad scientists in the kitchen with power tools, yes power tools, and lots of pouring this and brewing that and tasting - lots of tasting.  The base was made from fresh mature coconuts, the meat scraped out chopped up then simmered in the coconut water and a mixture of half and half and cream.  It was cooled and then fresh pineapple was added along with a combination of different rums.  It was poured into our glasses and enjoyed by all!

And then there was the cake.  Power tools were once again put to use and coconut was shredded and shaved from the fresh coconuts to incorporated into a light layered sponge like cake and frosted with the silkiest smoothest frosting ever.  I heard it might be some southern thang.  The cake was cheered for upon entering the house and then again when we all had the lovely slices of goodness!

So, as you can see, my contribution really isn't all that impressive in comparison, but one thing it has going for it is that I can tell you how I made it!  It was inspired by two things - a recipe in The Tropical Vegan Kitchen and a salsa made by a local favorite restaurant called Agua Verde.  As usual I didn't follow any particular recipe, but combined the ideas of the two salsas and then added a little Maurie flare.

Maurie's Tropical Salsa

One small fresh ripe pineapple, outer parts cut off and finely diced
2 medium ripe mangoes, pealed, cut from the pit and finely diced
1 medium to large jicama, peeled and finely diced
2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely diced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped fine
1 can black beans, rinsed well
3 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon agave syrup
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
pinch of salt

Toss the pineapple, mangoes, jicama, jalapeños, cilantro and black beans in a medium to large bowl.  Combine the lime juice, red wine vinegar, agave syrup and olive oil, blending well.  Pour over the other ingredients, sprinkle on the cayenne pepper and slat and mix to coat well.  Serve with corn chips and enjoy!


* After posting this and linking it on my Facebook page I had a few comments about if this could be made with peaches, which are at their peek here in the northwest right now.  I almost threw a peach into this salsa when I was making it, but greedily saved it for fresh eating later.  I think peaches would be an excellent local/seasonal substitute for the mangoes.  I think I would add a bit more lime juice a tablespoon or two, to keep the balance of flavors.  If you do happen to make it with peaches or any other variation, please let me know - I would love to hear how it turns out!

Photo Credit

The Eclectic Artist

I've been messing about with different art mediums and seeing what sort of art comes from it.  I have been reminded again of how eclectic I am.  The piece pictured below is one I worked on today.  It is absolutely unlike anything I have done before.  Though I have dabbled here and there in the art world I often come back to working in pen and ink that has a distinctive style to it no matter how much I mess with it.  But I can only do so much pen and ink.  It is very hard on my hands.  So I occasionally make myself take a break and try something different.  

This time around I started messing with altered art, paper art, and collage.  Collage has the potential for me to do larger pieces while still utilizing smaller pieces of my pen and ink work.  Though there is none in this piece, I hope to try integrating the two in the future.

Another tendency for my art (and creative writing) is for it to take on a life of it's own.  If I fight it, trying to make something look a certain preconceived (by me) way the flow stops and I can't continue.  When I give in to the stubborn spirit of the art piece and go with the flow things usually work out - but I never know what I'm going to end up with when I start out.  

For this piece, I had a stretched canvas that I had at some point in the past given a streaky gray acrylic wash

to.  I had gotten interrupted shortly after painting it and never got back to it.  So it was sitting there, waiting.  Last night, just before drifting off to sleep I had the idea of using buttons and scrap paper to do flowers on canvas.  That was all I had in my head when I started out today. And this is what I ended up with.

I used colored backgrounds of magazine pages to create the flower stalks, bird shapes, and clouds.

The leaves I created from cutting out text from the same magazine, searching for words that turned out to have a positive theme.

The clouds were three different colors from magazine pages that I layered and used some colored pencil on the white layer to tone it down a bit.  I found whole individual words to apply to the clouds as well.

I also took some stamp pad ink in a frosty blue on my finger and brushed it across the surface of the canvas and around the edges of the cloud.

The teal blue highlights were prompted by one bright button that insisted on being included, no matter how hard I tried to stay with the grey scale theme.  And I ended up carrying that over into the birds, which I cut out, free style, from a teal colored page in the magazine.

This is the first time I have ever posted any of my art.  It has taken me a while to get brave enough to do so.  Now that I have though, I plan on getting some decent pictures of other things I have done and get them up here as well, that way, when I call myself  'The Eclectic Artist', you'll understand why.

A Treasure Already Taken

Strolling along the beach near my home this morning I happened upon a wonderful and rare piece of sea glass.  A rich brown multi-ridged bottle neck, frosted beautifully from constant contact with its sandy, rocky, watery environs, but still some how unbroken - complete.  I eagerly picked it up, starting to brush the bits of shell and seaweed from inside it, but they were stuck in place.  Upon closer observation I discovered a mussel, not much larger than my thumb nail, in the midst of the seaweed and shells, its long coarse byssus threads attaching it to the inside of the bottle neck.  I could have been disappointed  that I would have to leave this treasure behind, having a standing agreement with myself and mother nature to never knowingly take something that has become somethings home, but I found myself smiling as I set it back down, discovering the greater treasure was that someone else had already, ingeniously and wondrously, claimed it as its own.

Summer, Swimmingly

Summer is not summer without a dabble of feet in a cool creek, a dash through a sprinkler or a plunge in a cool body of water on a hot day.  I love long slogs up creeks, crawling over and under logs, watching for crawdads who might nibble on my toes.  I love rope swings and flying out into the air and splashing deep into the coolness of the dark pool.  I love wading along the shore of the sound, looking for pretty rocks shimmering under the water and the cold splash as a large wave crashes into me just as I dip down to pick up a particularly pretty one, sea weed clinging to me, making me laugh.  I love a lake, a cool refreshing freshwater swim, where eagles and osprey fly over head, swallows and swifts dive through the air and skim over the water.  Kingfishers call out their raucous call and herons perch on old posts or along the shore, their still patience a calming presence.  Turtles peek at me, just a little striped head barely above the waters surface before diving down to watery depths.  Necklaces made from lake weeds and dragonflies zipping past.  I love not being the only full bodied woman wearing a bikini, not afraid of her goddess curves, feeling sexy in the water despite all those extra pounds.  I love that black bikini, letting more water move over my skin, cool and refreshing silkiness.  The comfortable ache of muscles well used and a growing hunger as I linger on the shores edge after a long swim.  I love the feeling of my soft skin warmed in the sun, cooled in the water and warmed in the sun once again.  That feeling of relaxation that only comes from times like these.  I love summer, swimmingly.

A Sugar Scrub By Any Other Name

What do you get when you take, lavender, fair trade organic sugar, cold pressed apricot kernel oil, lavender essential oil and a little creative energy?  Why a Lovely Lavender Sugar Scrub, of course!

This project was inspired by my love for a particular Suki Product, that I haven't been able to purchase for a while due to budget woes. It's full of lemon lusciousness and I miss it!

I always called it a lemon sugar facial scrub.  So when Domestic Witch posted the recipe for the lavender sugar scrub I was excited to give it a try.  I didn't realize the difference between the two until after I had made and used the scrub for the first time.  The Suki Product uses saponified oil and thus is a cleansing scrub where as the lavender sugar scrub is more of an exfoliating moisturizer.  Great for summer sandal feet and silky soft legs, but not for washing your face!

Now I'm wondering if I can get my hands on saponified oil.  In the mean time I have a nice squat pint jar of great smelling lavender sugar scrub sitting ready.  My feet will be so happy!  There was enough to make a couple small jars for family too... happy feet all around!

This project was inspired by a post over at Domestic Witch and made possible by a generous offering of lavender from my mother-in-law.  If you happen to be so lucky as to have a bit of lavender on hand (or a nice mother-in-law who has a bit of lavender) then I encourage you to visit the link above to find out how to make your own Lavender Sugar Scrub.

To Happy Feet and Learning!

Celebrating the Harvest

First Harvest, Lammas, Loaf Mass, Lughnasadh, Cornucopia, County Fair Time - whatever you call it, it's all about the celebration of the harvest.  This time each year over the centuries and around the northern hemisphere of planet earth, people have been finding ways to celebrate the harvest of fruits and grains, and their own hard labor.  Every culture approaches it a little differently, each with its own customs.  Bonfires, gatherings, offerings to the gods, giving formal thanks to the earth for its fruits and so much more goes into these celebrations.  Mark and I came up with our own way of celebrating, and today marked  our second annual blueberry picking "ritual", complete with picnic and other August time treats.  This year our gala event for two was held at the Mercer Slough U-pick Blueberry Farm in Bellevue - a beautiful setting filled with wildlife, blueberries and a good number of happy berry pickers.  There was even a surprise visit by a coyote. I learned today that coyotes howl over sirens just like dogs do!  It was howling and yipping just a few yards from us and was spotted by some fellow pickers!

This young robin was one of the fellow blueberry pickers present today.  I think he's giving me the territorial eye here, don't you think?  

Obviously there was enough for everyone, though.  We brought home over four pounds of blueberries.

Another berry delight was the handful of ripe blackberries we managed to find and quickly gobble down.  Only a sampling of what's to come from the wonderful month of August!

There were a few tomatoes ready for harvest today too!

And what better way to eat them than with a little fresh mozzarella and basil. Yum!

And what August outing wouldn't be complete without a little ice cream?

A large part of the Lammas/ Lughnasadh celebration is the focus on the grain harvest.  So to celebrate this aspect I baked a Rosemary Olive Oil Cake.  I had never combined rosemary with sweet before, but when I saw a recipe for this in the latest Yoga Journal Magazine, I was quite intrigued and decided to give it a try.  Boy, am I glad I did!  This recipe is a keeper!  I altered the original recipe to try and bring at least a little whole grain into it.  Here's my version:

Rosemary Olive Oil Cake

4 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup olive oil

2 heaping tablespoons finely chopped rosemary

1 1/4 cup unbleached white flour

1/4 cup white whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Oil a 10-inch loaf pan and preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a medium bowl beat the eggs with a mixer for 30 seconds on 

high speed.  Add the sugar and beat on high till very frothy and pale.

While the beaters are going, slowly drizzle the olive oil in.  

Gently fold the rosemary in.

In another bowl, blend the flours, baking powder and salt.

Gently fold the dry mixture into the egg mixture.

Pour the batter into the pan.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan for a few minutes, then tip the cake out

onto a rack to continue cooling.  

Happy Lammas/Lughnasadh/First Harvest!

Photo Source

 and

The Artist

Summer, So Far

A beautiful Solstice ritual with local druids started off my summer in what could not have been a better way.  OK, perhaps less mosquito bites would have improved it slightly.  Dratted little buggers!  The ritual was a simple yet deeply meaningful one and was followed up in true druid fashion with great food, drink and entertainment.  There were stories, poems, song and even a silly joke or two.  A great time had by both Mark and me among great company.  The main tree we were under was quite thoroughly decorated!

The next summer highlight would have to be the continued growth of our garden and some of the bounty we've been enjoying from it.

And these are just the things I thought to take pictures of.  We've been eating  lots and lots of greens, new potatoes, scallions, carrots, beets, squash and peas.  I just picked our first tomato last night, a yellow Taxi Variety that we have in a planter near our front porch.  We're looking forward to eating it tonight!  Both the p-patch and the home planters and raised bed are doing well - quite productive.  And it's about time to start planting greens and beets and such for the later part of the season!  And get the basil transplanted - finally.

We've also been enjoying some of the local bounty that we aren't growing ourselves.  We went and did u-pick strawberries and got 20 jars are strawberry jam made up along with a delicious strawberry rhubarb crisp that is long gone.  We also got raspberries and made up 16 jars of raspberry jam.  The latest was a 13 pound box of apricots that got canned up, made into apricot pie and a handful thrown in the freezer for later apricot delights.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of these due to the camera dieing on us.  But trust me, all the colorful jars look lovely!

We've had a good many enjoyable evening strolls along Alki, despite the crowds, and several picnics in local parks with one wonderful summer swim in Lake Washington down at Seward Park.  While we were swimming both a Bald Eagle and an Osprey flew over us, not to far above the water.  They were having a bit of a territorial spat.  The Osprey decided to not argue with the Eagle.  Smart Osprey!

We also had a great paddle at the arboretum on Lake Washington with plenty of birding by yours truly.  The  ducklings were probably the biggest treasure of the paddle, though!

Another highlight was joining my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law for the Vashon Garden Tour.  There was a lot of oohing and ahhing and drooling and coveting and dreaming.  I took over 150 pictures that day and a healthy selection of them deserve their own post, but here you can see that we three girls just couldn't help but smile after a day of garden delights!

Yes, summer has been good to us so far.  The sad thing, though, is that I may not be able to record the rest of the summer quite as well as I would like, due to our camera dieing on us.  Replacing it may not be in the cards all to soon.  I'll just have to use words in the mean time and do my best.

Happy Summer!

Blending

Yes, I've been absent more than not, lately.  It's been one of those internal transitioning times for me and I always find it near impossible to write about lighter, less personal stuff during those times.  So I just don't write - or rather I just don't publish what I write.  There is rarely a day that goes by that I don't write.  It's therapy and creative outlet all wrapped up in one, and necessary for my sanity to remain at least a little to this side of sane.

During this time I found that having a separate food blog was just way to much to maintain.  So I made the decision today to once again blend my "everything else" blogging with my food and recipe blogging.  I've imported all the food posts from Rutabagas and Other Adventures to this blog and will continue to incorporate food related and recipe filled posts from time to time.  Hopefully this will help me feel less scattered all over the place.  I still have my nature related blog The Tern's Song that only occasionally sees posts these days, mainly because most of my nature writing has taken on a more personal and spiritual nature.  I'm still wrestling with whether to open all that up into The Tern's Song or not.  We'll see.

In the mean time I have a backlog of things to write about for this blog and I hope to slowly but surely catch up.  Stay tuned.

A Good Morning

Up early this morning.  Woke up before Mark's alarm went off at 5:30.  Odd sense I didn't blow the candles out till after 2am.  But I was awake and had some energy so after Mark left I went out for a ride on Ducky.  I road out to the first pier along Alki and then sat there for quite a while watching the gulls and crows and a man on a paddleboard waiting for waves.  I eventually noticed that the dark birds perched out on the buoy marker/light thing were not cormorants but a pair of eagles.  They were perched there watching the morning go by... so I took a lesson from Eagle and perched on a bench and watched the morning go by.  When they took off they were just above eye level and very close to me - they are such magnificent birds, so awe inspiring.  And enduringly patient - they have to be considering the number of gulls and crows that suddenly showed up to harass them when they took off.  I watched a crow keep flying in from behind one of the eagles and when it got with in six inches or so the eagle would shift and drop just a little but it always made the crow pause for a moment in his boldness.  Once the eagles had disappeared I picked myself up off the bench and turned Ducky towards home.  The heron that I had seen on the way out was now further out in the water where the receding tide was giving access to more of the shallow sandbars.  More people were out by the time I was riding towards home.  More joggers, more cyclists, more rollerbladers, stroller pushers and dog walkers - all typical of a sunny morning on Alki.  It was nice to have a day that I could be out there adding my own touch to the crowd - sitting tall on my blue mixtie and pedaling along with a sunny day eagle enhanced smile.

The Beech Grove

There is a park not too far from my home that holds a grove of 18 beech trees.  I had walked past it many time during the winter and had not noticed it in great detail.  Not until a few weeks back when visiting the park with a friend did I realize it was a beech grove.  We were drawn into it by the beautiful silvery bark and the bright green new leaves fringed with delicate hairs.  It took a  few moments before it came from somewhere in my memory that these were beech trees.  Upon looking on the ground it was confirmed by the scattering of last falls nuts.  We admired the trees for quite a while before being called away by the hoot of an owl that needed to be investigated.  But as I was leaving, I placed my hands upon one of the trunks and whispered my thanks and intentions to come back.

The friend I was with could appreciate the trees from a nature loving and naturalist point of view.  But she would not have understood the stirring I felt in me as I stood in the grove among those trees, a stirring that was connected to my own spiritual path and the knowledge that there was something very special and sacred for me to learn among these trees.

Nearly three weeks had passed and I finally made it back this evening.  This time with my husband, who had wanted me to show him the grove that I kept mentioning.  The grove of beech trees had never been too far from my mind and when we arrived at the park, I kept saying I wasn't exactly sure which direction we needed to go to get there but something in me must have known because instead of following a path I cut out across the park in a very particular direction and eventually came out right in front of the grove.  It was dusk and the silvery bark was glowing in the last light of the day.  The weaving of the branches and leaves against the darkening sky was beautiful.  I gently pulled a branch down to show my husband the fine fringe of hairs along the edges of the leaf.  We admired them together and I gently put the branch back in place.  It was perfectly still as I started to step under the branch when a leaf dropped right in front of me.  I kept the leaf safe in my hand while we walked among the grove, stopping and looking up through the branches, studying the different patterns in the bark - both natural and those carved by people, listening to the slight breeze in the leaves that had begun to stir among the branches.  I was gently touching one of the tree trunks when my hand passed over an area of the trunk, just off the trunk by an inch or so actually, that was warmer than the surrounding area.  It caught my attention immediately.  The warmth had an energy to it that I'm not sure how to describe.  I had my husband feel as well and he noticed it too - the warmth.  I paused there with wonder.  What was it?  

As we said our goodnight's to the grove I saw a dandelion seed head on the edge of the grove and I reached down and plucked it.  I said a wish for the groves continued health and growth and for it to be appreciated and with a laugh for it to have a lovely carpet of bright dandelions below it and then blew all the seeds back towards the grove.  It was spontaneous and wonderful.

I kept feeling that I need to go back to the grove again during the day and sit in it's midst and write.  I can't shake that feeling.  And tonight while researching lore about the beech I came across a couple references to the beech tree being connected to books and learning and wisdom - especially by writing.  How completely UN-coincidental.