Your Own Back Yard...

I get an email every morning from a friend, Steve, who is in Thailand working in an elephant refuge there. He writes of blasting though the town on the back of a bicycle listening to Led Zepplin, the wild dogs, the monks, and the work he is doing. Sometimes when I read his stories I find myself anxious to get into the Big World to do Good Things. Hearing of his sitting for hours on a hard floor to be honored by the monks, making offerings of light bulbs, praying and learning to stretch himself into a shape that fits the life there, makes me yearn to be away, to be far from this American conclave of vinyl villages, SUV's, gum-snapping and yelling mom's at softball games, the consumption, the lack of Grace.

And then I remember that I, too, am doing Good Works, right here in my own back yard. I am raising two girls, pretty much alone, and caring for other people's animals. I carried my injured dog for almost 2 miles out of the woods, and she knows this. She thanks me daily. I help my friends often, and I try, I really TRY to be kind and giving every day, in as many moments as I can remember to do so.

I had a dream last night. One of those vivid and Real ones, and it brought to the surface some memories that bring a poignant thread to my day. When I dream vividly about people I miss, it brings them close, so close I can see and touch them, and then with the morning light, they vanish, leaving behind the feelings, and renewing the loss. Somehow, taking my limping dog for a walk in the cold morning light helped. It put distance and perspective on the shimmering seams of remembrances. This is who I am now. This is my life NOW. And I need to step into it wholly and fully and embrace even the feelings of wanting to be someone else, to do something else, and I need to let that sit and just Be for a while.

One foot in the past, one foot in the future...

I need to put both feet firmly on the ground Here and Now, and recognize the magic that is in my own back yard. How about you?


Break the Spell-O-Da-Funk with this Daily Earworm: (cause Davey Jones is just so Delicious. Ah, my youth...:


Your Daily Dose of Cool Things:

Skull Splitter Orkney Ale

The Boston Craft Beer Festival is in June. In Boston. Unfortunately, I am working both days. Still...it would be hella fun. Maybe you should go and tell me all about it. This beer RAWKS, though.

Tugboat Printshop

Hey, Ma! This place is in Pittsburgh! Go check it out for me!

Your Daily Dose of Wonderful Design:

World's First Zero-Cost Hybrid



Lion Sands...Oh, My!

Your Daily Dose of Inspiring Words:

"He thought about her. He looked at her. Every day on the slick, green seat, the last row, of a hot bus on the way home from camp. All tired, backs of heads dripping with lake water, shoes caked with creek mud, and sucking on pretzels handed out by the counselors, they would bounce on home.

Only once did they speak that summer. On the last, hot, sticky summer afternoon, visions of torpor, dazed on the ride. No one could hear them in the last row. But the words were spoken.

"Lisa, you have sleepies in your eye..." It was all he could muster from the reptilian brains he was working with at the time.

She took off her thick glasses, kicked the seat in front of her with her nasty looking Keds, and picked the crusty out of the corner.

And then, he couldn't believe it. She wouldn't.

She did.

She ate it.

And in that split second he felt more love for her than his little heart could comprehend.

It still haunts him.

40 years later." Me

Your Daily Dose of Wicked-Good Food:

Asian Pear and Cucumber Salsa with Cranberries

2 cucumbers, peeled and seeds removed
1 asian pear (may use regular pear, jicama, or apple)
1 small bunch cilantro
1/2 cup dried cranberries
the juice of 2 limes
4 scallions
1/2 cup olive oil
1 jalapeno pepper (FRESH)
salt and pepper to taste

Cut cucumber in to 2 inch chunks. Process by short pulsing 16 times. Remove from bowl of processor and place in a large salad bowl. Core, slice and finely cube the Asian pear. Process cilantro, to a medium cut to fill a measuring cup (1 cup). Process the jalapeno pepper to a fine cut. (Clean out the bowl immediately with hot, soapy water). Chop the scallions into medium cut.

Add pear, pepper, scallions and cilantro to large bowl with cucumbers, adding the lime juice, oil and spices. Toss in the cranberries and let marinate a few hours minimum. Best if left overnight!