Tag Archives: quotes

Aug9

Awesome Artsy August

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Awesome Artsy August

Thus far August has had a few mild days with temperatures in the 70’s and low 80’s and low humidity following the rainstorms. Very nice. And then other days, shoo wee, while those rainstorms are building up, the heat index climbs above 100. These temperature variations bring back memories of family gatherings at my great-grandfather’s farm in Franklin County, Missouri in the heat with drenching humidity, as well as finding a few days of reprieve during our family vacations to the northern lakeside. The daisies, black-eyed Susans, and coneflowers are swaying with a breeze. The butterflies and bees find nectar during their busy activity while I read and eventually nap on a cot in the screened porch. We’ve had both types of summer days in just this first part of August here in Missouri.

“The month of August had turned into a griddle where the days just lay there and sizzled.” ~ Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees, 2001

“August creates as she slumbers, replete and satisfied.” ~ Joseph Wood Krutch, Twelve Seasons, 1949

“I love borders. August is the border between summer and autumn: it is the most beautiful month I know.” ~ Tove Jansson, The Summer Book, 1972

This summer has lent itself to great writing time when the heat is too much for outdoor activities. I have written a few poems and even a fairy tale. The book, The Artist’s Rule by Christine Valters Paintner, I am reading with a book club encourages different creative exercises like walking a labyrinth or putting together an artist’s family tree. This is where you write down the names of 4 or 5 people who have influenced you in the creative field and then connect their names with the 4 or 5 people who have influenced them, and so on. These can be a teacher, musician, artist, photographer, writer, craftsman, or culinary professional. This exercise demonstrates how we all are interconnected and are creative beings. Our God who made each of us is a creative god.

Dean and I will be getting away for a few days very soon. Due to gas prices and time, we are taking the shortest trip possible from our locale to see some sand, shells, lighthouses, and hopefully feel consistent cooler air. This will be the most northwestern section of Indiana and southwestern section of Michigan along Lake Michigan. We have not been in these parts of the United States, so we look forward to the new discoveries and change of pace. Meantime, this week I will prepare a “coastal” dinner of seared scallops and carrots glazed with a citrus sauce over jasmine rice.

Feb10

A Different January, And Now February

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A Different January, And Now February

What happened to January? The bustling holiday season went into a busy January, and finally a weekend in mid-February set aside to slow down, stay home, read, and write. My blogging and writing curtailed with a new weekday office job, weekends in Farmington, cottage interior projects, and reorganizing. Dean and I last-minute traveled to Eureka Springs, AR to join in my first evening of readings with The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow. I shared a couple of classics from Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti, and then a few of my own poems. I experienced the beatnik snapping fingers. Fun! One poetry submission went out in January. I may be able to get one or two submissions this weekend. My life changed its course starting in December. After working for 18 months with part-time jobs after my retirement from my HR position with the local government, I decided to seek a full-time job where I have dependable hours. I started this HR position just before Christmas. Much more to learn with this generalist role in a smaller organization. Thankful it has been a friendlier culture. I continue to teach a culinary class one or two evenings a month. Diligence and time management are all the more necessary to keep to my writing projects.

One day out of each weekend since Christmas have been helping my daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids who live in Farmington, MO. Their house burned down Christmas night. They escaped with no injuries, thank God! They have a long road to full recovery from this tremendous loss. Miracles after miracles have been witnessed. The other day of each weekend are filled with home projects. The cottage guest bedroom had a face lift on one wall. Dean put up bead board, carefully cutting to fit around the window frame. We will paint the bead board an off-white when the weather warms up this impending spring and the windows can stay open for a day. It really lightens up the room, mellowing the cranberry red wallpaper and keeps to the Edwardian country decor. While Dean worked on that, I have been paring down and reorganizing drawers, closets, and rooms. We did a couple of furniture swaps between bedrooms to simplify access. Now Valentine hearts along with seasonal snowmen and snowbirds dot the rooms with a festive fever. I put together various candy jars for the kids and my fellow HR co-workers. I thoroughly believe gifts of love expressed from the kitchen can be given to everyone you meet.

“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.”

~ Linda Grayson

“At the end of the day, I believe you lead with your heart. This is all part of who I am, no matter where I am. My heart is my heart.”

~ Cindy Marten.
Jan3

Icy New Year’s Weekend = Warm Kitchen

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Icy New Year’s Weekend = Warm Kitchen

“Sitting inside the warm, pleasant kitchen while icy rain beat against the window, I felt the wordless contentment of a horse in a stable or a wren in a birdhouse,” author Gretchen Rubin wrote. I can so relate. And of course while in the kitchen I cooked and baked this long weekend. Some for Dean and I, and some for others needing an extra dose of love. “The people who give you their food, give you their heart,” Latino civil rights leader, Cesar Chavez once shared. “Cooking has nothing to do with the ingredients, but everything to do with love,” author Dominique Browning commented. I make-do with the ingredients in my well-stocked kitchen, but I beg to differ with Dominique that the right ingredients can make foods taste better. Muir Glen’s organic tomato sauce is the best for a rich red sauce contrasted with a from-scratch white sauce for spinach cannelloni. I happen to pick up a couple of cans last week. Of course, everything is done with love when it comes to cooking, even the acquiring of ingredients. That’s where my organic gardening comes in. Slow cooking, fresh, from-scratch and homemade reigns. “Through cooking, touching, feeling, preparing, and savoring good, real food made from real ingredients, I get to fully inhibit my kitchen; heal my body; connect with friends, family, the Earth, and the larger community where I live,” quoting Mark Hyman, MD. I had a fun weekend in my warm kitchen!

Aug14

The Best Weapon

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Simplicity.  “In a world of complexity, the best weapon is simplicity,” Price Pritchett is quoted.  The simplicity of a garden is one place I find peace in this troubled world. I am an artistic gardener, rather than a scientific one. I love creating an ambiance with green life. The fragrances of fresh herbs after a soaking rain or while harvesting feed my culinary imagination for Dean and I’s next meal, cucumber salad with snippets of cilantro to cool the heat of the summer day. The beauty of August’s blooms set in a simple vase uplifts the day no matter the bad news.  “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow,” Audrey Hepburn once said.  It takes faith. “Faith isn’t the ability to believe long and far into the misty future.  It’s simply taking God at His Word and taking the next step,”  artist Joni Eareckson Tada tells us. So I  take one step at a time, one seed at a time.  “Faith as a mustard seed can move mountains” as the Bible encourages us.  I believe one simple step of love leads to another and then another.  Those mountains of hatred will move.  Make one simple step towards peace this very evening.