Beautiful blogger Katie left a comment recently, “be your own best gardener!” I love it. I’ve been holding it. Be my own best gardener…. and I’m trying. Sensing out what it is that would feed me, leave me feeling well cared for. What it is that my roots are asking for. And trying not to go into shock as I’m feeling a bit uprooted at the moment, raw. Best to start literal in this case. So I headed to the nursery with my box of plants in hand.
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Bethany’s post, with so many gorgeous green photos, just left me speechless. This is the most I can hope for from my blogging, or from commenting on other people’s blogs: to give someone the little nudge they needed to go seek deep joy. To nurture themselves.
Bethany, I can’t thank you enough. This was exactly the encouragement I needed, today. Quieting the little voice in my head that says: “What are you doing with your life? Why are you wasting all this time on the computer? Why don’t you do something useful; something practical; something that earns you a living; something that fights oppression; something that actually helps people?”
That voice has been ebbing and stilling lately, but the other day it swelled and got loud again. Thanks to you, though, I can smile and whisper back to it, with all my lovingness, “Shhh…it’s okay. I know. You’re afraid. But don’t worry. Just take it moment by moment, and together we’ll wind up fine.”
It’s been a real joy to continue writing cards and letters here in Spain. The whole process, start to finish: composing in my notebook; transcribing onto stationery; stamping the date and address; carrying the full, ripe envelopes to the post office.
Truly, if you want to fill yourself with love for an afternoon, my advice is to write a letter. To a parent, a grandparent, a lover, a friend going through a rough time, a friend you thought of the other day when you watered your plants or saw a beautiful skyline or when something made you laugh.
Occasionally, when the mood strikes, I make little sketches to accompany the words. This is one of the reasons I love writing on paper, as opposed to computers: anytime you feel like it, you can just bust out with a hand-drawn diagram of a fish riding a bicycle. I still smile to think about a sketch I drew to accompany a description of my refrigerator shelf: a standoff between the vegan and vegetarian factions. (Beets, carrots on the one side; eggs and a carton of yogurt on the other — or something like that.)
And this weekend, writing an 8-pager to a certain inspirational someone in Michigan, who should emerge to give their blessings but two of my favorite artists: India Arie and Stevie Wonder. Flanking my quotation of the lyrics to “Wonderful,” Arie’s exquisite song of gratitude to one of her musical heros.
In reverse chronological order, some homes of the past five months. Except for the month when I was walking from home to home every day. Hopefully those fotos’ll come through soon!
This morning at the beach apartment. Is there a "happy spice" Spice Girl?This is the apartment where I'll be living in August...Funny, this place felt like home from the moment I walked in as a visitor.Note the ankle bells. Nuria is a wonderful bellydancer!
It was a little over one year ago when I announced to my friend Matt that I dislike flowers. Flowers in general. I believe I called them “too ostentatious.” Heh. Joke’s on me now, I guess. This spring, the beauties at the meditation center (completely barren when I arrived; then a paradise a few weeks later) just sucked in all my attention like dainty little nuclear-strength vacuums. This helped me to stay present, especially when meditation got hard. This is my thanks to them. Wassup, y’all.
Hey y’all! ¿Que tal? Muy bien, I hope. Me, I’m doing great. It’s been quite a while, hasn’t it? So long, in fact, that I don’t quite know where to re-begin.
But since the book in my bag at the moment is The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle, I guess the best place to start is… ;)
Popping up during a quick visit to Barcelona; heading back to Dhamma Neru meditation center tomorrow.
Today, in an email, I sent this story to a friend, paraphrased from one of Goenka’s lectures in the ten-day course I sat in February. I think it’s adorable and useful, particularly for the overanalyzers among us, so I thought I’d share.
There is a poor, old boatman who is working on a passenger ship. On one voyage, the ship carries a very distinguished scholar and professor — one of the most famous in the world. A whole alphapet of degrees following his last name. And the old boatman is curious to learn from this great man, so every night he comes to his cabin and the professor offers him dazzling lectures on all kinds of fascinating subjects.
WordPress is being wack about picture formatting, so here’s a separate post for non-inaugural marvels encountered since California. (For those who check my facebook, sorry for the repetition!)
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Junot’s Tribute
The City of Cambridge declared January 25th Junot Díaz Day.you could say he's really blown up
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Split Pea Soup
I add kale for texture and cherry tomatoes for flavor. Yum.
Basic recipe via vegetarian superstar Heidi Swanson. Normally I like to use a little cumin and cayenne, but this time I was out of the former so I threw in a couple of bouillon cubes. Rapunzel stock makes everything tastier, I swear.
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Erin Present
So here’s the story. One day, in college, Erin and I were talking after a WGS class when she looked at my bare collarbone and said, “You need a necklace.” She then took off her own necklace and gave it to me. Wait, it gets better. She MADE this necklace, metalsmithing. Not only did she make it, but it’s actually the ‘negative’ of a beautiful ring that she cut and welded as a gift for someone. Erin present, very important. Now you know the story.
Kloncke 