countdown to Friday

This is a picture from my Paris trip last year that I was experimenting on with filters. I miss that place and go back often in my mind. 

The past few days have been a whirl of moving prep. I know I've been yammering on about my daughter's impending move for what seems like eons, but we are in the countdown to liftoff. She leaves Friday: in two days. I am learning that one needs many, many things to move to Rio. Like a suitcase for a bicycle, nightstands, shoes and more shoes, throw pillows, a trainer for the bike to run on indoors, several pencil skirts, maple syrup, an air mattress, to name only a few. Luckily, she is buying it all, adult that she is, but I am her partner in crime when it comes to shopping for it. Hey, I know my skills. And they are bargain hunting. Tomorrow, we hit the road at seven am for an adventure to White Rock Lake. I will walk around it, she will do loops with her bicycle, then we will go to see a woman about a nightstand. Next, I will drop her off to meet her friend for tea while I zoom home to get ready for my little neighborhood buddy to come for crafts and games. I almost feel like a mom/chauffeur again, instead of an empty nester/trophy wife. (Hee hee) Aaah, the many hats we wear. Each holds its own joys and mysteries.

reunion ● baby ● coleslaw

Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh - it is so fun to see old friends after years and years apart. It's the best. The years between seem to evaporate like magic, pulling you back to your twenty-year-old self hanging with your bestie at the D.Q., playing Ms. Pacman.

On Saturday, QG and I got to see my old college roommate Kathy, who I last saw twenty-seven years ago, when her oldest child, Chelsea, was one. Chelsea now lives not too far from Dallas and had a baby daughter less than a week ago, so Kathy came down with her husband and youngest son for the birth. It's their first grandchild - how exciting! 

They were nice enough to let us crash their family gathering, which included both sets of grandparents and Uncle David, Kathy's youngest son. What a treat to spend the afternoon catching up, reminiscing about our college adventures, getting to know the other family members and holding baby Charlie (for Charlotte) for over an hour!!! Honestly, the last time I held a four-days-old baby was fifteen years ago, when my nephew was born, so holding Charlie was a huge thrill. She did lots of cooing and stretching and my heart melted. What a darling. Here's Kathy with Charlie - doesn't she make a perfect grandma?

We got to the house in time for lunch - smoked brisket. It was so tasty. I brought the coleslaw. I made up this recipe that morning because I wanted a sweet and sour type of slaw to go with barbecue and thought the apples and honey would go well together. It was nice and crisp, just right with the meat, so I thought you might like the recipe.

Sweet and Sour Coleslaw

 

1 large head of savory cabbage, thinly sliced 

1/2 of a small head of regular cabbage, thinly sliced

1 bunch (about 9) green onions, thinly sliced

1 cup thinly chopped red, and/or yellow peppers

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped

Juice from 1/2 of a fresh lime

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/3 cup honey

1 Tablespoon yellow mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/3 cup canola oil

Put the cabbage, onions and peppers into a large bowl. Sprinkle the lime juice over the apple pieces, mix well, then add that to the cabbage. Mix the vinegar, honey, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Slowly add the oil while whisking. Pour this onto the cabbage mixture and toss well to coat. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve. Best if made at least a few hours ahead, or even the day before. You can use all regular cabbage if you can't find savory cabbage. Serves 12. 

After making the slaw, I was cleaning up and noticed how pretty all the scraps were, so I zoomed upstairs to get my camera and started snapping away. QG comes in while I am standing on tiptoe with Agnes balanced on a roll of paper towels over the discards and says, "What are you doing?" I answer, "Taking pictures of the scraps, of course." He just shakes his head and goes, "You do some weird stuff." True enough.

simple beauty

I love finding beauty in simple things around the house. Saw this dishrag, which my buddy Caorlyn made, on the windowsill beside the white curtain yesterday and it was so lovely, I had to run for Agnes, my camera, to capture it. The photo gives me a feeling of calm. I also caught Jamiewoo's paws while she lay there being entertained by me taking a hundred pictures of a dishrag.

art jars

These jars were an art piece at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection museum in Venice. Yes, I am still working on my photos from our trip back in October so that I can make a photo book. Oy. The bad part about being a detail person is that getting things "just so" takes sooo much time. Whatever. Today, I finally mailed my Christmas cards. No joke. I had to turn them into pre-Valentines Day cards, but they're done. Big yay!

Anyhow, I really loved this jar display. It is magical. Art is like that. These jars reminds me of all the little pleasures in life, which we record in our minds to pull out and savor whenever need them. It also reminds me of the illusive goals we seek. Like, sometimes your soul is yearning for something which you can't quite define. That thing is represented by these jars. That thing is beautiful, yet beyond words: almost like hope. Take a break. Look at these jars for a little while. Maybe their glow will cheer you.

a pleasant pause for poetry

Years ago, I picked up a book of poetry called Songs for Comfort by Grace Noll Crowell. It surfaced amidst my unclutterring yesterday, so I spent some time getting to know Grace through her poems. She lived from 1877 to 1969. Though she is now considered to be a minor poet, in her day she was widely read. She was the Poet Laureate of Texas for three years. What a lovely, wise soul.

Grace dedicated herself to writing poetry during a period of grave illness, which she fought to recover from over a period of years. Best known for her words of comfort and inspiration, she strove to find words that could help others who might be suffering as she had done during her illness. And she did. Her husband even had to quit his job to help manage her career and all the letters she received from thousands of people who wrote to let her know how much her poems had meant. I love the poem below, called "The Gleaner." I can especially relate to the part about sunset and dawn, because I get thrilled and freak out over the colors in the sky on a regular basis. I call those vibrant skies free art.

The Gleaner

Life closed about her in strange baffling ways.

Her house was bleak, her heart was sore bereft,

Yet she learned to glean from ordinary days

The golden grain that the passing hours had left.

She stored rare beauty deep within her heart

To hold against the coming winter cold:

The colors of dawn and sunset were a part

Of her deft gleaning from the fields of gold.

A letter from a friend was her delight.

The coming of a neighbor to the door,

Her long communion with the stars at night,

Her daily tasks―these added to her store.

Remembering her, face-skyward, standing there,

One learns life never leaves its fields too bare.

                -Grace Noll Crowell

the Vegetarian Stew recipe

Here's a recipe for a vegetarian stew. It was inspired by a recipe I read recently, only I changed a few ingredients to what I had on hand, altered the proportions, threw in the spices, added the apple, and deleted the chicken. I guess cooking is like science and so many other arenas: we stand on the shoulders of those who came before. Anyhow, this conglomeration turned out pretty good, which isn't always the case with my culinary experiments, so I thought I'd share it with you. It is fast, easy to make, and warms the tummy nicely on a winter evening.

Hearty Vegetarian Stew

½ large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1½ teaspoons dried parsley

1½ teaspoons dried oregano

1½ teaspoons dried basil

5 cups vegetable broth

½ pound small potatoes, thinly sliced (I used a mixture of red, yellow and purple)

1- 15 ounce can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

Half of a small cabbage, core removed and sliced paper thin

1 apple, cored and sliced

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil on medium-high heat until translucent add the spices and mix to coat. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the cheese. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer for 45 minutes. Top with the cheese and serve with crusty bread. Makes about 4 servings. Enjoy!

pansy

To me, there is something relaxing about looking at flowers. They are so brash and vivacious, staring out at you in effortless elegance. I got this shot the other week at the Dallas Arboretum. This pansy looks old-fashioned and rather demure and I'm glad that I captured it on its best day. Tomorrow, I'll have another vegetarian recipe to share. This one is a hearty stew that I made yesterday. Who knew meatless dinners could be so legitimately satisfying? Life is full of surprises.

Hey there, Adorable!

Sometime, you might submit an article for publication and it might get rejected. Said article might make a serious point, such as if you've long been struggling to accept yourself as you are, it might be time to give up and relax about it, only via slightly lame humor. Who doesn't like to laugh, right? Even lamely. (Alright, maybe only a few people.) The rejection of your article might come with a comment questioning the sagacity of "the pooping part." Oops. My bad. But, seriously, that would be funny. It's an old story. Life's a bowl of cherries, until you get to... "the pooping part."

Hey there, Adorable!

I’m always trying to become a better person. It’s exhausting. I listen to educational books while cleaning the house, crochet gifts while watching TV, and spend at least eight hours a week at the gym. Granted, I like the gym and working out keeps my joints moving, like the tin man’s oil can. If I stop for a week, stiffness sets in, and pain is a fantastic motivator. But I also go because being fit makes me feel acceptable - to others and myself. I wish that were not the case. I long for the confidence and self-acceptance to feel at ease no matter my size, but when my love handles start puckering above my waistband, I want to cancel all engagements, like my friend who occasionally feels the need to “call in fat” to work when her clothes feel snug and she wants to hide away from the world. Of course, most people don’t know the truth. To her boss, she has the flu or a stomach bug.

I’d love to be more like another friend. For a few years, she’s had a night job in which her abilities are underutilized. Eventually, she got so bored she started eating candy at work to entertain herself and to stay awake. She lines peanut M&M’s around the perimeter of her desk and allows herself to eat one every ten minutes. The next night, it might be Skittles. She started the job as a size eight and by now has, in her words, “blossomed into a size fourteen.” Has this phased her confidence? Not a bit. She struts around in her new, size-fourteen wardrobe as if she owns the world. I’ve actually seen her pass a mirror and shout, “Hey there, Adorable!” Surely, she is not thrilled about her new size, she definitely needs a new job, and all that candy cannot be healthy, but she is going through a tough time and refuses to judge herself too harshly. I envy her self-acceptance.

I also envy that man on my plane last Sunday. He sat beside me on our packed six a.m. flight to LAX. The dude was what I like to refer to as middle-aged, like me. Fifty had come and gone, as evidenced by the monk-like fringe of grey stubble encircling his head like a headband. He wore Justin boots and a flannel shirt featuring dancing santas. Halfway through the flight, he gathered up his Dallas Morning News and vaulted over my knees to disappear into the lavatory. I wanted to shout behind him, “Seriously, Dude, make yourself at home. And while you’re at it, why not announce to the entire plane what you’re up to?”  During the half-hour he was in there, I had to marvel at his aplomb, as well as his remarkably relaxed attitude toward germs. This was a man I could learn something from.

I would never even think about toting a newspaper into a public lavatory. What would people think? I mean, I know we’ve all seen the book Everyone Poops, but who really wants to know our personal logistics? In public, we’d all (except for my seatmate) rather pretend ourselves exempt. Besides, I’m way too germaphobic to consider actually sitting down in there. Even though I do yoga, I doubt I’d have the core strength to hold a newspaper in a squatting position on a moving airplane while answering the call of nature.

So for this new year, I plan to make no resolutions. I am sick of improving myself. I plan to relax, to work at accepting myself as I am, like candy girl and santa-shirt man. Maybe I should consider starting each day this year by staring into the mirror and shouting, “Hey there, Adorable!” I’ll try it, but if I forget once in a while, I’ll remind myself to be okay with that. After all, nobody’s perfect.

questions

Sometimes, I worry about silly things. Like, now that this blog is started, will I succeed in making people happy, in being good enough to fulfill expectations. This is a worry that has generally dogged me all of my life. Am I good enough? I guess the simple truth is maybe yes, maybe no. Perhaps I ask the wrong questions. Maybe the important thing is having fun. Maybe the important thing is laughing. Maybe the important thing is what God thinks when he looks at me. Am I honest? Do I care about people? Am I seeking His will in all things, however elusive that may seem? Do I truly love Him? Do I truly love myself? Maybe there are no easy answers. Maybe there are only good questions.

pink bliss

I am running out of time today (how does that happen?) but wanted to share this picture of a cabbage plant to cheer you. 

Yummy Meatless Lentil Chili recipe

Don't ask me how two meat lovers like QG and I ended up with vegetarians for daughters. He and I would be happy with half-pound burgers for dinner every night, while neither of our daughters has touched a morsel of meat for ten years. They're rebels alright, but what can you do?

So, in honor of Lauren, who is here for a couple more weeks before vamoosing off to Brazil, I made up a meatless chili recipe for dinner yesterday, which is based on QG's chili. It's a great time for chili with the cold weather, and the recipe was tasty. It is not too spicy, so you may want to add hot sauce or more chili powder if you're a fan of heat in your chili. We had this with homemade bread fried on the stove in a little butter til crispy. Yum. Try this for a break from meat. It was fun, though I find myself craving roast beef today.

Yummy Meatless Lentil Chili

½ large onion, chopped

½ large red pepper, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

Splash of olive oil to coat bottom of pot

2/3 cup dried red lentils

2/3 cup dried brown lentils

1 Tablespoon Cumin

1 Tablespoon thyme

2 Tablespoons taco seasoning (I use Penzeys)

2 Tablespoons molasses

1 Tablespoon chili powder

2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 – 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

4 cups water

1 cup drained canned or frozen corn

In a large pot, sauté the onion, red pepper, and garlic in the olive oil until the onion is translucent. Add all other ingredients except for corn and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook an hour more, until lentils are tender. Add the corn for the final fifteen minutes of cooking. Serve topped with grated cheddar cheese and chopped avocados.

picture day

This is a photo I took of the ceiling of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona Spain. It reminds me of an insect, like maybe it could be the underbelly of a praying mantis or something. I love it.

angel picture

This is from The Dallas Arboretum the other day. My buddy Michelle was nice enough to give us some last minute free tickets. Don't you just love surprises like that? It was the last day for the angel display in the house there. These above are solid glass, but it looks like they almost have faces because of the reflection from the stained glass window behind. 

This shot reminds me that God is always watching over my shoulder and that He has a plan. Sometimes things don't go my way, like maybe an article I submit does not get accepted, but if I remember that God is using all the circumstances in my life to direct me, I can open my heart to peace and warmth, like the feeling I get looking at this photograph.

Carrot Apple Raisin Salad recipe

Happy New Year! My advice for the new year is to do what you enjoy as much as humanly possible. I've decided that life is too short to be overly concerned with shoulds. So this year I'll be inventing lots of new recipes, getting outside, doing yoga, chatting, entertaining, crafting, editing, writing, reading and photographing more than ever. It's good to have a plan, right? Perhaps I lack focus, but it's not my fault because life holds too darn many wonders. I hope you have a big list, too, and that you snatch lots of moments in 2014 to do everything on it.

In yoga the other day, our teacher Lisa read a meditation about celebration as an active process. The point was to actively celebrate the moments of your life instead of passively waiting to be entertained or watching things happen. To me, this was such an encouragement that I went home and made up a recipe for a healthy, zesty salad to bring to a New Year's party. Here's to celebrating natural, whole foods and flavors!

Carrot Apple Raisin Salad

1 large apple, peeled and chopped

3 Tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice

6 large carrots, peeled and grated

1 &1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger, finely minced

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup toasted pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)

1 & 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons fresh, chopped rosemary

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1 &1/2 teaspoons sugar

Mix the apples and lemon juice in a large bowl to coat. Add all other ingredients, gently mixing well. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Best if made a few hours ahead for flavors to meld.