Friday night grateful moment

It's been a long week, and today has been a looooong day.

When I woke at 3:30 a.m. from a wild dream about sleeping through my alarm and being late for my plane (it was a goooood dream, really packed with action!), I just went ahead and got up. There's not a chance in the world I would have slept for another 15 minutes, and those extra minutes awake meant I wasn't running wild out the door, a la dream.

Left the house at 4:15 a.m. for an hour drive (through rain) to an hour flight, and landed in pouring down rain in Seattle. Took a cab (post-triple-shot latte, thank you very much Starbucks!) to a day of meetings, visited with other CHSW trustees and staff about issues relative to children and social services around the state, interacted with some actual children being served (very cute), did just enough emailing back and forth to work to get a few things done, took a cab back to the airport, flew back to my car, went to Costco for supplies for a work breakfast next week, drove home and here I am home. Snug as a bug. And grateful.

Grateful for travel safety, for myself and for my parents, who have been gallivanting from Arizona to Alberta/British Columbia.

Grateful that days like today are actually possible--that you can wake up in the morning and fall asleep that night in the same place, but in between travel great distances (more or less, especially compared to horse and buggy days!).

Grateful for the weekend ahead and the peace and quiet I am anticipating!

Grateful for good health, even as my sleep has been spotty. Usually poor sleep is the tipping point for me into some sick-ish nonsense, but I've been able to keep that at bay.

Grateful for spring weather, with all its bluster and moisture. Grateful for the streams of light that never fail to make a Walla Walla sunset so spectacular, even after a day of drizzle.

Grateful for first responders, and people who run toward danger to help and assist those who are injured--rather than run away. There were many inspirational stories this week, after the Boston bombs.

Grateful for the ability to sleep on airplanes. Who sees me snoozing/hears me snoring? I don't care.

Grateful for new days, fresh mercies, always with healing and forgiveness.

Grateful for love.

Grateful for you.

Happy weekend!

Peace.

A-Z blogging challenge: Q is for Quotations

I have a feeling a lot of people will do Quotations for Q day... just a hunch. I thought about Quinoa, I really did. And Questions. But I settled on Quotations, and went scrounging for some of my favorites. You may have seen some of these on the blog before, but I find repeating is helpful--I can put a quote aside for a period of time... a month... a year... and when I see it again, it can have a different connotation for me, come at me from a different angle, and I nod my head, again.

Here are a few quotations that are meaningful to me:

If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished? -Rumi

Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend ... when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present--love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure--the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.
-Sarah Ban Breathnach

Deliver me from all evildoers that talk nothing but sickness and failure. Grant me the companionship of men who think success and men who work for it. Loan me associates who cheerfully face the problems of a day and try hard to overcome them. Relieve me of all cynics and critics. Give me good health and the strength to be of real service to the world, and I'll get all that's good for me, and will give what's left to those who want it.
-William Feather

I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naive or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.” -Anais Nin

Most of the shadows of this life are caused by standing in one's own sunshine.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

There is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose.
-Alan Redpath

In any situation, the best thing you can do is the right thing; the next best thing you can do is the wrong thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing. -Theodore Roosevelt

If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.
-Henry David Thoreau

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.
-Etty Hillesum

Do you enjoy/appreciate quotations, or do you find them just regurgitated words passed around like leftovers? I'm curious--I know people in both camps.

And if you have a favorite quotation, I'd love to hear it!

What's this A-Z business about? Check out my kick-off post. And stay tuned for the random joy and nonsense I concoct during the month of April!

A-Z blogging challenge: P is for Poetry

If you've followed this blog for any period of time, you know that I love poems, poetry, poets. There is so much within poetry--the cadence of the lines, word choices, images that are conjured--that contrive to inspire me.

I was thinking recently of the very first poets I discovered, or whom discovered me: Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, and the poem below, by John Greenleaf Whittier. I have very fond memories of the school year (8th grade English?) where I memorized this poem and made a little illustrated booklet of it, cutting corresponding pictures out of Ideals magazines.

In School-days
Still sits the school-house by the road,
A ragged beggar sleeping;
Around it still the sumachs grow,
And blackberry-vines are creeping.

Within, the master’s desk is seen,
Deep scarred by raps official;
The warping floor, the battered seats,
The jack-knife’s carved initial;

The charcoal frescos on its wall;
Its door’s worn sill, betraying
The feet that, creeping slow to school,
Went storming out to playing!

Long years ago a winter sun
Shone over it at setting;
Lit up its western window-panes,
And low eaves’ icy fretting.

It touched the tangled golden curls,
And brown eyes full of grieving,
Of one who still her steps delayed
When all the school were leaving.

For near her stood the little boy
Her childish favor singled:
His cap pulled low upon a face
Where pride and shame were mingled.

Pushing with restless feet the snow
To right and left, he lingered;—
As restlessly her tiny hands
The blue-checked apron fingered.

He saw her lift her eyes; he felt
The soft hand’s light caressing,
And heard the tremble of her voice,
As if a fault confessing.

“I’m sorry that I spelt the word:
I hate to go above you,
Because,”—the brown eyes lower fell,—
“Because, you see, I love you!”

Still memory to a gray-haired man
That sweet child-face is showing.
Dear girl! the grasses on her grave
Have forty years been growing!

He lives to learn, in life’s hard school,
How few who pass above him
Lament their triumph and his loss,
Like her,—because they love him.

Such a sweet poem, and quite easy to memorize--at least that's how I remember it!

I went on to fall in love with many other poets over the years, from Margaret Atwood, Galway Kinnell, Sharon Olds, Denise Levertov, Mary Oliver, William Stafford, Li-Young Lee...

It's been a long time since I memorized a poem--probably college, when it was required in a poetry class--but remembering this poem from my childhood makes me want to take on that challenge again... maybe I'll start small--a haiku? Ha.

Who are your favorite poets? Have you ever memorized a poem, and if so, which one(s)?

What's this A-Z business about? Check out my kick-off post. And stay tuned for the random joy and nonsense I concoct during the month of April!

A-Z blogging challenge: O is for Owls and Optimism

I swear! I was into owls before owls went all rage-y. Really! It's not as if I'm opposed to liking something in the mainstream, but really, I *did.* We have had an owl in the neighborhood for a few years, and I named him Owen. Of course I would rarely see Owen, but we would often hear him at night. His hoots were always so comforting to me. That, combined with a fun field trip to a nearby wildlife refuge a few years back where I fell in love with a large barn owl, and my captivation was complete.

Owen in the fog, back for a recent visit

Occasionally when I would mow the lawn, Owen would be in one stand of trees and take off and swoop low over my head and to the other side of the yard. I loved that, once I figured out what was going on, and that he wasn't headed at me to take my sunglasses off my face!

He hasn't been around so much the past year or so, but I hear stories from the neighbors about "their" owl, so I think he kind of gets around. On nights when I do hear his hoot, it makes me happy.

Something about owls and their big eyes, swively heads and solid bodies have always appealed to me. Of course, when I like something I mention it, and pin it, and mention it again, and before you know it, I've got owls and owls and more owls. I'm OK with that. 

Twin owls: different birthdays, different friends, same fixated Sher!

As for optimism, it's a little like owls: It's gone mainstream. Ha. OK, not really; there's not quite the straight-line correlation here that I might hope for in writing a post like this. But optimism is something I've been accused of very, very frequently in my life. It has even been opined that I may be *the most* optimistic person someone's ever met. And they're not usually meaning it as a good thing. There's an edge of "you're an idiot, don't you know how bad reality is?" in there somewhere. 

By turns I've taken it as a compliment, an insult and probably everything in between; but mostly--especially lately--I just don't care how it hits other people, that I'm able to take a situation and figure out what's the good that could come from it, where's the hidden opportunity, and maybe even a silver lining.

To me optimism is a choice. Quite frankly, I don't make that choice as much as I used to. Maybe reality really has come home to roost? But, 9 days out of 10, I am able to greet a new morning, envision at least one or two steps forward, anticipate the backward steps (which I definitely am better at in my 40s than in my 20s), and set off to accomplish what I can. 

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

and

“For myself I am an optimist--it does not seem to be much use to be anything else.”

both from Winston Churchill

This is not to say that there aren't some pretty awful things in the world, events and circumstances that simply don't have a silver lining--pure evil, say, like the bombing this week in Boston. Where's the good there? Doesn't exist, and I would never pretend otherwise.

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.” -Howard Zinn

Would you call yourself an optimist? Pessimist? Realist?

What's this A-Z business about? Check out my kick-off post. And stay tuned for the random joy and nonsense I concoct during the month of April!

A-Z blogging challenge: N is for Nuts

To my memory, I haven't met a nut I didn't like. And sitting me next to the mixed nuts, well that's a recipe for an empty bowl. I may pick through and take the cashews first, but it doesn't mean I won't be back to take a whack at the peanuts and Brazil nuts. And trail mix? Don't get me started.

nuts

I love nuts so much, in fact, I couldn't help but mimic Elizabeth Barrett Browning...

How do I love nuts? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the cookie, cake and pie
To bake, my soul cries hazelnut, almond,
I love thee for crunch and bite you bring.
Pecan, macadamia and walnut
On top of sundaes, or mixed and roasted.
I love thee freely, without thought to fat.
I love thee purely, roasted or raw.
I love thee with a passion that quits not,
Handfuls on the run, or tossed in salads.
I love thee, pine nut, with a love I never lose,
In pesto, pizza, panzanella, always
Toasted lightly, cashew salty, peanuts
Too, I love you all--and more--each day!

Do you love nuts? What's your favorite nut of all?

What's this A-Z business about? Check out my kick-off post. And stay tuned for the random joy and nonsense I concoct during the month of April!

A-Z blogging challenge: M is for Marriage

M is one of the letters with all kinds of possibilities... I considered Mistakes (cooking and otherwise), I also toyed with Marshmallows and/or Moderation (two words that don't often go in the same sentence around here!).

But then this weekend brought about puttering in the yard and house, tidying up and organizing life. I traditionally do said puttering with my iPod in my pocket, listening to music or comedy or a book. There's an essay on my iPod by Ann Patchett that is only available by audio, and which I happen to adore. I had not listened to it in about a year, I'd say, and was reminded again as I listened and worked of all that I admire in Ann Patchett's writing, and all that I  enjoy about Marriage.

The essay is called This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, an essay about Patchett's family and personal history with marriage (and divorce), and is a short listen, at an hour and half.

I really like Patchett's storytelling (though I have to confess I've stalled out about two-thirds of the way through Bel Canto, not sure exactly why). In this essay, however, she weaves the past into her present, and tells of her own shortcomings and failures in her first marriage and subsequent affair, and her adamant refusal to consider marriage again, convinced there could be nothing worse than a failed second marriage. She does of course eventually get married again, and this essay is her telling to a young friend who asks, "Tell me the story of your happy marriage..."

There is so much of Patchett's story I don't relate to, but yet, so much that I do, that it seems every married (and certainly any divorced) person surely would. Though, in reading through some of the reviews on Goodreads, apparently not...

While I didn't immediately assume post-divorce that I would remarry, when I did begin a new relationship that had some substance (husband), I knew that I wouldn't be content to just date/be companions forever. I'm the marrying kind. While not the marrying kind, Ann reflected back after finally marrying her husband, and had the inevitable "Why didn't we do this sooner?" moment, forgetting all her angst toward the institution over the years.

Yet for all its failures (statistics don't lie, 2012 saw a 46% divorce rate in the U.S.), marriage has so much to recommend it. For me, that list includes, but is not limited to:
* Someone to bust a gut laughing with.
* A debate partner for important topics. We may have different important topics, but getting husband's input on my ideas only improves them. (And I like to believe the same about his, of course!)
* A shoulder to cry on. Literally at times.
* The mirror to myself--when I see my bitchiness/pettiness reflected back at me in his face, it can be rather enlightening.
* A prayer partner who knows my heart.
* Someone to taste test my cooking triumphs, as well as my not-so-hots.
* A champion for my causes, and someone who always has my back. Always.
* A willing recipient and giver of foot rubs.
* Someone to plot "somedays" with.
* Never having to do some of those awful around-the-house tasks that I hate, because he doesn't mind. And doing the same for him.
* Someone to be quiet with. How many people can you really enjoy companionable silence with? It's dreamy.
* A back up in discussion (argument?) with Seth. That additional voice in the parenting mix is super helpful, and husband gets a better response than I sometimes! (And, as I haven't said it here in a while--he's the BEST step-dad my kid could have.)
* My road-trippin' companion... (he would call himself my chauffeur.)
* Indulger of my quirks and idiosyncrasies.
* Never having to date again.
And more, so much more...

Are all these things available to those without the piece of paper? Yes. But there's just something about that particular piece of paper. (For me. Don't go all rushing out and getting married on my account. I'm not into your business!)

What is your favorite thing about marriage? (If it's the fact that you're not in one, that's OK too.)

What's this A-Z business about? Check out my kick-off post. And stay tuned for the random joy and nonsense I concoct during the month of April!

A-Z blogging challenge: L is for Light

For the past few years, as the new year rolls around, I've picked a word as a theme of focus, rather than a longer set of goals and resolutions. It's worked well in the sense that I enjoy the simplicity of the One Little Word philosophy, and have felt the cumulative effect of the words over time, even after it's year is over.

I began in 2010 with Pause; 2011 brought about Focus. In 2012 I chose Grace, and finally, this year, I landed on Light.

I have done next to no actual writing or participating in the One Little Word world, as my work life and home life have kept me busy. But I wear my token of Light (a pendant with the word and year inscribed) almost daily, and in the act of putting it on, I reflect and remember all the things that Light symbolizes for me, and also Pause for a moment to focus (see, those words from previous years really do come back around again). (If needed, I'm also capable of extending a little Grace to myself, and others.)

My original post on Light says a lot of what I'm working toward accomplishing this year, but I have found a few additional Light-related thoughts to share along the way, as well.

The lamps are different, but the Light is the same.

-Rumi

"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what Light I have."

-Abraham Lincoln

I have a Pinterest board devoted to OLW2013:Light, with more words and images, if you're a pinner and you're interested.

lights

What do you think of when someone says Light is their word to focus on? There are so many different angles to take--I'm curious to hear yours.

What's this A-Z business about? Check out my kick-off post. And stay tuned for the random joy and nonsense I concoct during the month of April!

Friday night grateful moment

This week has been long, and short--like most weeks. It was a bit fractured by a trip for Seth--Wednesday til tonight--so it meant quiet evenings after work for husband and I, but we know how to deal with those!

The rain has rolled in tonight, a misty kind with haze that is disappearing into the darkness. I wonder what we'll wake up to, tomorrow. It's really anyone's guess this time of year, but I suppose I *could* look at the forecast. I think I'd rather just take my chances; the way the weather's been this week, it's going to change within a few hours, anyway. Storms roll in, roll out, the wind pops up, dies down; it's all part of spring.

This week I have been grateful for the weather, for the come-and-go nature of it. It really feels like *spring.* I'm not ready for summer and the 90+-degree heat, so these lovely days of low- to mid-range temps are just lovely.

I'm grateful too that Seth had a good trip--it was one of those school things and he did well, so glad for him, but also very happy to have him home!

live gratitude

I'm grateful for this crazy blogging challenge I'm taking part in--today was K, tomorrow is L and then we're halfway. It's been fun, and inspiring, and a bit of work to get around and look at everyone else's blogs. No, I haven't come close to touching a fraction of all the blogs, but I make sure to comment back, and then look for a few other kindred souls to get to know. Blogger friend Lisa sends me tips when she finds a good one too, so I have spies (the good kind).

I'm grateful for a couple of long weekends coming up on the calendar, with husband. Really, really looking forward to those. Just the two of us... nice.

The front bed is fully popped in color right now, between the bleeding hearts and the tulips and the daffodils and the magnolia and the grape hyacinth. It's really pretty. The peonies are finally up and growing, but since they don't bloom until Memorial Day, they have a ways to go! I'm grateful for spring color.

My salad last night, though it has some winter elements still to it, really reminded me of spring eating--I need to eat more salads! With asparagus! Some of my very favorite salads have asparagus in them, it's true. But, asparagus or not, I am grateful for the plethora of green, leafy plants that are tasty and readily available.

I love learning, and getting to learn every day is pretty fun for me. I am grateful for technology and information, which assist in my learning curve, so much.

I'm grateful for love. For God's love and grace, more than any other, but for human love too, which--while having limits--is powerful and catches me up short with its impact on my life, every day. Giving and receiving love. It's awesome.

I'm grateful for people who share what's on their happy list, in creative ways, too:


What's on your happy list this week? Tonight? Tell me!

I wish you a weekend of joy and comfort, whatever that means to you. Peace.

A-Z blogging challenge: K is for Kale

I know, I know, kale is all the rage, kinda like quinoa. But that doesn't mean it's not worthy of all the recent love and adulation. Kale is a powerhouse.

Much like any other produce, kale that comes from a garden patch tastes exponentially better than storebought kale. It's true; I hope you give it a try if you haven't already. There are some really great, pest-resistent kale varieties that are tender and long-lasting into the heat of the summer; my two favorites are Tuscan kale and Red Russian kale. If your grocery store is anything like most of the grocery stores where I live, it's curly green kale and curly red kale, period. And imagine how long ago it was picked... yep, it's the garden for me, whenever possible.

Right now the garden is not quite there, yet. If we had overwintered our kale (which would have been possible with the mild winter we enjoyed), maybe. But we didn't. So when I discovered a box of baby kale in the produce section recently, I did a happy dance. Making the assumption that tiny would equal flavorful turned out well in this case. I have been meaning to make a version of a salad with kale and shaved Brussels sprouts that's been making the rounds on Pinterest lately (Costco even has one, bagged, I believe), so when the letter "K" approached in the alphabet blogging challenge, it was my perfect excuse to bust out the salad supper.

Kale, Brussels sprouts and asparagus salad
Serves 1 as a meal, 2 as a side
2 cups baby kale leaves
6 Brussels sprouts, sliced very thinly (if you have a mandoline, bust it out)
6 stalks asparagus, steamed and cooled to room temperature
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled
3 Tbsp. simple vinaigrette
Salt and pepper to taste

Wash and pat dry the kale. Slice the Brussels sprouts, as thinly as possible; if you don't have a mandoline, the best method would be to halve the sprout lengthwise, then slice thinly--I sliced them whole with the mandoline and that worked very well. (Careful for the fingertips!)

Chop the asparagus into 1/2 inch pieces. Put in a medium size bowl, and add the hazelnuts and blue cheese; drizzle the vinaigrette over the mixture and toss well. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to plates and serve.

Side note about the Brussels sprouts: don't be frightened. I know many people who avoid the vegetable, having had atrocious dishes at the holidays where they've been over/wrongly cooked. Raw, they are just baby cabbages, so think of this as a kind of coleslaw! They really provided an excellent flavor counterpoint to the kale and worked very well with the blue cheese and hazelnuts (well, what doesn't work well with blue cheese and hazelnuts, really?).

If you are not lucky enough to find baby kale, which is very tender, regular kale will work fine, but you'll need to treat it a bit differently. Have you ever massaged raw kale? It's a fabulous trick to soften kale and makes excellent use of larger kale leaves, once you've taken out the center spine.

We also steam kale, put it in soups and smoothies, and kale chips are on the list to make soon--I hear great things about them. What's your favorite way to eat kale?

What's this A-Z business about? Check out my kick-off post. And stay tuned for the random joy and nonsense I concoct during the month of April!

A-Z blogging challenge: J is for Jello

I know. You were expecting JOY. But don't you know, Joy and Jello are practically synonymous?

As a child of the '70s and '80s, jello was kind of a big deal. I can remember the first jello salad I was allowed to concot, on my own, probably around the age of 10 or 11. It was quite the responsibility. I think I went for blueberry, with blueberries IN it, and a whipped cream outline around the base. I fretted over getting the jello out of the green plastic ring. Remember these:

Yes, items from my childhood are now being sold as vintage on Etsy. Sigh.

Anyway, once I moved past that first blueberry salad-cum-dessert, I am sure I created a few dozen more during my teen years. I always focused on a good flavor-texture combo, unlike one of my grandmothers, who was notorious for her shredded carrot and orange jello salad or her lime-celery-nut jello salad. But she was aiming for a smidge of health (let's disguise the vegetables with jello)... I, on the other hand, was not.

During my college and post-college years, I sadly turned my back on jello as not chic enough to make or serve. Yes, I was one of those silly people. (And no, I didn't do jello shooters. Just wasn't my thing.)

But somewhere along the way, I let go of the "not chic enough" and went back to the "how fun!" Having a kid and watching him be just as fascinated as I was with the wiggly and wobbly pieces, maneuvering them into his mouth as a toddler surely must have influenced that. And what's not to love about the colors! I hadn't considered the whole layered thing growing up, and rarely have the patience for it now, but I still think it makes for great sport.

rainbowjello

jelloeggs

cloudjello

I sense that the jello Easter egg molds will be on my shopping list for next spring... And how fun, the sky-cloud comb!

What's your favorite jello flavor? Combination? 

What's this A-Z business about? Check out my kick-off post. And stay tuned for the random joy and nonsense I concoct during the month of April!