Merry Christmas to all......

and to all a good night. 

Overstuffed, grateful and happy.

“Christmas is a togethery sort of holiday, That’s my favourite kind.”

~ A.A.Milne, (from Winnie the Pooh)

Survival

Mural on Wascana walkway

Yellow-gold embers ~

never extinguished

ready for laughter

  for nourishment

    for the very breath life.

“Hope, like oxygen, is what kept her going.”

~ Ruta Sepety, Between Shades of Gray

Tenancy

Air heavy ~

thick with heat.

Ripening fruit

a soft round ledge

for a smart fly

seeking shelter

before nourishment.

“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.”

~ William Shakespeare, Sonnets

Hanging Out to Dry

Plastic bags

protect the food that

nourishes our bodies

until plastic begins to destroy

links in the food chain.

“It’s when plastic takes on a life of its own 

that the food chain will be disrupted.”

~ Anthony T. Hincks

Qualities of A Sunday

On the ferry home to Victoria tonight

Sunday has a certain special quality that requires regular maintenance. For each of us they will be different. But here are a few that we dedicated ourselves to this Sunday: (‘We’ being Jason and I - Corette took the morning off in gentle repose and Jeff had activities involving hair to cut and a squash tournament to be played.)

1. Up early to enjoy the day
2. Stay in pj’s
3. Watch a movie (today - Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark)
4. Out to breakfast with friends - Dim sum at the Pink Pearl Chinese Restaurant in Vancouver
5. Another movie - (this afternoon - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)

In between that very laborious schedule of activities, Jason made cabbage rolls some of which came home with me tonight.  It would have been a great beach day, but there was not enough time between our breakfast and my bus time for my return to Victoria. Nourishment has been my theme this month, and I do believe my shared activities have absolutely fit the bill!

“Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.”

~ John Ruskin

Cheese and Groceries

Saturday cartoons have been the only thing missing from today. An in-depth discussion with my son this morning, identified this lack so the replacement was the movie Thor: Ragnarok. Super heroes and super villains in intergalactic battles. Marvellous special effects played out in space and time with just the right amount of cheesiness. But enough of a movie review. 

Once we were all up and moving, the three of us, Jason, Corette and me (mom) set off for the Trout Lake Farmers Market - grand dogs, Eva and Percy, remained at home supervised by grand kitty, Purdy. A chance meeting with friends put a lovely shimmer on the outing. The Farmer’s Market was full of kids, grandparents, parents with strollers and friends shopping for the freshness of the fields, orchards and gardens come to town. As well as produce, there were sausages, meats, fresh farm eggs, milk and cheeses from surrounding dairies and farms. The aroma of fresh baked breads, sparkling jars of honey’s and jams were bookended by stunning pottery and beautifully finished wooden bowls. Of course, there was lemonade to be purchased, our three year old friend clearly reminded us. Two bags of produce, cheese and bread found their way home with us.

This afternoon has been dedicated to visiting and cooking, eating and visiting with no specific plans for how the rest of the day will play out. Maybe out for supper or another cheesy movie at home - maybe both. Who knows? What ever it is, the only guidelines will be nourishment of mind, body and soul - fun and silliness required ingredients. 

“Mix a little foolishness with your serious plans. 

It is lovely to be silly at the right moment.”
~ Horace

Sweetness

Short and simple:

Another train ride past

low tide and cornfields to

Vancouver with my kids and grand dogs.

A sweet bit of nourishment on my little vacation.

Good night

“The longing for sweets is really a yearning for love or ‘sweetness’.”

~ Marion Woodman

Presence

Stay where your feet are

she said

beginning to flip through all

the calendar days and weeks to next year

already out of breath, 

no concern for breakfast,

no knowledge

of who or what

holds her fragile future

only knowing

she must Be Prepared

even for amazing joys or crushing blows

and then she remembers

she hasn’t put on her shoes yet.

“Nature never rushes, yet everything gets done.”

~ Donald L. Hicks, Look into the Stillness

Sharing Summer Sun

Enchanting flowers nourished by rich soil share the energy of the summer sun with tourists who click, roam and wander happily stopping for lemonade or ice cream before wandering on to the next sight to see.

“I like tourists. I think it’s nice to live in a town

 that people come from all over to visit.”

~ David Thewlis, English actor

Standards and Staples

Standards and staples

simple things we keep in 

our minds and our cupboards ~

necessary items to use every day.

For our meals we choose our staples 

gathered while growing up

for our lives we choose our standards

learned while growing up

Some staples will change as we

learn and like new foods

some standards will alter as we

learn grown-up strengths

Spices and passion 

for our standards and staples 

add strength and pizzazz to the

necessary items we use every day.

“As if you were on fire from within.

The moon lives in the lining of your skin.”

~ Pablo Neruda

Five Things I Know for Sure about Nourishment

1. I like eggs - eggs a perfect food, wrapped in their own containers, have nourished most of us since childhood. Eggs cooked in any form, especially scrambled, comfort food for any time of day or night. Scrambled eggs are soft and warm and delicious. When they are spiced up and blended with rice or eaten along side fresh tomatoes, they are even more delicious. Egg sandwiches, devilled eggs, eggs Benedict, eggs over easy or basted………the choices are endless. 

2. As far as meat goes, I know I don’t need that much or that often, but do love a good steak, grilled or barbecued, still pink in the middle. Roast beef stuffed with garlic and roasted slowly. Beef chunks stewed companionably with carrots, onions and potatoes, glossy gravy keeping them all together. Chicken and fluffy dumplings, meatballs coated in tomato atop spaghetti. Each dish giving the nourishment that only red meat can give.

3. In light of #2 and with apologies to vegetarians, I know for sure that I am a carnivore.

4. Preparing food is part of the nourishment I need for a successful life. Planting and harvesting so I can watch food grow in front of my eyes and then bring it all to my table. Peeling, cutting, arranging any ingredients gives me a feeling of satisfaction when I sit down to eat. Yes, I could go to the store for all the same foods, and sometimes do, but close connection with the earth would be missing. I do only have a few small container gardens, but it still keeps me connected to this earth.

5. The aroma of baking bread, the taste of fresh bread is a link with the past and present, with a promise of future goodness. Even greater is kneading bread dough with my own two hands, shaping it into loaves, and putting two almost perfect loaves on a rack to cool. The whole process is nourishment for my soul. (The nourishment to my body can be a bit overdone with the bread is eaten in quantity.)

“I act with complete certainty. But this certainty is my own.”

~ Ludwig Wittgenstein, On Certainty

Missing the Story

When I move too fast

I miss the story

that travels all around me

on the wind and in the clouds

When I move too fast

I miss the story

that nests in the trees

flies high in the sky

When I move too fast

I miss the story

of a shirt draped on a walker

holding a back pack stuffed full.

When I move too fast

I miss the story

of a man in a wheelchair

working on his cell phone.

When I move too fast

I miss the stories

that swirl all around me

in the streets, on the wind and in the clouds.

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, 

stories are the thing we need most in the world.”

~ Philip Pullman

Beautiful Spillage

Early morning

when energy rises

like the sun slowly

spilling golden pink rays

nourishing the sleeping land with lightening sky,

back-lighting snow capped mountains

spreading magic over quilted prairies

be-jeweling lake countries

awakening treelined streets ~

homes just stirring inside all that silence 

stirring into daylight with restless calm.

“At sunrise everything is luminous but not clear.”

~ Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through it and Other Stories

Hidden from View

      Hidden from View

Emerging slowly 

from the park a tall figure cloaked heavily in black

dark eyes peering cautiously

tall, hunched and quiet

back pack neatly shouldered

male or female?

young or old?

well nourished or gaunt?

only a thick cloak 

of vulnerability and sadness.

“People can be at their most vulnerable, but still tenacious at the same time.”

~ Toni Bernhard

Dry as Dust

Blocked

barred

creativity 

stagnate and dull

my soul dry as dust

creativity scattered by winds

of life’s unpredictable 

roller coaster til my mind casts about for words to craft in phrases poetic or profound.

Seeking the nourishing words 

of other authors a movement

towards at least putting

a grudging shoulder to the blocks to moisten my writer’s soul.

“Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen

 or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing to say?”

~ Kurt Vonnegut

Birthday Cakes, Cabbage Rolls and Sushi

Temptation comes from deep in the gut

Or from the delicious aroma of chocolate chip cookies

steak on the grill on a cool summer’s evening

chicken soup broth bubbling and simmering

each one nourishing - well maybe not the cookies

but nourishment is more than just of the body ~

each bite, each taste brings up a memory of breakfasts and dinners and snacks and lunches,

celebrations with family and friends,

ordinary meals at home or away ~

and each bite, each taste we make in our kitchens,

eat in favourite restaurants or at foodcarts on the street

breeds the temptation to enjoy our food without guilt.

“I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.”

~ Mae West

One Stop Shopping

Necessary items stacked

higgledy piggledy in shopping carts.

Food for pangs of hunger 

not necessarily for nourishment

but delicious pastries all the same

water bottled and packaged

a bouquet of flowers perched 

on top of rolls of paper towels

beside fresh French baguettes

fresh fruits and vegetables spaced

midst the overflowing abundance.

“The art of our necessities is strange

 that can make vile things precious.”

~ William Shakespeare, King Lear

Invisible Texturing

Exquisite and delicate ~

gossamer threads 

shine in the sun

spun by a master spinner

woven through trees and gardens,  snaring unsuspecting flies for later nourishment - delicate architecture that clings to arms and faces as we stroll paths and parks in dappled summer shade.

“The difference between utility and utility plus beauty 

is the difference between telephone wires and the spider web.”

~ Edwin Way Teale