Free Day!

Our weekend included a free visit to a museum in the Gorge (thanks, Smithsonian Magazine and to my employer for the raffle prize of free fuel!) We had fun pretending we lived here as natives and settlers to the wild west.

Now, we savor each last dropper-full of autumnal sun, living inside the temperate moment as it slides out slowly toward the solstice.
Equally, we delight in a sip of sultry brew and every excuse to laze in the dull light of the grey drizzle and to settle into our hibernation patterns for the season.  We accept the ebb and flow of goodness, and we appreciate even the tiniest solar refraction.

Memories may be held close and all occasions bestowed the significance that life, after all, truly deserves.

Weekends and People Who Make You Feel Like Family

I'm thankful, and that is all there is to say currently.

Daucus carota

Fact: 15 pounds of carrots currently have a home in my refrigerator.  I'm quite taken with this particular food.  Most of my supply will end up going through the juicer, as I've become obsessed with that particular form of extraction as of late.  Others will get cooked in soup, some will be dipped in hummus, and a few will top a salad.  Health and variety - amazing, right?!

I even see carrots in this granny square.  I'm happy to realize that I subconsciously chose to put the green above the orange.  Just lovely.

Carrots and their common color also happen to make me think of fall, which is quickly snuggling up to late summer.  These two, with their unpredictable give and take, make for some good livin' in the Northwest.  Many of us are suckers for a sweet breeze, and we look forward to shortly becoming reacquainted with perpetual showers.  Not to mention the joy and creativity of layering (or wear-everything-you-have-all-at-once)!

However, I do love summer and I feel a pang of sadness inside thinking about the dark days of November-to-come.  But, if I've learned anything, I know that I can't stop it from coming.  So I'm choosing to enjoy the change of season.  It's an opportunity to think about changes; an excuse to start on the project[s] I've been putting off.  A fresh start - a new feeling.  Hope.  And, thankfully, a multitude of carrots.

not my original art

A Moment

What's in Your Backyard?

oh, portland.  I complain about this place a fair amount - bad traffic made worse by poor streets and incorrect, unhelpful signs; booze-swilling, leggings-clad hipsters; my least favorite drivers on the face of the planet (#23 on this list. yes, i experience all of these situations on a regular basis); and simply the fact that I'm just not a city person.  Not even in easy-to-navigate, neighborhood-friendly Portland.  I have found that my attempt at being an urban-dweller has been disappointing and ill-suited to me; however, here i find myself with a great job and a decent, safe, and secure living situation.  And here I find myself asking the same question.  How do I get out of here as soon as possible?

Here also happens to be the place where I choose to be thankful for all of the beauty that exists in my very backyard.  I realize my potential perspective-shifting experience. I explore my favorite havens of this city and enjoy the golden light, created by the late-summer evening's sun, peek delicately around branches and massive trunks.  I sit, surrounded by wise, age-old giants.  I watch, breathe, be. My awareness of mindfulness has begun.

Perhaps I'll find a little space to be more tolerant in my time here.  If appreciation and living in the moment can make me not want to drive off a bridge just to avoid PDX drivers, it will truly be a miracle.

What's in your backyard? Mine happens to be a sanctuary. Here.

beach day

a good fix for the late-summer blues

My food is magical

Rome wasn't built in a day. And my veggies won't fully ferment overnight.  Black Sabbath, however, did record their first album in a single day.  And yes, I listened to that album as I fermented veggies.  Not intentionally for the irony (mostly just because i love black sabbath)

So. On the topic of how amazing food can be and why cabbage is so lovely. Fermenting veggies is super easy, just as all of the blogs and videos led me to believe.  They did not, however, prepare me for the mess I was about to make (the worst part being the time to make it and the time to clean it up).  To be fair, I've never been one to have a clean kitchen while I'm using it.  And I'm ok with that.

That being said, there is something quite beautifully vivid about dill, mustard seed, and red pepper enjoying each other's company in the bottom of a mason jar.
  

And the smell of garlic and dill on my hands is the spell of a wonderful wizard.  Fermented veggies are pure magic.  Beautiful, fun, messy, and healthy.  Now when can we eat these babies!

Here is a picture of the finished product.  Or, umm, the "begun" product.

Probiotics, kitchen-chaos, and metal. A well-rounded evening.

Sans Facebook Weekend 1

Considering what to include in one's blog brings about the dreadful thought, "Why is anyone even going to read this?"  It's not like Facebook, where my friends alone were my audience.  Toss a bone, and the wolves are hungry to devour all of the, "WTF's,"OMG's" and "FML's," that any friend (or relative, acquaintance, co-worker, or well, you know...) may be experiencing at that current moment.  And then of course there's the "my-toddler-is-potty-trained-see-the-#2-in-the-toilet," "my-life-is-amazing-clearly-based-solely-on-this-bike-ride-i-went-on-today," and "i-really-just-needed-one-more-selfie-with-a-duck-face" pictures.  And you certainly can't blog about those.

Or perhaps you can, and I'm perhaps being too harsh (i can appreciate the potty-training excitement, even if i don't require a picture to do so).  After all, I'm about to ask you to care about my weekend.  And my life did feel pretty amazing today with a casual frisbee-toss at the park and enjoying the fruits of my first crack at homemade ginger ale before bed.

Either way, I'll be self-important enough to act as though you find the following all very fascinating.  Who knows, you've made it this far....

What would a good weekend be without snuggles with King Tut, very regally pictured here.

Or how about waking up late and, post-juicing, inventing a vegan brunch scramble with only what I already had in the kitchen.  I was pretty pleased with myself for the creating of this tasty dish.  Red potatoes fried in a small amount of olive oil, salt, garlic powder, and chili powder.  Added cauliflower, cabbage, and a diced veggie patty.  Dang, I even tried some nutritional yeast at the end.   

Now for some sunshine in the park, which really just does make everything feel perfect and inspired.

And a few more highlights of things I enjoyed with my time.

Oh, and that up there - the aforementioned homemade ginger ale.  Found a great recipe with honey, but I'll use less honey and more ginger next time. 

There I went, writing all about my facebook-less weekend, hoping it seems altogether entirely thrilling.  And indeed, it felt inspired, creating my own world, instead of being incessantly frustrated with the one that has been created for me.  Perhaps I'm hoping, that if you made it with me this far, you'll feel inspired, too.  If you want more, I'm trying another new thing/project tomorrow - fermenting vegetables!

Project #1

Feeling tired and uninspired, a friend and I were talking today about how creativity can be helped along by giving yourself a project.  In the vein of my departure from the book of faces, I figured now is good.  My project today: pick one picture from every album I posted within the last 12 months.  Here they are.