A different day

The goal of life is to live in agreement with nature.
-Zeno (335-264 BC) from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers

The weather has turned, and turned fiercely. Yesterday it was in the nineties, and the heat left me blank and in the moment. I have been overly busy lately, and yesterday was a brief respite from the busy-ness. I had a day, somewhat, to myself.

I got to go out to lunch with one of my favorite friends, an artist and graphic designer, who is that beautiful combination of confidante, mentor, and friend. We were planning the menu for her annual Open Studios party, which I am catering again this year. I came up with a list of ideas and we decided on a really delicious menu--the party should be fun, it always is--in the garden, surrounded by roses and art!

Here is the menu we decided on...

Cinnamon and Coriander encrusted pork tenderloin in a pomegranate balsamic sauce

Curried couscous salad with sundried cranberries, green onions, and toasted almonds

Fresh arugula and corn salad with roasted red peppers in a balsamic vinaigrette

Roasted vegetable focaccia sandwiches with smoked gouda cheese and cilantro pesto.

Thinly sliced sweet cantaloupe served with a trio of prosciutto

I will make everything except the arugula salad and sliced melon the day before for ease the day of the party. I need to do as much ahead as I can because it is a challenge with Babou and the Old Man may be back working in southern California by then...

I spent the afternoon trying to keep cool in the backyard. Naked sprinkler jumping was Babou's happiest way of keeping cool!

That evening, I met up with my over-the-fence runner neighbor, to practice the Dipsea Trail. Although I missed the application, I am still training with her and plan on doing the whole trail in a practice run. I realize I am not much of a competitor, but the trail is truly magical and I want to make it the whole way, every year, as sort of a spring ritual. As I made my way along the trail I realized, again, how important nature is to my mental and physical health. How being a part of the terrain changes you, reminds you of your place, and is as much about rejuvenating your spirit as it is about training your body.

I came home spent, renewed, and happily thoughtless. The heat and trail had cleared a space in my overly busy brain for a little peace to reside.

A Moveable Feast

Develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music - the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.
- Henry Miller

Driving up and down the state as much as I have the past month, I realize that I live in a most wondrous place, a place so unique and beautiful and inspiring in its many faces. I know that I am biased, I am a complete California girl, I mean COMPLETE. And I have not traveled all the states of America, I know that many are just as beautiful, unique, and inspiring. But California is home to me and I cannot separate myself any more than I could separate from my body; the hills have hardened my bones and strengthened my muscles, the air has perfumed my thoughts, and its beauty has lit my soul.

And there is still so much to explore! I still need to travel to the northern easternmost parts. I long to swim in the Salmon river and hike the John Muir Trail. I still have not been to Yosemite. And the desert. What can I say of the desert except that my sisterfriend and I zipped through it too quickly one road trip. But I will never forget our one stop, in the middle of the night, we stopped. We drove off the moonlit road and turned off the car. We lay on the hood of her car and stared at the stars and listened to the sound of silence until it didn't sound like silence anymore...just the night. In the desert.

Cultures for many years, many years ago, worshiped nature and I can't help but join them. If there were ever a hymn or prayer or whispered liturgy I would hear it in the center of a canyon, on the top of a mountain, in the bubbling of a stream, the caress of a wave.

"But my heart cried out for you, california! Oh california! I'm coming home...I'm your biggest fan California, I'm coming home!" The lyrics to Joni Mitchell's "California" rang in my ears as I drove and drove...feasting on the landscape unfolding before me, a litany of beauty I read with my eyes.


Yes, I am a California girl.

Spring

Perhaps loving something is the only starting place there is for making your life your own.
-Alice Koller

Spring is here, I can feel it like sap rising through my veins. On my morning walks with Babou, and my excitable dog, I can smell it in the air, the smell of green, the smell of spring. I can see the buds pushing their way into leaves, the grass becoming lush. The wind is softer now and it caresses the trees in a way that reminds me of a mother tousling her child’s hair. I am in love with spring.

I am a bit of a fickle lover because I always yearn for, and celebrate, each changing of the season. But spring has always been my favorite. Perhaps it’s because I was born in spring and its essence was knit into my lungs upon my first breath. There is something contagious about it, about its enthusiastic celebration of renewal, of its thrusting green energy, of its lush display of beauty. I can almost feel the momentum, the great lifting of spring and it is so welcome after the rest and quiet of winter.

I am continually amazed of how each season affects me. And yet, isn’t it the most natural of all things to affect you? Life understands there is a season to everything, just as there is in life. It makes me glad to know that nature also has moods, and that each mood is dependent on the last and next; each growing in and out of one another, intrinsically meshed and interdependent. I am amazed at this wisdom unfolding just outside my door, teaching me in its quiet way all the joy I need to know to begin falling in love with life again.

Selah.