Nothing is Not Ready Circus, Bread and Puppet 2014

Yesterday, at the Big Town Gallery 

in Rochester, Vermont.

Anarchy and speaking truth to power.

Keep on keepin' on, Bread and Puppet.

Your light is brilliant.

oh, how the days are tumbling into one another!

This weekend we went to a gathering of the clans.

There were beautiful tartans everywhere...

and handmade things from a proud heritage...

and sheepdog trials that had us under the spell of

BORDER COLLIES 

for hours under the blazing August sun.

(We may have been to the Border Collie rescue site once or twice since then).

Manicured gardens, highway medians and open fields are

filled with this sweetest of wildflowers,

the humble black-eyed-Susan.

The gardens are rushing at the end of the season, 

ripening and showing off and 

keeping us busy with the harvest basket.

Our four grown children all work at jobs that 

are anchored by the academic calendar.

I do not miss the epic back to school shopping we

used to undertake, each child with their long and lanky limbs

that would challenge us in the fitting rooms. 

I do not miss packing four lunches every morning.

I do not miss the scramble to find misplaced sheet music, 

an umbrella or occasional project related empty shoebox.

I do miss the tumble in the back door at the end of the day,

filled with news from the playground, the newly discovered

author or groans about homework.

And the perennial question, "What's for a snack?"

So I will listen for the rumble of the school bus

 here on our dirt road in Vermont and send out 

some hope and good cheer to the neighbor kids...

...and to our own four,

Stewart, teaching high school sophomores in the Pacific Northwest.

Lindsey, in Boston, mentoring

 "young people short on opportunity and long on potential".

Hannah, taking on an Upper School deanship, 

teaching and coaching in CT. 

Gretta, teaching science and helping in a school office in Brooklyn...

I send all of you strength and courage to shape the future.

xo

And to you, dear readers, I am deeply grateful for the love and support you gifted me with on my last post. As Ram Dass has said, "We're all just walking each other home." I am so glad to be in your good company. 

clearing the air

Come sit with me on the porch...

Just this...

In the midst of having our dreams come true, a wee medical adventure began for me. It started with a tumble on our deck at the house in CT, and unfolded for months after that. There has been much testing and several specialists and no driving for six weeks and we are still not sure what's been going on...

But all the big, scary things have been eliminated and the cloud of worry has become less thick. And I am cleared to drive again.

And after all, we are in Vermont. We are working on projects and plans and we are soaking up the best that each day has to offer.

A few weeks ago, we hosted a movie night here and watched The Lunchbox, a 2013 Indian film, directed by Ritesh Batra. It was a charming film, with an ending that left us all speechless and wondering. But one of the lines in the movie has become the slogan for our summer...Sometimes the wrong train gets you to the right station.

Even with the best laid plans, hard work and intention, you can bet that we are not in control. But if we are very lucky, we may end up at the right station anyhow.

So, I am still here, safely at the right station, despite the circuitous route I have taken. And I am filled with gratitude, because "gratitude changes everything".  I am so grateful to Batman for his love and support. And my cousin Kristen who wrapped me in comfort and hope and drove me many places. Anne at My Giant Strawberry has no idea how much her Joy in June helped me cope in the worst of times. (Thank you, dear Anne!) Good thoughts and prayers came from the small group who knew about my trials. And all of you, dear readers, with your sweet comments on whatever I was blogging about, helped cheer me every day.

Thank you for shining your light in the world. xo

squash blossom pizza, ready for the oven.

yellow salad.

roasted corn and cauliflower tacos.

all three recipes are simple, easy and fabulously delicious.

from this wonderful cookbook.

sometimes a kitchen, when filled with garden produce 

and/or local and farmers market goods,

prepared with love and attention,

can feel like a sanctuary.

the sharp knife, the cutting board and the bowl become 

sacred objects and the apron becomes a raiment.

body and soul,

nourished.

and look here, too.

the eleventh

a dirt road + a pick up truck = happy me

After supper last night, just as the sun was setting,

Batman took me on a little joy ride down to the other side of the ridge.

We pulled over to watch the "sturgeon" moon rise.

A bunch of our neighbors had the same idea,

 so it turned out to be a bit of a moon party.

We had to wait while it found its way out of the haze

(caused by smoke from the wild fires in the Pacific NW)!

But there she was, in all of her August glory,

spellbinding and magical.

Sometime in the middle of the night we were awakened 

by the coyotes, howling.

And right now, as I type this on the front porch,

neighbors rush to get the last of the hay safely into their barns

before the rain begins.

The cricket song, the hum of the balers, the noise of the evening birds...

Can you hear it? 

There is abundance and urgency in the air...

a dichotomy that goes back to the beginning of time.

Sleep sweet, friends.

noticing

there is alchemy in the august sunshine...

turning every little thing to gold.

pantries and cupboards and sinks

Today we drove down to Manchester, VT to see Hildene, the summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln and his wife Mary Harlan Lincoln. To read more about it, click here. I am very sad that the public is not allowed to take pictures inside the house, because that's where some of my favorite things were...like the humble little pantry, with its rough wooden counters and cupboards, and sink with brass taps coming right out of the wall. The skinny room where the walls were lined with storage cupboards and the ironing board were set up just made perfect housekeeping sense. And Mary's sitting room equipped with a desk, books, lovely sofas and half finished handwork projects that overlooked the lovely formal gardens would have been a perfect place for a cup of restorative tea. 

Yes, there were much more "proper" rooms, with heavy drapes and silver tea settings and fringed armchairs, but those were not for me. The kitchen and cutting gardens, tucked behind the Visitor's Center were much more my style than the manicured gardens out front. We took notes on the netted structure that housed the berries, grapevines and apple trees (translate "I want").  

The siting of the home is spectacular, built out on a promontory with mountain views on three sides. An observatory perched on the edge of a steep drop off caught Batman's eye, and I'm pretty sure he's wondering how we might create a sliding roof here at our "bit of earth" to accommodate his telescope.

Have you been to a historical home or farm or place that has inspired you with ideas for your own life? Or just supplied you with dreams? Do tell!