October 30, 2013

Trust Yourself

Nothing in life just happens. It isn't enough to believe in something. You have to have the stamina to meet obstacles and overcome them, to struggle.

~Golda Meir


Trust yourself.


I love odd shaped pumpkins.

Happy Halloween my little goblins.

xo,
Louise

October 25, 2013

All There Is

With the threat of autumn's first frost last night, I went out to harvest my farmer daughter's garden. Not pictured here are 4 delicious snap peas that I ate happily enroute.

I also wanted to make a birthday bouquet for a friend but when I poked around at the tale end of the season's offerings I thought to myself " Is this all there is?"

I had a moment of thinking that I needed to go and buy her some flowers. Then I looked a little closer and started clipping what was there. Amongst the hydrangeas, marigolds, and mums, there was also some kale, and mint, and sweet little yellow pedals on the broccoli that had gone to flower.




So I brought it all inside- and ta-da!- the experience went from being one of lack, to one of abundance. "Look at ALL there is," I thought to myself.

The same thing happened the other night when Mr. Fix-It was off at a game and the pantry was nearly empty. Not in the mood to shop or get take-out, I scrounged the kitchen. Before I knew it I had before me a whole wheat wrap with some chicken soy tenders from the freezer, melted Camembert cheese (thank you farmer girl), buffalo hot sauce, blue cheese dressing, and some garden veggies nestled inside of it.

And a glass of wine.

And the remote all to myself.

Ahhh. peace.

Peace be with you too.
xo


October 19, 2013

It's So Much Easier...

.... to just say "Thank You."

How often does someone give you a compliment and you try and brush it away?

Me too.

Then several years ago I read what a relief it is to just let the compliment in and say thank you.

Like a little present. Not just for you, but for them as well.

"If you say how lovely she is,

or how beautiful her art is, 

or compliment anything else her soul took part in, inspired, or suffused, 

something in her mind says she is undeserving and you, the complimentor, 

are an idiot for thinking such a thing to begin with. 

Rather than understand that the beauty of her soul shines through when she is being herself,

the woman changes the subject 

and effectively snatches nourishment away from the soul-self, 

which thrives on being acknowledged."


~Clarissa Pinkola Estés 



The #1 human need is to be acknowledged.

More this week from The Revelation Project

xoxo

October 11, 2013

Redefining




Award-winning director Sue Bourne explores the art of aging in a new documentary from the UK, with six extraordinary women whose average age is 80.

Love it.

All six women have something inspirational in common: a determination to keep going, to look fabulous and to have fun. Without botox or plastic surgery, these women are redefining old age. They are all wonderful but my favorite, besides 84-year-old model Daphne Selfe, who I've posted about previously, is Jillian Lynne.

Jillian, age 87, directed/choreographed Cats and staged The Phantom of the Opera.

Above is the piece on her. You can watch the full version of the documentary if interested here.

Thank you to Cindy for letting me know about this.

Also this week: Never thought I'd say this....but.... I am loving the AARP website, especially their posts about relationships.

Happy long weekend, dear readers of mine.
xo

October 03, 2013

Adaptation



More than 30 years ago my sister-in-law knit this hat for me from wool that she had dyed and spun. On Christmas she gave one to everyone in our family, in all arrays of color. We affectionately call them our Bonnie hats. Even my Dad used to wear one atop his bald head. Being knit in earth tones, I thought that it kind of made him look like he was wearing a wig.

Luckily I've never lost mine over the years, but it has stretched out, and I've been afraid that it might blow away with the wind. So today I decided to shrink it a little in some hot, soapy water, and put it out in the autumn sun to dry. This did the trick. I love it even more than before, because it's now slighted felted.


Tonight I harvested the leeks from the big vegetable and herb garden that my older daughter grew this summer. I brought them all inside and excitedly texted her to say that I was going to make leek soup.

She texted back, "I didn't grow leeks."

Hmmm...

Ha! It turns out they're huge scallions...

So I found what turned out to be a delicious scallion and potato soup recipe on Real Simple.

The only changes I made were that I used skim milk because we didn't have any heavy cream. (I put in 3-4 tablespoons of butter instead to compensate). I also sprinkled in some crushed red pepper. We also didn't have any white wine in the house...so I put in a 1/4 cup of gin :-)

Mr Fix-It loved it too.

After his second bowl, I told him about the substitutions.

When I got to the gin he said,

 "I really wish you hadn't told me that."  :-)