Taste:• White bean tortilla casserole, another amazing recipe from The Kripalu Cookbook. Thanks to the sauce — a sweet combination of beets, carrots, and onions with cilantro, cumin, and umeboshi vinegar — the casserole emerged from the oven a bright, tall stack of layered goodness
• An Indian couple owns a nearby general store/gas station and when I stopped to fill the tank on Friday morning, lo and behold a tray of fresh samosas had just been pulled from the oven. I had to break my "no eating in the car" rule to have one. Looking down at my lap afterwords I remembered why that rule exists in the first place.
• Chewy Reed's Ginger Candies — plus the fun of J using the little box they came in as a trumpet, causing Vixen to bark and howl in the kitchen
• Tahini, orange juice, banana, and brown rice syrup — 4 ingredients that don't belong together in a blender, trust me
Hear:• "It's incredibly important to un-think at least once a day. For the very preservation of the intellectual life." — Alan Watts
• A woodcock chirping and diving in the night field, turkeys gurgling in the woods behind the house
See:• A thin gray salamander in the rivulet, clinging to a rock
• Schools of tiny fish along the shoreline of lake Maheenak, Lenox
• The vegetable garden almost ready for spring planting, a lush green cross of grass and clover bisecting the four turned and smoothed beds of dark brown soil
Smell:• Mahanarayan oil, for use on my chronically unhappy shoulder. I'm determined to personally test all I can about Ayurveda before I decide whether or not I should study it because I refuse to get behind anything that doesn't work for me personally anymore. Life is too short. Um, have I officially mentioned here that I'm considering studying Ayurveda? If it happens, it won't be for a while, since I need to get several things in order first.
• Birch sap as I clip branches from our tree the ice storm toppled sideways years ago
• Natrapel insect repellent — black fly season is upon us
Touch:• Suspended in the hammock at night, a hanging lantern flickering in the birch branches, I am weightless beneath the stars
Feel:• I met a kindred spirit in Se'Lah this weekend, and the hours we spent together flew by. I immediately felt comfortable sharing stories with her and we laughed and laughed — what a blessing to meet a woman who likes to laugh about funny little things in life as much as I do.
• I was proud of myself for saying no to a freelance job I knew would stress me out on top of work this week, though it was a brand new client and I hated to refuse. The next day my favorite client, who I can't possibly refuse, called me with a job that's twice as big. Guess I'll be busy again. I'll just have to practice not getting too stressed out.
11 comments:
As usual I have been enjoying reading about your spiritual journey as well as appreciating your eye and ear for New England nature...they go together well...
What is the first book you would recommend for someone to read about Buddhism?
There is something about your six senses posts that pull me across cyberspace to visit. Lovely post. Thank you
i just love your six senses posts, m.
really.
and i like your aspiration.
the trees create such an atmosphere in this post...you really "see" nature M.
I loved th photo looking up the trees and the stacked logs...though dismembered trees makes me sad...saw too manyof them this weekend...
I have to wonder - how did all those ingredients wind up together in the blender? :)
Your observation of the hammock, on being suspended weightless beneath the stars, is beautiful.
And there is poignancy to the image of the salamander in the river.
Oliag, thanks. J recommends starting with The Life of the Buddha, and I must admit I like my copy of Wake Up! The Life of the Buddha by Jack Kerouac because of his occasional slips into crazy prose-poetry. It seems like my first Buddhism books were all text books from school, and then I gravitated right to Zen and I think I started with Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, and The Three Pillars of Zen...
Suz, I agree, and all those logs are from the beautiful woods behind our house so we're not exactly thrilled. It's hard these days for us not to spend our whole time in the woods lamenting how much is being cut and what a mess it is.
HKatz, good question. Would you believe it was a recipe I'd photocopied out of a book many years ago (at least 12 by now) and just ran across again, realizing I finally had all the ingredients I needed to finally try it? Imagine
my disappointment when I tasted it ;)
"Suspended in the hammock at night, a hanging lantern flickering in the birch branches, I am weightless beneath the stars."
Sounds like heaven! Beautiful.
It's was definitely a lovely moment spent with you this weekend.
Lovely post. I smiled at a few specific sections. ;)
Love the lake sign.
Love all this, as usual.
Esp J making noise out of the box and dog howling.
Love those little moments and how you remember and tell them.
Oh and the bare feet on the top pf those logs.
Pure bliss!
Spooky, wonderful, moody trees.
Do DO DOOOO let us know what you think of Ayruveda medicine. I'm curious...
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