Per person proportions for a generous serving (multiply accordingly):

1 cup peeled, seeded, diced cucumber

1/2 ripe avocado

1/2 jalapeno, seeded and chopped fine (more or less depending on taste or omit for a non-spicy soup)

1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk, nut milk, organic milk, water, or chilled vegetable broth

small clove of crushed fresh garlic (optional)

salt to taste

Greek style yoghurt, chopped scallions or chives, and minced cilantro or parley for garnish

In blender or food processor, puree cucumber, avocado, liquid, jalapeno, and crushed garlic until pureed.  Chill for 1/2 to 1 hour.  Pour into bowls.  Put spoonful of yoghurt or sour cream or non-dairy sour cream in center of soup.  Sprinkle scallions and herbs.  I only added the jalapeno because in addition to a superabundance of cucumbers, I had a number of not particularly spicy jalapenos from the garden.

Today, I received the following email from Joe Volk at the Friends Committee on National Legislation.  I invite you to join me in taking action if you are so moved:

At FCNL, we’ve been sick at heart and concerned at the hate speech, confusion, and misinformation about American Muslims that has spread across the country in the last month. Many of you have told us that you share our concern.

The controversy is not over yet.  Between today and the September 11 anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, we at FCNL expect another outpouring of bigotry and misplaced anger at the proposal to build an Islamic cultural center in downtown New York City. 

In the first eleven days of September, please state publicly that you stand with our brothers and sisters in the American Muslim community.  We support their proposal to exercise their religious freedom by building an Islamic Cultural Center in downtown Manhattan, where they have lived and worshiped for years.

Worship, Talk, Take a Stand

Our country needs this cultural center and the public discussion that it is generating. The proposal for this Islamic cultural center can be transformed from an ugly controversy into perhaps the most important public opportunity in this decade to celebrate and exercise the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion.

Many of you are taking this opportunity. From New York to North Carolina and from Maryland to Illinois, we have heard about local community groups using the public focus on the cultural center to organize opportunities for Christians and Muslims to find out what they have in common. To counter the distrust and misinformation, more people need to state publicly that they support the freedom of American Muslims to worship and to gather together.

Please start by signing this petition supporting American Muslims and the proposal to exercise their religious freedom to build an Islamic cultural center in downtown Manhattan. Ask 5 friends to sign it as well. We’ll add the names of those who sign to the bottom of the petition to show the support that’s out there.

That’s the first step, but we encourage you to do more if you can. Here are some suggestions.

• Ask 5 friends to sign the petition too.
• Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper supporting the Islamic Cultural Center.
• Find out if the American Muslim community in your area might welcome a public or private opportunity to get to know your own local church, meeting or community group;
• On Friday, September 10, many local American Muslim communities around our country organize public celebrations of Eid ul-Fitr — the end of the holy period of Ramadan. Find out if Muslims in your area might welcome the participation of people of other faiths.
• Write your senators to ask them to speak out in support of the Islamic Cultural Center.

I walked the two blocks to the party with nothing in my pockets but my keys.  Even though I did not know the hosts, I knew or recognized from the neighborhood at least half the people who were there.  Given the purpose of the gathering, much if the discussion about what changes we would like to see in the neighborhood and the city to make our lives better (and, of course, I gave information about installing solar panels to a couple more neighbors).

Tommy Wells speaks to my condition, because he takes action in connection with his campaign slogan:  “a livable, walkable city.”  After we all had time to catch up with each other, Tommy’s campaign manager gave a solid introduction, talking about key accomplishments in the past four years.  Tommy then talked about what he wanted to do next and fielded questions, including ones about the disposable bag 5 cent fee, which has cut down pollution in the river significantly) and what is going on with the community gardeners at Virginia Avenue v. the marines.

I, like the others, came with a specific question, but I did not ask it in the group.  I was not sure that everyone present would be in agreement with me, and I did not want to cause controversy.  I asked about it afterwards, when people went back to connecting and enjoying the food.  Tommy recognized me, probably from my three-year stint as a member of the Board of Directors of the Eastern Market Preservation and Development Corporation, which coincided with the time when Tommy was getting noticeably serious about his engagement in politics as a way to make some visions actual.

“I gave up my car for the war,” I started.  “That’s great,” replied Tommy, “thank you.”  We followed up a little on living without a car in the neighborhood.  Then I got to my point.

“Every time I walk to work, it feels like I am taking my life in my hands,” I continued, after thanking the District for having put a four-way stop and zebra crossings at the intersection of Constitution Ave. and 10th St., NE.  “I did not want to bring this up in the group, because I was not sure how everyone would feel, but I have a few locations where I think it would be great to have a traffic camera.”  I then described the intersections I had in mind.  He told me that he has a task force on pedestrian issues, and that if I went to his website, I could contact Ann Phelps, who would be interested in hearing the suggestions for particular intersections.  He left me know that the District is getting more cameras and the cameras are mobile, so it would not be hard to try the different intersections suggested.

“Wow, that’s wonderfully more responsive than I’d dreamed,” I thought.  I thanked him and left to talk to other friends and to give other people time to ask their own questions.

These are the times when I truly love being part of a neighborhood.  It is not just about being able to walk to a party two blocks from your house hosted by someone you have never met and know or recognize at least a few people and find all sorts of connections and commonalities.  It is not just about sharing a way of life that holds a similar commitment to the city, even if politics, religion, work, and lifestyle in other ways are diverse.  It is also about meeting people who care and have depth and out of a true calling for service truly give of themselves to make things better for all of us.

Today, the DC Building inspector came, inspected, and gave approval (conditional on contractor sending photos of the roof).  Last step is to get PEPCO to come and change the meter.  That could take a couple of weeks.  Meanwhile, there is no rain in the 15-day forecast.  Best start doing the rain dances.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could move some of the flood waters that have fallen only a couple hundred miles away to irrigate our fields without disrupting our eco-system?  Part of me just wants not to know about the consequences of global climate change, but it is hard not to notice that all the weather patterns I used to know and understand do not seem to apply quite the same way anymore.  What do we do when the systems and practices we have in place for our ease, comfort, well-being, and understood day-to-day peace of mind are disrupted?

Yoga will not fix the big outer problems, but it can provide us with the steadiness and ease needed to stay present and be flexible in the face of crisis, upheaval, or disease.  It can also provide insight into how we can live in better alignment.  In the meantime, I am practicing gratitude.  I know how blessed I am that, so far, the wild upheavals I read about in the news have not kept me from all the food and comfort that a person could possibly want.  And I pay attention, because to be ignorant ultimately never serves ourselves or others.