Signs Around Town (and Satcitananda var.)
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Message from a Bird
When we were little kids, my mother told us that feathers we found were messages from birds. When we found a particularly pretty feather, we would pick it up and give it to my mother who would then read the message to us.
I will be interested to learn her reaction to this “painting” by a bird.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
What’s For Breakfast?
Snowpeas, tri-color beans. Peppers. Cherry tomatoes, basil (blueberries and strawberries did not make it out of the garden).
A student asked me the other day why I garden–was it to save money, he asked, was it for better tasting food?
It does save money to grow food and food eaten straight out of the garden is a foodie’s exquisite pleasure, but those are not my primary motivations.
I garden for the delight it brings through all of my senses and for the joy of knowing that the garden never questions nurturing. The more I give the garden, the more it gives back, without question or judgment.
I garden for the sense of relationship with the deeper seasonal patterns. To experience at an intimate level the impact on health and thriving of variations in seasons, light, heat, and rain.
With the drought and extreme heat in our area, the garden is struggling. Peppers are fruiting before having gotten tall and full. Cucumbers are yellowing and drying, though a couple have grown large enough to eat. There is a surfeit of kale, but the snow peas, which prefer cool weather, barely had time enough to grow enough to flower before it was too hot to thrive.
Part of the reasons some recipes have many ingredients is because they are premised on there not being enough of any one thing to make a meal. I am getting a few servings of vegetables every day, but the blasting heat is preventing the kind of abundance for some things I might have in another year. The grapes, though, may be outrageous; they like this crazy heat.
I want to be conscious of these challenges and serendipities. I want to know how I might need to change and adjust to thrive in a world that is ever more out of balance. I garden because it helps me be aware of crisis and challenge, but always and first providing extraordinary pleasure and beauty.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Hot Summer Night (and Getting Hotter)
For the next few nights, lows will be in the 70s F and highs pushing or hitting 100F.
Please don’t fight the season or waste emotional energy hating it. Instead, wear loose, light clothing; eat small, room-temperature meals with emphasis on seasonal fruits and vegetables; exercise in the early morning or evening and do cooling, easeful yoga practices.
By all means, take advantage of technology and stay inside air-conditioned environments in the hottest part of the day. But please don’t crank up the cooling so that you can fire up your exercising or wear heavy clothes (for example, suit jackets and heavy shoes) or eat heavy, meaty and starchy meals. Fall will come soon enough.
Being seasonal doesn’t just make life more pleasant and enhance flexibility and adaptability, it also minimizes our use of precious, nonrenewable resources.
I’m looking forward to homemade popsicles, seated forward bend and twists, deep meditations, and early morning walks over the next couple of days. What about you?
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
Found Exhortation
Good boundaries are critical.
