Not for the faint of heart / the squeamish / or the overly genteel

we are composting humanure

the son-out-law built some big bins / one is for the mixing of the compost / one is for the sawdust that is added to the humanure to cover it up and so it wont stink

my daughter and son-out-law are ever into alternate Stuff / they build houses and walls with bags of dirt

they told me i cd participate by pooping in a bucket / covering it up with sawdust / adding kitchen waste and there you go (after you went)

we use five gallon buckets that pickles come in / we get them from an Italian deli over in Grand Junction, CO / i am proud to say i can fill a bucket in a little less than a week / of course i do have a lot of vegetable scraps / smile

http://journeytoforever.org/compost_humanure.html

Earth Shoes

it has been more than 25 years since i wore earth shoes and now i have these :

http://snipurl.com/9o7s

they are really comfortable / soft leather uppers and linings and innersoles too

when i had earth shoes in the 70's i wore the sandals / they were thick slabs of wood with leather straps

i lived in new york city / the east village / earth shoes with their depressed heels were ideal for walking on cement / i could walk miles in comfort / they are kind of wierd when you walk on real earth which already goes down at the heels so after i moved to topanga in southern california i never wore them anymore

i kinda wish i had those sandals for old times sake / smile / they must look like hippie relics today

i dont walk all that much on cement here in the high desert / i havent worn these new ones outside yet / i am not ready to give up sandals and close in my feet for the winter / we are not even finished with autumn / i am breaking them in slowly by wearing them around the house in the morning instead of slippers which i dont have anyway

when i was younger it never occured to me to break in shoes slowly / on saturday we would go shoe shopping for high heeled party shoes to wear that night ! gad / what a painful experience that was / too bad it takes so long to get smart and then when you are you dont wear high heels anymore

well, not since the Rolfing

Amusings

fresh lima beans from the youth garden at the farmers' market / oh you have to shell them the young ladies tell me so i say i grew up shelling peas and beans / i bought them all / to have with boiled red potatoes

maybe next week they will have fava beans / i remember these from Italy / during fava bean season you can go to a ristorante or trattoria and order a big steamed pot of fava beans fragrant with olive oil and garlic and herbs and you shell them yourself / the waiter puts a bib around your neck

today there are apples from the mountains / these are the apples that are so crisp sweet and delicious you will never again eat an apple from new zealand / unless you are actually in new zealand during apple harvest / shine these apples and they glow like rubies or like ripe pomegranate berries / at home my daughter makes apple/pomegranate juice but i made celery carrot tomato juice / all local produce organically grown in our little oasis

high desert honey too

@@@@@@@@

whle recovering from fever i sat in bed with my laptop and watched a movie / this is notable on several counts / one is that i gave up going to the movies many years ago for reasons or non-reasons that may or may not be explained at some other time / i have not gone to the theatre in years / i chose to watch The Talented Mr Ripley because i read the Patricia Highsmith book when it was published in 1955 and i had read the following Ripley books and recently re-read them all / i am a Patricia Highsmilth fan

i was curious as to how this story was presented in the cinema

hmmm / quite a few more characters and embellishments / murders in your lap a bit too much to take / i like the dvd format / so much easier than fussing with the video machine so you end up not knowing how to switch back to the television set

@@@@@@@@@

i slightly overboiled the potatoes so i threw in some cream and butter and mashed them up a bit / i have to go now / i absolutely do not want to overboil the baby lima beans

ciao

What to do with Celery Hearts

what with being feverish and fasting and not having an appetite nor the desire to go on the hunt for interesting and diverting foodstuffs i concentrate on using up that which is in the refrigerator

there are several walla walla onions / a package of celery hearts the outer stalks of which have been forced through the juicer with the last of the carrots and the juliette tomatoes for a tasty glass of V-3

there are some nice crisp apples

several potential menu items come to mind

sweet onion / celery / apple salad dressed with the bottom most smear of mayonnaise left in the jar spritzed with a little homemade fruit wine vinegar (choices here at apricot and mulberry) / this will require a lot of chewing

celery and onion stir fry dressed with the last of the pad thai sauce / throw this on to the leftover rice or better still fry up the rice and throw a beaten egg on that !

hmmm / things are looking up / epicurious.com offers a number of exciting options like braised celery

cream of celery/onion soup with the rest of the chicken broth (there are two kinds : the homemade chicken jelly and that which is left in the purchased box of chicken broth / there is enough cream and/or half n half to make this quite sumptous and will need less chewing and has a higher comfort level

or

just stuff the celery with peanut butter and be done with it

Fast Fasting

well there's nothing like having a high fever and being unable to eat to drop off the five pounds you put on with the bacon and baked apples with creme fraiche
for breakfast menu

Pep Talk

i decided i wanted to do Something Completely Different

something i dont usually do / in fact, something i dont even have an interest in doing

my daughter is going to a Heal the Heart Foundation gathering for a three day camping out and vegetarian meals 3 X a day in California

when she first asked me if i would like to go i said no

then Toe Stub Clarity during a time of indecision / i stubbed my toe so badly stumbling around in the dark on a deliberately uneven rock path created by me that i saw stars and my life flashed before my eyes

i still have a Toe Rag tied around to keep the little rascal warm and hidden from view

yeah, so i decided to go along for the ride / get out of my space / change my pace

i got out my tent / the one i bought for the river trip / i ordered an air mattress and a traveling (battery powered) Water Pik so i can floss my teeth in my tent / i lined up a couple of motels in Watsonville, just in case so i wont miss the third Presidential Debate

sigh / i dont want to go anymore

Pep Talk time to convince myself that my decision to go is an honorable intention / when i visited my best friend in the spring time in northern California it all seemed different / different climate / different geography / i did the same things i always do in slightly altered ways / contrasting versions of the same / it was extraordinarily satisfying

practice putting up the tent / blowing up the air mattress


pep up / perk up / put up or shut up

Tomato Jam

the persimmon tomatoes are roasted / toasted / garlicked / gingered / and canned

what a glorious colour !

ready to eat with homemade cream cheese on focaccia

buon appetito

The Eyes Have It

I saw the eye doctor this morning and my eyes were blurry all day

He told me a cataract is the lens we are born with and with age it gets OLD

Some cataracts can be removed and replaced with an artificial lens

Cataract surgery is the most common out-patient medical treatment in the country

It is a simple procedure / yeah sure / but does require some sedation so you dont leap out of the chair

I googled up some alternatives / N-Acetyl Carnosine are drops for "senile cataracts" / put in your eyes several times a day for four months and if they dont work you can get your money back

There is also Ocuzyme which promises the same results

Ayurvedic treatments are a possibility / one therapy is to stare at the sun as it comes up in the morning / possibly every day for the rest of your life

This reminds me of a woman i met when i lived in Rome. She was a Christian Scientist and she was a very elderly lady. I read some Mary Baker Eddy because of her. She told me that she had gone to Capri for a visit and while there sat in the sun and let the sun warm and bathe her eyes and this completely restored her vision. I believed her.

If you are on LSD however, as i recall, staring at the sun is not recommended.

Secret Service

i've been watching campaign rallies on C-span

you know what is fascinating ? the Secret Service and how they follow the President and the Candidates when they plunge into the crowds and are surrounded by people reaching out to touch them / enveloping them and the Secret Service Men are always there / at first you dont notice them and then There They Are / they wear suits and sometimes sunglasses / suddenly they are the most interesting thing happening / how they look constantly in all directions and yet stay close to the person they are guarding

they are constantly in restrained and extraordinarily alert movement/attention

you can just think that they dont miss a trick

hope not, anyway

30 Days Hath September

i will wind up the month of September with a poem clipped from a newspaper some years ago / the poem is by a Brazilian poet whose name is Adelia Prado / i may be breaking copyright laws / who knows ? / oh well, here goes :

DYSRHYTHMIA

Old people spit with absolutely no finesse
and bicycles bully traffic on the sidewalk.
The unknown poet waits for criticism
and reads his verses three times a day
like a monk with his book of hours.
The brush got old and no longer brushes.
Right now what's important
is to untangle the hair.
We give birth between our legs
and go on talking about it until the end,
few of us understanding
it's the soul that's erotic.
If I want, I put on a Bach aria
so I can feel forgiving and calm.
What I understand of God is His wrath;
there's no other way to say it.
The ball thumping against the wall annoys me,
but the kids laugh, contented.
I've see hundreds of afternoons like today.
No agony, just an anxious impatience:
something is going to happen.
Destiny doesn't exist.
It's God we need, and fast.

~~~~~~~

from a collection of her work titled
The Alphabet in the Park : selected
poems of Adelia Prado

published by Wesleyan Press
translated by Ellen Watson
1990

~~~~~~~~

here is another :

DAY

The chickens open their beaks in alarm
and stop, with that knack they have,
immobile--I was going to say immoral--
wattles and coxcombs stark red,
only the arteries quivering in their necks.
A woman startled by sex,
but delighted.

~~~~~~~~~

i think i am sposeto ask permission to use this
so i looked up University Press of New England
who gave the newspaper permission so i am
going to imagine that as a reader of the news-
paper i have permission to share it as well

smile

Unfinished Thoughts & Unanswered Questions

"Unfinished thoughts - thoughts that have no ending - thoughts that are interminable because they have no resolution. Thoughts that forever
leave you hanging in the balance."

from The Blind Man of Seville by Robert Wilson

Dear Blog

oh how i have neglected you the last couple of days / we were so in love since the beginning in July / it made me think of how someone told me once that the average love affair lasted three months / well, i guess i needed a break / i had some other business to attend to and how can i miss you if i never go away ?

later, darling

Toe Stub Clarity

have i mentioned Toe Stub Clarity before ?

Toe Stub Clarity is when you are in a state of confusion or indecision / camped out at the crossroads with forks pointing in all directions and you cant make up your mind or choose which one you want to take / clearly this is a condition known as Option-itis / too many options

stuck stumped stupified stymied you stumble around in the dark
and Stub your Toe

your Big Toe

the Big Toe is the one that sticks out the most in most people (those that are not descended from the Emperor and have the second toe longer than the first toe, that is) and the Big Toe is connected to the Brain

ooooooof / aw / ouch

the impact of the toe stub clears the mind / in some cases ones whole life flashes before ones eyes

and then there is that Moment of Clarity in which you know exactly which fork in the road to take

tanka sudden flashes of brilliance

hey hey USA (5)
tell me we izzent too dumb (7)
(say it is izzent so) (5)
to elect a smart president ? (7)
a sudden flash of brilliance (7)*


*one might quibble over the number
of syllables in "brilliance"

Today's Menu

friday is clean out the refrigerator day so the menu will be what i find in the ice box : what can be eaten today and what can be made into something else for tomorrow

the mussels are new so they do not count / they are for saturday lunch

two baked apples will be warmed up and served with the hickory smoked cheese that was free at the moonflower because it had a thumbprint of mold / cheese with the baked apples will be a welcome change from all the baked apples we have eaten with home made creme fraiche / we are just about "creme'd" out

goat cheese will be smeared on a tortilla and decorated with chopped fresh tomatoes / those tomatoes that have been languidly idling on the kitchen counter for 3 days / some chopped onion from the half onion in the vegetable drawer / a few chopped olives / um yum

warm the tortilla in a frying pan lightly oiled with something slick

bring the last slice of onion tart to room temperature and serve to the son-out-law

have the spinach for breakfast steamed and a side of sausages

saute the last of the shitake mushrooms to go with the tenderloin tail

the dogs will love the ricotta al forno (baked ricotta) cut into small cubes and added to their organ meat

let's see, what else is in there that needs a change of scene ?

ah yes, the spinach/ricotta gnocchi / smother them with the leftover tomato/garlic jam and sprinkle with parmigiano / heat in the oven

someone will love them especially since i will never make them again

let's see, what to do with the small hank of fresh fettucine ?

the six small jars of carmelized butter left over from various ghee makings are now the basis for a ball of snickerdoodle dough / this needs to chill over night and will be baked into cookies tomorrow

the rest of the eggs and the half and half are for lemon ice cream and the raspberry puree is to go with that / this is also for saturday lunch or sunday brunch

is the refrigerator cleaned out yet ?

yes

Big Sur and the Oranges of Heironymous Bosch

by Henry Miller

in this book he says, what is one to say to someone who makes paradise a prison ?

in this book he says, when you dont know what to write. write about how you dont know what to write.

okay

i dont know what to write / i will sit by the fire and have some tea and think of something

sooner or later

smile

Vocabulary

Discernment
Discrimination
Perception
Penetration
Insight
Acumen

These words describe qualities that represent a power to see what is not evident to the average mind :

Discernment stresses accuracy especially in reading character or motives

Discrimination stresses the power to distinguish and select what is true or appropriate or genuinely excellent

Perception implies quick and often sympathetic discernment, as of shades of feeling

Penetration implies a searching mind that goes beyond what is obvious or superficial

Insight suggests depth of discernment

Acumen implies characteristic penetration combined with keen practical judgment

Fast Forward

what happens when Intuition is at its peak of influence
at the same time the other three rhythms are at their least influential thus making an emphatic support system
for the free wheeling Intuition

a side kick way of seeing forward / also known as the future / that which is yet to come based on what we know or remember of the past / what we think of as the future is that which we feel able to predict / what we think of when we think forward instead of to the future is sort of like piercing beams of light penetrating a dark tunnel / the beams of light being resourceful depths of your being

in other words

you see a glimmer of your path up ahead a piece and it looks good it sure does

so you dont have a map / on the road without a map once again

you dont need a map if you can read the signs

Just a Thought

it is the encouragement one receives from those one "respects"
that pushes us on into endeavors one might otherwise ignore

encouragement is an interest that is flattering

flattery can be an insidious form of influence

influence causes one to perform in ways that one might not
if left to one's own devices

one's own devices are known only to one

to no one else

whenever someone tells you you ought to do something

don't



ingore ants is bliss

Tanka Time

the assignment from my friend who writes tankas

words to use : labyrinth / clue / button

here are mine :

Labyrinth

labyrinth of the mind
amazing what you will find
unexpected lies
truth hidden in the corners
scenarios of your life



Clue

she is quite naive
has not got a single clue
will she awaken ?
fresh discoveries appear
hey ! see what is going on ?


Button

Say ! Button your lip
Must you tell all your secrets ?
Dont be such a drip
An open mouth shuts the mind
A knowing smile says it all

and one to grow on :

Beer

have you had enough ?
after we poach the salmon
pour it in the sink
three point two beer fills you up
a cold shower will feel swell

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

in case you disremember a tanka has five stanzas and 31 syllables
5 syllables in the first stanza, 7 in the second, 5 in the third, and
7 in stanza 4 and 5

challenge yourself