Sunday, March 30, 2014

Expectancy

If this time of year is rich in anything, it's rich in expectancy. Everything in nature seems ready to stir, and yet the only thing visibly stirring so far is daylight itself, which is steadily undoing winter. Cold weather has kept the lid on the garden, and the few ambitious shoots that have shown to date seem to be thinking better of it..... Some people plan for the winter, and some people plan for the spring. (34-35)
The Rural Life ~ Verlyn Klinkenborg
My mind is as frozen as the earth this year. My writing and creativity and energy all evade me at a time of year when I usually feel I am bursting with inventiveness and activity. I know that I am not alone; almost everyone I know feels the same way. I am working my way through disappointment in myself to acceptance to celebration: I am starting slow but gathering speed.

Here is what I have accomplished:
  • Spring Cleaning: I am beginning by decluttering and rearranging all the chaos that seems to seep into the house in the winter. Then, I will move onto some deep spring cleaning, including changing linens, washing windows, and exchanging wardrobes.
  • House Projects: Spring cleaning is setting the stage for a few house projects on deck. I am beginning with recaulking several bathrooms and hope to get some painting done this spring again as we continue to make NOLD our own. I am also choosing paint colors which is never an easy process for me.
  • Yard Work: I have just begun to clear debris, leaves, and dead foliage, a never ending process. And, my professor husband helped me prune our dear Asian pear tree as well as a few rhododendron neglected last fall.
  • Exercise: If the weather and my schedule provide an opening, I am committed to getting outside for yard work or exercise.
  • Writing: I have returned to my writing group as well as this blog and the darn cookbook with limited success -- plodding but working at it.
  • Kitchen: I have been enjoying my time in the kitchen immensely. I am moving beyond yogurt and hoping to return to bread making of the yeasted variety. I am also trying a handful of new chicken recipes, healthy and straightforward dishes to add to the dinner repertoire. And, I have been trying to prepare a few staples and sweet treats to have around the house regularly.
Just writing down my endeavors has helped -- I am making progress, particularly in light of everything else that crosses the path of this everyday life I lead. I am rich in expectancy and planning for spring, not stuck in winter's grip. I am going to say goodbye to March and raise a glass to the arrival of April this week -- so much good to come next month.

As I work away in the kitchen, I get a good view of our back yard through the glass patio doors. The birds are returning: the songbirds, including two sets of cardinals, the geese, the robins, the hawks. I spotted a small one perched in a Japanese maple on the front side of the house, silencing the rest of the inhabitants of NOLD.

And, the red-tailed hawks have returned to their campus nest, laying three beautiful eggs which the Lab of Ornithology allows us to view in real time for a different sort of expectancy. Check it out -- a bird cam gem.

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Luck


In February, I took a quick trip to San Francisco with my family. I was determined to go to Muir Woods this time around and see the Redwoods, a truly religious experience for me. Nature on such an impressive scale did not fail to inspire. With a bit of care and tending, the earth is capable of providing incredible gifts. I hope to ponder this thought as I return to the garden this spring.

 

Muir Woods also had incredible patches of lush clover interspersed among the trees, the greenest and largest clover I have ever seen. St. Patrick's Day and this clover got me thinking about luck. I am not sure how I feel about luck, but I do believe that by sending out "good" into the world, my very best effort in all things, overall good things will in measure return to me. I don't think this is a faith in an outside predetermined will. Rather, I rest on a deep and abiding sense of hope despite the many challenges life brings.

 
I believe Amy Tan, a favorite author of mine, explained it like this in the Joy Luck Club:

My mother believed in God’s will for many years. It was as if she had turned on a celestial faucet and goodness kept pouring out. She said it was faith that kept all these good things coming our way, only I thought she said “fate,” because she couldn’t pronounce that “th” sound in “faith.”

And later, I discovered that maybe it was fate all along, that faith was just an illusion that somehow you’re in control. I found out the most I could have was hope, and with that I was not denying any possibility, good or bad. I was just saying, If there is a choice, dear God or whatever you are, here’s where the odds should be placed.
 

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Yogurt

Despite a childhood in The Dairy State, I didn't grow up eating yogurt. I had to travel back to my roots as a college students in Germany before I fell in love with yogurt and muesli. Since then, I have made it a regular part of my diet as has my husband. Even my girls have eaten yogurt most days of their lives. We are a yogurt family.


So, it should come as no surprise that a few years ago, I bought a yogurt maker. I wanted to be able to control the quality of ingredients that went into my yogurt but quickly grew disillusioned. Every batch turned out quite tart, far too tart of this family. I tried to tweak the recipe but still found the final product required a fair bit of sugar to make it edible for us. This didn't seem like a very nutritious dietary outcome.


Last week, I resolved to try again. I was inspired by a new cookbook I enthusiastically recommend, Whole-Grain Mornings by Megan Gordon. I followed the recipe for Homemade Yogurt and couldn't be more pleased with the results. Not too tart, not too sweet, the yogurt is delicious, and I hope to add it to my weekly cooking regime.
 

Best of all, I made it with a tablespoon of homemade jam in the bottom of each jar as recommended by the author. Now, I have another use for the strawberry rhubarb sauce, grape jelly, vanilla amaretto pear preserves, and blueberry syrup I make each summer and store for the winter. Each of these works perfectly as a yogurt flavoring as does maple syrup. And, if you don't have a yogurt maker, don't worry. The "old-fashioned" method of making yogurt is also detailed.


Next week, I plan to make granola or muesli to go with the yogurt. I have a tried and true granola recipe, but I think I will turn to Whole-Grain Mornings again. It lists several interesting recipes and the outcomes are likely to be just as good as with the yogurt. Of course, you, dear reader, should feel free to share your standby recipes here as well. Granola, muesli, and yogurt combinations most welcome.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

March

Here it is the second week of March already. I am back after finishing my seasonal work at the university last week and regrouping. I survived the tough winter, although it isn't finished with us yet. We are getting snow and bitter cold tomorrow, but temperatures are now fluctuating and beginning to rise well above freezing on occasion, too.

Today, for example, was gorgeous. Everyone was out with the sun, including the chipmunks, who provided Freddy with hours of entertainment on the other side of the patio doors. Numerous fallen branches magically appeared as the snow melted. I even saw a bee out and about as I did a bit of cleanup in one of the back beds. So, I joined in the revelry, no jacket required, and went out to prune NOLD's beloved pear tree as well as a couple of rhododendron I had missed last fall.

I was able to check off one small task from an unbelievably long to do list I made last week. Winter and work stunned me into silence and relative inaction this time around. One moment I felt like hibernating and the next like sprinting to the finish to get work and the essentials of our family life completed. So, I am getting my feet back under me in this time of year, which is in various ways the month of March. Yet, the words still flow and cheer the soul with the passing of the days as well as the Ides.




March On

Voices lost in snow
Bodies wrapped in down
Lungs filled with cold
Steps slowed with care
March on, march on

Arctic air drops down South uninvited
Flakes fall frenzied and unappreciated
White no longer speaks to the soul
Deep slumber eludes the long nights
March on, march on

Sun stops mid-day, radiant at the window
Soil awakens to a slow drip from the eves
Stream trips and falls, calling for attention
Spirit thaws in anticipation and takes flight
March on, march on

Green once unseen springs forth eternal
Tulips shout in chorus below the mailbox
Nests wait empty but certain in thick branches
Day stretches and sends moon for cloudy cover
March on, march on

Voices raised in song
Bodies freed to breathe
Lungs filled with scent
Steps danced in time
March on, march on