MOTHERS

Mothers are what makes the world go round - or at the very least, Mothers are what keeps the world going….

 

Mothers nurture… they love us no matter what.

They KNOW what is good instinctively, constantly helping circumstances along, trying to keep peace…

Mothers are devoted to their cause…

Mothers exercise their passions from the heart!

 

This Mothers Day, it is time to recognize Mothers that nurture in the not-so-traditional sense… Happy Mothers Day to those “Mothers” that do not always get the recognition they deserve for the above-mentioned qualities…

 

The Mother that has adopted her children… and knows that they are her “real” children…

 

The Mother that “raises” her step-children doing her best to get along with the past life of her Beloved and making a future for continued generations.

 

The Foster Mother – dedicated to helping children through some of life’s most complicated situations.

 

The Mother that made a heart-wrenching decision to give her baby to an adoptive family that will give her child a home with advantages and stability…

 

The “Mother” that  endlessly has a soft place in her heart and nutures the animals…. pets, wildlife, even flocks of sheep!

 

The Mother that does not get to see her children… yet, does not stop loving them…

 

The mother that could not have children of her own, but found other ways to nurture…

 

Beth Terry (FakePlasticFish.com) used her own situation to “give birth” to ideas that nurture… her friends call her “Mother of the Earth” in spite of her status of not having children.  She has asked Oprah to help her cause…. See her story here.

Happy Mothers Day!

 

Slow Food: the new Fast Food

Everyday conversation points to the changes occurring due to the recent economic downturn and it seems there is a collective shift in how we think is the result. Budgets, travel plans, careers and even the choices we make in the food we eat are affected. Consideration for different ways of going about daily life are implemented and discussed as the sharing of information spurs even more thought. We all had such prevalent habits before, routines that just became ordinary actions, given little thought.

Slow Food was a term little known during the months and years behind us. Sustainable living not much thought about… and buying local hardly practiced. New ideas are starting to make some sense while our quest to save money and fight disease become more important. It is alarming to note the increasing number of food poisoning incidences and the current news about tainted foods becoming more common. The ultimate control is to grow and prepare our own food. The old habits of fast food for every meal are clearly changing. Are we finally slowing down and thinking more about the effects of our choices?

What could be “faster food” than picking an orange off the tree before rushing out the door? Or grabbing a handful of nuts from a jar, or grabbing a banana out of the fruit bowl? The time it takes to cut some celery or carrots is hardly cause for a major delay and yet it has taken such monumentous circumstances to reevaluate just how we should nourish ourselves. Minds are opening and new ways of going about the ordinary aspects of a given day promise a return to what is wholesome and good.

I am encouraged to notice that taking time for the growing and preparing of food has become the new trend. Victory Gardens flourish and the Farmer’s Markets are buzzing with sales. Slow Food is becoming the new Fast Food!

Slow Food - Make It Fast!

Worth The Wait

Pink buds and blossoms line the path on either side of me as I stroll through our local orchards for some daily exercise. July will bring an abundance of juicy peaches from these tiny pink blooms. Our area produces some of the best peaches in the world and much tastier than the hard small replicas that are presently being offered in our supermarkets. The “real” ones are worth waiting for.

Cherries are my favorite, possibly due to the very short growing season curbing the duration of their availability. My Dad said you could not pick a Cherry off the tree until June 3rd! Those were the days when the Santa Clara Valley was chock full of orchards, growing cherries, plums and apricots. He grew a vegetable garden in our urban backyard and taught us the anticipation of waiting for each specimen to properly ripen before we could harvest or even taste.

Anticipation builds as I have learned to wait for the Bing Cherries even though they are a later crop. A fully ripened Bing will grace my lips first in a given year. The earlier varieties have their merits but my Bing Cherry ritual of waiting it out has rewards beyond compare.

Slowly the kinks work out of my body as I walk on and my thoughts drift to the time my Sis-in-law visited from Iowa. Off we went to the corner grocery store for munchies and she loaded my cart with six avocados that were $2.99 a piece! (That was when avocados were .50 cents when in season). I choked at the bill and every nerve in my body went off to think that we could not just make do with salsa under the circumstances. This incident was an eye opener to realize that the whole population did not understand the concept of waiting until the local harvest brought the abundance of fresh food. To know that some folks do not even consider the cost and waste of energy that occurs with each shipment of fresh produce.

Waiting – for food to ripen, for funds to be saved for a purchase, for the right job… It seems the lessons at hand have to do with learning patience… and to wait for what is best.

Generational Apology

To My Children,

I owe you an apology! Neglectfully, it was I (*my generation, collectively) that did not pass on to you (*your generation collectively) what was shown to me by my own parents (*their generation) about the concept of VALUE. My belief that “it is never too late” has spurred me to communicate something I* should have communicated to you* a long time ago.

*Value* is what got lost during our* quest to provide for you. We* wanted you* to have everything. We* bought more, worked harder and got more. Overwhelmed, we* looked around at the mounds of “stuff” that accumulated. There was no time to deal with it all. The solution (or so we thought) was to throw away old and buy new. Repairs would require time, time we just could not spare as we climbed the income ladder. Manufacturers complied with our new habits and the quality of items decreased as we filled our garbage bins!

There were two concepts that my parents* practiced while I was growing up and they fell by the wayside when I* raised you*.
#1. Avoiding senseless waste.
#2. Avoiding unwise spending.
Senseless waste + unwise spending = what you see now, a littered Earth during a crumbling economy.

The current times show waste piling up all around us, littering landscapes and filling waterways with toxic material. A new awareness of care for our planet is now mandatory. New ideas of reducing accumulation of senseless waste mandate the changing of our old ways.

Our current economic situation stems from senseless spending. Spending more or spending less will not spur the recovery of our failing budgets. How we spend and when we spend will be the determining factors that will help to redirect the current financial downturn.

You see, *VALUE* is the key… it’s about placing importance on what is important. Now is the time to look around and be aware…everything that is happening now will generate a debt. A bill that you* will have to manage when I* am long gone.

You* are now on the brink of a pivotal era and along with the huge debt left to you will also come some of the biggest investment opportunities that may be seen for decades to come. At the same time, there will be new ideas about how to preserve land, food, and water for your children’s children. Be ready! This could be your biggest break of a lifetime!

… And then you will be the Teachers* …and pass on what you* learned about *VALUE*

Glass Drinking Straws

Prevent BPA leaching into beverages and save our planet from plastic waste. The Founder of Glassdharma is committed to saving the planet... one straw at a time!

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My 2009 Kitchen

Endless kitchen chores continue seamlessly as 2008 turns over the New Year. The kitchen does not recognize this marker in time as the ever-evolving process of what goes on keeps up the constant rhythm of cooking, eating, clearing and cleaning. Stepping back to view the routine has brought an observation that this kitchen has slowly gone through changes. This is definitely is not the same kitchen that we gathered in at the beginning of 2008.

Gradually, eco-friendly choices replace many of the former items in this room. Gone are the stacks of paper plates and Tupperware canisters. Glass, Stainless Steel and Bamboo have made their way into this sacred hubbub of our home. My efforts to reduce plastic use, especially for food and drink preparation, have spurred a very creative thought process. I even had to rethink my coffee maker realizing that I used to start each day with a hot drink, heated in a plastic vessel. Not sure about just how much BPA leaches into our foods through plastic, I have read just enough about phlatates and BPA to not want to ingest the stuff!

Mason jars are my friend. They display pastas and cereals within my pantry doors. Glasses and ceramic cups are plentiful and wooden spoons of all sizes and shapes have made their way into the drawers replacing the different colored plastic utensils once found there. Glass drinking straws catch sunlight as they sit on the windowsill in glass vessels waiting for use by whoever stops in for a drink of iced tea, or a homemade smoothie.

Plastic-ware long gone and efforts to reduce have brought a finer way of living into our home. A sense of style that considers purpose to how we live and what we leave behind reigns here… I am now very satisfied with the function of my 2009 Kitchen!