Reflections & Refractions

This morning I woke a bit agitated. Anyone who has experienced this knows that if not promptly shaken off it can stick with you the whole day. So I fed my dog - the dog that woke me with her Granny Annie squeaky toy. While she ate I stepped outdoors into the brisk healing air of morning and regarded the quarter moon, the puffs of clearing clouds, the scant dusting of snow that fell as I slumbered. My eyes were drawn to the eyes of Nature ... eyes that regard me everyday from countless places ... but today they gazed at me from the native lumber wall of my deck. Eyes so close to home.

The eyes of Nature asked me to look around, to gain perspective, to find my balance and to seek and honor the message in that agitated awakening that I had experienced.

I returned to my little kitchen to break my fast with a bowl brown rice, shoyu and ground beef from a happy cow. In this simple nourishing morning meal I realized how blessed I am to have a freezer filled with countless cuts pasture fed beef and garden harvests ... even if my pantry is a bit bare this year. And then some.

I went back outdoors to offer a bit of cornmeal, tobacco and rose petals for the gift that quelled my angst, then returned indoors to begin tackling the chores that awaited me. With love and gratitude solid in my core.

Ashe. Ashe.

Roasted Chicken

... from a local farm, stuffed with homemade bread, garden leeks and sage, onion, pepper and carrot ... served with mashed potatoes, simmered carrots, gravy, horseradish-cranberry sauce and a spinach salad. Life is good. Ashe. Ashe.

A Morning for the First Snow

I wandered my little acre in the quiet of this snow covered morning ... just taking it in.

Taking it all in.

All that has passed and will be again.

All that weighs me down and lifts me up.

All that sustains and nourishes me.

I took in the last of the baby leeks and some sage that will find its way into a beautiful farm-raised chicken that will be roasted later today. And there's still a little more in the gardens to sustain me for a while ... even as the snow falls. Peace.

My Way Back ...

I've been home for a few days now from my Thanksgiving travels and find myself struggling with really settling in at home.

Motivation is generally second nature to me ... not this week, it seems.

Yet I am grateful for my journal, for it is a tool that supports me through such necessary struggles.

Ashe. Ashe.

Tracks of Gratitude

I'll be traveling over this Thanksgiving holiday, so it is that today I point myself westward and make tracks along the highways and byways. Blogging will not be on my agenda until I return. I will miss you and I truly hope that you have much to be grateful for in your life - today, tomorrow, and every day.

I thought I'd leave you with a few images to gaze upon, ponder and - hopefully - inspire.

Be well. Be grateful. Be joyous. Peace. Ashe. Ashe.

A Day for Football

Hey, what can I tell ya ... it's what I do on Sunday's in this "season."

Simple Preparations

I prepared an upcoming page in my journal, but not before blending a little discipline and friendship into the cauldron. Bills and paperwork were managed, more calendula-confetti rolls were made, and a vegetable rice soup was prepared. A couple of hours were shared over tea with spirited friend who came by to pick up some herbals and our conversation scattered everywhere while remaining remarkably grounded ... reminding us both of how All is connected. I sat outdoors to watch the sky fade into darkness as the crescent moon appeared to offer even more blessings to the day. That's what I made today.

MySelf Feel Good

My mother asked me for more of my herbal cream and since I'm visiting her next week I figured I'd better get on this task. So today I made a water infusion of organic calendula flowers (dried and fresh), pink rose petals and green tea leaves as a preparation to my luscious winter skin cream. I blended the oils of infused calendula, coconut, a bit of lanolin and castor oil, and bees wax.

The strained infusion was blended with the warm oils, and essential oils (of carrot seed and patchouli), and vitamin E were also added to the mix. The finished product was lovingly poured into jars where they cooled. They were capped, labeled and are now ready to nourish and protect my skin, and my mother's, as the drying winter season begins creeping in.

The best part to making this cream is taking a nice shower, then slathering my body with all that I can scrape out of the blender vessel. It feels so good. So very, very good. That's what I made today.

Herbals & Sustenance

Today I started two (overdue) tinctures, both handy medicinals to possess during flu season. One of Eupatorium cannabinum, commonly called boneset and another of Sambucus nigra (fuctus), the european elder berry. I tried something a little different this go around with the elder berry. I simmered some berries first, allowed it to cool and then added it to the maceration jar with more dried berries and enough grain alcohol to compensate for the water to make about 40-50% alcohol ratio. I'm not sure what my peers will think of this method, but as I often say, "I just do what the voices tell me." Or as my friend Kate says, "what the Rice Crispies tell me." I have a good feeling about it.

I made a couple-few hundred capsules of glucosamine/MSM for my mom as well as some Salix alba (white willow bark) for a client. Capsule making is very Zen.

I harvested a little green onion, sage and calendula (yep! It's still blooming) to go into the roasted turban squash puree, which will be served as a pasta sauce. The pasta is about to be served with a nice green confetti salad topped with a homemade garlic-ginger-flax seed dressing and a few calendula petals (thus the confetti!). That's what I made today.