Time in Garden & Kitchen

I made my way to the garden and picked the last nappa cabbage today. Tomorrow I suppose I'll make a big-ass batch of kimchi and a nice steam with garlic and ginger to have with supper. It's beautiful, isn't it?

I made two small loves of whole wheat bread. It was a nice way to heat up the little hut as the sun leaned to the west. 

And here's a bit of my imperfect, yet beautiful TLC (tangerine-lavender calendula) soap. 

I made time to do a little research and learned that crumbly soap most often indicates a too-high a lye ratio, and that feels right to me. I also learned that I can re-melt the crumbs in a crock-pot to remold, so I'll try that experiment tomorrow. The actual experience of cutting the soap taught me that a knife is not a fitting tool, despite any logic to the contrary. Even the slight wedge shape of the knife actually facilitated the crumbling. I found that my dough scraper (or whatever it's called) to be far more effective for a clean cut. I also learned, or rather was reminded of the value of friendship. I'm in debt to my dear friend Kim for turning me on this beautiful alchemy. I'm already looking forward to my next batch!

Ashe. Ashe.

Peace with Some of You

See?

I told you I would ...

The Most of this Rainy Day!

It has been an eventful week - by my standards anyway.

Monday started in sharing time with my friend Kim. She makes great cold process soap and I was blessed to witness her in action, and this experience melted away every anxiety I ever had about trying it! Plus, I called in the spirit of my spouse's paternal grandmother who I never met, but who is remembered for her homemade soaps.

Tuesday was spent with a delightful herbal student. Wednesday morning was shared with Laura Rose of The Purple Rose Healing Center for some preparation for Thursday's Discovering Nature's Spirit radio show on Reiki. Friday's mail delivered my Ambassador of Lovely package with just distracted me with great delight! And if you haven't viewed The Beckoning of Lovely yet, I hope you will now. And somewhere in the past week the boy took a stab at putting one of his whimsy pieces up for auction on eBay and there's still a day left to bid (hint, hint)! 

But it was Monday's verve that captured me all week.  In honor grandmother Elisabeth, I rendered my own tallow.

The boy made me a lovely pine form.

I made my first-ever batch of soap.

And while it's not perfect, it is lovely and I am delighted!

So now - I'm off to make the most of this misty, rainy Saturday! 

Something Lovely ...

Today I received my official notice that I have been crowned an Ambassador of Lovely ...

Will you join me? 

Win a Whimsy Wednesday!

Last night I made six simple hand-drawn bookmarks - one for me and five to share as whimsies over the coming wednesdays. This is my way of sharing a little surrender and peace as the hysteria of the holiday season descends on so many - during a natural season that contradicts such frenzy.

So ... to mark a peaceful page in your book of life simply pause now, take a deep and nourishing breath and leave a comment to this post. In doing so, you're entered in tomorrow's drawing to win one of these ...

Look familiar? 

Congratulations Mrs. B ~ You're this week's Whimsy Winner!!! 

Six Whimsies for Five Wednesdays

Heh heh heh.

I guess you'll just have to check in tomorrow to see what I made today.

Heh heh heh heh.

A Protest

I protest this day. I woke up with dull headache, something very unusual for me. The vacuum wasn’t working, which ironically sucked, because I had a student coming to a double class in less than 2-hours and needed to clean up the dog hair and craft dust from the rugs. The dog liberated herself and took off into the wilds of the neighborhood. She would not return to me. When I finally captured her, she stunk – I mean really stunk. Despite the cold, I hosed her down and dried her as well as I could and left her to dry in the cool November sun. The towels reeked. I too was wet and stinky.

I returned to the vacuum to see if I could get it working. I couldn’t, but I think I targeted the problem. I broke a fingernail, which is really no big deal for me, but it was an odd enough little nothing to snap my attention to the chaotic play of events. I still had class notes in which to center myself, and not enough time to make that happen. My wonderful, understanding student showed up to a hut and teacher in a state of flurried chaos, neither ready nor grounded nor focused on the task at hand. I put the kettle on, cleaned up and changed, said a prayer, smudged myself and eventually settled into the space I needed to be. I think. I hope. For her sake.

Several hours later, I sit with this day and make my protest against it. I light a candle, I burn some sage, I light a stick of incense, I ring the tingshas and feel myself return to myself. For the first time all day I breathe with awareness, deep and full.

In that welcome moment of breathy stillness, I honor the conditions that led me to my disapproval of the day. For in them, somewhere, are nuggets of gold. Of this I am certain and grateful.

I just hope I don’t have to wait for the coal to compress.

I'm too tired to blog today.