Welcome to Saturday ...
"It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine...”
~ Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
Cultivating people can be arduous,
With results as uncertain as weather.
Try oysters, meerkats, turnips, mice.
My mouse field was a triumph of
Cultivation—pink noses poking
Through quilts of loam, scampering
In the furrows—until the falling
Dwarves (it was that time of year)
Began landing on my field. Fear for
Its harvest had me down on hands
And knees muttering, “Not here,”
My nails clawed at tangles of fat
Dwarves crushing mouse families.
Then, unbelievably, it was over.
By morning every dwarf, maddened
By nibbling mice, had fled the field.
Now, as before, each day, dozens
Of perfect mice leave for the city.
There, they have made many friends
Among computers, and with them
Are developing skills inconceivable
To their forebears. Already, these
Cultivated mice and their computers
Penetrate guilty secrets. Soon they will
Prevail over the turmoil that defines
This darkest of ages. And they will
Find me, asleep in my cave.
Cultivation ~ Dorothea Tanning
If you eat mostly fruits, vegetables, grains, carbs, and non-meat proteins, plus a moderate amount of seafood and dairy products, you’re following the so-called “Mediterranean diet” based on the food traditionally eaten by people in the Mediterranean region, and you have a reduced risk of heart disease. But there’s a major catch, according to a 2017 report on the ongoing “Moli-sani Study” published in the International Journal of Epidemiology: The health benefits were more often experienced by wealthy eaters, because high-quality food in the diet doesn’t come cheaply. https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-mediterranean-diet-only-works-for...
Comments
Good morning,
Today's art: Mounatins, 1923, Mules, laden with hay, 1910, Constantinople, 1910.
For the past couple of weeks we've talked of Spring marching up the mountainside. This week a local paper captured a good view:
Good morning
Nice art and loved the picture of the greening mountain. We've got lyre leaf sage, senecio (ragwort), and daisies blooming in the field - a mix of blue, yellow, and white.
Finally got out the peppers and eggplant this week. We've warmed (and dried) up significantly. Tomatoes seem to be doing better after their slow chilly start. Lots of lettuce, spinach, and greens coming in now. Salad city.
Eating healthy is more expensive than cheap processed foods... unless you factor in health costs. Heard an interview with a nurse treating COVID patients. She said she's not seen a metabolically healthy person suffer damaging effects from the virus regardless of age. That's hopeful news, and reason enough to start a health journey if you're not on one.
Thanks for the art and OT! Have a good one everyone.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning, Lookout,
Sounds as if you've a good garden underway. Glad enjoyed the Grandpa photo.
Fresh food, difficult to find in many neighborhoods, even here in winter. Browsed the local farmer's websites last week, five bucks for a pound of carrots tells the story.
Am always amazed and a little disturbed when in grocery store checkouts and see carts laden with cardboard packaged foods; well if you call that food, especially when there are children in tow. Convenience over health, it's a shame.
Interestingly, i do recall reading another article a while back that also said to purchase fresh food, organic or not, that fresh was best for nutrients. Makes sense.
Appears Spring may be up here to stay, yippee. Have a good one.
Didn't get a chance to tell you
...until now how much I appreciated your overview essay on the state of the response to the Corona Virus last week. It was more enlightened than anything I've read so far.
I can't decide whether you are a pantologist or a multipotentialite. It's always a pleasure to read your essays.
Carry a burning candle and share the light.
.
Many thanks...
just caught your comment. I prefer to avoid boxes of all types so will keep pacing around the circle.
Take care and be well my friend.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning smiley
Thank you for the beautiful OT. I'm listening to the musical selection as I drink my coffee, it's very nice. The rest of the household is still asleep and it is the quiet before the day begins. We had rain last night, which we needed and it's a beautiful, cool, fresh, morning. I like the quote above, "It is the sun shining on the rain, and the rain falling on the sun shine..."
Love the art and the spring mountain photo... fabulous.
Good morning, randtntx,
The special quiet of morning, know the feeling. A beautiful Carolina Blue sky today; looking forward to venturing out a little, have to go to drive-by pharmacy anyways, so I've a motivation.
Wrens happily dart and chirp out the window and i should take my cue from them; put the worries aside and fly.
Good to share a morning coffee.
Gratitude
I started watching
this series because of the gardens they were filming. This particular episode caught my heart though and I can't shake it. I think it is a must-see.
Thanks for the the new video,
Will watch it all this afternoon, beautiful surroundings, i see, looking forward. Cheers
Good morning, smiley ~~
Curative Toxicity
The resilience of nature is a wonder
when the toxicity of our behavior
has harmed our planet.
A virus arrives and its toxicity reminds us
of our actions toward earth,
toward humanity.
Oh, corona, are you here to help us?
We have been wayward in our actions.
We have been unkind in our words.
We have been selfish in our possessions.
We have communicated from fear.
Will you bring to our attention
the ways in which we can love
the ways in which we can create loving thoughts
the ways in which we can create loving actions?
Oh corona, are you here to help us correct
these unhealthy patterns of relating to one another?
The virus commands we
communicate from our heart,
point the finger at ourselves to ask
are we learning to love another,
if our needs are met locally,
if our words are kind and gentle,
if our actions are helpful, not harmful.
Is it time to reconsider our values?
What have we been obsessive about?
What has been driving us?
Put wants on hold and focus on needs.
Keep life to the essentials by loving
and reaching out to others.
Communicate from your heart
and correct your behavior.
The virus reminds us we are ONE.
We are interconnected
so treat your fellow human well.
We are interdependent in this small world
which has no room for ego.
Changes are happening,
building one upon another
as we navigate through unique times.
As always, smiley ~ the best art and music to write a poem by. Have a beautiful day my friend.
Enjoy your Saturday, live in the present, live in love.
Gandhi: Happiness is when what you think, say, and do are all in harmony."
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Good morning, RA,
Beautiful poem; thanks for bringing words from your uplifting spirit.
Happiness is.
Have a wonderful day.
well said
our words are kind and gentle
question everything
Good morning smiley. Thanks for the OT, the poetry, the art
and the music. I don't try to eat a Mediterranean diet. I would love to, because that would mean living there, maybe Barcelona, Marseilles, or out around Livorno or Lucca. It is not, as you note, not just what food, but fresh food; more properly what fresh food. Fresh San Marzano tomatoes, fresh Valencia oranges, etc,. The contents of the typical US diet can readily by boxed or otherwise packaged, frozen or canned, shipped all over hells half acre and eaten weeks or even months later. Not so the foods of the "Mediterranean diet", at least that of fable and story, which not even all of the locals in that area indulge in.
Otoh, I am lucky in that I can eat a good California diet, fresh local seafood, fresh produce, fruits, and veggies from around the state and my own back yard, some truly fine local cheeses and wonderful vino. Speaking of which, ye olde produce and veggie market, like Ahab, beckons and we must don our masks and slide on out early to avoid the arrival of crowds, so I gotta get getting.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Good morning, el,
Good you are ideally situated to enjoy the fruits of California. And if you'd like a neighbor along the Mediterranean, i wouldn't be too picky about the place.
Enjoy the market outing and have a good one.
afternoon smiley
Sunny here and planting tomatoes and eggy plants.
The painting definitely reminds me of the Group of Seven from Canada. The use of color in the paintings you chose is almost musical. Lovely.
The Group of Seven Plus four other plus Tom Thompson and Emily Carr who were not a members. There is a whole floor dedicated to Emily Carr in the Vancouver Art Museum. She is amazing.
Take good care on your outings. Have a good one.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Afternoon, magi,
Good reading, the links you posted; had a faint recollection of the Algonquin School, but not sure from where. Fascinating really, love to learn how movements came about, often by chance encounters, or mutual friendships. Plus, i love the period, give me a Doctor Who tele and i'd go in a flash.
One can spend countless hours in their works; thank you. Autumn in France, 1911 by
Emily Carr gets one attention. What fun and how like the France of my youth. Yeah.
Thank you magi.
Hi Smiley.
The best art always finds its way to your page. What a splendid gift you have, my friend.
Carry a burning candle and share the light.
.
Hi Pluto,
you are kind; art finds it way by some destiny not driven by me; very happy you enjoy and that you are here. Cheers
Calm
Always love reading your Saturday OTs, smiley7. Blood pressure stays level as I do, which is probably something needed, particularly in these times.
Not exactly Mediterranean Diet stuff, but wife and I spent much of the afternoon making pizzelles, which are Mediterranean, being Italian, but probably not as healthy as some foods. Anyway, now we have two big containers of them ...might last a couple of weeks. Oh, vanilla flavored with bean paste (not cheap).
Ours don't look quite as nice as those in the photo...
I bet they taste good though
Tasty, but not really sweet.
Indeed, they do! Especially good with coffee. Especially coffee from a moka pot!
My dear wife is a first generation American. Both parents are Sicilian, so pizzelles are something she grew up with. I'm the little German boy from Kansas who married her, so it's all kinda foreign to me. Our Swedish neighbors in Kansas had pastries that looked similar, smaller, but they were sweet. Of course they stuck raw fish (or something) on them. Seems a lot of Italian "sweets" aren't all that sweet. Pizzelles are no exception. Naturally, you can dust them with powdered sugar..... Heh.
Always a pleasure seeing you here, travelerxxx,
pizzelles, cool beans; found some good recipes; don't have an iron, but do have a skillet. Don't recall ever having or encountered the cookies in Italy or anywhere. Looks like a treat to me.
I do, however put vanilla in pancake batter. yum, yum good. Going to give them a go.
Glad you enjoy Saturday's, they provide a sanity, a stabilizing of pressure to me as well. Much needed at times.
Strawberry season down the mountain, saw a by-the-roadside truck farmer selling them yesterday and your delicious photo makes me want some today. Not to worry, the season lasts a few weeks.
It's a giant puffy-cloud day of perfect cool temperature, kinda an all's well that ends well Sunday.
Be well and safe out there.