A New Heartsease...

On Thanksgiving...

 

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

    On thinking about Thanksgiving Day, a menu has been decided, a table setting arranged based on who and how many will be in attendance, the groceries secured, a plan of action set down for the day before and the day of the Feast.

    It occurs to me that one day a year is set aside for a National day of giving thanks, while just about every other Holiday (perhaps excepting Easter to some degree) has been co-opted by the forces of marketing and consumerism. Thus, we find ourselves at an odd crossroads in our evolution as a culture...

    ...by having the strange juxtaposition of a day of thanksgiving quickly followed by the sinister-named "Black Friday" when deal-seeking, money-waving, mania-maddened multitudes mob merchandisers (Ahhh...how I love alliteration!).

Okay, I realize the name, "Black Friday" arises out of the idea that rampant and collective consumerism on this day will put businesses in the "black ink" column. At least that's the idea.

Still, the concept that frenzied acquisition follows immediately upon the heels of gratitude and thanksgiving can only be the wayward "child" of Capitalism. Not that Capitalism is a bad thing...unless it becomes the "only" thing.

Capitalism becomes questionable when it subsumes, consumes, and ideates a society to the exclusion of the "un-dollar-able" values to be found within the heart and the soul of a people and their society. 

For me Black Friday has become - not a time to shop - but a time to retreat from shopping. Instead, I light the candles, turn on quiet music, pick up the journal and pen, and make a cozy cup of herbal tea. I make myself comfortable and with pen in hand list all that I am grateful for over the past year. 

I thank the God of my Heart for abundance, health, family, friends, lessons learned (from the joyful to the painful), and retreat for a time from the noise, expectations, seduction, chaos, glitz (and the false promises that stuff will make me happy and fulfilled) and simply sit quietly within that sublime inner space where head and heart meet and commune with Soul.

I wish everyone all of the love, delight, communion with others, and thank-fullness, abundance and feasting that Thanksgiving Day offers. And, safety, sanity, and success if you choose to join the Black Friday fray...and of course, blessings, and abundance throughout the Holiday Season to come!

Ship Shape...

 

The Jubilacion where I spent an enjoyable few days with my Dad and Sandy.

 

My Dad's mooring line and dock hose are shipshape and tickity boo.

 

His neighbor's, well...not so much!

 

    I had a lovely few days visiting Seattle's Elliot Bay Marina, where my Dad and step mom, Sandy, recently returned from their annual six months cruise up into Canadian waters. 

    I drove over from Northern Idaho to visit with them on their cruise boat, Jubilacion, just ahead of their heading back home to Redding, California.

    Sandy and I took a long walk through parts of Discovery Park and photographed each other on a fern-bordered trail.

 

I'm enjoying a fern-bordered stroll through Discovery Park.

 

As Sandy takes my picture, I snap hers.

 

Viewed from Jubilacion's deck, the land-based part of the marina was in full-on Autumn mode!

 

Aboard the Jubilacion

 

Jubilacion...first boat at the bottom of the gangway on the right.

 

    As my visit coincided with chantrelle hunting back home, I stopped at Whole Foods Market in Seattle and bought some fresh chantrelles, fresh thyme, and a shallot, and the night my Dad fixed his famously delicious spaghetti, I whipped up a side dish of sauteed chantrelles. Delicious dinner. Great company! A most enjoyable mini-vacation!

    While aboard, I enjoyed my own private stateroom - an approximate four-foot by four-foot compartment with bunk beds that I named, my "Cozy Cubby. Despite being small, the upper bunk I occupied was comfy and cozy!

    As of now, Daddy and Sandy are already planning next year's six-months long cruise!

    

    

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

 

 

October!

 

Listen! the wind is rising,
and the air is wild with leaves.
We have had our summer evenings,
now for October eves.
~Humbert Wolfe, P.L.M.: Peoples, Landfalls, Mountains, 1936

 

 

I Love A Place Where Deer...

 

 

    I love living in a place where deer feel at ease enough to have a "lie down" beneath my balcony.

 

* * *

How strange that Nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!

~Emily Dickinson, letter to Mrs. J.S. Cooper, 1880

Eat Your Broccoli! All of It!

 

The stalk is actually the tastiest, tenderest part of broccoli! Really!

 

    The trimmed stalks of broccoli are wonderful for raw eating. Use them in healthy appetizers such as crudites for dipping or chopped for salads. Or, you can steam them, chopped, right along with the budding tips.

    First, stalks need to be trimmed. With a sharp kitchen knife cut across the stalk where it starts to branch into its budding tips. You may need to trim the bottom end if it's uneven so that you can stand it vertically on a cutting board for safe trimming.

    I usually cut the stalk in half and trim it in two parts for safety and stability. Carefully holding the stalk at the top away from each edge you'll be trimming, use the knife to slice away the thin, tough outer skin, slicing downward. Work all the way around the stalk, carefully so as to not nick your fingers. Then, chop raw onto salads or slice and serve with other sliced, raw veggies such as, carrots, celery, and asparagus.

    Dipping veggies, instead of potato chips, into Ranch dressing/dip is a traditional and healthier way to snack.

    Or, chop the stalk and add it to a pan along with its budding tips for steaming!

 

Eat your broccoli! It's rich in vitamins, minerals, and cancer fighting properties!

 

 

 

Poults On Parade!

 

    I heard "gobble, gobble" as I sipped my morning dande-ccino (roasted dandelion cappuccino) whilst sitting at my front porch bistro table doing a crossword puzzle!

    Looking over the railing I saw this flock of wild turkeys with their poults/chicks meandering over the lawn. I wondered if one of the hens was the one who'd chased me down the trail a few of weeks ago when I'd encountered her on my forest walk. Mama hen was sitting not only on the trail but on a batch of about eight tiny chicks. That mama chased me for a quarter mile to protect her chicks! 

    These chicks are quadrupled in size to those I'd seen just weeks ago. I counted 17 babies in the combined group of a couple of hens and one tom.

    I just love the wildlife that wanders through the common and garden areas of the forest-side condos where I live!

    It seems the chicks are old enough that the parents feel the babes can be taken away from the nest to learn how to forage for food like the "big birds".

    Wild turkeys are very much like chickens in their habits and body language...only much bigger.

 

* * * *

 

 

Encounter With Wildlife...A Turkey Hen and Poults

 

On my morning forest walk I encountered a protective hen with her chicks, also called "poults"

 

The forest path where I walk in the morning

 

    So, I'm ambling happily along seeing what's in bloom, what's ready to gather, and simply enjoying a late Spring morn in the forest close to home. 

    I'm looking at the ground and when I look up, there in the middle of the trail is a wild turkey nestled down in front of me. My first thought was that she was hurt. She made no attempt to move so I thought I'd just skirt around her.

    When I got to about two feet away she jumped to her feet. Beneath her were about eight wee, fluffy chicks running in tight circles, startled by the sudden removal of their shelter and warmth.

    Mama turkey faced off with me and I backed up and turned around and headed back the way I'd come.

    Thankfully, she wasn't as aggressive as a goose or swan would likely have been and I was able to escape at the pace of a fast walk with her right behind me. She "chased" me for nearly a quarter of a mile. I kept thinking that she'd turn back to her chicks but she wanted me far, far away from them. Finally she ran up the bank and back toward them. I had to take a longer way home instead of the shortcut I'd intended but it was worth the extra distance to have seen something so precious as those fluffy babies and to experience the maternal instincts of a wild creature smaller than me. Thankfully, that wild creature was not a bear!

    My condo is so close to the edge of the forest that deer, wild turkeys, and quail are often seen passing through our garden areas. I treasure their presence with a sense of wonder and delight. Although the deer do munch on our landscaping, I've discovered that pinning a scented dryer sheet beneath something they like to snack on keeps them away from it.

 

Last Spring on the same trail I awakened this young buck from his early morning nap as I walked by.

 

 

 

In Full Flower!

 

A close up of crab apple flowers. The blossoms are many times bigger than the fruit that follows.

 

    The fruit of this apple tree, beloved by birds and animals is too tart for humans. It's also too tiny to utilize for canning or cooking and would take lots of sugar to tame its tarty nature.

    Lying out on the balcony the other day I became aware of a lovely floral fragrance. Less bold than lilac, lighter that a rose, less cloying than gardenia or jasmine - I can only describe the light sweetness by what it is not. This gentle, sweet fragrance wafting and filling balcony and the rooms beyond must be the apple tree. The mock orange had since ceased to bloom. Nothing else could be the culprit that might be nearby.

    It must be the apple tree. It simply must! Each blossom's subtle aroma compounded by many thousands until it became knowable to my nose.

    Sticking my nose into a bundle of blossoms...Yes! It is the crab apple! When living at the Cottage I grew Red Rome Beauties and Mackintosh apples for eating, juicing, canning, but never caught a whiff of a scent from those smaller, but productive blossoms.

 

This tree cools the sun-heated air that enters my home on its warm south side.  The wee, moist exudations of hundreds of thousands of leaves mitigates heated air passing through its canopy and thus to me and into my home. Want to cool your home? Plant a tree to shade its hot south side!

 

    Windows situated away from its influence on the same south side  must be closed on warm days to keep my home cool.

    Beauty, blossoms, cooling, attracting wildlife, soft sweet fragrance! It's all here in this lovely tree.

 

* * *

 

Crab Apple Notes:

    Crab apples make wonderful pollinators for apple trees humans like to grow and eat.

    Crab apples bear the loveliest blossoms of the entire apple family. From white, to shades of pink, and into deep rose, crab apples will adorn orchard or garden with a spectacular Spring show.

 

     

Beginnings...

    Spring is a series of beginnings...

 

The season for coral and morel mushrooms is just beginning! These are cleaned and ready to saute in butter with shallots, thyme, a splash of dry vermouth and a dash of salt and pepper. They were enjoyed by Joanne and me with a tasty libation while sitting at the bistro table on my front porch. Yummy!

 

    Because of the six weeks of additional Winter predicted by that varmint seeing his shadow upon his emergence...our mushroom season was delayed by three weeks. It's just starting now. Most years it would be over by now - last two weeks of April and winding up the first week of May. Not this year!

 

Last week the crab apple tree beside my balcony began to bud. Note the wizened tiny black apples from last year. This tree is a feast for birds all year long! And, a banquet for my eyes each Spring!

 

Today, May 8th, the blossoms have swollen to near bursting! They'll be open in a day or two! Can't wait. 

My balcony beside bursting blossoms beautiful!

 

    Other beginnings...

    The flannel sheets are off my bed until next Autumn. Summer cotton sheets are back on.

    The nighttime temperatures are now above freezing...into the 40's which is perfect for forest mushrooms!

    The days are in the warm and balmy 70's. Winter clothes are again in hibernation until late Fall.

    My palate has moved from Winter's comfort foods to lighter fare such as green drinks, salads, tossed pasta dishes, and foraged Spring greens...dandelions, wood sorrel, miner's lettuce, and more!

    Spring is exciting. If I don't keep my eyes open I'll miss all the series of beginnings that this transitional time bestows.

 

* * * *

 

Alone with myself
The trees bend to caress me
The shade hugs my heart.
~Candy Polgar

 

Me, the balcony, the apple tree beyond!

Tree of Life

A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible.

~Welsh Proverb

 

 

Taken around mid-summer, this photo shows the old crab apple tree near my balcony.

 

    Now, at Winter's end and moving slowly into Spring, this austere tree is barren, its branches awaiting blossoms and leaves. Moss clinging to its twigs (here in the Inland Northwest moss is on everything). The tree may look barren now, but while a mere glance indicates little happening, it belies the richness of life in and beneath it branches.

     If I sit quietly and watch, all kinds of things take place in the embrace of this tree. 

 

Just last week a flock of about 30 of these - cedar waxwings - came to eat the small dried apples. I've never seen these birds before. I think they were passing through. They were so abundant and flighty they scared away the robins who claim and defend this tree as their own.

 

    In Autumn the tree regularly hosts our local covey of quail and their nearly mature chicks who feast on the ripened, bitter apples. The robins are afraid of the quail. 

  

Throughout Winter the local flock of robins eat the little apples clinging persistently in clusters throughout Winter. Their reddish breasts ornament the tree in Wintertime. The robins will chase away lone birds but seem intimidated by visiting flocks.

 

      Varied Thrushes congregate in the tree in autumn to celebrate the apple feast. I've enjoyed the bright yellow of orioles in Spring, the screech and blue flash of mountain jays, the sunny dashes of gold finches, and Western tanagers, too.

    Nut hatches frequent the tree - not after apples - but bugs in the crevices of bark. Sparrows, house finches, and other so called, "common birds", are frequent visitors that warm my heart. 

    While wild turkeys are seen all about the common areas, I haven't observed that they make visits to the tree for food. Of course, what I've been able to observe of the tree's visitors is likely only a fraction of the goings and comings.

 

 Deer come to munch on fallen, and possibly fermented, apples in late Autumn and Winter, and nibble the lawn all year, pawing away snow. 

 

    At all times of the year this tree attracts life, sheltering, feeding, and shading all within its circumference. I enjoy a "bird's eye" view of the comings and goings from the bower of my balcony. For me the tree provides entertainment, beauty, shade on hot summer days, and privacy.

   Let me share this "tree of life" throughout the Seasons that I've been graced to observe and experience.

 

Later in Spring - soon to arrive - the tree is a cloud of snowy blossoms!

 

In Summer, the tree shelters and cools my south-facing balcony.

 

In Autumn it drops a carpet of colored leaves around the angel beneath its boughs.

 

In Winter, wee apples are a staple food of much of the area's wildlife.

 

    I love this tree!

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.

~Minnie Aumonier