Move
Mosquitos and workmen are waiting for me outside this very early morning. I tried to go back to sleep but the ghosts of those recently departed are hanging around in my thoughts. And so I have chosen a nice place to sit inside on this very early morning. The air is good coming in through my open doors and windows and so I’ll sit and enjoy the cool breeze before the sun gets too high and pours off its heat to us existing below.
These posts are reassuring for me in that they force me to settle myself before the onslaught of the day. That is, before I look at my emails. It used to be the news that the posts would save me from whether it be on television or the internet, and now it’s my own communications with others. I have many projects going now so that a certain amount of busywork is created by way of scheduling meetings and gathering confirmations of various sorts. I’m good at that, but that is the problem. And so it seems to come down to the need for a settling period first thing in the day to protect me from myself. Funny how that happens. I’m not complaining really, the projects I’m involved with are mostly of my own creation and for which I’m prepared to do a certain amount of work to bring to fruition. To me they are laudatory projects that will help move the gallery forward in various positive ways. And personally I find them very exciting.
Also, since I’ve taken 15 art pieces in for framing, I’m ready to attend to those paintings that want to emerge from within me, ones that are showing up in my doodles and experiments on paper. To prevent bottlenecks, I try not to begin new art projects before I finish current ones and so now that the room for new art has opened up, I’m eager to get started. But not before I settle.
When will I bake the Jamacian pudding that my friend Ingrid has described? It sounds so good, and so good for promoting health. As I sit and listen to her describe how to make it, I make a list in my mind of the things needed for this recipe. I have most of them already - carrots, sweet potatoes, beets, and coconut milk - and so it should be easy. But this old girl needs some time to collect her thoughts lest she forget something crutial. I have many cookbooks and I know how to find things on the internet, I even have the NYT cooking app as a part of my subscription, but I choose to make something from memory - both mine and Ingrid’s. I find it more meaningful to think about a recipe from my friend’s homeland and childhood. As she describes her mother making this pudding I feel I’m in the room. I can hear Ingrid’s voice stepping me through the recipe as she has described this “pudding” 3-4 times now at my request. This all began with a discussion of how best to use beets.
My granddaughter gave me an interesting kind of cookbook for Christmas one year; it is an empty cookbook, but it is a cookbook for a mother to make for her daughter! I have no daughter, but Erika is my granddaughter and so it is for me to fill out for her. I don’t suppose they had a book for grandmothers to fill out. I am pleased at the request. It has been sitting here for a couple of years, but I have been pondering what recipes to include in it. I suppose it is for me to describe my favorites like Ingrid described hers to me. And so even though I have not written a single thing down yet, I have been mulling it over. The book is in full view of my couch sitting as it is on the top of a pile of books, reminding me daily that I need to get started. It will be an important document for her: recipes passed down from her grandmother. I’d better do a good job.
And so I’m thinking my first writing in that book will be a Basil Pesto recipe as I find I crave that taste; I’ve been fixing meals and using basil pesto as a condiment for weeks now. I have a container of very good basil pesto. Lately I’ve been buying my pesto from the market, but I have a healthy and abundant pesto plant outside my steps which I noticed needs some trimming and so I’d like to grind up my own batch just to remember and be sure of the steps for making it from scratch before I write it down. I’ve tried using a blender but I find that once the basil leaves pack down they don’t mix with the parmesan cheese or olive oil; it really is better if I grind the ingredients together; doubtless why I buy pesto from the market. I’m too lazy!
I have fond memories of my granddaughter’s visit just before she started college in Texas. I was hoping to win her out to this area by taking her for a tour to some of the wonderful college campuses we have here. But I think someone had stole her heart already. We had a good time anyway. As we prepared for our visits, we would make breakfast together and - of course - I introduced her to scrambled eggs with basil pesto. But miso soup was a strong contender too. Pesto is great and I have found a great many uses for it: noodles with pesto and maybe a few pieces of chicken. Also I use pesto or avacado instead of mayo in making a sandwich. I think the pesto recipe and probably the miso soup recipe will be the first ones to write down in this book for her. Maybe it will elicit some good memories from that visit for her too, in addition to giving her instructions for some good eating.
It’s part of my make up that I have many things going on as I believe life is change and change is activity. Once a person learns how to relax and enjoy change, it is a great way to stay healthy for life stops if we don’t move.