Psychic Earthquake

Beware of what you wish goes the popular warning to all who believe greener pastures lie on the other side of the fence, over in the next valley or even in heaven.  Inordinate amounts of energy and, more importantly, precious

of time will be spent searching.  Will it be worth the expenditure?

As for my current visitation into my new found pasture, I think I am committed to my choice but unconvinced that the green was worth the effort.  I should have known.  I had been here in this field before and been disappointed.  I am being vague on purpose.  The point of my story centers not on the details of my disappointment but rather on the fact that I looked once again to “somewhere else” for a better day; a softer easier path emotionally. 

Scratch that rant.  Bull.  I chose money.  I needed that green and I found it.  The pasture was fertile and I am full up from the consumption of its bountiful nutrients.  However, the repast does not come easily.  Imagine eating a sumptuous meal that moved as you ate, or at times was eaten in total darkness and you fork and spoon went missing.  Can you picture a steak turning into soup mid bite?  I am indeed delighted with my field of plenty.   I must admit to being exhausted by the effort of reaching and staying at the plate.  

Yes, full turnabout.  The trip over the next valley was immensely worthy the while.  I made no mistake.  I may have overestimated my ability to enjoy the meal.  

Leek Soup and a Movie

Today I watched "Eat, Pray, Love."  Good movie.  I ask myself.  What am I passionate about in this life?  I answer, "This life."  Life is enough for me.   It washes over me, fills me with sights, smells, sounds, tastes and I experience feelings at each one.

I am about to make Leek and Sweet Potato soup.  I have never attempted the recipe, but I love leeks and I love sweet potatoes.  In a typically human way, I am compelled to try and gather all my loves into a pile and experience them all.  My three legged coon hound-rottweiller mix does the same thing with her frisbees.

Leeks are flavorful and oily.  I love the oily sheen they leave in soup.  The aromas of a leek cooking is very attractive, and the residue of the oil saturates the soup with the unique "not quite an onion taste."  Very good.

I gathered the recipe, but I will not follow it to the letter.  Nope.  Not my way.  I am gonna let the leek tell me what to do.  I will cook it until the flavors seem strongest.  I will do as my tastebuds bid.

Staying in the Middle of the Patch

What a scary world I live in today.  My generation was young when we "tore down the Berlin wall" and when Bill Clinton took office as president of the United States.  We are approaching our fifties and the world has erupted once more into war and the subject of walls have sprung up from Mexico to the Balkans.

The nineties began with a war, blossomed into a debt free national treasury and a pretty decent standard of living, then ended with the faintest hint of trouble on the wind.  Don't Ask, Don't Tell whisked me out of the military as the new century opened and then on September 11th, 2001, my country went into collective shock.

We have yet to recover.

Love Is An Art Form

Love is an art form.  We must develop the discipline to practice loving under all conditions.  We are born with all the capacity for love within us, and we are open to learning.  If we are supremely lucky, we learn from our parents; not just from the love they extend to us as offspring, but by example as they love each other as a couple and others outside the intimate family circle.