Deer Music and Bread

My rickety knees join the rattle
As the wind trips through winter’s branches
I hear the chimes of urban life, further away and
as the path curves through the woods,
the church bell, the cars’ horns, the noisy shutter and loud sigh of a bus
Rounding a corner
Up ahead, the deer quietly crunch as they appear
On my path in the snow
It’s the three fawns, almost grown
I love their innocent wildness, their thick winter coat, their Doe eyes
So unperturbed in this deep winter dream.

I made a successful Dutch Oven bread, very holy :)

Cheese and chutney loaf and a walk in nature?

Scribbled on a scrap of paper I find:

Dried fruit 3/4 cup
Minced ginger 1Tbl
cloves 10
Frozen Cherries 2 cups"
Chopped & peeled apple 1 cup
Red onion, minced
Cinnamon sticks 2
Mix sugar & hone (or light brown sugar) 1 cup
Cider vinegar 1 cup

Cook til liquid is almost gone then cool and refridgerate

That’s the chutney

Blend (food process) cream cheese and choice of cheese. I chose white cheddar. About 1/2 and 1/2 but you can play around with it.

Shape into loaf, refrgerate. Then slather chutney on top

Chopped raw scallions on top add a nice dimension

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Windy days are a retreat from stillness…

Bigs & Littles & inbetweens

27
I am here with it all
Beauty warmed by the sun
The faint aromas of many lives
intermingled
Like a delicious bakery
Like bodies after sex
Like past and future stories
Fiction or not
There is a vastness and a littleness
A Petrie dish and a universe
Boiling air and bubbles alive with matter
All sorts of life and
One spirit that can elude us
If we wish…

29
Can you die being swollen with life?
Is the here-after filled with color and black & white?
Have I trod carefully enough?
Too carefully?
Does the Willow speak or sing?
Is the wind it’s melody?

If we were giants
We would walk here with impunity
The tall Oak would be a twig
The vibrant small world occupied
By interesting creatures
So delicate and vulnerable
So many!
There might not be a distinction between
A human, a deer, a bug
Ah, miniscule life!

Citrus and Waves...not in order

There was a wave on the ocean. Far out, a small, struggling wave. It sensed a deep rhythm beneath it but didn’t know what to do. It cried, its tears were salty and copious. The wave lingered and moved to where the Sun was always shining. The little Wave did not really like the dark. So much dark up above even with the twinkling stars. So much dark below filled with mysterious movement and longings.

As the Wave progressed, she grew. She circled the globe once, then twice. She whispered farewell to her family of waves. As life took shape and form and gathered the different components of wave and mass and length together.

She filled many cups, many times over. She roused the sleeping people on the shorelines. She hummed quietly around the ever moving sharks. She was mystified by jelly fish and pink skin and mirages on the sea..

She rumbled and roved and delicately planted her riders where she thought they wanted to be …consumed and toppled by the great wave that was she.

She created enormous tunnels of her rolling waters, to surprise and delight. She banished hesitancy and rewarded risk. She claimed man and beast into her watery deep. But tenderly let them rest within her and sleep. Her waters calmed and surged. She never reminisced because in her Andalusian heart she knew a timelessness.

Creme Fraiche salad dressing

1 c. creme fraiche*
1 lemon skin chopped fine
1/2 lemon, juiced
2-3 Tb fresh oregano, chopped
2-3 Tb fresh dill, chopped
1-2 tsp anchovy paste
1-2 tsp Dijon mustard
1-2 tsp Chives, chopped
Salt & Pepper to taste

* creme fraiche: 1/2 heavy cream, 1/2 whole milk buttermilk. Set out in glass jar with lid, 48 hours. Refrigerate after

Ruminations & recipes (we all need to eat)

Salami pizza
Prep: 1 1 ½ hours Cook:  45 minutes Serves 2-4 people

Ingredients Dough & Pizza:

1 ball dough (8-9oz), 4 C. All purpose organic, unbleached flour, ½ tsp Instant yeast,1 tsp Salt, 2C. Water
Mix, knead, rise (1-1 1/2 hours) 

-¼  C. Virgin Olive oil, 4  oz. Salami & Sopressata, sliced thin, 8 slices (8 oz)whole milk mozzarella, 1 medium shallot, sliced thin, 1 tsp fennel or anise seeds, crushed, ½  C. Parmesan or Romano cheese, shredded, ½-1 C. prepared pizza sauce or marinara, Kosher salt, fresh baby greens (radish tops too) or herb leaves

1 flat pan or cooking sheet.  Depending on thickness of dough, makes one 10”x12” pizza

Preparation (preheat oven to 450 degrees)

1. Spread ⅛ C. or less Olive oil on pan

2. Gently push dough into the shape, size you’d like (approx. 10”x12”) in pan

3. Spread pizza sauce on dough

4. Place sliced mozzarella on sauce

5. Spread salami & sopressata on top of cheese, place sliced shallot on top

6. Sprinkle with crushed fennel seeds and parmesan cheese.

7. Bake for 25 mins.  Should be very golden/brown and bottom crispy.

8. Sprinkle with Kosher salt and greens. Drizzle remaining olive oil on top

Walking Poem #9

The trees that bow before this last great swell

The air and land that meet

Green clouds that are leaves

Overlook this muddy trough

A pond? A puddle? A rebuke?

A Great Green Heron sits in the middle

Either on a ridge or the water is not deep

She looks directly at me, stares me down

Then turns away, leaning beak first, into the summer smells

She reminds me of the slow approach of an alligator… with wings

Her prey is there

She swallows in anticipation

Where and What

Turn the page. All the pages.
Light a fire. Rethink compensation.
Sing along with Life.
Get a helping hand, give a helping hand.
Remember solitude and solace. Keep calm, all prisoners walk free.

Dance alone or with others. Keep moving your body.
Remember love in the bones, your bones.
Good morning and good evening. Spend all that time dreaming today.
No need to speak. No need to feel like a wild beast.
More gentleness to all, to self.
Thank you, please, appreciate.
Make a sample. Test it, taste it. Adjust, go for it.

Regret nothing, simply pour your memories down the drain.
Like a deep, deep well, they sink through the earthen walls and seep
Into the whole of the earth
They are there but gone.
They support you but tie you down, tether you.
Be like a plant that uses the nutrition from the earth
But always looks up to the sky for sun and rain.
Stay softly in Nature.
Communicate gently.
Fill with wonder.
See the future
Use your imagination.

Heat & Life

walking poem #8 (Heat & Life)

The chimera of a deer’s ears
Twitching
The shapes of things in nature
Created again and again
Human’s interpretations
Chimeras themselves, if we admit it
Searching on a path
In and out of shade and shadow
What difference lies there?
Humble thoughts
The globe turns
We live below the winds for now
Steady in the heat of life.

“Tuscan” Ribs : slow cooked on a grill, difficult but did it with help
Marinate: Fresh sage, rosemary, thyme, smoked paprika, lots of salt, black pepper, 1/4 C Olive oil. Rub ribs.
Glaze: 1/2 C White balsamic vinegar (add grape juice if too harsh) 4-6 crushed garlic cloves

Leftovers are excellent cold but I think I’ll make a salad with them. I served the ribs with corn pancakes and rice.