Old Fashioned

 Blogs are so old fashioned. I think they are only used to link to from social media when you have an audience...

Oh well here I am blogging away like its the 2010's. The good thing is no one reads it anymore, I am mostly blogging to talk to myself in a less crazy way. If that's at all possible. Or maybe for nostalgia? Maybe not, there are no cute baby pictures or adventure pictures or even any crafting pictures. It's just words now. Words. There are already too many of those in the world. And if you were going to read words you would read a book.

I am currently reading The King Must Die. I just finished She of The Sea, next is If Women Rose Rooted. This year I made a list of books for friends, hand written, as a holiday gift. I thought it was a little silly but those I gave it to really loved it. And now I want my friends to write book lists. Or really any kind of list. Favorite recipes of the year (the really tried and true type you turn to again and again), most listened to music, favorite hikes, binge worthy tv, favorite gardening gloves...anything really! 

Slow and old fashioned are just right for right now I think.

Steam

Steam. Healing in all its ways. A warm mug, a warm bath, a dreamed of sauna, soup steaming up into my face, a just finished dishwasher "facial" as we call it here...

In times past we would have to work harder for that steam. Now it's not very hard. Hot water heater, stoves you don't have to light and tend (though I do cook on a 1930's gas stove with pilot lights), a dishwasher vs washing all by hand. With all of life "eases" have we made life harder? 

I was chopping veggies last night for dinner. I've grown to enjoy that time. Standing there, maybe with music, maybe in blessed silence. Maybe with a kombucha or a warm cup of tea. But just there. Rhythmically chopping. You can't hurry too much or you might loose a finger, you can't go too slow or whiney, hungry people might show up. It is, I think a good thing. The slowing down and doing something the way my grandmothers have done for eons.

Eons. Can you imagine it? Can you feel those before you when you do everyday tasks that have been done for generations? Inviting those who have come before us into our minds is a beautiful thing. There is much to learn, they have much to teach. Ancestors are there if we slow down just a little.

Last night I made THIS - Butternut Squash and Chickpea Soup but over rice.

And THIS Shakshuka With Feta (but we use goat chèvre) has been an easy but wonderful recipe on repeat in my kitchen. 

I usually treat myself to one cooking like subscription, I am really enjoying the NYT Cooking app right now, Bon Appétit, and Vegetarian Times have all been favorites in the past. I also checkout an insane amount of cookbooks from the library (especially in January and September). Fern and I have been getting some off the NYT Best Cookbooks of 2021 list. Most recently À Table by Rebekah Peppler.

 

Broth

 Its 2022.

I've pulled out some broth to defrost.

Life is unexpected. Occasionally I'd like it to be boring. Mundane. Predictable in its ease. Right now it feels like it is always demanding. Always changing. One fire to the next flood. 

I worry about the levels of stress we live with. The baseline level of trauma that is always there. And what we do with that trauma.

Sometimes I am caught in the inability to act because of life. Sometimes I can not sit still. But if we are all living this new level of stress and trauma is it an excuse anymore? Does it change our collective baseline? Does it change what is appropriate action or inaction?

We just finished watching possibly the most popular dystopian epic of my generation on film. Star Wars. The whole thing. I know we call it sci fi or fantasy but really its dystopian. They are our favorite tales. They make us feel like we are stable in our lives because of their chaotic lives. THIS NPR article was a great article from years ago. I don't think it is only for teens either, we are all trying to make reason of this world.

Are our lives really that different from these tales? No we are not flying at light speed. We don't have cruisers to hop on and fly away. But are we not all fighting battles between our own light and dark? The light and dark of this world? I don't know. It seems we are living our own dystopian novel, or at least the beginning of one.

Maybe our goals should be the same as the characters we watch though out the films. Connection, family of choice, letting people change, and tapping into that life force that runs through every tree, rock, and person.