Kale and Feta Salad

Ok, I haven't shared many recipes, and I will probably get around to it someday, but when I realized that I had eaten this particular dish twice this week (it's Monday), all by myself because Dan is gone and I haven't convinced my children of the incredible goodness that is kale - which means I ate two large bunches of kale with no problem - I realized I should probably share. I heard about it from my college roommate, Mary, who posted about it on her blog. The original called for ricotta salata, but since I had to look that up to figure out what it was, I decided to use the feta I had in my fridge. It was delicious. Here is my version...

1 bunch kale (called for lacinato - I used what they had at market, which I think was called Blue)
2 TBS shallots
1 1/2 TBS lemon juice
4 TBS olive oil
2 ounces feta

wash and de-stem the kale. cut into strips, crosswise.
combine the shallots and lemon juice, then whisk as you add the olive oil.
toss kale with dressing and add the feta.
voila. eat the whole thing.
or don't - I put a small portion on a pizza that I made with roasted beets. OH LORDY, yum.

Clothespin Photo Garlands

Clothespins + wool felt pennies = my creative moment for the holidays...

I know, it doesn't seem like much, but they were so lovely to make, and the girls learned the blanket stitch in the process (in the photo below, E made the one on the left, and A made the one on the right), and they fit my criteria of functional and purty at the same time. I also got to dip my toes into the waters of embroidery on a very very small scale.

We use clothes pins to hang everything around here - kids' artwork, poetry, photos, Christmas cards.

I also had these awesome gnome stickers that I'd been holding onto for years, and they made a nice set for my sister - I imagined her hanging her Christmas cards from them...I used modge-podge to affix them to cereal-box-weight cardboard before cutting them out and gluing them to the clothespins.

A smaller set hangs above the counter in the kitchen, holding some old family photos.
There you go! A simple project that makes a nice hostess gift, or small token, easily sent along in the mail, and simple enough for the kids to work on as well...Eliza even made a few and attached ribbon to make ornaments.

Calling Owls

This will be short...today was a day of good-byes, to Morfar and Gramma Liz, after three wonderful, packed days of remembering and connecting, and to Dan, who is off for three days of rehearsing in Iowa. Never easy, we eased the pain with...Trader Joe's. Mmmhmm, the combination of tiny shopping carts (for them) and cheap wine by the case (for me) met some of the needs we had to feel cared for and special today. Then we decided to forgo our usual cram-in-the-shopping-oh-my-gosh-we're-in-a-CITY mode of the airport drop-off (we'll hit Target and Hobby Lobby on Monday during the pick-up, when I have my list firmed up. I'm a terribly shopper without a list.), in hopes of feeling energized enough to join an Owl Walk tonight at the Waterloo Center. I love that we were all on the same page about this - this is my idea of the perfect Friday night "out " - bonfire, hot chocolate and walking in the dark, calling for owls, with people who know way more than I do about all things natural. It would not be a trip out with my little people if there weren't some crisis to derail things a bit (SNOW! in her BOOT! now it's WET!), but even with that, it was lovely. Darkness, friends, and we called in a screech owl, which I had never heard before - it sounded sort of like a small ghostly whinny from a phantom miniature horse to me. Magical. Ani and I ducked out early (the SNOW!), but Eliza continued on for another half an hour with our friends, while we headed back to start in on the hot chocolate. We then ended up driving our friends home, to the middle of the dark dark woods on their sketchy country road, because their old car finally died. It is always a good challenge for me to do something I'd rather not, and heck, doesn't it always feel so good to realize you can drive in the scary woods on icy roads and survive?!

My girls fell asleep in the car on the way home while I sang Simon and Garfunkel and Nancy Griffith songs, and that is always a sweet blessing.

*Owl calling advice: speaking from experience, our guide tonight advised that we not call in the screech owls and then switch to calling in the great horneds...the screeches will be attacked. She said the first time she took a group out years ago she did just that and folks weren't quite ready for the in-your-face reality show that ensued. Good advice!!

Full day

The building that we rent space in for choir is about a seven minute walk up the hill from us, and is an old church turned into an art space. When we arrived on Monday for choir, there was a young woman from our neighborhood who we recognized as a beagle-walker. She was hanging her paintings and her dad's writings for an art show that opens tonight. She and Eliza got to talking and Eliza told her that she too was an artist, and how does an artist have a show like this? Leah invited her to bring some of her paintings or drawings and she would hang them in the show. A very generous offer that she reiterated to me. Eliza took her up on it and we walked her paintings up the hill this morning.

We'll go tonight to support Leah and see Eliza's paintings hanging beside hers. After we dropped off the paintings, we all continued up the hill to the "uptown" and lunch at a hot dog joint called O'Betty's. I highly recommend the tofu dog with baked beans and coleslaw!!

And on the day went...to the Athens County Historical Society and Museum, down the street. They have an exhibit called Please Touch! (when I told Eliza what it was called and asked if she'd like to go, she said "Please Touch? That is for ME!!"). The girls got to dress up as pioneers to this area and explored a house, general store/post office, doctor's office and schoolroom that they had set up. The museum is still under construction, but they were entertained enough for us to be there for an hour and a half!

Dad, in the schoolroom

Washing clothes the old way

Look, Mom! It's a "human weigher"!

Sounds like a full day, huh? Well, wait! There's more! We pass an old cemetery on our way to and from the uptown, and the girls wanted to do some exploring. The weather was beautiful today, the temperature nearing 40, with bits of green ("Mama! It's the first green of Spring!" says Ani) and blue skies...

The day's not yet over...home, smoothies, SET, time with Morfar and Gramma before they leave, anticipating pizza with Papa tonight, before he goes...Filling up...

Visiting Days

My Dad and Gramma Liz are here to help us enjoy the last days of snow (ha!)...

sled tracks

mystery tracks

kid tracks

train tracks

Games, cards, movies, food, conversation (my dad and I stayed up till midnight last night, dragging out names from the distant past - what was the name of the principal at our school in Moscow? Did I use to ride with a little Iranian boy and his driver to school once in a while? - it's so nice to put more form to those memories, and he is very indulgent with my vague bits and pieces.) The weather is warming up, the icicles are melting, the skies are bright. Everyone leaves tomorrow - our guests towards more family south of here, Dan to rehearse Starball with an old buddy before they perform in February...a weekend alone with the girls, sudden stillness (what? what stillness??). We'll see what the days hold. I'm looking forward to a little rhythm and routine to unfold - we've been in "flexible" mode since Thanksgiving and I think we could all use a little more of the predictable, whatever that looks like!

Inside and Out

Doulas for the everyday

In December I traveled to Seattle, alone, to be around for the birth of my good friend's first baby. While I was there I visited with a friend who was fresh from a weekend workshop in Matrix Energetics. I cannot begin to pretend that I know the first thing about what that is, but something must have sunk into my subconscious (which is some of what it's all about. I think.), because in a moment of imagined crisis on the plane ride home, that bit of something is what surfaced and made sense. What J explained to me was that you can visualize yourself essentially channeling knowledge that you don't have from your own life experience, and use it for healing in your present moment. Her example was a surgery she had recently, where she visualized the world's best surgeon in the room, guiding the hands of her surgeon, with the result that the mood in the operating room was one of levity and light and the successful surgery was done in record time, much to the surprise of the professionals present.

I'm on the little airplane, from Chicago to Columbus. I've been expecting delays due to weather all day, so the 20 minutes we're running behind is nothing. As we begin our descent, the wind picks up. Then it really picks up. Like it's tossing us around like mad, and I am starting to panic. I think about my girls and I actually start to cry. Then I imagine all of the panicked scared thoughts of the one hundred-plus passengers putting out of balance the pilot and co-pilot on the plane - that's a lot of negativity to counter. So I try to shift my thoughts. I start with the explanation given to me by my Matrix Energetics friend, of borrowing the knowledge that is already out there, and I call on the skills of the best pilot ever. I imagine him in the cockpit, confident and unrattled by a little wind. I imagine him having fun and fully present. Then I am imagining the positive thoughts and joyful energy of everyone on board - unskilled to actually fly the plane, but able to lend their strength, confidence and energy to the pilot. Maybe it's because I was just coming from supporting a birth, but it felt so much like being at a birth - you cannot birth the baby for the laboring woman (not even if she turns her beautiful brown eyes to you and they say so much, but all she manages aloud is "DEBBIE.") - but your energy sure as hell affects how she does it.

There was a moment at the end of Bubbie's labor when it seemed that she needed the focused energy of everyone in the room to help her find her last reserves, and we were all there, doing our part - her husband had her ear and was digging deep, past his own high emotions, to find the words that would help her hold onto her strength (I believe the words he found were "add it on! add it on!" - we all had a giggle later that it was his inner soccer coach kicking in, and no one, not even he, was quite sure where "add it on" came from but guess what? It helped!); I was at her right leg, helping her find her grip behind her knee, my beautiful wise friend Carrie was across from me on the left knee, we were both doing a low reassuring moan of sorts I guess, a lot of mmmhmmmm, that's it, you're doing it, we're with you, you're doing it...it could only be her strength that would birth her daughter, but we were there to remind her of what was inside of her.

So - once I feel that everyone on board is "on board" with their positive thoughts, I start thinking of my girls again and imagine that we've landed and I'm walking down the hallway and they spot me and are so shiny and bright and brilliant in their joy and excitement, ...and then we're landing and I'm breathing consciously to calm myself, and the guy behind me starts whispering "smoooth, smoooth, smoooth, come on, smoooth" and it was all very clear for that instant: we all landed that plane, no question about it. I was euphoric - so relieved to be safe, and high in a way similar to how it feels to see your friend do the most amazing thing her will and her body have ever done, birthing a human being.

Also clear was this: this is the potential we have every day, to lend our energy to the world, to consciously work together with people we don't know to change our situation, turn things around, heal. Like we are all doulas* for the everyday.


*"Doula" is from the Greek for "woman who serves"; a doula is one who lends physical, emotional and informational support for a woman and her partner during pregnancy, labor and postpartum.