[being-at-work-staying-oneself is] difficult to bring into focus, but possible to be

This isn't a food blog!!! But this is what we are having for dinner, thanks to our church friends who have included lovely meat in our CSA share. The husband works as a butcher at Moody Meats and so he is able to get us eggs and meat along with the vegetables that he and his wife are growing out in the country near where I grew up. I am giddy with health and hippie virtue in the most obnoxious way possible.

I wanted to find a Youtube video of the Drevne Ruski Rospev monastery choir to share with you, because I've been listening to them all morning, but this video of St. Basil's Cathedral with part of their "Now The Powers" is all I can find. It gives you an idea. They are so haunting and peaceful. When I was a junior in college, I would frequently go to sleep listening to their CD "Ancient and Monastic Chants." Although I was diligent in my prayers and fasting, I wasn't going to church very often during that time, unfortunately. My brain was always buzzing about, working through all the mathematical, philosophical and scientific structures that the Enlightenment built with such sanguine hopes. I was going to yoga every day and discovering new strength (I remember the changes in my body so surprised me that I called it a "second puberty.") Socially, I was drunk on popularity, wit, and the favor of my professors. My faith in my own powers was strong. I don't think I ever consciously said "Therefore I needn't go to church," but there is probably some connection. Nevertheless, I always returned to the ancient quiet of this music, and I am sure that it saved me. I wish I could show you more of it. If you are able, you should buy this album.

Thank God that it is summer. Matt just told me about his beginning-of-summer memory that he always returns to. He was walking up the trail to the mountains behind the college, and just before the buildings gave way to the wilderness, he saw a tutor and a student talking and gesticulating with beers from the Santa Fe Brewing Company in hand. It is a small image, but to me it means that the tilling, plowing, and sowing are over, and it is time to let blossom.

Julius Caesar

My husband has been working with a few students for several months on this adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. Nobody else (including me) had seen it until yesterday at our graduation ceremony, and we were all completely floored by the maturity of the performances and the sheer amount of memorization. The editing of the play consisted only in choosing the three scenes most important to the plot-- there was no "dumbing down" of the language at all.

You can watch it in this series of videos taken by a parent. Altogether it is about 45 minutes long.

Brutus is in 4th grade, Antony and Cassius in 6th, and Metullus Cimber and Caesar in 9th. I have seen a lot of children's theatre and although I am partial to these kids, and I like Shakespeare better than The Wizard of OZ, I must say that I have never seen such sensitive performances with such rich material.

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

part 6

zero

Also: If you are new to reading my blog, I want to apologize for its totally artless appearance. It's both intentional and unintentional. I got fed up with messing around with pictures and thought I'd take it back to square one, just black and white with default everything. Then somehow I got stuck and still canNOT figure out how to change anything again! I don't mind the black and white, but the font and spacing are terrible! I am way more artistic than this blog makes me look, you must believe me.

Speaking of black and white, I just read Bea Johnson's hot new book, The Zero Waste Home. Thanks to my friend Rachel, I have been following her blog for a few months and have been totally inspired. I have to say that the blog frightened me a little bit. In the first post that I read, she talked about freaking out on a camping trip when they had to buy a plastic jug of water. Little things like that made me wonder if this woman was totally immoderate, like in the way that makes everybody uncomfortable. But I was charmed by pictures of her wearing the same black oversize man's button-up shirt every day, all summer, in 40 or 50 different cute ways. So I kept reading, and I'm convinced. I want to adopt new ways at a natural pace, and the last thing I want to do is be weird about it or make anyone else feel bad, but count me in. Here are some very small steps I've taken since I started reading the blog, both to simplify my life and reduce my waste:

• Ripping up old t-shirts to make "paper towels"
• Remembering (more often) to bring a bag to the store
• Finding a store where I can buy bulk
• Signing up for dairy, egg, meat and produce shares with local farmers/friends from church
• Recycling more; donating lots of old stuff to the thrift store
• Using olive oil as a face cleanser and vinegar as a toner (they both really work)
• Massaging coconut oil into my hair occasionally, so that I don't need conditioner
• Choosing to buy those recyclable toothbrushes made from yogurt cups (laugh at me!) 
• Buying a water filter instead of buying so many dumb jugs of filtered water for kombucha
• Keeping a coffee cup in the car for the free coffee at Half-Price Books... that's a joke, because it was a dirty coffee cup from that morning. But I did make the decision to turn around and get it, and it was raining!

This summer I would like to accomplish a few more steps:

• Minimize my wardrobe and donate extras (cutting down on laundry!)
• Composting (for... other people's gardens I suppose)
• Finally figure out how to do the dishes correctly (I always waste tons of water)
• Streamlining kitchen and pantry
• Getting the appropriate containers for buying/storing bulk foods (I drool over her 100 mason jars)
• Assess weekly/monthly food needs so that I can minimize trips to the store
• Get the dang bike fixed and find one for Mon Epoux

Those are slightly more daunting tasks than bringing a bag to the store. But not as daunting as say, using moss for toilet paper, which the author used to do when she was even crazier about zero waste. And none of it is as daunting to me as the Diva Cup. Eek.

Please let me know if I ever become judgmental or weird about this. What I don't like about the book is how Zero-Waste seems to have become as important as a religion to the author. I absolutely think that mindfulness about the material world is part of becoming more attuned to God. But it is easier to be zealous in organizing my closet than in rooting out those pesky baobabs from my planet, especially when the former zeal can be flavored so deliciously with pride.

I must go make some cookies.

Just mopped my kitchen floor with my foot and a washcloth. Why not?

Cantique de la vierge marie

An iconography class friend lent me some CDs of African music. So far the Senegalese (Catholic) monks of "Keur Moussa" have gotten the heaviest rotation. The chant sounds Western but is accompanied by the lovely kora and even some percussion.

“A Christian is a poet and lives amid poetry”


http://afkimel.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/a-christian-is-a-poet-and-lives-amid-poetry/

"crunchy cashew thai quinoa salad"

I am eating the leftovers of this salad right now and it is incredible. I didn't use red cabbage because I could not find it either at Kroger or Aldi's. I suppose it's not in season, but I don't know when that has ever stopped either of those stores. I also substituted rice vinegar for red wine, because I had it, and why not make it more "asian?"

We served this salad the other night to some very happy guests, along with brats, beer and lemonade. It was a perfect side! This blog seems annoying, but the recipe is great.

Crunchy Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad