SISTERS

An old folk song has been swimming in my head lately and I find myself wondering about its real meaning.

It goes like this: "I had a sister Sally, she was younger than I am. She had so many sweethearts, she had to deny them. But, as for sister Sara, you know she hadn't many, but if you knew her well, she'd be grateful for any...don't let her die an old maid, but take her out of pity..."

Easily, I can relate it to the difference between when I was young and now, but I'm finding there's more to it than that.

There's Sally who chooses among many options .Then there's Sara who is grateful for life as it is given to her.  

These two parts exist in all of us - one is Sally and one is Sara. They are sisters.

Perhaps, too, when I was younger, I focused on choosing among the many possibilities and today I focus on choosing gratitude.

TIME

I have a tendency to measure time's passing with each daily visit to the pill box.

I count out the pills out every two weeks.

Lately, it feels like time is going by very quickly, as judged by seeing that a week has passed "already"
.
This time passing quickly can be a blessing if there is to be longevity -plenty of time for milliartins of experiences ahead.

This time passing quickly can create a sense of urgency if the last day appears to be coming sooner-than-later. Bucket lists of fun times fall by the wayside, unfinished business is tended to in a timely fashion.

None of us really knows where we fall on the spectrum of longevity  and sooner-than-later, whether at the pill counting out stage or any age. Ain't it the truth!!

A stairway in Assissi - one up, one down?

POMEGRANATE

The pomegranate is a powerful symbol as well as a truly unusual fruit.

Every year I have a pomegranate on the table during the holidays. 

For the most part it goes uneaten in preference to dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds - which don't feel like seeds at all..

The covering of the seeds are a sweet-tart experience. 

Unlike watermelon seeds which get spit onto the lawn, I still do not know proper etiquette for disposing of pomegranate seeds.

The pomegranate has medicinal qualities and therefore, in some cultures, is a symbol for the medical profession. Most of us, today, know it as an antioxidant. 

How boring, considering the rich ancient lore available about the pomegranate. The pomegranate for some religions is a symbol of life and hope, and has been known to be used as a potion for producing offspring.

 

Just to look at a pomegranate's scarlet hues, evokes mystery, wonder, and a certain sense of amazing presence -  noble fruit filled with seeds, and red juice which drips like a fresh wound's bleeding when cut open for the first time.

PIE

Easy to make KEY LIME PIE:
2 14 oz.  cans sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup freshly squeezed key lime juice
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tbsp. lime zest
9" pie crust of your choice

Cut and squeeze key limes, strain,  and pour into jars

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly in a glass or pottery bowl.

Pour gelling pie filling into pie crust and sprinkle additional key lime zest on top. Cover and hill pie.

Toss the cans, store the remainder of the key lime juice, make a lime drink from the limes grated for zest- preferably add some vodka and shake with a little vermouth in drink mixer, and fill a martini glass or two.  Lick the spatula and bowl  before washing and drying!!

Yes'm it is that simple!  Joyous Holidays to all!! And to all a Great Holiday Feast!

TRAGEDY

On Friday, December 14, 2012 20 children and 8 adults died in a brutal shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Fairfield County, CT, USA - a tragedy that even the coldest of hearts would not be able to avoid feeling the pain.

In these initial days of confusion and psychological shielding from the pain of this tragedy's reality, there has been considerable discussion about what happened and its root cause.

Belief systems, memories, feelings, general dysfunction have been called into question.

Was it too liberal gun laws?
Was it the absence of law enforcement at the school?
Was it some trauma the shooter had experienced which has been festering?
Was it the fallibility of the newly installed security system?
Was whole school system at fault for not teaching interventions for this form of autism?
Was it the mother's fault for having an accessible battle weapon?
Was it....?  Was it...? Was it...?

We who are not family and friends will not only be grieving in our own way for that which has wounded deeply our sense of safe place in the world, an experience which is but a recurrence of the experience of 9.11, but each of us will also be responding to our unique sense of social responsibility in our own ways.

Photo by Jane Cutler. I call this "Holy Moment". 

PHENOMENAL

I just read "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou.

Everyone has a phenomenal woman dancing in their inner wisdom circle.

In some, she is dormant, in some she is alive.

Maya provides an opportunity to awaken her, if she is not already strutting her confident self.

"I am a woman phenomenally", she writes, " Phenomenal woman, that's me."

By this reawakening within, I'm ready for the holidays and all its accompanying stress.

""It's in the click of my heels, the bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, the need of my care..."

Phenomenal Women: Linda, Moi, Reggie, Kathy, Linda, at First Lake in Old Forge, a mini Mariner Scouts reunion .

DRUM

Sitting on the midnight porch, held by the intoxicating scent of night jasmine, the moon is full, and the stars shine brightly.

This full moon shines from right at the top of the sky, casting shadows only directly under the trees.

I begin tapping on my Celtic drum, which  more resembles a gypsy cymbals than anything else.

Softly, so as not to bother the neighbors (there also is a small part of me which still self-conscious about this monthly occurrence from my porch), the beat slowly aligns to a natural rhythm.

Lost in the beat of the drum, I open my half closed eyes and notice the clouds from the north slowly covering the sky and carrying with them a cold wintry chill.

The thick clouds look like the fleece on the back of a lamb, a most unusual diversion from the usual cumulus or stratus appearances.

I take a deep breath, breathing out slowly, contemplating the wonder of nature and of the drum beat.

At Stone Circle on Lake Champlain in Burlington, VT, the marking of the seasonal position of the sun.