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The staycation I never planned on….

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I sliced my finger open on Sunday. Doing something I knew I shouldn’t do. And not for the first time.

The perfect combination: Me (a good but distractible chef), newly sharpened knives, and streaming video on my tablet….

The knife slid right across the pad of my ring finger. A big deep cut. I hear that fingertips are full of nerve endings and super sensitive. I believe it.

I know myself, so I ask the knife sharpener: “Don’t go them all the way; stop at about 80%.” This always gets a raised-eyebrow glance in response. So I describe my past stupidities and ask the knife-whisperer to back off from going all the way. This time — my request was no help. Even knocking 20% off the target bevel made my Japanese cleaver sharp enough to slice like buttah through potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and my fingertip. [Read more…]

Gratitude Wednesday 2/1—Signs of spring at Imbolc. And more. (Of course.)

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Spring!

Before I start rhapsodizing about the signs of springs everywhere I look (and in my belly!), I want to express some serious gratitude for this period of discernment and learning that I am in. I am so crazy grateful that I put the brakes on. Stopped the (more desperate than I care to admit) marketing merry-go-round enough to take stock. It was clear to me:

My mission, my gift, my services deserved to be better presented. I deserved to get clarity about what I am about, who I am here to serve, and then to implement what I learn.

And I’m distilling all that I’m learning into new messaging and new offerings. And I’m raising my Amazon shield and ululating my geschrei — that’s Yiddish for a loud yell — and trusting the goddess, and the faith that others have in me even when I can’t feel it myself, and moving forward every day.

It takes chutzpah to invest time and treasure in myself. I have always had plenty of chutzpah for others, but turning it back around so that it was for me, not so easy!

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Gratitude Monday 8/29

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I am grateful for a network of health practitioners that help me take exquisite care of myself.

I am grateful for a beautiful visit with Rose yesterday at Allen and Anna’s birthday party. What a lovely day. Outdoors at Crown Beach in Alameda. Gorgeous day. Good food. Lovely people. Family.

I am so grateful for friends and my sister who care enough for me to help me through mama-stress moments.

I am grateful for my sense of humor.

I am grateful for the willingness to show up. Today. Yesterday. And probably tomorrow.

I am grateful that the east coast fared relatively well during the storm.

I am grateful for being such a good cook.

I am grateful for culinary inspiration. Yesterday I made what I’m calling Raita Pesto. It contained Greek yogurt, basil from the garden, rice vinegar, half a Fresno pepper from the garden, some of my homemade pickled ginger, a little of my homemade sauerkraut. Was a great dip for the grilled veggies and garden tomatoes I brought to the party. I love creating in the kitchen!

I am grateful for a half-great book I read the last few days. Cutting for Stone. The first half was as satisfying as a book can be. The second half, sadly, became predictable and tedious. Oh well, I’ll take it.

I am blessed and honored to share my blessings.

gratitude thursday 7/21

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I am crazy grateful for love, friends, the generosity of others.

At the gym, doing Pilates, and I get a text from Ladybug and Webster: Want to come over for lobster?

Whoa! Yes please!lobster

Now this is lobster, folks, not langoustine, not lobster tails. What I call Maine lobster. What Webster just toted home from Boston.

I walk in and get handed a beautiful, perfectly cooked 1-pound lobster. Which I devoured. Just like riding a bike, the skills I learned as a kid are right there. Sucking the meat out of the antennae and claws. Picking the meat out of the cartilage in the tail. Breaking open the tail to get the bits of meat there. And getting at every corner of the claws and oh goddess! what a feast.

Ladybug doesn’t like lobster but she did get a kick out of watching me with juice running down my arms devouring the whole thing. And, making a dent in picking at the carcass of the big big one Webster was eating.

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Gratitude Monday 2/14

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A day to celebrate Love. They say. I say every day is a day to celebrate Love. Something I’m trying to remember, to offset the tendency in my life to operate from a space of grim duty.

Yes, please, may I have some more joy? I’ll take another helping of juicy unstructured rapacious lustful funny smiling joy. Thank you.

Lots of joy this past weekend.

Saturday was double art exploration day with Rowan.

Journey #1: Off we went to Sibley Volcanic Park to hunt for lava. Of course, being with my cherished Rowan, she who embraces chaos, we did part of our walk off-trail, scrambling down a mountainside, snagging my brand-new consignment-store find Eileen Fisher openweave sweater on branches. I rose to the occasion, we both pulled out our iPhone compasses, so I knew we weren’t walking around in circles. We stayed heading northwest-ish, and eventually found the trail again. So out of my usual way of going! I loved it.

And we found lots of lava rock for our Pele niche altar. Before we took any, I made an offering to Pele and her volcanic sisters for the gift of their lava.

Found out later, from Ladybug, that there are labyrinths at Sibley, which we missed altogether. Next time! Here’s an article about one of the labyrinths. Oh there are four labyrinths, check this piece out.

Looks like another trip to Sibley is on the horizon, simply to find one or more of these magical places!

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Gratitudes Monday morning February 7th

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It’s the 7th of February. It’s 50º on a Monday morning at 7 a.m. The weather has been balmy and gorgeous all weekend. I was outdoors so much, enjoying the warmth of the sun.

I love how I can tell how much I’m out and in life—I played very little Words with Friends this weekend. My online sorta-like-Scrabble games took a backseat to the rest of my life. Nice!

Garden planning is proceeding. It will be different this year. Communal plots. I started seeds yesterday! Outdoors. In February. The warm part of global warming, I guess.

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Gratitude Monday 7/12

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Monday morning, another gray and chilly bay area summer morning.

Sunshine will probably hit around noon. I love this summer weather.

The garden is ridiculously abundant. I mean, really, look at that zucchini. As big as Avery’s torso. As big as my thigh. Totally not my style…This belongs to another of the gardeners in our little community garden, one who is famous for planting an abundance of veggies and then never harvesting any!

It’s really funny, you can’t turn your back on zucchini. It grows so fast!

I’m eating from the garden every day. Patty pan, yellow crookneck, green zucchini (I pick ’em small, as I do all my veggies) cut up into chunks and grilled. Green beans, purple string beans, romanos quick sauteed. And of course kale, chard, tatsoi, mizuna, beet greens cooked until just wilted and mixed with curried mushrooms. Yum yum yum!

And I add to that at the farmers markets with corn and artichokes. And avocados and yams. The mainstays of my healthy veggie-rich life.

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Gratitude Saturday 6/26

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First post from my blog’s new home! The migration is done.

We are ready to roll. Welcome to my new website, Magnolias West.

I’ve created MW as an expression of my life’s purpose. Design. Coaching. Personal branding. The synergy of all of these. I am so grateful and honored to be doing this work. I’ve had so much fun weaving the photo project of my daughter with magnolias in bloom into the website.

A 23-year (and counting) project that started in the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, moved to Capitol Park in Sacramento, and now finds us doing our shoots at different beautiful trees in San Francisco and the east bay.

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