Find out why the sculptor of The Thinker, arguably one of the most famous statues in the world, was never accepted as a student at the best art academy in Paris. Visit my latest post at Paris Deconstructed.
Don't overthink it
Find out why the sculptor of The Thinker, arguably one of the most famous statues in the world, was never accepted as a student at the best art academy in Paris. Visit my latest post at Paris Deconstructed.
Jasmine tea
Click on image for larger view where you can see the bubbles in the flowers
My friend Diane served this jasmine tea the other night. It was one of those moments when the vision, the scent and the feel were equally enrapturing in a sudden, extemporaneous way. Those who live in more exotic places have no doubt seen a jasmine tea flower open like this in hot water. I had not.
Morel mushrooms: Hunt, hunt, pick
Morel mushrooms are fairly new to me. I never ate them or recall hearing about them until well into adulthood.
Just google “morel mushrooms” and you’ll see what a fanatical world this is. In value and popularity, they are akin to the beloved French truffle.
Well, not quite. I’ve seen morel mushrooms for sale at $36-66 per pound. French truffles can go for hundreds, even thousands, of dollars per pound.
I have had French truffles IN things, like the liver paté with truffles running through the middle we received for a gift last year. Yum. I’ll bet that cost a bit. Whatever the comparison, all I know is I LOVE them both, and morel mushrooms are here in Michigan. So I’ll “make do” with morels.
Our first April on the farm (2004) Don found a handful of morels near the pond in the back property. I found none.
Our second April here (2005) Don found another "handful" in the side yard under some trees, but each mushroom was almost as big as my hand! Again, I found none.
Both years Don soaked them in salted water, dried them off, then ASAP (within a day or two) floured and sautéd them in butter with lots of salt and pepper. A festival for the taste buds! (Sorry, Amy, I know you don’t like mushrooms! Bummer!) Finding only a few on our property and not wanting to pay $45/lb., we really savored this treat. These were my first morels to eat!
Morels soaking in salted water for a few minutes to remove dirt and critters
This week, the time they start popping up in Southern Michigan, we began the morel hunt on our 5 acres. No luck for several days though we looked in several areas. Then last evening, after a very cool night (28F), we went out to look, not really expecting anything since the best conditions are for night temps above 40F. So imagine my delight when I stepped on a patch of them before noticing them! (No worries, these are tough little guys that don't smush easily like some mushrooms.) Under the big old apple tree in the woods, my first morel find!
They look like tiny canteloupe
I would compare the feeling of ecstasy to that at the birth of my children. I ran to the house to a) get a grocery bag for the hundreds we would find (we actually found 47), and b) set “American Idol” to “record” so we could hunt and pick morels without missing who was going to be booted this week. (We picked Pickler, and we were right.)
I will be a bit late getting home this evening, and needless to say, I have asked Don very politely not to go out hunting until I get home. I have a feeling he will scout and maybe mark patches if he finds them. But I KNOW he won’t pick any until I get there.
Hunting and finding are almost as good as eating, and they round out the experience. What a glorious and spontaneous gift from Mother Earth.
We’ll do the eating this evening after the hunt. We did not eat yesterday’s find last night since we'd already eaten supper when we began our hunt, so we know we at least have 47 morels to eat for supper. And maybe nothing else, except a glass of cabernet sauvignon. Priceless.
The largest morel from yesterday was about 2 inches. The smallest less than an inch.
Personal power
If truth, love and power are our essential “soul” nature, power is something I need to learn more about. (I believe they are, and I won’t take space here to argue my case.)
Here’s what I’ve been thinking.
It is a cultural paradox that we live in a country of power (and its negative representation: arrogance), but many of us don’t know how to express power well.
What I DON’T mean by “personal power”:
- ego
- lording it over anyone
- bragging
- wanting my own way all the time
- thinking more highly of myself than I ought
- ambition
- always being a leader
What I DO mean:
- Getting rid of all the crud and clutter, the residue of this world (layers of psychological time, memories that bind, regrets, negative emotions, bad dreams, inadequacies, resentments) so a vast emptiness remains.
- Into this vast emptiness comes God/Source/Creation, whatever you want to call "it."
- When “pure,” it is the most powerful thing imaginable, expressed through you and your idiosyncrasies. Pure means clean. Clean: without the crud, without judgment of right or wrong, without limit.
- When in this state of pure personal power, you: know who you are, don’t feel inadequate even in the midst of others who are “more _______”, have amazing energy you never knew was possible, create a magnetism around you that can be confusing and mysterious to others.
- When in this state, negative emotions do not arise. There is no need for them, because you are in a state of cleanness that is guilt-free. If someone rants at you, their anger passes right through you – whoosh – because there is nothing to stick to. Even if you DID do something to hurt them, you can easily admit it and let it go!
- If you adhere to a particular religious set of beliefs, this does not go against any of them as far as I can tell. If you are an atheist, there are dynamics of human relationship that are real, even if you do not believe God is at the root of it all.
Every day take inventory of feelings, memories, regrets, pains. Let it come up, and look at it, until you understand it. Each one, one at a time, for as long as it takes. Then let it go (in whatever meditative practice that works for you). If you do this at least daily, I guarantee that you will begin to be empty, and this pure personal power will begin to feel like your normal state of being.
It is complete freedom.
May in Paris
A view from the Sacré-Cœur basilica, courtesy Donica DetamoreOh happiness! I will be in Paris May 13! A week of photographing the city, researching a new hobby business (travel coaching) and exploring. I will be alone, a first for me. As much as I would LOVE to have Don with me (or YOU), I look forward to jump starting this business plan.
I'm the luckiest woman in the world.
Please visit my blog Paris Deconstructed, where there's a new post about Montmartre, a neighborhood where you can eat crepes, get your portrait painted, climb a church tower and watch the sun set over the city in one day.
Maize, blue (make) green
There was a conspiracy yesterday on the campus of Michigan State University. Everywhere I turned I saw maize and blue (colors of a certain Michigan university down the road).But it's all good. There's still plenty of green to go around.
This is just a nod to the power play I feel in the air today (that has nothing to do with school colors). Power is part of our essential nature. Do I use it? Lose it? Abuse it?
The buds on the beech tree in front of my buildingDaffodils
I can't let them pass without chronicling them, and their little friends. These daffodils are on the farm. Those in the photo above were brought from Amsterdam by Donica.
