November 2017 | COOKING

I love cooking. Chopping vegetables gives me joy. I peel a carrot and smell its sweetness. The cross-sections of cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli, asparagus amaze me. My fingers patiently persuade a clove of garlic to slip out of its outer skin. Ah! Now come the squashes: butternut, delicata, kabocha — baked, warm, and full of goodness. What storehouses of color, texture, seeds, and energy! As I chop, I thank. And then there are the Earth’s herbs, fresh or dried, to sprinkle in the pan, pot, or dish.

Please share your cooking experiences.

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A friend from Sweden sent this communication she had with the Earth two summers ago.

She, sweet and all embracing as always, makes me feel loved and cared for at the very core of my being.

When I asked if she had a message for my human friends she told me these words:

I gift you with all of me,

as all of you is gifted in me.

Love me, feel me, be with me!

Would you, could you…be my song?

To the drumbeat of my heart

dance the rhythm of freedom into your World,

to the drumbeat of my heart…Dance!

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I find the cricket ‘tide’ at this time of year as calming as waves lapping gently on the shore.
 

When I Look at the Stars

 

When I look at the stars

I hardly know their names—

the upturned W,

a dragon’s tail?

 

I just stare and stare

at their starriness—

countless worlds

scattered in bright patterns

and curves, emitting

stories that travel

light years to return

us to ourselves.

 

“Curious really!” I might have

told the cat beside me,

her marvelously arching back

and curling tail coiling and dipping,

or the crickets, their quiet ringing

under-and-overtones

constellating lunar rhythms,

or the twinkling airplane lights

rapidly gobbling night’s canvas,

or the tingling chill on my cheeks

gnawing into bones, or

the sudden scuttle in the brush.

But I didn’t.

 

I slipped them all

into my pocket

and brought them inside

to share with you.

 

Spangling Darkness