Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas Day...


Doesn't seem to have much 'meaning' any more, especially now that the kids are all grown up. In all honesty, it's nice to support the grandkids, but I really don't get any spiritual investment or support out of this holiday.
I do enjoy thinking reflectively about the solstice, and I feel a bit lost or not as in touch with the naturalistic spiritual roots these days. I'm still having problems adjusting to the light time is now increasing again...it hardly seems so already. Some of my feelings stem from the weirdness of the weather these days for sure: and now it's below freezing every night but we have had no rain so far this winter. The garden went from tomatoes still on the vine in November to frost in December! All this seems odd and I start feeling out of the touch with seasons and my part of my cyclical naturalness.

Hmmm...I never thought about the changes in the weather and the seasonal weather patterns as a human-made nature-person connection disruptor before...I hope that sentence makes sense!
In other words; we are part and parcel of nature and the natural world. Because of the global disruptive and destructive activities ('fraking' being the latest example of environmental destruction, or the recent Gulf oil spill disaster) of the vast majority of human-kind, we are, in effect, poisoning the well; cutting the ever frail connection between us and nature, with the spiritual effect of us becoming more dis-connected and less intrinsic to nature herself.

In any case, I was recently wowed by pictures of Mermaid Isle = http://www.mermaidisle.net/ and the stunningly beautiful pictures from that area. You'd never know that long-term changes are afoot, but maybe that feeling is just my projection? Idk, but it's sad to think about...

May we have peace and health this year.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Wonderful winter salad...

I can't quite claim all the responsibility for this idea of a winter salad; only this specific version. It was scrumptious - juicy, a bit robust (due to the arugula), and both tart and sweet!
You could easily add some rotisserie chicken to this salad for a more main course salad.


Wash and dry a few large handfuls of romaine lettuce and arugula (I like more arugula than lettuce)

De-seed 1 small to medium pomegranate

1 medium apple (I think we used 1/2 a Cameo and 1/2 a Honey Crisp) peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces

A good handful of some Feta cheese crumbles

A small handful of candied walnuts (I bought these from Whole Foods but you could make your own)


Dressing:
Canola oil
A bit of Agave syrup
Rice wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar
A dash of water
salt and pepper

Put the salad veggies in a large bowl, toss with the dressing, and serve!

This recipe fed two people (me and Russ!).