Last weekend, it was International Day of Peace, the Equinox and even the moon was full – the Harvest Moon.
As summer winds down – something I’m always a little sad about – I am reminded of the cycles of nature.
Where I live, there are four distinct seasons. And yes, I’ll admit, I tolerate winter so that I can relish in the other three.
But last weekend sort of set the tone for the week. It got me thinking about cycles, about the planet, about the idea of peace in our lives, about abundance.
I thought about how I’m truly thankful for having lived another year and for seizing some opportunities that, I hope, will propel me forward and get things done that I really want to get done.
In thinking about cycles, I think about Mother Earth and her willingness to give us all food, air, water, wind, fire, shelter, and beauty.
How often do we forget or not think about those things?
The ancient rhythms that are indelibly part of our DNA call us to reflect and take a moment.
I wanted to share a poem that grew out of these thoughts this week.
Mother Earth
Mother Earth, keep me grounded in your terra so soft.
Father Sky, allow me to soar with wings aloft.
Brother Wind, embrace me in the sound of your breeze,
Sister Fire, whose warmth and light caress me from mountains to seas,
Understand my profound respect and gratitude.
There are those who see your gifts as undervalued
But by example and in united spirit
We’ll bring peace, heal the planet and find a way to edit
The wrongdoings we’ve done to each other
And embrace each other as sister and brother.
We’ll find a way to make peace
So that we make progress and move forward without cease.
I felt compelled to go around my yard – again – and snap some photos that really remind me of all of these things and more. I am reminded of the fall season and the planet making another trip around the sun, as she has done for billions of years.
It’s interesting how in the fall, you see more spiders and such. I was walking around my yard and garden and saw this HUGE wolf spider living among the wild asters. I don’t cut down the wild weeds – I work with them. And…you get to see interesting things from time to time.
(And don’t, for one second, think I would be okay with this little guy getting ANYWHERE near me. I respect them, yes. I won’t kill them. But, I cannot be held responsible for my actions if members of the arachnid family or insects, in general, crawl on me.)
I didn’t have a whole lot of time for a big vegetable garden this year. However, we have a HUGE compost pile…and defiantly, these acorn squash plants insisted on growing there. We didn’t have the heart to kill them, so we let them grow to see how big they’d get.
Apparently, they turned into mutant plants. I don’t think we’ve EVER had such a successful harvest of acorn squash that we didn’t plant.
In fact, we have no idea – other than last year’s variety of squash – what sorts of genes are in these squash fruits. So we’re calling them “Calhoun Variety.”
Wouldn’t you know, I halved one, took out the seeds and stuffed them with violet syrup, trail mix (dried cranberries, raisins, dried apricots, papaya, cashews and dried banana) with a pat of butter and baked them. I was in heaven.
I also took the seeds, dried them for 24 hours and baked them in the oven the next day. They say to add oil, but the seeds weren’t very dry, so I didn’t. I just added a bit of garlic salt and cracked peppercorns. Somebody should sell those things! 😉
These days, when we walk around the yard, we’re dodging walnuts. Yes, our black walnut tree sits right outside the front door and it’s ripe with fruits. They fall a LOOONNNGGGG way. Woe is to the person who’s standing underneath the tree when they’re falling. But, the nuts have a distinct, yet amazing taste. I, for one, love them. Though cracking the shells? It takes about an hour to crack five of them. The shells are hard as marbles and it’s easy to break tools while opening them.
It certainly requires a certain measure of patience. No wonder they’re like $9.00/lb. at the store.
Pictimilitude 