Pink and Ruby Slippers

During the 2010 Grammy Awards, Pink performed a stunningly beautiful aerial ballet while singing "Glitter in the Air." Lyrics from the song include the words, "Have you ever been touched so gently you had to cry?"

While clearly written to describe the tenderness of intimacy, the words came to me unexpectedly in a flash of clarity. It was one of those rare moments when the world instantaneously drops away and one is bathed in the exquisite experience of an all-encompassing greater love.

It is in those brief moments that consciousness allows the realization that, like Dorothy and the glittering Ruby Slippers, Home has been, is, and always will be, the Divine Essence within.

And yes, it made me cry.

©2010 catherine lenard

Moaningly Groaningly Awesome Michigan Cherry Bruschetta

While Traverse City, in northern Michigan, holds the title of the country's Cherry Capital, Berrien County, in the southwest corner of the state, is Michigan's overall premier fruit growing county. It leads all counties in the production of peaches, pears, grapes, is second in apples, plums, and prunes, and fourth in tart cherries. It is also the home of Michigan's wine production. The relatively temperate climate from being on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan supports favorable growing cycles. Okay, enough Mr. Wizard talk.

I had found a recipe from Whole Foods Market when a friend asked if I would find something "Michigan-ey" to take to an Illinois backyard barbecue. While the trip was canceled due to turbulent storms, we enjoyed the following crazy good bruschetta with cherries from the local Berrien County farmer's market. With hushed reverence for flavorful delight, here is the recipe:

• 1/2 pound (2 cups) cherries, pitted and halved
• 1/4 cup lightly packed mint leaves, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 4 slices rustic whole wheat bread, toasted
• 4 ounces fresh goat cheese

In a medium bowl, toss together cherries, mint and orange juice. Spread bread with goat cheese, spoon cherry mixture over the top and serve.

Here's an added bonus about cherries. The cherry has anti-inflammatory properties inhibiting enzymes that cause joint pain (my brother swears by it for his gout) and two antioxidant compounds (kaempferol and quercetin) that improve memory, vision, and concentration. Generally antioxidants are recognized as good agents because they help prevent cancer and the development of cardiovascular disease.

I love it when something that tastes so good is a treat for the body as well. Enjoy!

©2010 catherine lenard

Smoking & Bike Helmets & Whiskers on Kittens . . .

While on a bike ride, a friend asked if I was glad I was wearing a helmet.
I responded that wearing a helmet was like quitting smoking. He looked at me quizzically.

While never a heavy smoker, I knew my periodic cigarette binging wasn't a good thing. I tried every game with myself I could think of to break the occasional habit. I'd buy a pack of cigarettes with the intent to smoke two at the most and throw the pack away, hating the cost and waste of money. I'd throw the pack into the dumpster, less two cigarettes, only to find myself dumpster diving the next day. (This was twenty years ago when my adventures encompassed a grittier spectrum of tolerance).

Plan B was to run the pack of cigarettes under the faucet, destroying 'any chance' of retrieving them. The next morning I found myself fishing a cigarette out of the wet pack and diligently applying my hair dryer to its soggy remains. Ah, the sweet joy of light up, taste aside.

Back to biking. I'd always loved the feel of the sun on my head and the wind through my hair while riding a bicycle in open country. I recalled the jokes of a remarkably- fit-former-dare-devil-boyfriend as we rode into the fortieth mile of a fifty mile bike tour some years before. He, riding a high tech racer, dressed in street clothes, nonchalantly puffing on a cigar. (Yeah, I know). Target? Bikey Bobbleheads a.k.a. those who wore helmets.

So the friend I was currently riding with, who did wear a helmet, would periodically ask me if I'd wear one to which my response was typically, "I'll think about it." Concerned for my safety, he'd tell me a helmet would give me less wind resistance to which I replied, "So does hairspray." In the back of my mind I knew I'd feel safer with a helmet, was very careful about the potential hazard of gravel on the road, but just didn't want to give up 'the freedom.' Until I fell. Taking a short cut through a high school parking lot. Gingerly navigating around speed bumps.

So when he asked me if I was glad if I wore a helmet now, I said, "Yes." Like quitting smoking, it's one of those things that I knew I probably needed to do, but just couldn't bring myself to change without a wake-up call.

So I have joined the ranks of the Bobbleheads. In the eyes of another, decidedly uncool, but relieved of the nagging inner voice reminding me, ad nauseam, "You know, you really need to do this . . ." And sometimes that, in itself, is alone worth change.

©2010 catherine lenard

Of Mushrooms and Men

I have a friend who is pretty amazing when it comes to food and drink. A Memorial weekend invitation to attend a backyard barbecue spurred some impromptu kitchen creativity.

Using the basics of what he had readily available, he grilled gourmet chicken sausage and mushroom caps, sliced the sausage into bite-size pieces, slid them both onto wooden skewers, and topped them with queen, pimento-stuffed olives. As there was casual discussion regarding options for the mushrooms, I suggested they be glazed with the wonderful orange and honey mustard he purchased for a day-before picnic. He opted to use it as a dipping sauce (better idea for more concentrated sweet/tangy flavor).

Using a colorful, plastic plate that lended a summery touch and a vintage, silver-rimmed dish I last-minute excavated from a cupboard, he put together a beautiful presentation that was a must-have appetizer.

It is a wonderful thing to have a kitchen god as a friend.

©2010 catherine lenard

An Unexpected Extravagance

I had the opportunity to be the guest of a friend at a name black tie event in Chicago held at a large, upscale hotel. It had been quite a while since I last attended a dress-up affair. I thoroughly enjoyed taking it all in as we struggled to hear fellow guests (and ourselves) above an overly zealous orchestra.

A lovely and unexpected surprise was seeing turquoise-colored boxes tied with white satin ribbon, unmistakably from Tiffany, at each place setting. In an era of contraction, that simple, elegant box was something I thought had gone the way of zenith real estate values and automaker pensions.

While I appreciate beauty in the multitude of forms it may take, I don't indulge in conspicuous consumption and am beyond accumulating 'stuff' as a futile attempt to compensate for lack of self worth. I'm not disregarding inequitable world resource distribution. I'm just saying that after being incessantly inundated with batten-down-the-hatches news for what seems like forever and withstanding my own personal and professional armageddi, to see that lovely box, with its inbred reference to affluent material civility, was just really, really enjoyable.

The box contained two 'stemless wine glasses,' a style and labeling which I had not seen before. Could this be Tiffany acquiescence to resource conservation? I think not, but it does bring to mind the viewpoint about one's glass being half empty or half full, if not a bit truncated.

©2010 catherine lenard

The Pause That Refreshes

Sometimes 'time outs' are necessary. The past few weeks have been busy and productive business-wise with the feeling that items to attend to are escalating, yet at the same time progress is only inching along.

As with many of us, attempting to do many things at once has been standard operating procedure. In a recent household incident, I scalded my wrists while attempting to break pasta over boiling water. I later recognized the experience as a wake up call to slow down. As I described the debacle to a close friend, she asked, "Is anyone home?"

"Humor in truth," I thought. Attention in too many directions can counteract the best of intentions. How much do all of us miss by being 'future-task-list-oriented'?

I have a small garden plot that was overrun with weeds. I chose to sit and quietly, methodically, pull them without mentally running to the next 'thing to be done.'

Hands-in-dirt has usually been a good grounding (no pun intended) experience. It opened the door to a reminder that all I have is the current moment. While a tough one to keep in the forefront when most things shout the contrary, a true gift to remember.

© 2010 catherine lenard

Bob & Janet Had a Farm, Eee-aye, Eee-aye, Moo . . .

Last week I was asked to help ‘spruce up’ the retail space that sells the grass fed beef raised on Bob and Janet's farm and also their ‘bunkhouse-one-room-cabin.’ The request was motivated by an area-wide art opening weekend that featured a farm open house and also an exhibit by a nationally-known sculptor in the grand space of their barn’s rustic upper level.

While the cabin had next to nothing in it, it was a very intriguing rustic space constructed of wood and timbers. There were several "givens" to be used for staging—a blue pitcher received as a gift for an antique wash stand and several framed bird prints that the owners liked. We used furnishings pulled from every building on the farm including the barn, garage, shed, house, etc., designing on the spot. The end result was a lovely, romantic retreat that was created without the time and expense of purchasing anything new (sometimes possible, sometimes not).

The ‘girls,’ the farm’s free range chickens, checked out the new space before they were shooed away. Rumor has it that after seeing the newly completed room, the owner’s son and future daughter-in-law, California wine country transplants, may be spending their honeymoon ‘down on the farm.’


©2010 catherine lenard