natural parenting center

river

dear river,

thank you for this.

we love you.

 

 

coming home to apples

We have been back home from our trip to the ocean for over a week, arriving to blazing heat and smoke. What a contrast from balmy sea breezes and the gentle shade of west coast cedars. Leaving behind my sweet friend Kelli and family and so many memories of my own childhood, returning to what we now call home.

It is tempting to think either/or and to get lost in longing for what was, to wrinkle my nose at what is. I realized, though, the vast grace of allowing myself to think and. I can love this and that, river and ocean, these friends and those friends, life now and life then. And even more, more that I haven't even considered. I can love all of it. I don't have to choose or long for or think less than. Trusting that where I am is enough.

So we settle back into this. As the temperatures release themselves a little, taking the edge off the smokiness in the air, I remember this is my very favorite time of year. Oh the bounty...

We tried out these recipes and loved them. The mincemeat one is delicious, pretty much a meal in each slice. I'm always looking for ways to use up green tomatoes since this short growing season ensures an abundance of them. If you try these recipes out, let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Apple Pie with Orange
8 cups peeled thinly sliced apples

1 tbsp orange juice

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp freshly grated orange peel

Toss all ingredients together in bowl. Place in baked pie shell and cover with pie dough. Bake at 375 for 1 hour or so.

 

 

Green Tomato Mincemeat Pie

1 cup water

1 tsp salt

2.5 cups chopped green tomatoes

2.5 cups peeled and chopped apples

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins

3/4 cup  turbinado sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp molasses

1/4 cup flour

In small saucepan, bring water and salt to rolling boil and add tomatoes. Blanch for 3 minutes. Drain tomatoes and place in large bowl, adding in lemon juice, walnuts, raisins, sugar, spices and lemon peel. Drizzle molasses over the filling and stir. Sprinkle flour over ingredients and toss gently until uniformly coated. 

Roll out pie dough larger than size of pan. Place in pan and add filling then gently fold edges of dough over filling to give it a homemade harvest-y look. Bake for 45-55 minutes at 375 until crust is golden and filling bubbles. Cool and enjoy.

Both recipes adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts.

Kissing the ocean good-bye

We are packing to leave the coast of Vancouver Island

and return home to Missoula.

We are saying so long, to the ocean, for now.

I will never leave this place for good, this place where my sweet friend lives, 

where I spent my summers as a child,

where my children fell in love with sand and shells and little crabs,

where the sea sings to our souls.

 

The galaxies smiled on us and arranged for a 

spontaneous gathering which was pretty much a family reunion.

My dad and his wife and my two brothers, my mom and sister and nephew.

We spent a day together.

My dad playing with Elliott.

My mom and Saschy.

My sister is on the left.

My two "little" brothers.

Me and my mom.

It was a magical, this day on the beach with everyone. We haven't seen most of them in over a year. Then, after a couple more days of it all, I could barely peel myself off the floor.

An emotional whirlwind.

We returned to the cedar grove with Kelli and her family to ground ourselves.

Last night, we kissed the ocean good-bye.

I have laughed and cried and filled up every cell of me with 

best friend energy and family and soul-full play.

We will be back and as we return home, with twinges of anxiety and questions yet to be answered,

I have seashells to stroke, to remind me of all of me, 

especially the smell of salt water.

Right now

I am sitting in a hotel room while my mom and sister pop out for fresh coffee.

Elliott and Saschy are snuggled with their cousin watching something on the Knowledge Channel.

I can see the ocean.

In a few hours we will be swimming in the ocean with a gaggle of people we love

and a new skim board.

I am thinking about you all and want to tell you that there have been

so many moments on this trip that I wanted to tell you about

and that getting on the computer in that particular moment

didn't work.

Like late night canning with my dear friend, passing on the dilly bean

legacy to her.

Like leaning against giant cedars breathing in their calm and then

finding this Mary Oliver poem.

Like all the shining moments of synchronicity which have reminded me

of just how friendly this Universe is

and how blessed I am

and how much goodness there is

just in being alive

and choosing to be kind to myself.

Our trip ends in a few days.

Being here has been like coming home

to myself.

I'll tell you more...and whatever, whatever is going on for you right now, 

I hope you know that you are like the trees and the ocean and the air and the sky,

just as you are.

You are you. And that is enough.

 

 

our days

::More time walking in the sand and swimming in this sea amidst seals and teeny crabs and seaweed.

::Building forts with driftwood and beach blankets.

::Knitting by the sea.

::Celebrating all of our birthdays together with huckleberries picked from those woods back there.

::Beauty everywhere.

::Knitting on a boat.

::Playing on Tree Island.

::Soaking up every moment with these four, our second family.

immersed

 

 

sea

We are here. 

At the sea.

In this place where past and present run parallel. These river babies from Missoula have spent so little time at the ocean, experiencing the west coast of B.C. for the first time. Mom, there's so much water! I am remembering doing the same things in my own childhood...chasing crabs, running from the tide, slipping on seaweed, diving into the salty depths, collecting shells, building driftwood forts, feeling the moist winds and smelling the blue vastness.

I am remembering the sea is part of me.

I had forgotten.

To be here with the beings who emerged from the smaller ocean inside my belly, linking arms with the friend who has walked through so many moons with me, sleeping among giant cedars, I am home.

Sea-ing. Feeling stirred up and deep calm at the same time. 

Home. 

cherries

We are packing to leave on a three week adventure to Vancouver Island to visit our dear friends. I made a chart to organize all of the major tasks into daily chunks to avoid a flurry of rushing.  It was all going so smoothly that I threw in a purchase of 40 lbs of cherries. Hmmm.

But, honestly, when lucious fruit like this from our friends at Forbidden Fruit Orchard in Paradise (I know...it's no lie) comes around a mere once a year for a bleep of time shorter than a blink, how could I resist?

Winters here are long and these nuggets of yum, though a whole different fruit once dried, will delight us when the snow is stretched out everywhere we look.

We also made sweet and sour cherries from this book and pie, for immediate consumption. This pie is gluten free with almond and coconut flours, coconut sugar and coconut oil for the crust. Think shortbread cookie with fresh cherries. A pretty fine way to say our good-bye to Montana as we head west to the ocean playgrounds of my childhood for a stretch.

I hope you'll come along with me because I'll still be showing up here to share our adventures with you.

xo