NEW GROWTH

"He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” "

-MARK 4:26-29-

This morning my routine was punctuated by new life.  

I have a vase full of pussywillow branches in my dining room and recently I'd noticed that they were starting to grow roots and that the catkins (new vocab word!  that's the fuzzy flowers!) were getting bigger.  Then today I noticed they'd burst out into their next phase.  It made me realize there are living things in my house.  Things with life all their own.  

And then I went into my nook, where I spend my time with God in the morning, and found this little purple flower had opened up today.  This plant (anyone know what it is?) is a survivor.  It came from a tiny sprout that turned up in the soil after my thyme plant had died from some plant rot during the summer.  I decided to water it and see what it would become, since it seemed like such a healthy little sprout.  And it grew and grew and grew, continuing to prove its heartiness, as it lives on a windowsill in the unheated nook.  And then it flowered.  Flowered!!  I never expected it to flower.  I mean, I hoped it would, but, honestly, it was the strangely strong sprout that survived after the woody thyme had succumbed to rot, so I assumed it would be something uglier and weed-ier.  And then it turns out to be this gentle blue flower!  It reminds me to stay patient and hopeful for the things that keep growing, even when I can't tell what exactly they are going to become.

"So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow."
-1 CORINTHIANS 3:7-

HELLO PHILLY, HELLO 2012.

One of my visions for 2012 is to post something here every week.

So far I'm 4 weeks behind.  But I'm attempting to catch up.  

New Year's weekend meant Philadelphia, PA for me.  

Here are a few moments from it:

Pictured:

Breakfast Bomb @ Honey's (a full out omelet wrapped in a pancake).

The Magic Gardens!

Baklavah, Baba Ghannouj and Turkish coffee @ Manakeesh.

Lots of strolling around and exploring with sort-of new and very new friends.

Desserts on The Continental rooftop for the fancy segment of New Year's Eve.

The Art Museum for a dollar (you pick the price...first Sunday of the Month).

Other amazing places to try, that didn't make it into the photos:

Cafe Lift: went on a brunch date here! Every detail was amazing. Outstanding coffee!

Local 44: the ladies' neighborhood go-to. Tried Great Divide Hibernation Old Ale and split a burger with an egg on it.  Amazing.

Dock Street: Funky brewery.  Great beet and goat cheese salad.  Everyone else loves the pizza.

There isn't a short story that can sum up the joy and refreshment this trip was for me, so I won't attempt to tell one.

NEW ROUTE.

From a new prayer walk route I had started back in December:

OH TANNENBAUM!

This is my sweet little Christmas tree:

   
Not very ornamented at this point, but complete with its birdie (the first companion this tree ever had, a gift given to me the day I found this tree in a thrift shop near Stonington Borough, CT) and bubble lights (discovered in the same shop, the same day).  
Putting up the tree and having the colored and boiling lights going in the dining room makes me ready for celebrating the cheerful warmth of being inside during the winter, instead of quietly dreading the darkness and cold that is coming.  
I love real Christmas trees, but I have to say, that after 3 years of assembling and trimming this skinny little huy, unfolding every hinged branch after 3 seasons in the attic, I feel bonded to it and glad to welcome it out of hiding for a month (or more...if my roommate will allow it).  
P.S. I used WeGIF to show you how the lights boil. Pretty handy little site.

OCTOBER OUTSIDE.

Last weekend I couldn't help myself from taking a trip to Russell Orchards.  The day was one of those brilliant fall days where the wind and the sunshine are perfect and you can smell both growth and harvest at the same time.  I sat by the pumpkins for a while, catching up on reading and listening to people choose pumpkins together.

Everyone knew exactly what they were looking for in a pumpkin.  I don't think anyone would be able to describe it, but they sure did know it when they saw it.

It was amazing, how sure people could be that they'd found the one.

I picked up a few treats while I was there: apple cider donuts (a fall necessity), mulled apple cider (to fight the brisk wind), a variety of apples grown right there and a bottle of strawberry-rhubarb wine.

It started to rain after about 2 hours, so I left and took a drive.
I felt so grounded and refreshed by the colors of marsh and fall and rain.  

Crane Property, Ipswich, MA

CATCHING THE NIGHT, DIGITALLY.

Lago Maggiore, Gignese, Italy, July 2011 

Night Sky, Readfield, Maine, August 2011

Devereux Beach, Marblehead, Massachusetts, September 2011

Attempts at using a digital point-and-shoot like I'd use a film camera.  Long exposures to capture the breathtaking mystery of being outside in the nighttime.

LUGANO: LIVING ON THE EDGE

San Salvatore mountain is right on the edge of Switzerland and Italy.  I had the joy of taking a funicular train up the mountain and hiking back down on a strangely beautiful day.  It was incredible.  To trek through the forest was refreshing and exhausting, and it began to pour near the end of our descent.
When we got to the bottom of the mountain, we were tired and wet and looking at this amazing lake at the base of these mountains, a valley lake.

 

It was calm except for the pouring rain.  And we decided to jump in.  Unplanned, in our hiking clothes.  And it was glorious.  Swimming in that cool, but not cold, water...in a valley, mountains all around...all quiet except for the tinkling, sparkling sound of the pouring rain on the otherwise still water.  It was too much to take in.  Too perfect, too beautiful.  So we treaded water and prayed.  It was the only possible response.  God was speaking to us and we had to speak back, to praise him out loud together for the fullness and glory we were experiencing.  It was a moment you can't plan, you can't prepare for, you can only be lead to.  

And when you're lead there, you have to be ready to jump in. 

CHE BELLA!: CINQUE TERRE AND RISK TAKING

On a day trip from Milano to Manarola this summer, I saw the Mediterranean for the first time.  The whole thing was an adventure, barely figuring out the train, bringing a pack of wandering Americans to a tiny seaside cliff town.  But it was magical.  The sea was amazing.  Stunning and a welcome sight after not seeing a distant horizon for a number of weeks.  I love the horizon.  I've said that.  It connects me to infinity and eternity and things that are bigger and more vast than I can fathom.  I need that in my life.    While I was there, I decided to jump off a cliff.  It was at least 25 feet up.  It was terrifying.  This is the picture to prove it, but I'll just say it took me about 15 minutes of standing on top of the rock and seeing other people not die to convince me.  The whole crowd of onlookers (on the side of the picture taker) were chanting my name by the end of my experience.  I just couldn't jump.  I was so afraid I'd do it wrong and die.  But I wanted to know what it was like.  I wanted to be part of the adventure.  I wanted to be and feel brave.  In the end, I couldn't look.  I couldn't think about it anymore.  I couldn't analyze.  I just had to jump.  I'll never do it again.  But I'm glad I did.

The rock formation in the center is where we jumped from.  The water come in from the right to the other side and the jumping picture was taken from the walkway below where the buildings are.

GOING PLACES.

Every time I see this, it thrills me.  

The spirit of seeing and moving and going and adventuring.  

It gets me every time.

Check out their other videos, EAT and LEARN.

Though this is by far the most inspiring of the three.

MILANO: FLOORED

For the record, I am completely overwhelmed at trying to begin blogging after spending most of the summer in Milan, Italy--taking in too much doing/making/seeing/tasting to possibly tell in any complete way.  Not that anyone exactly reads this, but for my faithful friends (thanks for subscribing Michelle), I'm just going to jump back into it.  This way I can get on with life and sharing the lovely things I'm experiencing as I return home for a New England summer.  And perhaps an Italian post will show up from time to time.

To give you a tiny taste of Milano, here's some pictures of the FLOOR of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.  It was stunning and is constantly being repaired and refreshed (just like the Duomo that stands a few hundred yards away).
I did a whole lot of walking in this city.  A whole lot of dusty, grimy, dog-poop dodging and walking.  But this was by far the most beautiful surface I crossed.

BLIZZARDY

Today I went down to the beach in the blizzard. It was breathtaking and magical.