Music Madness at LivingSmall Music– I’m in a music zone. I am not one of those people who buys CDs on a regular basis. In fact, I’m one of those annoying people who plays the same CD over and over and over again — which is one of the many reasons it’s good that I live alone. However, every year when the Oxford American Magazine Music Issue comes out, I wind up buying a glut of CDs, and this year, the Music Issue happened to coincide with both the death of Nina Simone (go, right now, and read Jeanne d’Arc’s…
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Another Day, Another Garden Bed Woke up this morning to sunshine, which was welcome. Although come to think of it, yesterday was sunny, it was just intermittently snowing and hailing through the sunshine. But this morning, blue skies and happy dogs. A good way to start a Sunday. Planted one more raised bed today. The plastic sheeting over the raised beds seems to be working quite well. This morning when I went to shake the puddles off the two existing beds, I discovered they’d frozen overnight. But underneath, carrots and arugula are sprouting, and the shaky-looking transplants I put in…
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A Perfect Rain We’ve had two days of perfect spring rain. No downpours, just soft, soaking perfect rain. For those of you who don’t live in the West, it’s important to remember that we only get 14.5 inches per year, on average, and the past couple of years we haven’t even gotten that, so the general mood is one of deep relief and nascent hope for a good season this year. Here on my little backyard farm, the pathetic-looking chard and parsley plants I transplanted on Monday are looking good. They like real dirt. They like soft rain. They’re looking…
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Snoopy-dancing All Over The Room Run run run to the nearest good newstand and snatch up a copy of the Oxford American Magazine. This much-beloved Southern Magazine of Good Writing has been resurrected after a hiatus when some of us feared it was gone forever, and is back with the ever-astonishing Music Issue. Fabulous writing and a CD of amazing music. Here’s the playlist: “Why You Been Gone So Long” by Johnny Darrell “Total Destruction to Your Mind” by Swamp Dogg “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” by the Del McCoury Band “La Chanson d’une Fille de Quinze Ans” by Ann Savoy…
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Everybody Likes Cake, Part 2 Yesterday I moved a dumptruck load of compost into my new raised beds. I do not recommend moving a dumptruck load of compost by oneself, especially if one is, as I am, a small-ish woman who is no longer the strong thing she was in her twenties. It was hard. It was really hard and I had to get it all done yesterday because had been dumped in such a way that it blocked open the big gate to the alley. The dogs were pretty good about it, but every once in a while, something…
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Weird but good. But mostly weird. I had a lot of leftover chicken from The Week of Roasted Chickens, and it was all breast meat, which can be tricky to work with as leftovers because it gets dry and stringy and horrible. So last night, while gazing aimlessly into the fridge trying to decide what to do with said chicken, I noticed that little tub of Thai Green Curry Paste that I don’t think I’ve ever cooked with. I’ve used the red curry paste several times, but not the green. It was cold and rainy here and Thai curry sounded…
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A Buddhist in Catholic Clothing I went to Good Friday Mass this afternoon in my usual state of bemused and bewildered attendance. As the song says, Here I am Lord. Thing is, I’m not entirely sure why. I’m no longer filled with that blissy joyous heart that characterizes the early years of faith practice. Nor am I cast out into the desert of the dark night of the soul. The best I could come up with as I was driving over there this afternoon is that we are asked to take refuge in the Buddha, the Sangha and the Dharma…
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Everybody likes cake. Another dinner party last night — our friends Bob and Robin came over to see the new garden. Since my chi is still a little low, I made the same dinner that I cooked for Patrick and the Nice Girlfriend the other night — but I made a cake. People think making a cake is a really big deal, but it’s not. I made the Buttermilk Cocoa Cake out of Laurie Colwin’s fabulous book More Home Cooking. It could hardly be easier — in a bowl you mix together flour, cocoa, sugar, a little salt and baking…
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Roast Chicken to Cure the Blues My darling brother has a new girlfriend, and of course, when you are no longer young, new relationships tend to come with some baggage. The Nice Girlfriend had a tough day yesterday, her baggage was all noisy with her about the fact that she’s moving on in life, and she was a little blue. She’s also renovating her house, and domestic disarray never helps when feeling blue. Plus, the brother has a cold, and was a little low himself. So late in the afternoon they came over and we sat on the new, comfy…
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Go read this right now. Jeanne d’Arc at Body and Soul, as usual, says the thing the rest of us have been fuming about. As my friend Bill Campbell, former war photographer says “I’ve seen African coups run better than this.”