Day Twenty-Nine

Back to the normal "routine" this morning with a cup of tea, Japanese flute music on the Bose, and out to water the garden. I picked 32 tomatoes yesterday and am looking forward to doing something with them for dinner. I also have some figs I purchased at the Murphys farmer's market to pair with the ricotta cheese I made last week. Maybe a bruschetta of ricotta, balsamic and warm figs, which, by the way, would go real well with the Mt. Aukum 2006 Syrah - ooooh, I almost forgot, I could pick some squash blossoms, stuff them with the ricotta and deep fry! Decisions, decisions. Oh if life could only be a series of these types of decisions - we'd all be so happy (or very fat).

I am continually amazed at how relatively simple the idea of slowing down has been. Maybe it's because I'm getting older and we do tend to slow down as we age, but I'd like to think that it is because of a conscious effort to do so. It's calming to take pleasure in little things and take time to truly observe the world all around me. One thing I do notice more of - I have been aware of them in the past - are faces in trees. My tree outside our kitchen has always had a wonderful "face." The face has changed rather drastically over the past three years, and although I have always noticed it (for about 13 years now), I've only recently noted the changes. I guess it's stretching it to say "recently" as the changes began nearly four years ago. The face was always very prominent. I could see the pursed lips, the long curved nose and the eyes were bordered by very large bushy eyebrows. I noticed the face began to fade after our beloved lab, Buzz, passed away in 2006. Whether it was coincidence or just my sadness being projected onto something else, I could see real changes. The mouth was not as perky anymore and drooped just a bit. The eyes began to close and are now shut tight. The curve of the nose is not as pronounced and the eyebrows have grown together. I don't know, but it seemed that the tree was suffe

ring by the loss of its friend as well. Faces in trees, faces in clouds. It's interesting what the mind does to you. Right now as I sit and blog, I can look out and see the face in the tree as well as all the birds in the feeders as they fly from food source to shelter of the friendly tree.

My latest piece of pottery. It is all hand built, as that's all I do, but I do love the piece of driftwood incorporated into the lid. You know, if art is the one thing that separates man from beast then why are we all doing more of it? Maybe it's because there are too many of us watching TV. What a drain on creativity and what a shame that so many people rely on the boob tube to take them away from real life. I am so grateful that I have the desire to create even though, at times, it overwhelms me. I almost feel like a child whose discovered a secret that no one is supposed to know - to know that there is no distraction that is worth taking one away from what one is supposed to do - the beautiful act of creation. And creation comes in many forms.