black bean dip

last night i came home tired...and knowing i needed protein. i also need to make my lunch for the next day, since my income doesn't allow for buying deli sandwiches like my boss does.

black beans & rice--so easy:

2 cans of black beans
1 t paprika
1 t cumin
1 t (or less) chili powder
salt & pepper
olive oil

i blend all that in the food processor. (i probably use more seasoning than that...i just tip the spice jar and guess.)

i put some in a mason jar for later and had some for supper, with rice (wholegrain).

this dip is also handy for making burritos. Add cheese and salsa. Or with fried eggs & salsa. and there's no need to cook it.

we ventured out into a cold wet evening to see the darjeeling limited yesterday. it was full of earnest absurdity and poignant awkwardness, as well as being a visual feast of hues and textures.

another intensely colorful treat is the music of peruvian yma sumac. surprising. november can be bleak and gray...things like these are bursts of sorely needed color.

embracing imperfection

photo by nihito

i've been thinking about what i find beautiful, and why so often it is something worn, with a history. there is much that is new and perfect in the world. but i prefer to see the touch of human hands, the traces of time's passing, and nature's movement.

so much in carpentry and remodeling is about perfection..flawless finishes. yet it is too stressful to live a life where denting an object ruins it. i have made the choice to embrace scratches and stains as the truth of the history of an object. including the beet juice that dripped on the blue t-shirt i am wearing.

a sunday walk in the woods

more inspiration, this time from Mary Oliver

(photo by me)

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.

from Howard Thurman

Give me the courage to live!
Really live – not merely exist.
Live dangerously,
Scorning risk!
Live honestly,
Daring the truth –
Particularly the truth of myself!
Live resiliently –
Ever changing, ever growing, ever adapting.
Enduring the pain of change
As though ’twere the travail of birth.
Give me the courage to live,
Give me the strength to be free
And endure the burden of freedom
And the loneliness of those without chains;
Let me not be trapped by success,
Nor by failure, nor pleasure, nor grief,
Nor malice, nor praise, nor remorse!
Give me the courage to go on!
Facing all that waits on the trail –
Going eagerly, joyously on,
And paying my way as I go,
Without anger or fear or regret
Taking what life gives,
Spending myself to the full,
Head high, spirit winged, like a god –
On…on…till the shadows draw close.
Then even when darkness shuts down,
And I go out alone, as I came,
Naked and blind as I came –
Even then, gracious God, hear my prayer:
Give me the courage to live!