One Wild and Precious Life: Amazing Day

Well, to begin with, I told you all that I would tell the tales of my return. First of all, I greeted my doggies (retrieved from the kennel by a friend before my arrival at home) with great enthusiasm. Gosh, I missed them! I'm not sure what I'll do when I go on sabbatical for 2-3 months next year! Then, of course, I checked the garden. It was hugely overgrown, of course, with some tomato cages toppled by the weight of the plants (oops, forgot to stake them up), more acorn squash than I'll ever be able to eat (get ready for casseroles and pies!), and a couple of cucumbers the size of small baseball bats. Sigh. At least we got some rain while I was gone, and things weren't dead!

Here's what my grape tomatoes and beans looked like (the beans were just sprouting when I left!) when I returned:

Needless to say, the squash and watermelon were entirely out of control. But, having read "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver, I trekked out to the farmer's market 2 days after I arrived home. I picked up lots of veggies to grill and preserve, but my detective work did not yet (I still have lots of hope) unearth a source of pasture-finished, free-range meat, eggs, and milk. I'll keep at it. Meanwhile, I froze donated corn and some tomatoes already -- and the harvest has just begun! I also grilled eggplant, squash, and red peppers to go with my chicken breast.

A visit to my neighbor, who just harvested 1/3 of his potato plantings, netted me potatoes, cabbage, corn, beans, okra (how shall I ever eat it?), a plethora of free items that I probably won't use, like brownie mix and canned icing), and lots of other stuff I didn't plan on taking. They are so willing to give, and I to receive, even if I only went over to explore his potato harvest. Anybody have any good, easy okra recipes? I'm thinking a casserole with lots of bread crumbs and maybe tomatoes and red pepper flakes.

It's hard to be back in some ways. Keeping up the free flow of creativity that I experienced while I was gone, while I'm struggling to catch up at work is a big challenge. I think this is why God made sabbaticals.

So I also came home to a couple of really nice things. A parishioner said he would build me a very small patio/foundation to set my grill on. So I looked out my back window and saw this:

It's a perfect little space to hold my grill and a little table for implements, etc. God love Lee!

And then there was this, to make me even more glad to be home: it's actually the western, setting sun shining on on the eastern sky:

Then today, I managed to finish off two books and a paper for my spiritual direction training! The books were "Living Buddha, Living Christ," by Thich Nhat Hanh (something my reading group has been chewing on since March!), and "Memories, Dreams, Reflections," Carl Jung's autobiography. I wrote off the reports and the paper (on contemplative prayer), and now I've completed the entire first semester's requirements for my program (keep in mind, I'm a fourth semester student -- only 3 semesters' requirements to go!). Tomorrow I will buy a bottle of champagne to celebrate.