Good morning and welcome to a couple of you out there who are reading this newsletter for the first time. About 2 or 3 weeks ago I started noticing that the leaves on the tulip poplars were beginning to yellow. I dared not vocalize this observation because I simply could not admit that fall was coming. This week, when the sweet gums and dogwoods have joined the poplars, and leaves are beginning to show up on lawns, instead of in trees, I must acknowledge Nature and the passag

Good morning and welcome to a couple of you out there who are reading this newsletter for the first time. It feels so good to be back! Last week I did something that I rarely do, go on vacation. And I mean a for-real, not-sneaking in any work kind of vacation. I even forced myself to leave the computer at home, which did mean that there was no newsletter last week to let you know that we were out of town. I apologize for that. I had intended to compose a short little message

Good morning! Yesterday morning I had one of those experiences where I woke up and with a sinking feeling suddenly remembered my life. By that I mean, I opened my eyes and the feeling of sleepy neutrality gave way to sensations and feelings that had been influencing me before I fell asleep. As I became conscious, a heat began spreading through my chest, my heart quickened, my mind raced, replaying a key scene from the night before. Anger. Yep. There he was in full force, befo

For those of you who were wondering about the challenge question that I put out last week, the four people who were in the kirtan photo were: 1) Dave Stringer, 2) Danielle Koppel, 3) Jon Seskevich, and 4) Donovan Zimmerman, co-founder of the Paperhand Puppets. Jon has been a long-time enthusiast and teacher of both meditation and kirtan in the area, and Danielle is one of the folks who began their relationship with sacred chanting thanks to Dave Stringer's concerts. I believe

The moment you all have been waiting for has arrived. Insert drum roll - here are two of your votes for favorite entrees! Each week from now on the first two entrees in our menu will be favorites that repeat on a 6-week cycle. Thus you can expect to see these lovely entrees again in the third week of March. So last week as I was making what turned out to be outrageously delicious Banana Bread, I laughed (a lot) because Dana, the blogger over at Minimalist Baker had dubbed thi

It has been a while since I have done a review for you all. You might surmise that this means that it has been a while since I went out somewhere. That would be the correct thing to surmise. It is easy to get so caught up in cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry, that one day bleeds into another and before you know it, entire weeks have gone by. This is especially true when you cook for a living, and especially, especially true when you cook for a living out of your home. Has