the dreaming Press.

green teas & endless seas

i love green tea ice cream and the tiny bits of leaves you see strewn throughout, it has that sweet bite i love so much, and the colour is simply healthful & invigorating

sunday is more green tea ice cream

office organization

Hawaiian pineapple chicken for dinner No, Thai Pork with Papaya!!!!

walking the dog

running and yoga stretching

meditations upon which wallpaper design to choose for the bathroom (doing one wall adventurously and then painting the opposite wall in a very bright complimentary colour) it's time to shake things up with colour and vibrancy! reading a stack of twelve books, some are making me cry {what lessons they contain}

did you know??? there are seas upon endless seas of wisdom, love & compassion in YOU

really

xoxo

the wee history of my vintage mug

My mother bought two of these mugs for herself with an entire week's salary in probably 1967, from what I can remember her telling me. Or maybe it was 1968. She loved them (but passed them on to me during one of her crazed 'this has got to go!' phases), and this one is all that remains.

She is *the last of the Mohicans*, and she's mine. I love this Denby mustard coloured mug because it is the vessel for many a memoried tale.

It has held cup after cup of tea, coffee & of course...rich sweet cocoa. If this mug could talk it would tell you many splendored things. The very best thing to drink from it though would be...

Spiced Hot Dark Chocolate

1 quart soy milk

6 ounces dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon coarse salt

In a small pot, combine all ingredients and stir over medium heat until the chocolate has completely melted & is steaming hot, about 5 minutes. Serve in your own vintage mug and drink with friends, on the front porch while you watch the stars come out at moonrise. {Telling many more a splendored tale.}

water you and give you sun {cultivate YOU}

 
Dabbling in Photoshop Elements years ago did much to turn me off photo editing using that program.  Little did I know when embarking upon a self-taught CS4 Photoshop excursion that I would come to absolutely love terminology that formerly freaked me out completely...masks, layers, fills, gradients...oh my it's like being a kid in a candy store for photography enthusiasts like me. What took me so long to embrace this fun and all-hours consuming wonder? Glad I took a chance to dive back into that pool once more.  I'm happy to report that I seem to be treading water quite nicely.

I take this into account now when I see wonderfully edited films, especially one with special effects. I consider all the painstaking labour intensive work involved with putting together beautiful moving images. I am awestruck at the talent out there, this big blue marble is full of truly artistic  beings. My photo is an archive redo, one I pulled out of the dusty files from a summer or two ago...lovingly Photoshopped for the 52 Photos Project this week. 

These last weeks have been unbearably hot (finally).  I have waited for this weather all year! Now I will roast in it happily.  A chilled lemon beer, a good beachy read, my children playing and laughing and running around so jovially...these are the things that make a life.  It's living well.  Living well doesn't take much talent, you only need to embrace what is in front of you at any given moment and pour your attention into it.  To be grateful.

Gratitude is an overused word these days.  (I've overused it, guilty as charged!) Almost as overused as inspired, artist, wondrous, kindred...you get the idea.  We are so attuned to these buzzwords now, so focused on what is wrong with our lives and how to "fix it" by incorporating all these techniques to get a happier or better life.  How crazed we get if we don't live a certain way, making us feel as though we aren't worthy.  I am not buying what these dingbats are selling.  These dingbats know who they are, they don't need to be pointed out to you. Perhaps you know a few.

YOU DO have a wondrous, inspiring life if you aren't an artist.  Or if you don't make a lot of money.  Or if you don't feel particularly inspired.  Your "look" or talents or finances are ego based qualities that don't amount to much once you strip them away.  What's left of YOU if you have no money, fancy cars or artistic talent? Why YOU of course. 

Pretty cool, I think.  So.

Cultivate a little you!  Water you, give you sun, plant you into some good thinking soil.  You'll reap what you sow. 

Really it's all good. Listen well to the beating inside your chest and the stillness in your mind to find what you look for.  It's all in there.  While you do, mess around with some photos on CS4 it's a lot of fun.  Or whatever photo editing tools you have at your disposal.  A good online and very user friendly program is Picnik.  Heck it even has curves! Gotta love that.

Enjoy your summer YOU.

xoxo

p.s. I planted marigolds from seeds and they are four inches high! I'm so excited because seeds are tiny miracles that never cease to amaze me and when November comes I'll have bunches of pretty yellow and orange marigolds....! Isn't that fantastic!!!!!!!!

lake bones, skip stones

 
The lake yields her bones to the dry earth.  Alas, the driftwood is too large for me to cart home.

   

So we skip stones and give earth offerings of feathers and pebbles in gratitude for things like;

buttercrunch ice cream with marshmallow sauce~

polaroid cameras & film to go with~

health, movement, thought~

freedoms both physical and spiritual, pineapple, root beer floats, coffee scented with mountain blueberry~

fireworks, freezies,

squirrels.

Gratitude works, it really has it's use.  It cultivates more and then some of the abundance you have in your life already.

If you enjoyed the pasta salad recipe of last post, you'll lose your marbles over this next one.

Pineapple Mint White Tea

8 bags white tea

4.5 cups water, boiled

large handFULL of mint

pitcher with a cup and a half of fresh pineapple chunks

Make the tea in a pot on the stove with the mint. When steeped for four minutes strain into the pitcher with the pineapple.  Chill for a day.  ENJOY!!!

Sweeten this one or not, I don't like it sweetened.  Nature has flavour all her own that shouldn't be messed with.  But if you like a lump or two, then go right ahead! Whatever floats your boat. ;)

xoxo

Almost forgot, a song the lake would love for a summer day.

And tonight, yoga after I run. 
Big smile.

a pirate's life for me- {post number 500}

 
The late, late nights.  They make you lazy.  You stay up late, you rise late, you eat late, you do everything well, late.  And it's a clockless wonderful thing.  Time? Who cares! We are on holiday.  We don't need no stinkin' clocks.

A life without clocks, hmmm.  I may just get tired of that after a time.  ;)

A decision has been made and it's a pirate's life for me.  No straight irons for the hair.  Breezy gauzy dresses and sandals-kinda beachy laid back.  I'm feelin' summer, and it's a pirate's season.  Makes me want to anchor my ship in the Leeward Islands and pitch my hammock on the nearest coconut tree. Such dreams, huh?

I've been eating the *best* eat-clean pasta salad you could ever hope for, with fresh mint, olives, red onion, feta cheese & red wine vinegar...so very good.  It's not that creamy store bought pasta salad.  This one is actually good for you!  Here is the amazing recipe so you can try it yourselves:

*Best* Pasta salad recipe in the whole world:

2 1/2 cups of whole wheat bowtie pasta

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise

1/2 seedless cucumber chopped up into bits

1 yellow bell pepper cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 cup of canned white kidney beans (rinsed and drained)

1/2 small red onion diced

2 ounces of fat reduced feta cheese, cubed

1/4 cup of fresh mint leaves, chopped up small

1/4 cup of pitted kalamata olives, halved

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 teaspoon of minced fresh garlic

1 tablespoon of honey mustard

1/4 teaspoon of oregano

1/4 teaspoon of sea salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Prepare the pasta according to package directions and then rinse in cool water.  Pat dry on paper towels to make sure there is no water left on the pasta.  Combine the pasta with the olives, beans, peppers, cucumber, mint, red onion, feta cheese and tomatoes. 

In a separate small bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients together to make the dressing.  Toss it all together and serve. 

So SO freakin' great! You will love it.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. xoxo

 p.s. this little blog has now pumped out 500 posts! gimme a whoot!!! xo

 

Today is unlike any other

 
As you walk this Earth, forget not that you are a deeply rooted part of all-that-is. As is our world so are we.

Be the beauty.

 

With love, from this side of paradise

No cameras. . .
Just a phone I sometimes remember to bring along. . .
Twinkling stars that outnumber thoughts by lightyears. . .
Crackling fires
Toasted marshmallows
Our currency is made up of acorn tops, rocks, sticks and leaves
Lakeside with a sweet dog (mine) that runs as if she were young again
Time to think
Oh so much time to think
Everything happens for a reason
Every
Little
Thing
.
Thank God.
Happy as happy can get.
xo