Monday, September 6, 2010

Heirloom Tomatoes...YUM!

My husband came home the other day with a white Addidas bag full of these odd looking tomatoes (and two cute little yellow squash that looks like hats). A woman at one of his surveying sites filled up the bag and sent him home with all these heirloom tomatoes. I have always wanted to try these colorful tomatoes but they are way too expensive in the grocery store.

Slices of mozzarella, homegrown basil and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil....amazing appetizer before a meal of grilled marinated meat, grilled asparagus and grilled/steamed green onions (dipped in a smokey, lime sauce!).

Who knew a tomato could be so interesting in flavor and texture. Love all the colors, love the taste!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

And a New School Year Begins




I have been working through An Artist's Way the last 2 months so not writing as much on my blog(s). Writing for that 1/2 hour a day seems to satisfy my need to empty out the contents of my mind somewhere :) This morning, and for the last couple of days, I have been thinking a lot about the beginning of the school year. I forget the little tragedies that I am confronted with on a daily basis in my work. I forget them while I paddle a canoe up and down a peaceful lake, sit and read a book by the river on my private deck, paint the bottoms of wine glasses on a quiet and rainy afternoon. I forget that I am so lucky to have such a great life. I forget that there are so many children who not only have their own woes to manage, autism, heart failure, mental retardation but then, tragically, have parents ill-equipped to take care of them. This week, my first week back at school, I heard stories about parents living in vans, parents arrested for public intoxication, parents barely able to tend to their own lives, filing for custody of disabled children. It makes me unbearably sad. If I can do any little thing for such children, in the short time I know them, to make their lives better, happier, less difficult, then, I will be grateful. And although I am at a good place in my life (thank you God for that!) and need to remember how lucky I am, honestly, deep within I just don't understand why life has to be so difficult for such innocent little souls....I just don't get it.