Thank You Clare!

"and Clare's sister.  She has just moved into a new house with an enormous rhubarb patch in the garden.  She didn't know quite what to do with it so I happily volunteered to take some stems off of her hands!  Warm pretty, pink and green rhubarb buttermilk cake with our coffee this morning, while rhubarb and orange jam bubbles on the stove"JP

Cooking...

"such an interesting activity, rich with purpose, brimming with ritual and significance.   Jamie Oliver, believing that a large part of the civilized world no longer knows how to cook or even why they should, is leading what he calls a Food Revolution.  Trying to rekindle in the masses what the few who still have a love affair with food cling to;  that basic, powerful instinct - to Nourish.  Not just to feed, but to truly nourish, body, soul, family, relationships.  I admire him.
Sometimes when I dream, a recurring scenario plays out wherein I forget to feed something helpless, be it a baby or an animal and the panic that pervades my night is palpable.
Right now the Art of Cooking is seeping it's way into the most intimate part of life...replacing something stolen. Such a beautiful usurper.  Thank you for stepping in where my broken heart sits, holding me gently like a sweet friend, hand cupped under chin and kissing sweetly upon my cheek saying "don't worry, all will be well very, very soon".
There is so much more to the simple act of cooking than meets the eye."JP

Wow!

"an interesting thing as I age, I begin to look...I mean really look...at things, people, love-things and think, wow!..you are incredibly beautiful."JP

Too Woo Woo?

namasté

(nah-mas-tay)

My soul honours your soul.

I honour that the entire universe

resides within you.

I honour the light, love, truth,

beauty and peace within you,

because it is also within me.

In sharing 

we are united, 

we are the same,

we are one.

"I love this.  I know for some people it's a little out there, but if you think about it we are all simply matter...that which can neither be created nor destroyed.  Everything that each of us is made from has existed since the beginning of time and, in one form or another, will continue to exist for ever.  When my mother and sister died, it was so comforting to think of each of them as part of the air, the stars, the sky...the lilacs and the butterflies.  Naive of me perhaps, but I can't help believing that if only we could embrace this one fundamental idea we would all take a huge step forward towards living peacefully."JP

The Meaning Of Dreams

"a most troubling dream last night.  We had gathered as a group of the usual suspects for a get-together and a dear, close friend showed me a meal she had prepped for us to share.  It was a skinned, stuffed rabbit, but somehow as can only happen in dreams, it was still alive.  The terror in the animals eyes as it lay there trembling is still sitting heavily on my chest this morning.  As I drink my coffee, I search for the meaning in this message of the night.  I have to believe something so vivid, so visceral carries importance.  My wise sister tells me that we are all of the characters in our dreams, so perhaps part of me is that helpless, terrified, fragile creature.  Food for thought."JP

thank you brown dress white spots for all the lovely pictures.

Our Betters

"we went to the theatre yesterday, a matinee performance of Our Betters by W. Somerset Maugham.  It's been a while since I have seen a live performance, even though we live in Niagara-on-the-Lake, home to The Shaw Festival each year.  The theatre, The Royal George, is old-school, small, decorous, large seats, wonderful.  The performance was polished and entertaining.  Sets and costume spectacular.  I knew the story, it's been around for quite some time, mostly about vacuous society both British and American.  About how badly people can behave when they have too much money, too much time and no reason-to-be.  Although written almost one hundred years ago, one could have replaced "Society" with "Celebrity" and it would have been entirely present-day.  Astonishing how little we change.

I'm very happy Spring is finally dipping her toe in the water here today."JP