December 25, 2010

Christmas morning…

I’m up early with a headache that a few aspirin has not yet taken away. I should know better. I did a few glasses of wine last nite- we were having pizza between services and I had a craving, which is very odd as I don’t drink very often at all. But to say the least, I satisfied my craving and off we went to meeting.

I guess too, that the ‘lemon chello” I had earlier in the morning helped contribute to my headache. My assistant at work makes this with vodka – more vodka that lemon. And he brought it into work Christmas eve morning, and we shared toasts with our staff…and that was followed by some chicken meal that was soaked in a chile sauce – a staple tradition of Oaxaca. I am not sure what it was called, but it was good. Traditional Mexican cuisine is the best. Its handmade food, and you can taste the time and care that goes into it too. But, the lemon chello probably was the start of this morning’s pain…

When I got home, the horses were out in the pasture grazing, and when I walked over to the fence, Louie looked up and after a few more mouthfuls of grass, lumbered over to me, and offered his forehead for me to rub…then he went back to the spot he was working on. Good ‘ol Lou….doing the greet and eat.

Lately the chickens have been coming to greet me too – and that’s sorta surreal. The last few days, when I crawl through the fence, they have come from nowhere and everywhere and “run” towards me. They know I am going to feed them their afternoon snack. But its weird,,,,all these chickens coming at me full speed. They run very unbalanced, shifting their wings to balance, like how a tight wire walker uses that pole…I don’t know if I will ever get used to chickens coming at me…

This morning, a few minutes ago, I tore up pizza crust for them. I save all the crust that I don’t eat and give it to the chickens for a snack. Between the chickens, the goat, and the compost pile, we don’t waste too much around here. So, the girls and Bejay will have a bit of pizza for breakfast. Their favorite is left over spaghetti – they tug-of-war with the noodles – one chicken on each end til it snaps or one lets go. Chickens are cool. I feel bad for the ones that live in cages- its pretty sad, cause chickens have outgoing personalities and can’t ever be happy caged up. That sucks.

We went to two services yesterday – it more or less has become traditional for us over the years. We go to Catholic Mass in the afternoon, and then to Quaker meeting in the evening. They are very different ways to worship, but the message gets through the same…I like going to both. The Catholic service is filled with thousands of years of traditions and symbolism that in a way the mass itself is a history lesson in Christianity through the ages…and the Quaker is so simplistic its almost as if it’s a seedling that has yet to branch. It’s all good. But I have to tilt my favorite to the Quakers, because afterwards, we get to eat all the cookies that each person brings…and there are some great Quaker bakers…and ya know, that probably is part of my headache too – all that sugar! Oh well.

Not sure what I will do the rest of this Christmas day…spend time with my family, and then with the animals…maybe take the hippos out for grass in the front yard. I like a quiet Christmas. I’m more of a reflective type person, and in the world that we’ve inherited, its hard to find time for quiet, although every day I do my best to get out of the bombardment – I hide out in the stable, or take a walk, or something…even writing a ramble like this helps. Life just seems too noisy – so noisy that we cant hear it.

But anyhow, I want to thank everyone who reads this blog and follows it – I appreciate it a lot…and a thank you to those who support our farm and what we are trying to do with community agriculture…and thanks to all of you who come out and have buried their hands in the soil here helping out…I am lucky to have all of you in my life…

Merry Christmas!