I Never Saw a Purple Carrot

I had never heard of purple carrots until I visited a site based in the UK called the Carrot Museum. These carrots are purple on the outside and orange in the middle. Much to my surprise, it turns out that the original, wild carrots are, in fact, purple. The Dutch had bred carrots to be completely orange to complement the House of Orange, whatever that institution was.

I found seeds for purple carrots at Jung Seeds, a Wisconsin-based mail order company which specializes in organic plant materials. So not only did I order purple carrot seeds, but also white (Edelweiss), red (Swenson Red) and purple (Fredonia) grape plants for the newly built grape arbor in my backyard. After I saw ready-made arbors for $1,000-plus, I decided to jerry-rig my own using two assemble-it-yourself Tuesday Morning $39.95 on-sale trellises and roof them with a spare piece of raw lattice. Voila! Supposedly, grapes take about three years to go into full production. Here goes nothing!

Read my poem about Volcanic Vegetables: Carrots at the Carrot Museum! ◦

I Never Saw a Purple Carrot

When You Run into an Old Friend

Suppose you run into an old friend. I mean someone whom you haven't seen for five, 10, 15 or more years. Where do you begin? Beyond filling in your friend on the details of your marital status, number of children and current job, what else would you tell this once-upon-a-time special person? Suppose you were able to have lunch together and really catch up. What would you talk about?

This is an excellent journal writing tool. Besides running through your list of current hobbies, volunteer work or the blow-by-blow fate of those whom you both know, what would you tell this person about your accomplishments, failures, wishes, dreams? What has happened to you or has changed you since you last met? What are you doing now that the other person would never have dreamed you'd be doing, for better or for worse? What was common behavior back when that is totally not you anymore?

By writing down this imaginary meeting, you will actually be able to catch up with yourself. Those dreams and wishes you hope to pursue may become within reach now that you have them down on paper. While we think we live in the present moment, many of us can dwell on the past or the future. A meeting with an "old friend" can give you a much clearer picture of where you stand today. ◦

When You Run into an Old Friend

Greatest Dancers of 21st Century

Both my husband, Carlos, and I have had strong exposure to dance and are big fans of a variety of dance -- whether classical, popular, tribal or ethnic. I have been fortunate to have attended seven years of ballet and tap class as a girl, and taken subsequent lessons in modern, Irish stepdancing, Brazilian dance and soon -- bellydancing. I was also managing editor for an independent dance magazine for awhile, Salome, and was able to attend countless dance performances, to see many emerging dance as well as world famous dance companies. Carlos worked in a public relations and office management capacity at the MoMing Dance Company in Chicago for a couple of years, and also has attended many performances. But we don't always agree on everything.

I was somewhat crestfallen that I had been born too late to have seen the great Vaslav Nijinsky dance. Instead, I have probably read five or six books on his life, his biography, was one-time owner of the fabulous coffee table book "Nijinsky Dancing," (which I regretfully sold when I was hard up for cash) and have written a poem about his life that appears in my chapbook "Private, On Purpose." Nijinsky was considered by many to be the greatest dancer of the 20th century.

I tried to attend the performances of other ballet dancers who might have reached his equivalent. I saw Rudolph Nureyev perform "Afternoon of a Faun" -- a Nijinsky classic, as well as other pieces. He was wonderful, but Nureyev was close to the end of his career and could no longer do the great leaps which I heard he could accomplish in his youth.

Later, I was able to see Mikhail Baryshnikov perform classic as well as modern ballet, i.e. Twyla Tharp's "Push Comes to Shove" and was astounded by his abilities. Perhaps he may not have had the style and emotion of Nijinsky, he certainly had the tremendous leaps, strength and finesse that Nijinsky was known for. So I have placed Baryshnikov on my list of best dancers of the 20th century.

Another 20th century favorite is Michael Flatley of Riverdance fame, who put Irish stepdancing and nearly the country of Ireland back on the map again. His jawdropping talent always kept me spellbound.

Sadly, both Baryshnikov and Flatley are at the end of their careers. Too bad dancers don't have the artistic span of painters or poets!

Now, on to the best dancers of the 21st century! I actually saw them in off-the-beat-path Chicago neighborhood venues, which are sometimes where the best entertainment and art in the area can be found. You may not have heard of either of the dancers I will mention, but you will -- or you should!

Both my husband Carlos and I agree on this! Juan Ogalla, flamenco dancer from Spain is attractive, richly talented, with every move perfect and wrought with emotion. He lives the music and you just know he lives to dance. I couldn't believe I was actually watching his performance at Northeastern Illinois University.

I know my list so far is strictly male. Can I help it if I am partial to male dancers? But a female now enters the list. For my birthday, my husband not only gave me the bellydancing lessons I was hoping for, but surprised me by taking me to a bellydancing revue of about 15 dancers from the Midwest and beyond, staged at the unlikely venue of the Northside College Prep High School auditorium.

The star of the show was San Francisco-based Rachel Brice -- who actually moves as sinuously as a snake, as if she had no hard or angular joints in her body whatsoever. Carlos and I and the other couple we were with could not take our eyes off her. Instead of a snake charmer charming the snake, the snake-like Brice charmed and mesmerized the entire audience of 500. She, like Ogalla, seems to truly live her dance and is likely the most flexible, rhythmic, and at one-with-the-music dancer I have ever seen.

Dance world -- with Ogalla and Brice around, you have a lot of catching up to do! And Carlos actually agrees with me! ◦

Greatest Dancers of 21st Century

New Year's Spiritual Bathing

It's hard to imagine that such a peaceful, reflective New Year's Day started with gunfire in the alley at midnight. But that's life in Chicago for you. My husband and I slept as late as we could, which turned out to be only around 8:45 in the morning. I padded downstairs to discover two of my son's friends spread out sleeping on our living room couches, with the my son in the guest room. After attending their assortment of New Year's Eve parties around town, the boys met up and ended their evening at our house, keeping fairly quiet eating samosas and watching a dvd until daybreak.

I started the year making a four-fruit smoothie, cleaning out the refrigerator of fruit -- banana, pineapple, raspberries, blueberries, along with rice milk, flax seed and lecithin. Ah, good. Carlos drank the glassful of juice in the fridge which I had created in the juicer the night before -- beets, carrots, celery and red pepper. Breakfast done, we ran off to another good start of the year, a visit to the gym. Carlos did an hour of various cardio machines and I took a yoga class. When we got back the boys were up, huddled around the computer, watching random you-tube clips. A ZZ-Top look-a-like wino sang "Like a Rhinestone Cowboy" on the streets of an undisclosed Arkansas city.

The afternoon brought "spiritual baths" for Carlos and me. We both had read the book, "Spiritual Bathing" which inspired Carlos to make a little ritual for ourselves. We used the homemade evergreen bath salts of a neighbor woman and a CD of chakra chants we bought the other day at the cool "Chakra Shop" on Lincoln Avenue, run by the friendly, welcoming Blanche Blacke. Blanche is a woman we met last summer at the medieval puppet show she put on in a local park.

Carlos and I each, in succession, filled the tub with hot water, tossed in handfuls of the salts, lit candles, sipped ginger tea and lemon water and listened to and reflected on the chants that marked each of the seven chakras. Carlos also segued his experience into Eric Satie piano music.

As a result of our recent visit to the Chakra Shop and discussions with Ms. Blacke, Carlos looked to the first chakra for grounding, and I at the fifth chakra for verbal expression and my throat, which tends t get a little raspy from allergies. At the yogas class earlier today and in my spiritual bath, I reflected on the new year, where I might want it to go and what I feel God expects of me. I want to be more outgoing and friendly, and to let my next creative effort flow in its own best direction, according to God's leading. Sometimes, I can get so focused on writing and projects, I don't often take enough time to just chit-chat and get to know others better. When I'm on vacation, I have no problem doing this. But back in the city, I feel time is of the essence. It is, but don't we all have lots of it to make precious and full? ◦

New Year's Spiritual Bathing

Heighten Five Senses: Touch

Your brain receives signals from 200,000 temperature sensors and more than 500,000 touch detectors. According to artist Leonardo da Vinci, most people "touch without feeling." In the book "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook" by Michael Gelb, the author explains that the secret of sensitive "feeling" touch is an attitude of recpetivity, learning to "listen" deeply with your hands and whole body.

Here's a touch self-assessment:
-- I am aware of the "feel" of the surfaces that surround me daily, such as, the chairs, sofas and car seats I sit on.
-- I am sensitive to the quality of fabric that I wear.
-- I like to touch and be touched.
-- Freinds say I give great hugs.
-- I know how to listen with my hands.
-- When I touch someone, I can tell if they are tensed or relaxed.

The book also contains some terrific journal exercises. One of the exercises concerning touch takes you outdoors to commune with nature. Explore the different textures of the needles of a pine tree, rocks and stones, flowing water, the wind, and the earth at your feet. Record your observations in your journal. ◦

Heighten Five Senses: Touch

Goji Berry Ginger Healing Tea

During my two-week sojourn earlier this year in the Culinary Suite of The Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, I focused my cooking experimentation to juices, smoothies and hot drinks.

Over the past week, my son suffered from the flu and missed several days of school. Yesterday, he noticed that his body aches and fever were ebbing away but a sore throat and congestion were taking their places. He likes eating foods with cayenne pepper, so I decided to create for him a hot, throat-soothing tea also using cayenne. I placed about a teaspoon or so of Ginger Wonder Syrup in a coffee mug, also threw in a ginger teabag, added five or six dried goji berries and finished with just a dash of cayenne peppper before adding the hot water. Steep time: five minutes.

I had already made myself the test cup to try it out before he did and I had added too much cayenne pepper (one shake). Some powdered cayenne is more firey than others, and the stuff at our house could practically burn a hole through metal. So I added just a smidgin to his cup -- probably something like 1/16 of a teaspoon. After I padded up the stairs to his bedroom and presented it to him, he took one look at the goji berries floating in the cup and asked, "What is this?" But after he sipped the drink, he said it tasted good. Before long, he finished it up, goji berries and all.

Both the ginger and the cayenne are supposed to battle symptoms of a cold, warm up your system and help you "sweat it out." The goji berries, that puffed up like juicy raisins in the hot water, were placed in the tea because they are good immune system strengtheners and, according to Asian tradition, just "make you happy," and my son needed to get back to happy.

I borrowed the idea of floating something in tea from a Korean restaurant that had floated pine nuts in my ginseng tea. It gave me something hot and soothing to drink, but also a little something to eat. ◦

Goji Berry Ginger Healing Tea

Heighten Five Senses: Taste

A sense of taste, like any other sense, can be developed. According to "The How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci Workbook" by Michael Gelb, you can self-assess your sense of taste through the following statements:
-- I can taste the "freshness" of fresh food.
-- I enjoy many different types of cuisine.
-- I seek out unusual taste experiences.
-- I can discern the flavor contributions of different herbs and spices in a complex dish.
-- I am a good cook.
-- I appreciate the pairing of food and wine.
-- I eat consciously, aware of the taste of my food.
-- I avoid junk food.
-- I avoid eating on the run.
-- I enjoy participating in taste tests and wine tastings.

No one becomes a good cook or an afficiando of the world's great cuisines overnight. Like first poems, your first attempts on the stove-top might likely end up in the trash can. Mine did for many years -- in both cases. I believe two elements you need to develop a keen sense of taste is a spirit of adventure and a willingness to make mistakes.

It's the same as approaching any other creative aspect of your life, be it writing, skiing, cooking or traveling. You'll never know what octopus tastes like until you try it, or how ginger might enhance an apple dessert until you make one yourself. I'm not a good enough cook to create my own recipes from scratch or just "throw things together." Maybe I'll be able to someday. I have, however, enough "taste" experience to imagine what a dish will taste like just from reading the recipe. So recipes and cookbooks are my friends. I sometimes cross reference two or three recipes for the same dish and make a hybrid of it, or simply "tweak" a recipe, usually because I lack a certain ingredient or two and would rather substitute with something I have on hand. It does take a little kitchen experience to know which items can suffice as substitutes. But it all comes with time, as does a seasoned palate. ◦

Heighten Five Senses: Taste

Heighten Five Senses: Hearing

I'm continuing the series on developing the five senses, based on "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook" by Michael Gelb. Try this sense of hearing self-assessment:
-- Friends describe me as a good listener.
-- I am sensitive to noise.
-- I can tell when someone is singing off-key.
-- I can sing on-key.
-- I listen to jazz or classical music regularly.
-- I can distinguish the melody from the bassline in a piece of music.
-- I know what all the controls on my stereo system are for and can hear the difference when I adjust them.
-- I enjoy silence.
-- I am attuned to subtle changes in a speaker's voice tone, volume and inflection.

However, I personally wouldn't agree that you have to proficient in all of the above to be considered attuned to the sense of hearing. I can't sing, but I consider myself a good dancer. I took dance lessons, not music lessons, as a child for seven years, and subsequent Irish and Brazilian dance classes as an adult, not to mention flat-out dance induction on the disco floor back when.

I cringe at Kathy Smith exercise videos. She's got a white woman's disease something fierce. I can out-and-out say I am appalled at the lack of rhythm of many of the step, power and kick-boxing teachers at my health club today -- even the Latino ones! One teacher, though an excellent instructor, says, "I just watch the lady," meaning me, to translate her instructions through the beat of the music -- or more particularly, when to wait for the music cue in order to begin.

I think being aware of rhythm is essential to my poetry as well as song lyric writing, though you wouldn't want to hear me personally sing any of the songs I've written. I've never been good with the bass or treble controls on either my car or home stereo (is this really a guy thing?), but am acutely aware when a spoken word performer, whether reciting poetry, prose or drama, is just missing the emotional points and high and low subtleties of the piece. This is particularly sad when he or she is the actual author.

Stretch your hearing awareness. If you do like to listen to jazz and/or classical music, you might want to play a game of "guess the composer" with your friends and family that we enjoy at my house. ◦

Heighten Five Senses: Hearing

Heighten Five Senses: Vision

To continue this mini-series on the five senses, which is both inspired and adapted from the book "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook" by Michael Gelb -- let's now take a look at what we see -- with impressions on the mind's eye leading to true vision. Can you identify with the following:
-- I am sensitive to color harmonies and clashes.
-- I know the color of all my friends' eyes.
-- I look out into the far horizon and up to the sky at least once a day.
-- I am good at describing a scene in detail.
-- I like doodling and drawing.
-- Friends would describe me as alert.
-- I am sensitive to subtle changes in lighting.
-- I can picture things clearly in my mind's eye.

Don't think that journaling or even drawing, for that matter, needs to end up as finished works of art for all to admire. Look at Leonardo da Vinci's methods -- he didn't necessarily draw to please others but because he loved to draw. Most of his drawings are contained in his "unpublished" notebooks. He valued process more than product. By first observing, followed by writing or drawing, we can enhance our capacity for "saper vedere" or knowing how to see. ◦

Heighten Five Senses: Vision

Heighten Five Senses: Smell

The best writing employs the use of the five senses to explore metaphor, to show instead of just tell. In the book, "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook," the author Michael Gelb poses this self-assessment test to help you become more aware of your sense of smell:
-- I have a favorite scent. (What is it? Why do I like it? What does it remind me of?)
-- Smells affect my emotions strongly, for better or worse.
-- I can recognize friends by their scent.
-- I know how to use aromas to influence my mood.
-- I can reliably judge the quality of food or wine by its aroma.
-- When I see fresh flowers, I usually take a few moments to breathe in their aroma.

Gelb also suggests making "smells" a theme for a day. This could be a perfect journaling "date." Record what you smell and how it affects you through the course of a day. Spend a half hour at your favorite florist. Inhale the aroma of ten different perfumes or essential oils and describe your reactions.

Others have suggested smelling a crayon, chalk, a rubber ball or other simple items from childhood. How does smell affect your mood or memory? Write down your observations. What does each scent remind you of? Comparing sensory reactions to real life experiences or memories is the core of metaphor and image. You might want to even create a poem out of these images. ◦

Heighten Five Senses: Smell

Mud Street, Spring Street, Blue Spring

More journal notes written during my stay at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, October 2006: I caught a trolley and headed downtown to get the lay of the land. Found the coolest place in town as if by magnetism -- The Mud Street Café. A downstairs, hippie, French-feeling cafe'with an art gallery, perfect poetry venue with Coltrane in the background and the best chicken waldorf salad I couldn’t imagine creating myself. Lounged on a corner couch and enjoyed the music, art and art magazines. It would make a perfect live poetry venue. It's what the Guild Complex and Lower Links in Chicago always wanted to be, but never quite could muster. Unfortunately, the place closes at 3 p.m.

Afterward, Carlos called and it turned out we had somewhat parallel days. He spent the morning cleaning and organizing the refrigerator at home. Hooly looked inside and said it looked like a page out of Real Simple magazine. And my culinary suite kitchen at the colony that I inventoried and stocked is truly out of Renovation Style magazine, snce they did the actual renovation. Carlos went to a coffee house in Chicago for lunch and had a sandwich, much as I did at the Mud Street. I wish he were here. We have to come back together.

The streets were packed with visitors attending the town's annual folk festival. Impromtu and scheduled troupes played outside in Basin Park. Arlo Guthrie and his family had appeared at the auditorium the night before and played a lot of old Woody Guthrie tunes, from what I heard. Sorry I missed the concert by only one day.

I visited a native store that is run by Tony and Belinda, a hippie-type white couple in their forties who are sincere and easy to talk with. Told me Mud Street Café has the best coffee in town. Duly noted. I didn’t let Tony know that I had just been there. Belinda is a herbal afficionado, grows her own herbs and sells several books on the subject. She is deaf, but reads lips. They live about 10 miles outside of town in the country and make leather moccasins. Talked about the Blue Spring Heritage Center, a spring that nurtured the Cherokees on the Trail of Tears. The shop had cute, funny names for some of its teas. SeeLessO’Me tea is for weight management. BearInTheWoods is an herbal laxative tea.

Made the rest of the grand circle of the historic loop around Spring Street on foot. Eureka Springs streets are a lot like New Orleans but sort of in a western style way, have the hilly twists and turns as they do in St. John, Virgin Islands, but with a mid- to late-19th century American look. The dimly lit walk back up the hill led to the forested area surrounding the writers’ colony main house. Tony had told me that rare large, pileated woodpeckers are in these woods. I saw a large bird that looked like a pterodactyl(sp?) fly through the woods across from where I walked. It wasn’t a hawk, eagle or crow. Even unto now imagined extinct ivory-billed woodpeckers have been seen in the Arkansas woods. Reached my door just as the sun was setting at 7 p.m. Found the coffee grinder and cleaned up the blender for tomorrow’s smoothie. ◦

Mud Street, Spring Street, Blue Spring

Ginseng Research Lunch

I recently visited the unusual and local Korean ginseng restaurant for lunch, located on Lawrence Avenue east of Elston on the northwest side of Chicago. Large glass cylinders six-feet tall hold dozens of fresh, scrubbed ginseng roots suspended in liquid throughout the restaurant. The menu features several ginseng items such as hot ginseng tea with a few pine nuts floating on top, which I enjoyed along with the house specialty, ginseng chicken soup.

A large bowl holding boiling broth, a whole boiled chicken and a six-inch ginseng root was placed before me. Six or seven small dishes of condiments also arrived for me to create my own soup mixture. Seasoned seaweed, kimchee cabbage, sliced steamed peppers, spiced carrots and other root vegetables, brown rice and beans, radishes, a rough salt -- one by one I added the items to the soup, tasted, stirred and removed the chicken bones and skins as I mixed with chopsticks. The waitress helped me identify the items I didn't recognize. It was then time to enjoy. Ahh. It was some of the tastiest chicken soup to cure what ails you and enough for two people. I ate my fill and brought the remainder home to share with a lucky family member.

Before I left, I bought a small bag of dried, steamed, sweetned ginseng that I can chew when I need a pick-me-up at work on stressful days. I also bought a box of panax ginseng extract in handy single-serving tubes at a remarkably inexpensive price.

I told the elegant, beautiful waitress who served me that I was doing research on ginseng and my visit to the restaurant was an exceptionally enjoyable portion of this process. She disappeared behind the counter to emerge with a small book in Korean and English on the virtues of ginseng, which she gave me as a gift. I will read and treasure it. This told me that it pays to be outgoing, to ask questions, make observations and tell strangers about yourself. Blessings often take place as a result of it. ◦

Ginseng Research Lunch

What's your journaling style?

Journaling is an important element on any scrapbook page, but there's no right or wrong way to tell your story. There is only your way! You can tell your story any way you like. If you need a starting place, take this fun, little quiz from Elsie Flannigan's book, 52 Scrapbooking Challenges.

1. You want to touch base with a friend. You:
A. Call
B. Send a text message
C. E-mail
D. Instant message

2.You're going out tonight. What do you wear?
A. Something trendy
B. Something casual
C. Something pretty
D. Something comfy

3. How many hours do you spend on the computer a day?
A. Less than one
B. 1-2
C. 3-4
D. 5 or more

4. You're sending a friend a birthday card. You:
A. Write 'Happy Birthday' and sign your name.
B. Write a personal note and sign your name.
C. Sign your name.
D. Slip the card into the envelope and send it off.

5. What's your favorite kind of test?
A. Short answer
B. Multiple choice
C. Essay
D. I don't like any tests

Tally up your scores and take a look at your results here.

If your quiz results were:

Mostly A's: Try writing down bits and pieces of conversations with friends, journal with favorite quotations, or do a back-and-forth journaling exercise with a friend, where you write one thing and she writes the next thing. Be on the lookout for journaling inspiration everywhere you go (think billboards, signs and magazine advertisements).

Mostly B's: Try journaling in lists or making up your own fun journaling code. Use stickers and scrapbooking embellishments. Write fill-in-the-blank journaling. Journal with just an assortment of randomly-selected words that describe a favorite photography or something you love.

Mostly C's: Try journaling like you're telling a story to a friend. Or think about journaling as a creative writing exercise. Your journaling is probably already pretty interesting to read—keep challenging yourself to make it real and keep it as fun as possible!

Mostly D's: Try creating your own journaling shorthand. Use your favorite abbreviations as often as you'd like. Think about making a little guide to these sayings that you can put in the front of your album (your grandkids, for example, might not know the LOL means laughing out loud!).

Get more fun quizzes and challenges in 52 Scrapbooking Challenges by Elsie Flannigan. ◦

What's your journaling style?

Shamaness encounter and another green drink

More journal notes written during my stay at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas: Yesterday I met a tall, thin biker-type woman, Janet, at a party on Beaver Lake who is a "missionary alternative healer," (using her words) with a "whole body ministry." She works out of Fayetteville and uses Christian prayer, massage, herbs and muscle testing in her practice. Evidently, she has helped heal a large number of people and even medical doctors recommend her to their patients with little to no hope. Janet walks with a cane as she is recovering from a accident and I helped her get up and down the boat ramp. She smokes and drinks, which doesn't seem too beatific, but nonetheless comes off as a true shamaness. She is so down home and real, I don't think she knows how much she exudes the aura of blessedness. she is one of the most unusual, loving and committed people I've met down here, and I mean unusual in the best sense.

As an afficiando of deep purple, seedy, crunchy berry smoothies, I've nonetheless been exploring a lot of green drinks on this trip. I made a great kiwi, pear, green grape and liquid lecithin smoothie before going to church at the Thorncrown Chapel this morning -- turned out really excellent. However, lunch was mediocre -- a blender soup of tomato, avocado, yogurt, lemon juice, rice vinegar and a little cayenne. It called for balsamic vinegar, which I didn't have but was probably the right choice for this recipe. Was a little too acidic this way. The gazpacho I made earlier this week was 10 times better. Ate a little cornbread and two Ak-Maks on the side. ◦

Shamaness encounter and another green drink

Spices, herbs, culinary suite at Dairy Hollow

Some journal notes from my stay last month in the culinary suite at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow: Took the spice/herb inventory. It’s almost 8 a.m. Drawers and racks of spices – and among the standards, some stand-outs: banana extract, brandied pepper, whiskey rub, Quebec steak seasoning, black sesame seeds, Hawaiian sea salt (red), Celtic gray salt, lavender, African bird pepper, chipotle chili pepper, and pink, green, black and rainbow peppercorns. They have all the spices for the recipes I’ve planned. I’m shocked, not. But only about a teaspoon of cinnamon left. Multiple bottles of cinnamon extract, however.

The culinary suite is exquisite. Everything was newly remodeled by Renovation Style magazine and looks very HGTV. The large living room has a cozy sitting area next to a real woodburning stone-faced fireplace. A pull-up table is also available for meals. The office includes a large desk and bookshelf along the south wall with multi-lighting options. In fact, lighting and dimming options throughout the suite are stunning, in addition to the natural skylights in the living room and bathroom.

Sage green, off-white, painted wood walls and natural stone and wood make up the décor. A large, luscious acrylic painting of two red and two white onions graces one wall, visible as you enter the front door.

I am working in the most smashing, up-to-date, impeccable full kitchen anyone can imagine; fully equipped, almost all KitchenAid appliances -- a six-burner stainless stove with hood, double oven, outdoor gas grill and sink on the adjacent deck, dishwasher and restaurant grade monster refrigerator and freezer, also blender, juicer, food processor, coffee grinder and mixer. Lots of storage space, Cuisinart cookware, glasses, dishes, gadgets, food staples from the previous colony residents. Hardly anything a cook could fall short of. Plan to take as much advantage of the kitchen as my writing schedule allows. ◦

Spices, herbs, culinary suite at Dairy Hollow

Smoothies, juices and soups from Dairy Hollow

Some journal notes/letter from my culinary suite stay at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, last month: Spent a lot of time researching ginseng today and will try to work on a poem before I go to bed. Rosaleen brought Irish whiskey to dinner and I couldn't help but try a few nips. My typing's still o.k. so all is well, thus far.

Did some non-cooking cooking today, too. I made, get a load of this, an avocado, Bartlett pear and yogurt smoothie, with some vanilla extract and raw sugar. It turned out to be one of the best smoothies I've ever tasted. A green tea boost would make it perfect, because it was the color of green tea ice cream to begin with. My lunchtime cucumber, celery and lemon smoothie/cold soup didn't fare as well as it turned out an overly cold, sour slop.

While I was at it, I pulled out the food processor (I've never used one in my life except for my mini-Cuisinart chopper back home) and whipped up some gazpacho I plan to serve as a prelude to the colony dinner tomorrow. Cucumbers, white onions, green onions, celery, red peppers, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, tabasco, lemon juice, some V8 low sodium, Hawaiian red salt, rainbow ground pepper. Will garnish later with limes. Tastes good so far -- letting it meld overnight.

Another concoction on the agenda: Theobrand: Food of the Gods, Montezuma II -- a blend of cocoa, cayenne pepper, vanilla, cornstarch and hot water. Thought of making it tonight so I can stay up a little later to get some work done. Is this what Montezuma drank 30 cups of a day? ◦

Smoothies, juices and soups from Dairy Hollow

Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow

I was among the fortunate 50 this year to have experienced and utterly enjoyed a writer's residency at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow, located in a pleasingly woodsy section on the historic loop of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. There, I spent two weeks during autumn-kissed October writing poetry, reveling in the quaint and Victorian town and the ecologically diverse terrain surrounding it, and completing valuable research for my writing with friendly, local experts and the resources at the town's authenic Carnegie Library.

Many writers' haven't yet heard about the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow because, unlike other colonies with decades of history and a thick coat of New England ivy, WCDH was only launched four years ago in the off-the-beaten-path Ozarks. However, once there, you might feel as I did that you are in the center of something special and the rest of what's floating around in other U.S. locales might be overly-worn and too world weary.

WCDH is the only writers' colony that specifically supports culinary writers, as well as poets, novelists and short stories writers. I stayed in the exquisite culinary suite, a former bed-and-breakfast living room, office, bedroom, bath and kitchen transformed HGTV-fashion by Renovation Style magazine and KitchenAid. The fully-stocked, state-of-the-art kitchen was my workshop to experiment with many of the items that appear in my poems. When I filled out my application several months ago, I put down that I could reasonably finish eight poems during a two-week stay. In actuality, I completed 16, and still had time to take hikes, try out new recipes, make friends and have fun in this artistically-diverse town.

Besides the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow, my recommendations for those visiting Eureka Springs: Opal Fly and the Swatters jazz/blues combo which regularly appears at Eureka Springs venues; Rogues Manor tavern, a tiny quaint bar that has a windowed view of the side of a mountain and spring, museum-style; Carnegie Library, a limestone-fronted, wood-paneled interior tiny masterpiece of a library initially funded by Andrew Carnegie; the garden next to the Crescent Hotel, where you will experience one of the best views of the breathtaking Ozark Mountains right in town; Thorncrown Chapel, a wonder of glass and wooden beams in the middle of the forest, which the American Institute of Architecture recently placed fourth on its list of top buildings of the 20th century; Fire Om Earth Studio, a fabulous place on 15 acres just outside of town where you can drop into a bellydancing or Tai Chi class for $10, or admire and purchase the owners' handmade Celtic and native-style drums, flutes and ocarinas. ◦

Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow

What If God Was One of Us?

As Alanis Morissette sings, "What if God was one of us?" I recently attended an interfaith church service in which the leader asked the same question. I don't think he asked it in a way that begged a definitive answer, or any answer for that matter, and I think most people in the church felt comfortable with that. But I didn't feel comfortable with it, because I know the song and I feel that each line of that song strongly suggests the person of Jesus Christ. Take a look:

Song: What if God was one of us?
Bible: Psalm 8:5 For you made him a little lower than the angels, crowning him with glory and honor.

Song: Just a slob like one of us.
Bible: Isaiah 53:3 He was despised, and rejected by men, a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease.

Song: Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home.
Bible: Matthew 8:20 Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

Song: If God had a face, what would it look like?
Bible: Isaiah 53:2 He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire him.

Song: What if God was one of us?
Bible: Phillipians 2:7 But made himself no reputation, and took upon the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

A small, but silly note: The copy editor in me just has to say..."What if God were one of us?"
[journal writing]
[Alanis Morissette]
[song lyrics] ◦

What If God Was One of Us?

Classical Music for Journaling

For journaling, or any other creative pursuit, the busy mind needs to be cleared and calmed. This will help allow your own special associations and brainstorming notions to flow through. Listening to classical music (or jazz, how about a little John Coltrane?) can set the stage, or your worktable, for creativity, whether it be for an hour, an evening or a weekend.

According to music experts, as mentioned in the book "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci" the top ten greatest works from the classical canon are:
1. Bach: Mass in B Minor
2. Beethoven: Symphony #9
3. Mozart: Requiem
4. Chopin: Nocturnes
5. Brahms: German Requiem
6. Mahler: Symphony #6
7. Richard Strauss: Last Four Songs
8. Debussy: Preludes
9. Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
10.(tie) Verdi: Aida and Puccini: La Boheme

Creative listening! ◦

Classical Music for Journaling

Journal Writing at Lake Austin Spa

My husband Carlos Cumpian and I just got back from a family trip to Texas which included the two of us making presentations and staying at the Lake Austin Spa Resort. I presented a journal writing lecture and workshop and Carlos presented Native American coyote stories, along with his drum and sweetgrass smudge accompaniment.

Besides being one of the best spas in America, Lake Austin Spa Resort is also big on hospitality and a myriad selection of activities and services. From dock activities on Lake Austin to indoor exercise classes, and from a delicious spa menu in its dining room to the spa and beauty services in a new, vast, posh complex, the resort also offers feng shui lectures, culinary demos and poker tips. We stayed in one of the spa's standard rooms, which by any other definition would be considered luxurious. Its bath area also includes two closet and dressing areas, a separate vanity, double sink and twice-curtained shower/tub area.

Some recommendations: Tom, who hosts the walks and docks on Mondays and Tuesdays offered a great orientation to kayaking before leading our small group on a 40-minute trek up and down Lake Austin (which is actually an area of the Colorado River dammed on two sides). Moving indoors, the Foam Roller techniques were easy and utterly effective, which I used to stretch and soothe my muscles. This 45-minute class expertly led by Kathy.

Kayla gave me the perfect pressure massage under the mantel of Lemongrass Ginger Pick-me-up and Carlos' achey shoulders were eased by the talents of Michael, who had his own share of shoulder issues from playing baseball. Trisha Shirey, veteran Lake Austin Spa Resort landscape artist of 22 years, has probably personally planted every green and flowery thing on the property that wasn't there when she arrived. She has a deep knowledge and appreciation of herbs and only uses organic methods throughout the properties.

Still considered part of the city of Austin, I'd truly consider Lake Austin Spa Resort part of hill country, as it is so surrounded by nature and water. ◦

Journal Writing at Lake Austin Spa