Lazy W Marie

Carpeing all the diems in semi-rural Oklahoma...xoxo

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Khalil Gibran and April Rainstorms

   I cannot remember when I first started reading Khalil Gibran poetry, but I love it. Somehow it tends to circle back to me every few months, and often right when I can appreciate it the most. This week has been one of those times.
Khalil Gibran 1883-1931
Third best selling poet of all time.
   Dark, stormy days like we’ve enjoyed this week are perfect for a poetry infusion, don’t you think? Add in a homemade latte and some toasty croissants with strawberry jam… and it’s pretty much pure indulgence.
   Following are a few snippets of what I love from this man… Remember these are snippets, just parts of longer poems. And I urge you to find the full text on your own. Read them curled up under a soft blanket or stretched out beneath the massaging sun…
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   This first one touches painfully and honestly on every aspect of motherhood. It reminds me of advice I once received before my youngest daughter underwent her first brain surgery, to regard myself only as a “vessel” for love and healing. Not as the actual Source of love and healing. This passage has helped me let go in recent years too, for the peace of mind of both of my sweet girls… It reminds me that love is not selfish and that life is constantly moving forward..
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They came through you but not from you
and though they are with you
yet they belong not to you.
   Speaking of making room to breathe and grow… Of letting go just a little bit… It applies to romance and marriage too. I know from experience that insisting on too much is unkind. Demanding too much is unproductive. And too much too much is just smothering to both of you. Those lessons are good in and of themselves, but Gibran says it so musically…

But let there be spaces in your togetherness 
and let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love;
let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
   Everything passes… Keep the long view and anticipate beauty… I want my friend Melissa to internalize this next one…
Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.
   Have you read The Secret yet? These principles are cropping up everywhere I look.
All that spirits desire, spirits attain.
   This next one is startling if you think about it…
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
   On poetry, by the poet…
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder,
with a dash of the dictionary.
   Faith… Difficult to remember sometimes, but faith is a spiritual and emotional choice independent from reason, logic, and every other method of the intellect. Faith is a condition of the heart that you can determine yourself to enjoy. Faith is also something you can encourage in others, by letting them know they are not alone and that their hopes are not futile.
Doubt is a pain too lonely to know 
that faith is his twin brother.

Faith is a knowledge within the heart,
beyond the reach of proof.
   And last is perhaps my favorite Gibran snippet. Like icing on the cake I happened upon some representative artwork to illustrate these beautiful lines… I am day dreaming of the soft green grass that will soon be growing from this week’s torrential downpour  Oklahoma is on the road to recovery from two years of serious drought, and the temperatures are coaxing us outdoors longer and longer each day…
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet
and the winds long to play with your hair.


Isn’t this wonderful?? It is a painting by Kayann Ausherman.
I found this generous artist via Pinterest and was lucky enough 
to make contact with her and gain permission to use this colorful image.

Kayann is an inspirational artist in Kansas 
who runs the most luscious Etsy shop called From Victory Road
You can find her on Facebook and also follow her blog right here. 
Really lovely stuff. Thanks for your permission to use this beautiful painting, Kenyann! 
So very nice to meet you.

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   I hope you enjoyed that, friends! I love to temper long, heavy reading projects with doses of poetry like this. Particularly when the poet is time tested and uplifting. It teases my soul pleasantly for sure.
   Who are your favorite poets?

xoxoxoxo

Sweet Oklahoma Legislation, Call to Action SB 716

 Good morning friends!! I am writing a bit hurriedly this morning to ask you all for some help. It’s a step outside of my comfort zone. Today, I am getting involved in some local politics. Cue dramatic music…

…PAM-POOM-PAM…

   This afternoon, our Oklahoma State Representatives will be voting on a bill that will have a great impact on beekeepers and fresh honey availability.

   It’s really important and kind of exciting!

   If passed, Senate Bill 716, the Oklahoma Honey Sales Act, will allow small scale or hobbyist beekeepers (like little ol’ me) to sell their fresh, local honey without cumbersome regulation and inspection through the Health Department.

   This bill has already passed the Oklahoma Senate (unanimously I might add), which is great news. If today goes well then our fellow beekeepers will be very happy and everyone can continue enjoying the sweet, sticky, healthy stuff at a reasonable cost.

   Please let your Representative know who you are why you care about this, and that you support this bill. Some of our smart  peers have been working really hard on it already. My friend Maribeth in particular has spearheaded the writing of the proposed bill; and others have been lobbying at the Capitol with jars of their fresh honey in tow. Isn’t that a great way to be remembered?

   I have no honey to offer yet, but I will be contacting them today to make a last minute impression. And if you are an Oklahoma friend I hope you do the same

   Honey is nature’s perfect food. It doesn’t spoil. It will not grow bacteria. It has myriad health benefits. And keeping bees is not just good but vital for every aspect of our agricultural environment. Everybody should care that bees thrive and that honey is free flowing.

   Lastly, and this is the crux of it, honey and other bee products are certainly not cheap to produce. It’s a pricey and risky venture already. So further restricting production and distribution would be bad for everybody, not just beekeepers who want to share their liquid gold now and then. Small scale apiaries need the freedom to operate simply and economically, or they may be forced not to operate at all. And we need exactly the opposite to happen. We all need more beekeepers, not fewer of them.

   This matters to you IF…

  • You are a beekeeper yourself
  • You like to purchase local honey from farmers’ markets, etc.
  • You live in Oklahoma and eat any kind of produce (because bees pollinate everything).
  • You are in Oklahoma and read this blog. (C’mon you guys!! All three of you contact the Capitol today!)

   

   How to help, exactly? Glad you asked.

   The Oklahoma House of Representatives will be voting on this bill today at the 1:30 session. Between now and then, please call or email your Representative. Make sure he or she knows you support SB 716 and that you hope he or she will vote to support the Oklahoma Honey Sales Act.

   If you do not know who your State Representative is, you can click on this link right here. Super easy. Make sure you scroll to the bottom to find your State Representative, not State Senator or US Representative, as this website will provide all elected officials.

   Thanks in advance for participating and being part of an important decision! I hope you all have a beautiful day. Give thanks for the rain Oklahoma is receiving this week. Daydream about the crops that will grow from it and about the gorgeous honey we will soon be collecting. 

“If you want to gather honey,
  Don’t kick over the beehive.”
 ~Dale Carnegie
 xoxoxoxo

Introducing Seraphine

   This past Friday evening brought a big surprise. A big, woolly, elegant, four-legged, sweet-natured surprise.

   Handsome and I had just finished eating dinner and would have been cuddling and unwinding after a long, hard working week, but he was pre-occupied. He stayed dressed and alert for no apparent reason. I mentioned my plan to take a shower before going bowling later, but he strangely discouraged it. Have you been near me today, buddy? I thought to myself, skeptical of his olfactory senses.

   Then a friendly knock at the front door (weird, because we rarely have unexpected visitors) and his excited call for me to come see who’s here… Well, let’s just say I almost passed out on the floor. I was still in running clothes and had zero clue what to expect. And I scare easily. Very easily. Ask anybody.

   It was our dear friend Maribeth (my apiary mentor) and her sweet, funny, jovial husband Dean. And they had brought their long livestock trailer.

   “What the heck’s going on?” I might have said. Seven thousand irrational possibilities rushed through my dried-sweat, tangly-ponytail mind but none of them were the truth. I hug-attacked Maribeth and trusted from her generous laughter that the purpose of her visit was a happy one.

   Side-note: Do you know how difficult it is 
to maintain polite eye contact with someone while still 
looking over her shoulder at the mysterious livestock trailer in the driveway? 
It’s hard you guys. Super hard. 
This situation put my manners to the test in a big way.

   A few intense moments later, I realized it. Maribeth had brought me another llama. And my husband was okay with it in on it.

Are you in love like me?

   As with all big surprises, suddenly fuzzy little irregularities from the previous day or two started coming into focus. The things Handsome had said about Romulus remembering his family and needing a mate… Other funny little evasive details… My people had orchestrated this awesome gift behind my back, and I was trembling.

   Okay, fast forward a bit.

   We released this glowingly beautiful female from her trailer into the barn, where she pranced around pretty calmly. I hope you can watch this quick video…

If for some reason you cannot view it here, 
check out the Facebook page for this blog. 
It seems to be working there just fine.

   Then at the exact moment that we opened the west doors of the barn, Romulus was all over her like white on rice!! Something flipped in his adolescent-llama mind and body, and his singular purpose in life was suddenly to, umm… gain passage on her hindquarters… He was a man on a mission, and while the object of his affection took things in stride (elegant creature that she is) Chanta, the big paint horse, was thoroughly and violently freaked out.

   Dean, Maribeth, Handsome and I watched in hilarious waves of laughter as Romulus fell more and more deeply in lust with his new pasture mate. Chanta sometimes chased them and sometimes guarded us from the R-rated show. It was a fun half hour, you guys, and it made for plenty of cell phone photos and inappropriate jokes. Because deep down we’re all basically immature children. Gradually Maribeth and I tried to turn it into a scientific conversation about animal husbandry and herd behavior and such, but nobody was fooling anybody. This stuff is just funny.

Once the chase was over and Romulus had her, umm, pinned…
Our new girl got quite relaxed. I took her a small pile of hay topped with grain, 
admittedly a strange time to serve her a “Welcome to the Lazy W” meal.
But she ate it contentedly. 
If I had any doubt about loving her, this removed it.
She is amazing.

   We have had a long, gorgeous weekend to get acquainted, and I can tell you she is just beautiful, you guys. She is sweet, peaceful, calm, and wise. She explores the fence line, luxuriates equally between the sun and the shade, and loves our chickens and honeybees. She speaks four languages and reads the classics. But she also knows which new books are worth a glance. She understands the difference between Bearnaise sauce and hollandaise. She can knit and also drive a stick shift, and just last night she offered to lend me her Florence and the Machine CD. She is a complicated angel on four straight little legs.

Seraphine is drawn to the rattle of sweet grain in a metal bucket 
in the same the way I am drawn to a hissing, gulping coffee machine mid-brew.
So basically we understand each other.
Look at those snow white eyelashes you guys!! 
And her face has two sets of distinct black teardrop markings. 
She could not be any prettier.
   I should tell you that our new llama’s registered name is Yoko Ono. But she doesn’t know that, and it doesn’t fit in too well here at the farm. So during Saturday’s Hot Tub Summit, in a stroke of true serendipity, Handsome and I agreed on her new moniker… 
   Seraphine.
   Thank you so much for spending a few minutes meeting Seraphine. I expect she will make regular appearances here on the blog. If you have any questions for her, let me know. She is very accommodating.
   Now I have to go. It’s a cool, rainy day in Oklahoma so obviously I have to go watch the pond rise slowly.
   Have a beautiful day friends! May your biggest surprises be happy ones!
“We must never confuse elegance with snobbery.”
~Yves Saint Laurent
xoxoxoxo
   
   

Recipe Review: Easter Dinner for Two

   Handsome and I decided to do things a bit differently for Easter this year. Except for the hour or so we spent at a morning church service, we spread ourselves out here at the farm, enjoying the sunshine and animals, luxuriating in the abundant peace and love we have been building lately. We really needed the emotional cocoon, the deep drink of stillness that these long, slow days provide us. And thankfully the weather cooperated. Temperatures near eighty degrees, light breezes, and sunshine the color of melted butter… It was all pretty magical. A sparkling, happy Easter for sure!

   Instead of joining up for a big family feast with either of our clans, whom we love deeply, for this one quick little springtime holiday my guy and I sneakily opted for a singular romantic meal. It was wonderful and delicious. I built the menu from a collection of ideas found around the internet, and in case you’re interested I am gonna offer some recipe reviews. Ready? Okay.

Cinnamon-Buttermilk Scones
   First, before church, I made us a batch of thick, tender, sweet, crunchy-on-the-top scones. The recipe can be found right here on the Money Saving Mom site. It came together pretty quickly and was fun to make. The only thing I did to stray from the instructions was to skip the vanilla glaze post-bake, because Handsome and I just like it better that way. Served with hot, sweet, creamy coffee, scones with icing would have been too sweet for us. Anyway, this recipe will be a repeater for sure, on special weekends. Really simple and sensual, with so much mixing and touching of the silky, honey-scented dough, and using turbinado (raw brown sugar) and egg white as a crunchy topping felt super fancy. Loved it.

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   Now… After church I kicked off my high heels, shoved my hair up into a disorganized heap on the back of my head, and wrapped myself up in an apron. For the next couple of hours I had such fun preparing our meal… And Handsome frequently popped in to say hello, lead me out to see what the llamas were doing, and generally flirt with me.

   Oh, did you not hear that we are now a multi-llama family?

You know Romulus, the male in the back here.
His new pasture mate is Seraphine. 

   Yep. More on that later. For now, here is some review of our afternoon meal:

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Balsamic-Garlic Crusted Pork Loin

   The main course of pork loin was a recipe from Kitchen Confidante. You can find the full recipe right here. I made a half recipe, which served us both twice and also provided some leftovers. The flavors are sweet and savory and just a little bit sticky. I enjoyed using my cast iron skillet in a new way. Handsome and I agreed this is a repeat performer, so anytime I see those individually packaged pork loins on sale I will be stocking up. Because you always have the ingredients for this glaze in the pantry. Really simple and good.

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Katie’s Scalloped Yams

   The potato dish was borrowed from my friend Katie, who is a fellow Oklahoman blogging over at Dishin & Dishes (I have her listed over there on my sidebar…). She is so fun and talented, and I love her approach to family life and romance. She cooks passionately and just released her first book too, wahoo!!

   You can purchase Food Lovers’ Guide to Oklahoma locally or check out the tab on her blog. Very cool! Anyway, Katie recently offered up this gorgeous recipe for scalloped sweet potatoes. I love it!! I was obligated to make two tiny changes for our use, which were:

  1. to not peel the fresh yams (I like to keep skins on all of my fruits and veggies, because I am a vitamin junkie) 
  2. and to omit the chopped onions because Handsome has a serious food allergy to them. To compensate for the flavor loss, I punched up the fresh garlic a little and added a few scrapes of nutmeg. 

   Katie, thank you for this recipe!! It was so very good. I can’t wait to make it again, especially once our fresh herbs have grown lush. I had to use dried store-bought herbs this time. Also, Handsome asked if I would also make it with white potatoes. Yum.

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Sour Cream 7-Up Biscuits

   The biscuits we enjoyed can be found in recipe form right here on a Mississippi blog called Deep South Dish. These things are sweet, soft, and pillowy… Definitely the temptresses of biscuitry. Be warned, if you are on a carb-restricted diet, these will be your ruin. They almost made me cry a little bit, they were so gentle and flavorful to my mouth. After our meal I took two giant biscuits outside to crumble up for the yard birds, and I swear one of the hens passed out in pure bliss. She’s fine now. And she’s been asking for more Sour Cream 7-Up biscuits ever since.

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   The vegetables were simple. We just ate steamed fresh broccoli and a crisp green salad including two lettuces, spinach, and strawberries. And of course we drank fresh iced tea that was sweet enough for a hummingbird.
   I did not make a single solitary Easter dessert this year, though my eyes had found a thousand pretty options, because clearly we had enjoyed plenty of sweets and starches already. And Handsome was still working hard on a big Easter basket full of chocolates.

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   So that’s it! We are both still stuffed today, though that has not kept me from eating hard-boiled farm eggs and fruits and veggies all day long. And maybe one more soft, sweet biscuit. And maybe half of one scone. Or three.

   I hope you had a lovely Easter weekend and are enjoying this grand new week!

“Nothing would be more tiresome that eating and drinking
if God had not made them a pleasure
as well as a necessity.”
~Voltaire
xoxoxoxo

 

Happy Easter Friends

Easter Sunday this year is falling at a time of so much change. So much new life.
The month is changing, the season is changing, and I am changing.

Are you?
Are you in any kind of metamorphosis right now, any kind of renewal?
More than ever I think, things are really truly changing.
I hope you are sensing it, and I hope it is all beautiful and exciting.

When I reflect on the Christian importance of this weekend, 
what my mind most often drifts to is redemption. 
We have been redeemed from our sins by our Savior. 
We have been traded. Purchased. Protected from darkness and storms
and even from ourselves for a while, 
our debts relieved and our futures bright and open with loving possibility.

 From a million years ago, one of our homemade Easter rituals, commemorating the Passover night.

This is so in step with how I have been trying to manage my own life lately, 
just the word redemption.
For what different things in this world am I redeeming my precious time and energy? 



Spiritually speaking, the question becomes even more challenging.
What trades am I making? What contracts are written with my free will,
after such a costly redemption?
It’s plenty to think about, but it doesn’t make me sad anymore.
Life is so throbbing with energy right now that I am only motivated, revived, 
and hopeful for the possibility of everything good and amazing!



Break your dormancy, friends.
Erupt through the soil, nourished by invisible things and sparked back to life,
filled with all the life force you need
to grow into your fullest, most beautiful, most useful potential.
Face the sun.
Accept every kind of weather.
Stretch your roots deeply and enjoy the company of bugs and worms.

It’s going to be a season for the record books, and I wish you the best of it all. 
Happy Easter!

xoxoxoxo