Lazy W Marie

looking around to improve your perspective

May 18, 2017

Yesterday afternoon I stumbled into the weirdest funky mood. It lasted maybe 90 seconds and had the effect of a low, dark cloud crawling meanly across an otherwise brilliant sky. It was so distinct and forceful that it literally stopped me in my tracks. I was walking downhill toward the vegetable garden and paused, looked around like maybe I heard something behind me? Klaus stopped too and crooked his head to wait for my next step. His face and the green lawn and a few other beautiful things reminded me that I was home. That the moment was good and the context was magical.

I’m grateful for awareness when my perspective is shifted negatively and for the power to bring it back to center. It’s often just a small exercise of noticing physical beauty, then maybe indulging in the quiet, inner messages some of them bring:

Fallen tree branches that resemble antlers. I cannot resist collecting them and inserting them into every flower pot, and it gets me thinking of the hundreds of patterns in nature, in the universal patterns of the human experience, from one generation to the next.

A stout gray and white horse who loves to scratch the hollow of his chin against every T-post on the farm. Oh Dusty, I love you.

That weird but pleasant summertime fragrance combination of latex paint, sweet clover, and manure, all warmed by the sun and stirred by the breeze. It’s just nice.

Watching our German Shepherd (I can no longer in good conscience call him a puppy) and our llama play together like little boys. Remembering the girls when they were little and prone to indulging in “Mud Monster” afternoons. Dreaming of their futures. Watching the dog and llama again, best friends on the muddy edge of the pond.

The pond is still so high! Exceeding its banks, our own small lake, all these weeks after the heavy rain. Grace is abundant. We are fattened by it.

Walking around the bee hives, seeing the Honeymakers float and parade near their respective porches. Each colony is so unique, and all three of them are so entrancing. This is an endless metaphor.

Raking up great, thick, heavy clods of crabgrass, recently tilled, and shaking loose the dirt. Looking up just enough to visualize the food that will soon be growing here.

Checking for the day’s newly laid eggs, having to gently lift each hen to find them. Feeling the warm, sticky film on eggs that stay in the nests, waiting to hatch. Learning to trust the life cycle without counting chicks too early.

The lingering smell of marigold blossoms and arugula, the rough texture of kale, the jewel toned petunias and geraniums near the kitchen door. Oh man I had the best Grandpa…xoxo

Neatly pruned trees that had once been a chaotic black jack grove. Peace and strength that have brought some order to a fearful heart. Order and more beauty.

Frozen things are long thawed, mountains are moving, fear is losing once again to Love.

“Most people think it takes a long time to change. It doesn’t. Change is immediate! Instantaneous! It may take a long time to decide to change…but change happens in a heartbeat!”
~Andy Andrews in The Noticer
XOXOXOXO

home sweet home

May 14, 2017

That last morning we rose to a gentle cell phone alarm, dressed quickly in still wet swim suits and cover ups, and scrambled across to the beach for an even gentler sunrise.

It’s the exact opposite of a mountain-enclosed sunrise, in that it begins ahead of schedule and is far from shy. That far south, dawn illuminates everything with concentric rings of glowing pastels, not unlike what we love so much at home.

The sky above us was ice blue, and the sky that drew our gaze- all the way to the razor edge horizon- was now stacked with intense pink and lilac, no longer stormy grays from the day before. The moon still hung smooth and silver over the fishing pier. Just barely less than half full.

The waters were evenly choppy, calmish, a brilliant metallic blue. Sparkling. Again, not unlike our pond at home lately. What few waves cropped up in little crescendos managed to strike flashing moments of gold in the blooming daylight.

We fed the birds again and walked barefoot once more on the damp, pliable sand. We inhaled the salty air and scanned the bay for our shark friend. I felt that familiar mix of emotions tied to leaving a place you love to return to a place you love. We had just done this a few days before.

A little while later, dispensing hotel coffee into my Styrofoam cup, I thought of buttered grits with salt and pepper, of dense, creamy scrambled eggs and warm watermelon. Chicory coffee and the smell of powdered sugar and fresh pralines. Spicy shrimp scattered over excellent salad greens and sub-tropical potted greens exploding from every iron balcony. Live music and unbridled artistic expression, crooked sidewalks and smooth carved statues, some of them now removed.

Then I thought of our beautiful farm and even better coffee. And my own wild gardens and that upstairs closet full of recently edited artwork that wants to see the light of day again. I thought of our animals and our family, of Mother’s Day and summertime and new adventures on the horizon.

I thought of Colorado sunrises and a certain artist who enjoys them.

This morning I woke to the strong fragrance and gurgling sounds of my own coffee machine. I felt my big, muscular, silky dog nuzzling my feet and growling in that early morning, contended way he does. We crept outside together to see the shimmering daybreak and feed the horses and chickens, explore the gardens again, and play an early round of fetch.

Our own Big Easy, our own beachy sky, our own home base thrumming with all the Love we have cultivated.

And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
XOXOXOXO

monday may first

May 2, 2017

How fun to begin a fresh, new month on a Monday. And what a gift that our Oklahoma skies are (at least temporarily) clear and blue, warm and friendly. This has been an auspicious beginning.

I spent most of today setting up for the rest of the week. It’s an easy-rhythm thing around the farm, every Monday, and I like it. Plenty from my list of good intentions remains unfinished, but I feel content and even a little drunk on tiny pleasures.

Honeybees exploring tomato blossoms near the kitchen door. Pacino chittering to the wild songbirds. Klaus, black and shining, panting, catching his breath after several exhaustive romps with Meh.

Our pond is higher than we’ve ever seen it, rippled by the stout afternoon breeze and glittering, really truly glittering and navy blue instead of muddied by clay It’s a welcome sight, as are the rolling green hills and soft, lush pine trees.

Having neglected to collect eggs yesterday, today I found twenty-six! They are scrubbed clean and drying now on a thick towel on the kitchen counter. The smell of soap. I have this ever-expanding vision of supplying fresh edibles at a local market. A detail of this vision is inviting people to select their own eggs, taking home only the shell colors they like best. I have a large powder-coated basket and stack of empty cartons perfect for this fun. Until then I mix them up, tan and green and dark brown. ($3 per dozen, locals!)

As Handsome was driving home from the City, I sat on the kitchen patio and wrote and played some easy fetch with Klaus. The breeze was mostly cool, but sitting still in the afternoon sun baked my jeans against my shins and melted away some tension. Like a massage for my bones and my emotions. I stood up, stretched, and planted a new rose bush he had gifted me before bedtime last night.

I feel full and empty all at once, and I have stories stacking up inside me like hurried, disgruntled train passengers desperate to disembark at the perfect destination, heck any destination; but I can’t slow the train to let them exit safely.

Things I hope to tell you wonderful people this week:

All about the Listen to Your Mother event on Sunday. Wow.
Some exciting running accomplishments from a few of my favorite humans.
The easiest non-recipe I have ever shared. I made it by accident last Friday.
My own running lately and a plan for May and June
Two books I read recently that you just might LOVE. Or hate. Your choice.
Bliss Lists!!
Even more about LTYM because I just had no idea what it would really be like.

As we go about the first few days of this gorgeous new month, let’s urge each other to be grateful for the gifts we have and gentle to everyone who crosses our path. Let’s work really hard at our goals (more focus, smarter ingenuity) but also rest more often and luxuriate in what we have already accomplished. Best of all let’s take time (and help me remember this ok?) to sometimes not even think about those things. Just love our men and our dogs and our horses and gardens. Once in a while that has to be enough. And, because life is truly magical, it will make us stronger for the things we can’t do much about, after all.

See you soon, magical hard-working people.
XOXOXOXO

friday 5 at the farm: rainy indoor day edition

April 21, 2017

Today Oklahoma is gladly receiving a heavy late season rainstorm. It woke us around 3 am, actually, with the luscious violence of thunder and window-shimmering lightning flashes. The deluge now is calm and warm, drenching all the prairie green to a deeper, more exotic shade, exactly what our eyes have been craving. Our own little jungle hemmed in with pine trees and buffalo grass. The pond is high far beyond its banks, and we are so grateful.

The saying goes that rainy days are when gardeners do their housework. With only two of us living here, our big house stays relatively tidy and dusted up, minus some evidence of a rambunctious two-year old German Shepherd living here too; but some projects do get neglected in favor of long mornings spent running both miles and errands, and maybe playing with the horses, and long afternoons spent working in the gardens. So today’s flood watch invites me indoors to play catch up.

Here’s my Friday 5 at the Farm this week, rainy indoor day edition:

Read & Write: I have two gorgeous fiction books I have been wanting to finish reading, a family cookbook project I would really like to nibble at before Mother’s Day is upon us, and several blog post ideas that only need some time applied. This little corner of the Apartment is calling my name.

Sewing: Once I finish repairing a fun tablecloth order for my friend Suzanne, I have a small pile of apron projects cut out and ready to assemble. I am loving the fresh summer fabrics and am kinda extra happy about getting back to basic shapes. Do you need an apron? Send me a note!

Laundry & Ironing: One big load of laundry to wash and fold, then this easy line of shirts to press for Handsome for next week. During ironing time lately I have been listening to podcasts. Stuff about either minimalism or running and nutrition. Good stuff, man. Great stuff. I am learning so much.

Deep Stretch & Strengthening Yoga: No running today, though I could easily use the garage treadmill. I am actually taking the day off on purpose to do some seriously indulgent, profitable yoga, core work, and foot exercises. I have more to share about this on Monday, these lessons learned recently about not being in balance and how it can lead to injury.

Poor Klaus: Clearly the most important thing on my rainy day agenda is keeping my big playful pup happy and occupied. He is currently pining hard for his llama buddy, his barnyard chores routine, a romp around the back field, and maybe another swim in the turtle habit, aka our overflowing pond. Poor buddy. We will be playing lots of indoor fetch today, I predict.

How do you spend offbeat days? Do you relish the chance to do something different, to indulge in a new routine and catch all of those elusive loose ends?

Seize the days, whatever they bring and however they look. Redeem the time. The common and the lovely moments, the surprising and the rare.

Happy Friday, friends. I hope you are getting all the rain and inspiration you need.

XOXOXOXO

friday 5 at the farm: feel good meals this week

March 31, 2017

Happy Friday!! Lots to celebrate over here. Lots of good stuff to press again into our flesh so it becomes more a part of us.

Yesterday I got to nourish my soul as much as my body by gobbling up two hours of top-shelf conversation with my cousin Jen. Actually our moms are cousins. More importantly, we are friends and have been since we were little girls.

Jen and me at Roman Nose state park, circa the 80’s. Climbing rocks in flip flops? Since this is a food post, I will tell you that I clearly remember eating cottage cheese with pineapple that day, on a bed of lettuce. We also roasted hot dogs.

I am always so grateful to grab time with this woman. She lives in Colorado now, not far from Jocelyn. Needless to say, we have some fun activities planned for my next drive up.

I love you Jen!! Thanks for sharing your heart and your cake.

Real quick, five meals that made me feel great this past week.

I do not “meal-prep” in the traditional hashtag sense of the word, though I admire those of you who do. How fun to see what other people eat, especially folks with similar goals and lifestyles. For us, I just plan loose menus aiming for as many vegetables as I can find, some lean-ish protein, eggs, fruits, good grains and cereals, and, okay, copious amounts of caffeine. Also popcorn.

Close observers might notice a conspicuous absence of tortilla chips these days. Just an experiment to see I die from not eating them?

When I hydrate completely and nourish myself with just a little intention, I always feel better. Happier, more energetic, stronger for good consecutive days of running and farm chores, sleepier at night, comfier with life in general.

Handsome feels better with good habits, too. He and I eat the same more than our friends might believe. I might eat slightly bigger salads than he does, and he might like potatoes more than I do, but otherwise? Like 67.814% the same.

Onward!

1. Apple Oats & Strong Coffee with Full Fat Half and Half, no sugar: I ate this late Tuesday morning after running nine miles, six with my friend Sheila and three solo. I was cold, wet, happy, and pleasantly depleted. I got home and craved something sweet. Normally I put runny eggs in my plain oats, but this day a Granny Smith apple was perfect. Loads of cinnamon. I was at max energy for hours. And behold the extreme volume of froth on that coffee, thanks to my $1.79 IKEA gadget. Obsessed. 335 calories, 68 carbs, 3 fat, 12 protein.

2. Roasted Broccoli with Quinoa, Lean Ground Beef, & a Parsley Mountain: A few cups of broccoli thawed and roasted, a nice sized patty of lean ground beef, and a hefty scoop of quinoa-wild rice mix. I smothered all of it with fresh parsley and added mustard instead of salad dressing. I was so full and content. 537 calories, 15 fat, 55 carbs, 53 protein.

3. The Egghead at Red Cup: Thursday was lunch with Jen. We met in OKC at the Red Cup, an adorable, artsy coffee shop that has evolved nicely over the last couple of decades. First I ate this picturesque sandwich you see here, and washed it down with some pretty decent French Press coffee. The bread was marbled rye, and the good stuff inside was a fluffy egg or two, avocado slices, some salad type things, and maybe a smear of hummus? Delicious. No exact nutrition data to share, but I felt great after eating it and had energy all afternoon. See below for our dessert…

4. Vegan Peach Cake: Jen and I nibbled together on this cold, fluffy, nutty, fruity mound of indulgence in between updating each other on our lives lately, our hearts’ desires, and what books we both have read. We made this cake last a long while, man! And by the end of our two-hour lunch, still half of it remained on the plate. Not because it wasn’t good, because it was. It was just so dense. And we were both already so full from our actual food! Yum.

5. Green Salad with Broccoli Slaw & Sirloin: Have you ever tried a baggie of that raw broccoli slaw from the produce department? I grabbed one a few days ago for a great price and have to admit, I love the convenience. I recently saw the idea of using these tiny veggies slivers in a stir fry, which I will eventually do. So far, on a “big salad” night I just added about half a cup of it, plain and raw, to a bed of chopped romaine and tomato, topped it with several ounces of petit sirloin and some vinaigrette, and called it a huge win. I ate a big handful of “air-fryer” russet potato fries afterwards, too. Yum. 464 calories, 38 carbs, 15 fat, 42 protein.

Food regrets this week? Nope. We were well fed and happy every day, for which I am grateful. I feel super fortunate.

Wednesday night we ate that slightly famous homemade Chick-Fil-A pan-fried “pickle chicken,” this time on toasted hamburger buns, and I added cheese and peppers to mine. This dish did not make my top 5, but it was really good. I call it an extra win because I relaxed enough to enjoy every bite despite not being able to run that day. Still, let’s not discuss nutrition on that. Thanks. : )

Let’s admire a llama instead.