birds of the air

my goal for july was to blog every day. that would be a total of 31 entries. of which i am short. hence, sometimes more than one per day. so i want to write two more. for the first, if i were to sum up this month, i would entitle it "birds of the air."

growing up, we always had enough, but never extra. that continues to be true in my life and yet it is one of the best things that's ever happened to me. limited income (which has nothing to do with true wealth) invites us down a path of creativity and resourcefulness. as i was picking berries and saying hello to all the creatures (author's side note: yes, ala st. francis, i name animals and talk to them. the resident butterly is "flora" and the robin? "fred". i'm still coming up with a name for the deer) i was overcome with gratitude and started quoting parts of matthew 6 but in my own words ending with a form of contentment that exhuded, "life, i am in LOVE with you!" the harvest is so plentiful. just look at my mint garden (author's side note again: i was inundated with mint, so i bundled it into types and rigged a drying system on the south side of the house using a bamboo pole).

that is just one example of there always being enough to share. time, attention, produce... the in and outflow is constant: a vase of flowers to a friend, fresh cucumbers to me...my czech friends who will not let me leave their home without giving me starts of rosemary, hand built pottery and farm fresh eggs in return for jars of jam. a bottle of wine here, some swapped clothes there and you have a true economy of community.

so what do you do when you can't just "charge it"? when you look into the pantry and see one yam with some random scatterings in the fridge department and someone is coming over for dinner? you make israeli cous-cous with garlic mustard aoli over sweet potatoes and garden greens. you put mint and blackberries in the blender and freeze them into ice cubes for a fun refreshing treat to add to sun tea. you throw some flour and sugar together over fruit and call it dessert. you make something out of not much.

you see something in the store and think, "ah! i could make that" and get together with friends to do so. instead of buying jewelry, you string together a mish-mosh of vintage pieces just to see what happens. i've known what it is to be able to shop and i've known days when i couldn't. but knowing the sharing that is enabled when we know we can't make it in isolation, i wouldn't have it any other way.

look in the sky! the birds do not work from 9-5 or get into debt. they never go hungry and there's no need to hoard because there's always enough.

got mint?