lazy day

When you're going and going and going all of the time, it's hard to take a day for yourself and do nothing—without any guilt. Afterall, there's always something you should be doing. If it's not work, it's laundry. If it's not laundry, it's stitching sweaters or polishing shoes or returning phone calls.

That's the beauty of going away for a few days. When you're away from home, those chores simply don't exist.

Today I had rice pudding and coffee for lunch at the local diner in town. It was heavenly. (No guilt!) And then I spent the rest of the afternoon dorking out on my computer and looking at old pictures from my blog. I put a Flickr slideshow on my homepage. Check it out.

transparency

In order to minimize my impact here on Earth, I’ve thought about what it would mean to lead a transparent life. What it would mean to untangle the complexity of this world, and truly understand and find meaning in the basic elements that contribute to my existence here.

It would mean taking nothing for granted. It would mean having a hand in the decisions I make. A literal hand. It would mean mixing my dough rather than pulling it from the package. It would mean raising the chicken if I’m to have eggs. Growing the wheat to make the flour. It would mean walking to work. 12 miles down Route 7. And 12 miles back. On shoes that I made from tree bark or, if I have the stomach, from the leather of a felled doe. That I felled myself. It would mean fetching water from the lake (a 15-minute walk there and 15 minutes back). And then to boil it to purify it. On fire that I built by rubbing some dry wood with a piece of stone… And that’s just to start.

To iron out the complexities of life would mean intangible things as well: being honest and true, pursuing knowledge while being sensitive to the needs of others, yearning for community, taking time to understand.

To reach transparency is a huge task. We can only get there one step at a time. I might not have room or time to raise my own chickens, but I can choose to buy eggs from my local farmer and I can make an effort to visit his farm and understand his practice. It is there in our search for understanding that we build community and sensitivity. We nourish one another. And we learn that our efforts have the power to build exponentially upon each other.





Blog Action Day

eat peas weekly

Call me crazy, but I'm starting a new writing project, based on a suggestion by one Hannah Wall. It's called Eat Peas Weekly—essays on nourishment every Monday, and in it I hope to publish new writing by a different person each week. If you have something to contribute, I would love to post it, so send your writing my way! (or just comment on the blog).


Love,

how vermont are you?

My displaced, yet e'er Vermonter sister Hanushka made a fabulous post yesterday about a ridiculous quiz that is supposed to tell you how Vermont you are. Her analysis is spot on--and we NEK'ers were certainly miffed at all of the Chittenden-centric questions. I'm guessing that the quiz was designed by flatlanders themselves. Who on earth would create a quiz called "How Vermont are you" that pertains only to the city of Burlington? (In fact, most NEK'ers don't even consider Burlington part of Vermont).

We had our other sister and her husband over for dinner last night and the four of us had a hoot taking the quiz (we scored 95% Vermont, but then, we do live in Burlington) and coming up with our own NEK version questions.

Got any more? Take the quiz and add your own! Hanushka is compiling them for her true Vermont version.


This picture is also from last night. That's Emmo with candy corn in her teeth mimicking a Northeast Kingdom accent. She's really quite good.

easy homemade ice cream

Here's a really simple way to make ice cream from David Lebovitz--and the best part is that you don't even need a machine!

Try it with this healthy and delicious Raspberry Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt recipe. LZ made this for some of us girls the other night and it was to die for.

filling in for lost memories

Sister Hanushka wrote a fabulous little tale of our red house where we grew up in Pawlet. Being five years her junior, I didn't share a lot of these memories--or wasn't privy to them at the time. But reading them now, I too can exist in that story of once-upon-a-time and happily-ever-after...

I had a dream last night. I was in the house that we grew up in, the red one that burned down in Pawlet. Each room had layers and layers of wallpaper coating the walls, and I was looking for a specific one, cream background with brown illustrations of ladies in hoop dresses. There were so many different patterns, and I was peeling them back to find the one I was looking for. In our bedroom, (all three of us shared one little room) I peeled and peeled until I got to the last layer and it was A.A. Milne style portraits of we three girls. Read more.

so much in a year

In a couple of days, P.Post will be a year old. Only a year? It's hard to believe that so many thoughts and ramblings could squeeze into such a short period of time. That so much could change. In fact, when I started P.Post just a mere twelve months ago, the original intent was to write a fashion blog. Can you believe it? Looking back, I've barely touched upon the subject. But I won't say fashion is irrelevant to my ultimate cause, which is to see beauty in the world, or to find it if it's missing. To pay homage to this wonderful life by making the effort to live it fully and richly. Beauty manifests itself in many ways, I've found. Friendship, food, community, culture, art, literature, questions, optimism, and yes, even fashion sometimes.

Today, beauty is on my windowsill.

Saute & Sass

Lauren started a new recipe sharing blog, Saute & Sass. I'll be posting there every now and then, so be sure to check it out!

what's your secret?

I've been thinking about secrets lately. That's because I have one. Doesn't everyone?

What really interests me about secrets is the dichotomy of self one must undertake--especially when you are forced to lie. You convince your skin and voice to mask what you're feeling inside with what you want people to believe. Like a hot air balloon beautiful and neat on the outside, but swirling with hot heat and volatile gases within. It's theatricality at its best.

Sometimes secrets can be good if keeping them preserves the feelings of someone else. If they protect. Or if keeping them enables something really great to happen, eventually. Like a surprise party or the ending to a really great story. Secrets help make the finale that much stronger and more exciting. In that sense then, I have lots of secrets. But even good secrets can cause inner turmoil.

What about the really bad ones? It probably depends a lot on the secret and what the motives are for keeping those secrets.

I'm curious about people's motives. In the case on my particular secret, the motive is very clear: self-preservation. In fact, I'm willing to bet that's a common motive for most people. I'm also willing to bet that the opposite is true: that self-elimination is a cause for keeping secrets. In short: our motives for keeping secrets have to do with how we see ourselves existing in this world. We keep secrets in order to control that vision. But how hurtful is it to those who we keep in the dark? When does the balloon explode?

On the very thoughtful Web site PostSecret, individuals can mail in their secrets to be posted anonymously for the world to see. The secrets are still secrets, I guess, but revealing the facts must be a small relief. Don't you think? It's also very comforting to know that other people--real people--are struggling with the same inner turmoil. You don't need to know who's saying it; it just helps to know you're not alone.

Here's one great reason for revealing a secret: helping other people cope.