peaceful living – Peaceful Reader

Jason Mraz

Last weekend I took my husband to a Jason Mraz concert for our anniversary. It was simply fantastic! He and his band put on a show filled with love and joy and had us swaying our arms and dancing in our aisles. Mraz’s band plus Raining Jane, an all-female foursome of talented musician/singers made it really vibrant! His opening band, Brett Dennen, was new to us and we loved his relaxed Southern California vibe. The whole night was meant to fill us up and bring us “Good Vibes” and it certainly accomplished that for both of us and the hundreds of others sitting outside with us.

{Chris Schorn Photos}

Here is a little Mraz playlist and Brett Dennen via Spotify for you to enjoy.

With all that love flowing around us it was hard to watch one woman one row ahead of us who spent the concert alternately flipping through Facebook posts and videotaping whole segments of the show and then listening to them right after. Peace, love, happiness and all that; I know she has the right to watch the show in her own way. It was distracting and annoying and yet just a small blip of an otherwise magical show. We left singing and smiling…

Happy 4th of July

(cool image via Etsy)

I am grateful to live in this country, a country where I have the freedom to write what I want. We still have the ability to dissent, protest, and resist although there have been recent repercussions which are reminiscent of older repercussions. We still have the opportunity to be ourselves. One can even easily “converse” or respond back to the very man who sits in the White House via his Twitter account. But don’t let this fool you into thinking we live in a perfect country-we do not. Not if you are black, brown, gay, female, poor, or an immigrant…many are the downtrodden. It’s not perfect but at one time I felt (under a different administration) that we were moving forward and now we are moving backwards in time and all I hope is that we are able to recover from the mess being made today.

Everything matters now; choosing a new supreme court justice is proof of how much change one person will make and the overwhelming waterfall effect that will have on our America. Destruction at the EPA, climate change/weather-related issues not being taken seriously, and Yellowstone Grizzlies removed from the endangered list and perhaps hunted once again for sport. This issues alone worry me a great deal.

For today be appreciative of this country but also be aware; if you’ve been lazy about politics in the past, now is the time to step it up. I have only to look to The Handmaid’s Tale to know our beautiful America can look very different with a solid Christian, right-wing Supreme Court, presidency puppet, and Congress. This November we need to vote for change once again. We need to be “fired up and ready to go”…and go and go and go.

I think about young women like 28-yr-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from Queens elected because of her left-leaning ideas. This gives me hope. And I need that. Celebrate today.

Happy Be Grateful Day

{Roger Williams on Smithsonian}

I have mixed emotions about this holiday. I don’t have any trouble being thankful and realizing ALL that I have to be thankful for but the celebrating of this particular holiday just reminds me of the horrors we inflicted on Native people then and still. It also seems like a ticket for overeating. Do I sound like a humbug? Yes I probably do. I just wish the holiday was simple and not followed by a crazy shopping frenzy. So today I challenge you to think about what you are truly grateful for and to realize our lives are built on the backs of others. Read here for another look at Thanksgiving. And this young person perspective.

My Grateful 11:

My family; 5 of us make up a unique team of weirdness filled w/ humor.
My brother Jason; he is my family rock and pushes me to be more.
The elders in my life; mom, my in-laws, my stepmom and my dad in spirit.
Nature; thank heavens for parks of all kinds, places to hike and breathe.
Public education; may they one day be truly equal.
Public libraries; free books to borrow is a wonder.
Books and reading; I love to be transported.
Delicious food; well cooked, unusual ingredients and flavors.
My health; which is often rocky but I’m very lucky to be alive.
My lovely house; I can see a layer of dust over the floor but ehh-
Friends that bring me quiet times, good times, and laughter.

What brings you joy? Celebrate that today. Fill your plate with the stories that are told around the table and find happiness in the people you are sitting with around the proverbial table. Reach out and think of the many marginalized people in your community.

Joys

{made-with-love oatmeal}

Much of being a parent is really difficult. I’ve always said the good, the true joy of being a parent, outweighs all the negative that can and often does happen. This applies to my family completely. We’ve had struggles (key the amen choir) and some times it can be days before true JOY shows it’s pretty head.

My son turns 22 at the end of this month. Shocking-YES. My stepdaughter turned 25 a few days ago. It’s a big birthday month. I received my son’s birthday wish list yesterday and low and behold (cue the choir again) THIS meatless cookbook is on his list. If any of you reading have been following along for years this is the kid who insisted we put meat on his plate at the end of middle school. He was working out a lot, playing hard, and felt like our mostly plant-based diet was not filling him up. He was sick and tired of being raised vegetarian.

This outburst from him prompted me to look into sustainable meat which created a whole new food journey for our family. I started buying meat from local farmers and listened to one of my food heroes Barbara Kingsolver. In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle she says that at one time the only option was to abstain from meat if you were conscientious about your food choices; now there are options so promoting and purchasing farmer-raised meat is good for us and good for the farmer and ultimately good for the environment. So I’m gently patting myself on the back that my son, even though I know he still enjoys meat once in while, is aware of other eating options. Bravo.

Groovy Girl, who really wishes I could come up with a new blog nickname for her, makes me feel joy often but in particular the other day when her braces-covered-teeth were sore she made the request for me to make my special oatmeal for her breakfast. It was the way she said it like she was 7 again and not 14. I rewarded her with a delicious bowl full and mini ones for my husband and I. Truth be told I don’t do anything that special but I do stir it as it cooks which makes it creamy and at the end I add what ever fruit we have and sprinkles of brown sugar and cinnamon. Made with love.

Groovy Girl (the name is too perfect and she’ll be G.G. until the day the blog ends-sorry babe) and I did FaceTime with oldest daughter on her birthday and that was a highlight of my week. She had been at the musical Groundhog Day in NYC so we talked to her as she walked to the train. NY looked magical with twinkling lights and all the activity around her. I can’t wait to be there this summer with her.

Anton, my former student, living with us as an adopted son now is doing really well. He has a job, has his IA driver’s license, and has made a friend. Right now he is outside helping Greg with some chores. Teaching him to be part of the family is probably the hardest hurdle as that’s not something he’s experienced in the same way many of us think about family dynamics; how we work together and communicate. It is a thrill still to have him here.