Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Fluffy Summer Dreams

Tonight was special ...the night of the "Eclipse of the Moon", a very rare thing indeed. Some of you probably stood outside the same time I did and watched as the shadow of the earth as it fell across the moon's face. The clean white of the moon now reminded me of butterscotch, the stars shone all the brighter, the constellations more distinct...I felt sorry for those who lived in the city under streetlight's hazy orange glow. But the cold of the evening (heightened by the wetness of my just-washed hair and the fact I had just fallen through a puddle of ice in Mom's summer sandals, which I had hurridely sluffed on) made me just long for spring and for summer. Oh, I've been thinking about it lots, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

I think God was so wise to change the seasons, every time He does...I just fall to pieces with excitement. Like right now...(sigh) Can you imagine always winter or fall, spring and summer I could handle better, but even then...we all need change.

I'm looking forward to a refreshing glass of raw lemonade, while I sit in the hot sun, slowly sipping. Sun tea, of all kinds, will be waiting on our front porch until it's completely at it's most succulent best. Perhaps I'll even give sun-drying a go and see how it all turns out.


And I CANNOT wait until I can go out in the early morning to our big, organic garden and slowly, and thoughtfully choose what I want for my green smoothie. Carrot tops, spinach, romaine, parsley, cilantro, beet tops, dandelion greens, wild greens...oh, how will I choose? And all those gorgeous greens...I'll juice them and I'll make giant salads out of them. I will wander our property and find all sorts of "weeds" and wild "things" to make salads out of, providing I know they're safe.

Oh, and the fun of running outside without worrying about shoes or even flip flops. I love making my feet brown and the soles hard, if I go barefoot enough I can run on gravel (what an accomplishment!) There's the wonder of jogging in the early hours while watching the sun rise. Or those lovely, warm evening walks watching that same sun set in glowing reds and oranges. During the spring and summer, my family and I are so active, tending the garden (and it's big), taking care of a few flower gardens and our secret garden (yes, we have a "secret" garden complete with pond and stream and innocent goldfish), mowing our grass (we have a LOT!), and working on home and grounds improvements. That's just the beginning of the hard, sweaty, but oh-so rewarding work we do. I'll often stay outside from the early hours till supper, just working in the earth, getting glowing (sweating is more accurate, but glowing sounds nicer) and brown. I love the outdoors, so I'll often spend my evening outside. We have an 18 ft. swing and I love going high with it, making the wind tangle my hair to such a degree that I wish I had braided it. There's not a pleasure so dear as swinging!


Well, enough drooling over summer for today...I need to tell you the most incredible green smoothie I had this morning. I've thought of a billion names (ok, not really) such as "Green Buttermilk", "Green Probiotic", and "Sweet Sourness". But I've finally got a stable name. May I present the...

Milky Greenery

1 big bunch of parsley
a handful of cranberries
1 orange, white pith on
1 TB. of flax oil
big handful of sesame seeds (incredible source of calcium)
2-3 big TB. of goat's milk yogurt (you can get this raw, or use a raw nut yogurt, which are usually fermented and so are like "real" yogurt)
some probiotics (I forgot to add this, but you can just open a capsule or two of acidophilus or some other probiotic and slip that in)
some ice
almond milk to thin


This is a nice, banana-less drink that seriously tastes like buttermilk (oh, sweet memories), only green! Oh, I'm going to make it tomorrow morning too, you can count on that. Add a lot of almond milk to thin, because it'll seriously make you think you're drinking something "milky", not a thick green shake. A very refreshing change. Hope you enjoy!


oday I had "Milky Greenery" and a half a grapefruit for breakfast. For lunch I had some vegetable fritata (not raw, but still healthy) with organic carrot sticks and a raw dip (if you do eat something cooked, always try to eat it with something raw to help it digest). Supper was a big rainbow fruit salad and dessert was 3 Medjool dates. What's wierd is I didn't have any snacks, not today or yesterday. This is rare. I'm the Snack Queen. But I tried to listen to my body and I didn't need or even really want a snack. I think what's helping is I've been drinking so much water and tea, I don't feel very hungry.

Before I head off, I just have to say something about my dinner fruit salad, it was just too good. And, oh my goodness, I was craving it something fierce. My family was having a hearty soup with feather light whole-wheat biscuits, but me, no sir...I wanted fruit! This is definitely the 3rd time I've posted about my fruit salads, but I have to write down the combination for this one too. (sorry! :0)


Rainbow Fruit Salad

  • Green ~ avacado and kiwi
  • Yellow ~ banana
  • Orange ~ orange (naturally)
  • Red ~ apple
  • Pink ~ grapefruit
  • Purple ~ grapes

If only I had blueberries it would've been perfect. I didn't add any fruit type of dressing, just the simplicity and beauty of their own juices. SO refreshing.

2 comments:

shannonmarie said...

I'm dreaming about summer, too. I miss the roadside produce stands.

Charis said...

I know, summer is enticing me. I've even starting sun tanning while I do my studying (it's February!) and I have the most miniscule freckles on my nose already, so small yet so comforting.