February 2010 Newsletter

Heart Connection

Where would we be without the many people who make our lives a bit more lovely and whole? Whether they're our best friend, our lover, our neighbor, or the grocer who goes out of his way to help us, our lives are richer for the people in them.

This month, let people know how much you value them. Thank them for the gifts they bring that make your world more wonderful.


For more ideas on organizing, please visit my website at www.ClaireJosefine.com. And if you haven't had a chance to see the 5-minute snippet of me discussing the spiritual aspects of being organized, check out the video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KKFzZqJK2I

Tip of the Month

People think I have a great memory because I send them birthday cards on time. While once upon a time my memory was sharp, these days I depend on a couple of tools: a perpetual calendar and a tickler.

Here's what I do. I write birthdays, anniversaries, etc. into a perpetual calendar. Then, at the beginning of each month, I go through the calendar and pull cards for everyone I wish to celebrate. I address the envelopes and place them (cards inside) in a 1 through 31 tickler/sorter in the slot for the day I plan to mail the card. When that day comes, I mail the card.

Quote of the Month

"The ultimate prayer, the prayer that comes from deepest wisdom, is thank you!"

– Sylvia Boorstein

March 2010 Newsletter

Wind & Breath

I’ll bet you’ve never thought of taking a deep breath as an organizational technique, have you? Usually we associate conscious breathing with mindfulness. But mindfulness is an organizing tool. By slowing down and paying attention, we bring intention back to our actions. Being aware helps us to maintain focus and make clear decisions.

In fact, studies have shown that meditation practice helps people with AD/HD. One of the easiest forms of meditation is to focus on one's breath. So this windy month, be aware of the rhythm of your life's winds -- your breath.

And if you need a fresh breeze of hands-on organizing to sweep through your space, give me a call:707-268-8585.


Tip of the Month

When you find yourself starting to “spin out,” or hear yourself saying “I’ll just” or “for now,” –- stop. Take a deep breath. Exhale slowly, then take another deep breath. Keep breathing until you’ve come back to the present moment. Now, notice your surroundings and your situation, calmly choose your next action. And keep returning to your breath as needed.

Quotes of the Month

"Breathing in I calm my body and mind; breathing out I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is the only moment."
– Thich Nhat Hanh


"The sin of inadvertence, not being alert, not quite awake, is the sin of missing the moment of life — live with unremitting awareness."
– Joseph Campbell

April 2010 Newsletter

Facing the Inevitable


April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

T.S. Eliot introduced this classic poem, "The Waste Land," with a reference to Sibyl who, when asked what she wanted, replied that she wished to die. You see, Apollo had granted her eternal life, but she had forgotten to ask for eternal youth, too.

I think of this poem every April, when the earth is readying itself to be reborn from winter's darkness. This is also the time of year my mother died -- goodness, it's been ten years ago already!

When my mom passed, I discovered the importance of an organized estate. Even though she had written her will, showed us which file cabinet held all the crucial papers, and discussed her wishes with us before she passed, my mother’s estate was full of surprises, including discovering her best jewelry hidden in a box labeled "Old Sheets."

I realize that most people probably don't want to think about the inevitable day they meet their mortality. But preparing ahead has its benefits, including:

• Peace of mind from knowing everything is in order
• Renewed awareness of what your assets are
• Opportunity to review and update information, beneficiaries, and instructions
• Smoother transfer of information and responsibility for assets
• Fewer expenses – administrative, legal, and accounting
• Fewer taxes
• No search and discover fees
• Less stress
• Less bureaucracy
• Increased efficiency in handling the estate proceedings
• More money and assets retained by your heirs

Of course, we all probably think of taxes come April, too. As good ole' Ben Franklin is famous for stating, only two things are certain: death and taxes. And in some odd way, they do go together. So, now that your taxes are (almost) done, I encourage you to get the rest of your financial matters in order. As always, I am happy to help if you find you need assistance.

With your taxes done and your estate in order, you can close two doors behind you on winter's darkness as you emerge into the joy we know as Spring.



Tip of the Month

Is your will up to date? How about your Advanced Health Care Directive? For the month of April, I’m offering my comprehensive checklist for organizing your estate for free. Send me an email requesting the checklist before April 30, 2010, and I’ll email the e-booklet (which usually retails for $6.95) to you at no charge. You may also want to check out my colleague Maggie Watson's excellent workbook, "A Graceful Farewell: Putting Your Affairs in Order" (ISBN 978-1879384-68-2).

Quotes of the Month

"What is life, but one long risk?" – Dorthy Canfield Fisher

"If each own sweeps before his own door, the whole street is clean." – Yiddish Proverb

May 2010 Newsletter

April showers bring May flowers...

I have a confession to make. I love having a garden. I love being able to pick flowers and arrange them in vases around my house. I love being able to pick herbs and veggies and fruit and cook them up right then and there. I love growing enough food to be able to share with people who are hungry by donating to my local food bank. But I really don't enjoy gardening.

Okay, I like some of it. I like planting seeds in starter pots and watching them grow. I enjoy planting the starts into well-prepared soil. I certainly love the smell of the earth. It's just all that work -- the hoeing and weeding and picking of slugs -- that I find painful and not at all fun.

Where I live, May means lots of work in the garden. The rains have finally let up enough that the clay soil is dry enough to work, but they've also nourished vigorous growth of wild radish, sheep's sorrel, plantain, and thistle. All of which is fine out in the pasture, but is unwanted competition for my cultivated plants (flowers and veggies) in the garden. And so the mowing and weeding and slug picking begins...

But guess what? Basic organizing principles apply to the garden, too! Keep It Simple, Sweetie reminds me to tackle only small areas at a time, rather than try to weed the entire garden in one day. Create (and use) Habits reminds me to weave the watering and slug patrol into my daily chores. Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude helps me to see (and appreciate) the garden I have instead of the work that still faces me. And Ask for Help encourages me to call my gardener, who takes care of the mowing and weed-whacking (and some of the weeding) for me.

Whether you're organizing your garden or your home, the basic principles serve as a helpful guide. If you need a reminder of the principles (and want to see what some other organizers have come up with), read my article "Organizing by the Numbers" on my website. http://www.clairejosefine.com/art.htm#organizing%20by%20the%20numbers And, as always, let me know if I can be of any help.

Happy spring!



Tip of the Month

Get ready for your garden by discarding old seeds, sharpening and cleaning your tools, and recycling broken and excess pots. Then organize: put your hand tools together into a bucket or caddy and hang your larger tools (shovels, rakes, etc.) on the wall of your gardening shed or garage.

This year, I've organized my seeds in order of when I'm planting them, so that the ones due to be planted next are on top of the bundle. You can also organize them by type -- flowers, herbs, veggies -- or alphabetically, or by shade vs. sun. However you think of them and want to access them is how you should organize them.

Quote of the Month

Our life is shorter than flowers
Then shall we mourn?
No, we shall dance
Plant gardens
Dress in colors
And teach our children
To make the world more beautiful
Because our life is shorter than flowers.
— Toltec fragment

June 2010 Newsletter

Simplicity


The simple life: warm bread baking in the oven, laundry drying on the line, veggies fresh from the garden, chickens contentedly exploring their yard, finches and grossbeaks at the bird feeder, cut flowers placed in a vase by the bed, cats curled up in the sunshine.

Idyllic, yes? And yet the simple life is not necessarily easy, if by easy we mean requiring a minimum of work. Simple means both easy, effortless, and natural, unadorned. When we daydream of "the simple life," I think we are longing for a life stripped down of pretension and complication, a life of connection and meaning. But because simple also means effortless, we don't consider how much work is required to "live simply." Unless we have servants (at which point the work is deferred to someone else, but it hasn't gone away), we need to make the bread dough that's baking, hang and fold the laundry (which smells delicious, as good as that baking bread!), tend the garden and the chickens and the cats, cook meals from scratch, and so on.

Of course, there's the saying that "Work is love made visible." Some of us feel deep satisfaction and pleasure in doing the work of creating and tending. There's a connection to Source that comes with these labors, if we can remember to be aware of it.

My own challenge comes with this month's tip: to make time for fun. I get so caught up in the daily chores of my simple life that I forget I'm choosing them, I forget that connection to Source and to enjoy my life. And so my response to the tip is two-fold: one, to recall the joy in the work of simplicity and two, to go play!

Anyone want to join me for a play date on the Trinity with Redwoods and Rivers Rafting?

Happy June!



Tip of the Month

As summer approaches, simplify your time commitments so that you have time for fun, whether that’ s reading a novel, BBQing with the neighbors, or swimming in the river. Declutter your time the same way you would a room, by looking at each activity and asking: Does this make me smile, or is it useful (supporting my goals)? If not, let it go.

Quote of the Month

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.
– Charles Mingus

July 2010 Newsletter

Liberty

My sister-in-law recently told me that she’d read an article in the French Elle about feminists who’ve gone back to the land, and that it made her think of me. Did I know that I was avant-garde? she asked. No, I replied, I just thought I was an oddball trying to live life my way, and grateful that I live in a time and place where that’s possible.

We are blessed to live in a relatively free society. While I won’t argue that we are a long way from what we could be, we are (for the most part) free to be ourselves, to pursue our unique versions of happiness.

As an organizer, my aim is to help others be the best version of themselves. What’s organizing have to do with freedom? Bear with me here. I know that the “free spirit” sort tends to think of organizing as a restrictive straight-jacket, a set of rigid rules, too much oppressive order. I encourage them to instead see organization as a life jacket, a tool that supports us as we navigate our way down life’s river. After all, the better organized we are, the more easily we can share our gifts, be it teaching children, feeding the hungry, creating beauty, defending the downtrodden, tending a garden, or otherwise making the world a bit more lovely and whole.

And, just as there are many talents to share, there is more than one way to organize. What works for one person might not work for another. Along those lines, I’m teaching a new class in August. Here’s the blurb:

Not everyone thinks alike. Some people are great at making lists and plodding methodically forward in a straight line toward their goal. Others find their mind full of ideas and their energy drawn in a number of directions at once. If you tend to be better at brainstorming than getting things done, “Playful Planning for the Creative Thinker” is for you. Learn creative techniques for turning those great ideas into a plan of action.


------------------------------

Speaking of taking ideas and making them happen… Last month I wrote about needing to play more. I’m pleased to report that I spent a peaceful day under blue skies and redwoods along the Eel River (at Women’s Federation Grove), reading a novel while my friend taught the puppies to swim. And in a few days we will be enjoying a combination camping and river-rafting excursion.

What fun do you have planned?




Tip of the Month

Free yourself from expectation. “The word “should” often puts undue pressure on you to conform to standards that probably aren’t even your own.” (Jennifer Koretsky) Rather than thinking that you “should” be more organized, celebrate your creativity and individuality – your strengths -- and ask for help with your weaknesses.


Quotes of the Month
I didn’t belong as a kid, and that always bothered me. If only I’d known that one day my differentness would be an asset, then my early life would have been much easier. – Bette Midler

Certain defects are necessary for the existence of individuality. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Resistance to the organized mass can be effected only by the man who is as well organized in his individuality as the mass itself. – Carl Jung

August 2010 Newsletter

Lazy Days of Summer?


Message on one of the local school’s marquee: “Enjoy your summer, but be ready for the first day back on August 30!” What? Already? Nooooo…

Does anyone else remember summer break being longer and more luxurious? I don’t mean luxury like a fancy cruise, more like long days kicked back reading novels and hanging out near (and in) water. Plenty of time to be with friends, walk in the woods, go camping, star-gaze, feel like life is easy and carefree.

And yet, here it is, August, with the end of summer looming. Only a few short weeks before school’s back in session, before the crispness of autumn creeps back into the air. I am not ready, physically or emotionally. Which I suppose isn’t very Zen-accepting of me, but sometimes I just don’t feel like going gracefully into that dark night.

Still, the seasons sing a natural rhythm, and we’re probably better off if we can live in harmony with them. It’s harder to tune one’s life to nature’s rhythms when our lives are conducted by the cultural calendar: arbitrary dates of school sessions, unconscionably short vacations from 40-hour workweeks. Even our modes of building and transportation separate us from nature’s rhythms. But it’s do-able.

For me, working only 10 to 15 hours each week, living in the country, and having a garden have strengthened my connection to nature’s cycles. But even city-folk who work full-time and have black thumbs can build a relationship with natural time by nurturing their awareness of it.

Which brings me to this month’s invitation. I invite you to start noticing the little details of the season. What is special to this time of year in your region? In the coastal river valley I call home, the blackberries will be ready to begin picking by the end of the month, and the spider webs are sparkling with dew. This is the month when the Farmers’ Market is bursting with produce and variety. When the river is barely a creek. When the hay has all been bailed and moved, and the Jersey cows cross that trickling river to graze in the pasture outside my kitchen window.

I’d love to hear what you notice about the natural rhythms of August in your neck of the woods!


Tip of the Month

Replace the word “routine” with the word “rhythm.” The goal in time management is to create a gentle flow to our days, not a rigid structure. Think of your life as a float down river. What do you need to do in the morning before putting in? What do you do when you take out (end your day and prepare for bed)?

Quotes of the Month
"Always leave enough time in your life to do something that makes you happy, satisfied, even joyous. That has more of an effect on economic well-being than any other single factor." – Paul Hawken

"I think over again my small adventures, my fears, those small ones that seemed so big, all those vital things I had to get and to reach, and yet there is only one great thing: to live and see the great day that dawns, and the light that fills the world." -- Old Innuit Song

January 2010's Weekly Quotes

January 4, 2010
"There is no easy formula for determining right and wrong livelihood, but it is essential to keep the question alive….We have to stop pretending that we can make a living at something that is trivial or destructive and still have a sense of legitimate self-worth. A society in which vocation and job are separated for most people gradually creates an economy that is often devoid of spirit, one that frequently fills our pocketbooks at the cost of emptying our souls." – Sam Keen

January 11, 2010
"Joy is not in things; it is in us." – Richard Wagner


January 18, 2010
"…when we remove ourselves from direct and wholehearted participation in life…emptiness and boredom creep in. It is then that we begin our search for something or someone that will alleviate our gnawing dissatisfaction. Yet the search is endless to the extent that we are continually led away from ourselves and our experience in the moment. If we fully appreciate the learning and love that life offers us in each moment, then we feel less desire for material luxuries that contribute little to our well-being and that deprive those in genuine need of scarce resources. When we live with simplicity, we give ourselves and others a gift of life." – Duane Elgin


January 25, 2010
"They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price." – Khalil Gibran

Want to hear a great talk?

I just discovered that the talk I gave a couple years or so ago at Many Rivers Books and Tea in Sebastopol is available at this site: http://www.manyriversbooks.com/Audio/FollowingRavenFindingGround.mp3.

I listened to it again tonight and was wildly pleased. It was a really good talk, based on my book Following Raven, Finding Ground: A Road Trip in Search of Home, that discussed the importance of facing your fears to find the life you want. As an added bonus, I remembered how much fun that night was, sharing my thoughts with that room full of people.

The talk comes in at a little over an hour. If you'd like to hear a shorter version (24 minutes), recorded over the telephone specifically to be available as an mp3 (instead of recorded live and then uploaded to the internet), visit my website (www.clairejosefine.com).

January 2010 Newsletter - Get Organized Month

It's January, a new year, and the perfect time to clear out the old, bring in the new. Take a look around you and ask, "Why do I have all this? Is it still of value to me?" If not, perhaps it's time to pass it along.

If you would like help determining what to keep and what to pass on -- or how to organize the things you're keeping -- please call me. I can be reached at 707-268-8585. (And to help motivate you, I'm offering 20% off all client sessions for the month of January.)

For more ideas on organizing, please visit my website at www.ClaireJosefine.com. And to view a 5-minute snippet of me discussing the spiritual aspects of being organized, check out this video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KKFzZqJK2I


Tip of the Month
Instead of asking how recently you used an item, ask yourself, "Does it make me smile?" If not, and if it’s not fundamentally useful, put it back out into the world so that it can bring joy to another.

Quote of the Month
"The more he gives to others, the more he possesses of his own." – Lao Tzu

Final quotes for 2009

December 21, 2009
“I have lived with several Zen masters – all of them cats.” - Eckhart Tolle






December 28, 2009
"Our lives are also fed by kind words and gracious behavior. We are nourished by expressions like “excuse me,” and other such simple courtesies. Our spirits are also richly fed on compliments and praise, nourished by consideration as well as whole wheat bread. Rudeness, the absence of the sacrament of consideration, is but another mark that our time-is-money society is lacking in spirituality, if not also in its enjoyment of life." – Ed Hays

Quotes Nov. 16 through Dec. 14, 2009

November 16, 2009 – one year anniversary of weekly quotes!

"Whatever we want to turn away from is precisely where the gems are – right behind the dragon. When we go toward what's frightening, we breathe it in. We connect with it, we get a bit more intimate with it. Then we make a discovery – things are less terrifying when we connect with them, when we make room for them in our heart, when we stop losing ourselves in separation. When we feel like we belong in the deepest sense, we can uncover and move our unique gifts forward, feeling empowered and at home in this mysterious universe. Fear then is not a problem, but just excitement in drag."
– Robert Masters


November 23, 2009
"Back of the sun and way deep under our feet, at the earth’s center, are not a couple of noble mysteries but a couple of joke book."
– Tennessee Williams



November 30, 2009
"What we are doing right now is what we are doing right now. Wanting a different scenario is useless. This is the movie we have rented, so why not watch it? The other movies aren’t available or haven’t been released yet."
– From Nothing Left Over by Toinette Lippe


December 7, 2009
There is no better exercise
for your heart
Than reaching down
and helping
to lift someone up.
– Bernard Meltzer


December 14, 2009
“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”
– The Dalai Lama

Quotes: 10/12 through 11/09

October 12, 2009
"There is a light in this world: a healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometimes lose sight of this force when there is suffering, too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people, who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways."
– Richard Attenborough


October 19, 2009
"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."
~ Lao Tzu


October 26, 2009
“[O]ur future may be found in the past’s fugitive moments of compassion rather than in its solid centuries of warfare.”
– Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States

November 2, 2009
“To live more simply is to live more purposefully and with a minimum of needless distraction. The particular expression of simplicity is a personal matter. We each know where our lives are unnecessarily complicated. We are painfully aware of the clutter and pretense that weigh upon us and make our passage through the world more cumbersome and awkward. To live more simply is to unburden ourselves – to live more lightly, cleanly, aerodynamically. It is to establish a more direct, unpretentious, and unencumbered relationship with all aspects of our lives: the things that we consume, the work that we do, our relationships with others, our connections with nature and the cosmos, and more. Simplicity of living means meeting life face-to-face. It means confronting life clearly, without unnecessary distractions. It means being direct and honest in relationships of all kinds. It means taking life as it is – straight and unadulterated.”
– Duane Elgin

November 9, 2009
“Underlying beliefs are the building blocks of your concept of heaven and your concept of hell. They show exactly how you think you would improve reality if you had your way, and how bad reality could look if your fears came true. To watch it all collapse, to discover that those painful beliefs that we’ve carried around for years are not true for us, that we’ve never needed them at all, is an incredibly freeing experience.”
– Byron Katie

Bread Recipes -- Free for the asking

I've finished compiling all my bread recipes into one document. Including pizza dough, biscuits, and muffins, there are a total of 20 recipes, plus info on maintaining your sourdough starter (if you acquire one).

If you would like a copy of these recipes, email me at clairejosefine@wildblue.net and I'll email the PDF file to you.

More Inspirational Quotes

Sept. 14, 2009
As you sit on the hillside, or lie prone under the trees of the forest, or sprawl wet-legged on the shingly beach of a mountain stream, the great door, that does not look like a door, opens.
– Stephen Graham

Sept. 21, 2009
“Life is as fleeting as a rainbow, a flash of lightning, a star at dawn. Knowing this, how can you quarrel?”
– Jack Kornfield

Sept. 28, 2009
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.”
– E.F.Schumacher

October 5, 2009
Were all the year one constant sunshine, we
Should have no flowers,
All would be draught and leanness; not a tree
Would make us bowers;
Beauty consists in colors; and that’s best
Which is not fixed, but flies and flowers.
–Henry Vaughn

Quotes - 08/10 thru 09/07

Oops, fell behind on posting these here! To receive these regularly, sign up at my web site: www.clairejosefine.com

Issue 39, August 17, 2009
“As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, you should keep it. If you were to give it up in a mood of self-sacrifice or out of a stern sense of duty, you would continue to want it back, and that unsatisfied want would make trouble for you. Only give up a thing when you want some other condition so much that the thing no longer has any attraction for you."
– Mahatma Gandhi


Issue 40, August 24, 2009
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
– Albert Pike


Issue 41, August 31, 2009
"A man who is willing to undertake the discipline and the difficulty of mending his own ways is worth more to the conservation movement than a hundred who are insisting merely that the government and industries mend their ways."
– Wendell Berry


Issue 42, Sept. 7, 2009
"How simple and frugal a thing is happiness: a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. … All that is required to feel that here and now is happiness, is a simple, frugal heart."
– Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba The Greek

Inspirational Quote -- week of August 10, 2009

"You are not here to judge or know all the answers. You are here to be the creative conduit of heaven and earth, as Chinese Medicine likes to say, and dance with the great mystery of life. When you feel the pure wonder of the inner and outer realms coursing equally through your own veins, and experience your life as a series of joyful learning experiences, you are fully embodying your true nature. You become a cascade of gratitude, a font of appreciation for the majesty of life pouring through you."

-- Terah Kathryn Collins

Inspirational Quote -- week of August 3, 2009

“The exploration of new ways of living that support new ways of being is a movement that arises from the awakening of compassion – the dawning realization that the fate of the individual is intimately connected with the fate of the whole.” – Ram Dass

Inspirational Quote -- week of July 27, 2009

"Getting rid of the clutter is not about letting go of things that are meaningful to you. It’s about letting go of the things that no longer contribute to your life so you have the time and the energy and the space for the things that do."

– Elaine St. James

Inspirational Quote -- week of July 20, 2009

"Grant me the ability to be alone.
May it be my custom to go
outdoors each day
among the trees and grasses,
among all growing things
and there may I be alone,
and enter into prayer
to talk with the one
that I belong to."

– Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav

Inspiration Quote - week of July 13, 2009

“Our deepest fears are but dragons guarding our deepest treasures.”
– R.M. Rilke

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité -- and Organizing

Happy Bastille Day!

The storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution is celebrated as a sort-of French 4th of July. Because the Bastille held both ammunition and political prisoners, its storming represents liberation from the oppression of monarchy.

For me, becoming organized is also liberating. Some people think of organizing as a restrictive straight-jacket, a set of rigid rules, too much oppressive order. But I prefer to think of organization as a life jacket, a tool that supports us as we navigate our way down life’s river.

The French motto is Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité – liberty, equality, and brotherhood. In honor of Bastille Day, I thought I’d look at the benefits of organizing from the motto’s perspective.

Liberté
I had a client once who was in charge of her psychologically-disabled sister’s estate. We worked together to organize all the paperwork associated with her sister, and were eventually able to put it all, neatly labeled and filed, in a portable file box. The day we finished, my client pranced gleefully, singing “Betty’s in a box! Betty’s in a box!” Now, when she wanted, she could hand over the responsibility for Betty* to someone else. Whoo-hoo! Freedom!

I have another client for whom we’ll be doing something similar. She currently handles all of the paperwork and finances for her 20-something-year-old son. In the course of organizing her office, one of our goals is to set up a paper-management system – again, self-contained in a portable file box – for all her son’s affairs. Her goal is to teach him how to use it and eventually turn it over to him, empowering him to make his own financial decisions and liberating her from the responsibility.

Egalité
Possibly because they’ve struggled to function as a right-brain creative sort in a left-brain culture, many artists scoff at organization as being dreadfully dull. One of my readers once wrote to me: “I have always detested neat, highly organized people. They are not like me. They made me feel faulty, inadequate, guilty, and so I pronounced them without creativity, spontaneity, or passion.” The rebellious artist rejects organization as antithetical to the creative process. And yet – organization supports art. Creation is easier when the artist can find her toys – her favorite camel-hair brush, the Italian hand painted blue bead, the silver glitter. Being able to find our toys – or really, our tools – put us on an even keel with our fellow craftsmen by enabling us to practice our craft without unnecessary hindrance.

Ditto for attorneys, or teachers, or healers, or carpenters, or chefs. Having our tools readily available allows us to do our job more effectively and helps create a level playing field – equality.

Fraternité
Brotherhood reminds us that we’re all in this together. My last principle – I have 12 Basic Principles of Being Organized, which are the focus of my book – is to Ask for Help. I remind people that we are not alone and we shouldn’t try to do it all ourselves. If those artists, attorneys, teachers, healers, carpenters, and chefs need help organizing, I can help them. The principles are universal across professions. But I can also help people get organized so that they can bring in help. Some people – especially entrepreneurs – need help setting up basic office systems so that a secretary or bookkeeper can come in and take the administrative load off, allowing the entrepreneur to focus on growing her business. Other people need their home decluttered and organized enough to allow a housekeeper to come in and help them with the cleaning. Or they need their kids’ areas organized so that they can start teaching their children how to be organized.


Why We Organize
In my book, The Spiritual Art of Being Organized, I write about why people get organized. Here’s an excerpt from the book:

Why get organized? What are the benefits to you? When I ask my clients this question, they toss back answers:
* so I can find things;
* so I can pay my bills on time;
* so I can have company over without feeling embarrassed;
* to feel happier, more peaceful and serene;
* o reduce stress;
* to save time and effort, make my life easier;
* so I can meet deadlines, improving my work performance and relationships with co-workers;
* to save money (on late fees, duplication of possessions);
* to make money;
* to improve the way my home (or office) looks and feels;
* to have more time to spend with my family and to do what I really want;
* to feel better about myself.

Artists, doctors, mothers, gardeners—I believe that each of us has gifts to offer, and a duty to offer them. Each of us brings something to the whole, to making the world a lovelier, safer, happier place. Being organized helps us share our gifts.

What, then, does it mean to be organized? For me, being organized means being able to access what we want quickly and easily. Organization does not require perfection, only that our systems are easy to use and maintain. Contrary to images of organized homes being the result of constant vigilance, organization is actually about being lazy; about making our lives easier. Rather than seeing organization as a dam that restricts our life’s river, think of it as the raft that supports us, that provides structure and a modicum of safety and control as we float (or ride rapids) downstream.

In fact, Class IV rapids are an excellent reason to become organized. Life happens. We lose our job, our health, a loved one. Or we become deeply involved in a creative project, a long and fabulous vacation, an all-consuming love affair. We have babies, move, return to school, start a business, write a book, change careers. Being organized helps us to survive, even thrive, as we ride through these transitional rapids.

In The Way of Zen, Alan Watts wrote, “If the wind were to stop for one second for us to catch hold of it, it would cease to be wind. The same is true of life. Perpetually things and events are moving and changing…. We can only understand life by keeping pace with it, by a complete affirmation and acceptance of its magic-like transformations and unending changes.” And, I would add, by being organized enough to flow with it.

So why get organized? Because, when all is said and done, being organized makes life easier.


Taking it to the Streets
Consider furthering the cause of liberty, equality, and brotherhood by reaching out to those being held prisoner by their disorganization. Do you know someone who is often running late? Losing things? Being assaulted with late fees? Complaining about being disorganized? Complaining about their spouse being disorganized? I don’t recommend ramming their gates with critical judgment – “Boy are you a mess! You should hire Claire!” – but a quiet coup de grace – mentioning that you know me and that I’ve helped hundreds of people, encouraging them to visit my web site and then call me… that would be one way you could make their lives easier and the world a better place. Together we can make the world a bit more lovely and whole.

*Not her real name

Inspiration Quote - week of July 6, 2009

“Liberty is not license to do whatever you want to do. It is the freedom* to do what you ought to do.”
– Sylvia Boorstein, quoting a sign she saw somewhere

(*And, I would add, the responsibility to do what you ought. – Claire Josefine)

Inspirational Quotes June 2009

Issue 28, June 1, 2009
“Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.”
– Pablo Picasso

Issue 29, June 8, 2009
“Why is it that we yearn to be more or other than we are? It so rarely occurs to us that what we are looking for may be – indeed, always is – already within us, simply undiscovered.”
– from Nothing Left Over by Toinette Lippe


Issue 30, June 15, 2009
“[T]he making of money and the accumulation of things should not smother the purity of the soul, the life of the mind, the cohesion of the family, or the good of the society.”
– Duane Elgin (paraphrasing David Shi)


Issue 31, June 22, 2009
“Observation of my life to date shows that the larger the number for whom I work, the more positively effective I become. Thus, it is obvious that if I work always and only for all humanity, I will be optimally effective.”
– R. Buckminster Fuller


Issue 32, June 29, 2009
“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.”
– William James

Inspirational Quotes May 2009

Issue 24, May 4, 2009
"When you come right down to it, all you have is yourself. The sun is a thousand rays in your belly. All the rest is nothing."
– Pablo Picasso


Issue 25, May 11, 2009
"He who will, Fates lead. He who won’t, they drag."
– Joseph Campbell


Issue 26, May 18, 2009
“Simplicity is the result of stopping the identification with so many desires.”
– Ram Dass


Issue 27, May 25, 2009
"Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word."
– Arnold Toynbee

Inspirational Quotes April 2009

Issue 20, April 8, 2009
"If you should be holding a sapling in your hand when they tell you the Messiah has arrived, first plant the sapling, then go out and greet him."
— Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakka



Issue 21, April 13, 2009
"Salvation is seeing that the universe is good, and becoming a part of that goodness." — Arthur G. Clutton-Brock



Issue 22, April 20, 2009
"I no longer expect things to make sense. I know there is no safety. But that does not mean there is no magic. It does not mean there is no hope. It simply means that each of us has reason to be wishful and frightened, aspiring and flawed. And it means that, to the degree we are lost, it is on the same ocean, in the same night."
— Elizabeth Kaye



Issue 23, April 27, 2009
"…there is an aesthetics of time that is violated when we live in constant rush, when our lives are a succession of agenda items, when we live like someone racing through the supermarket with a shopping list. To live well means giving things the time they deserve, be it time for the children, one’s spouse and lover, one’s friends, or the garden."
— from Graceful Simplicity by Jerome Segal

Inspirational Quotes March 2009

Issue 15, March 2, 2009
“[W]hen the health of one part of the food chain is disturbed, it can affect all the other creatures in it. If the soil is sick or in some way deficient, so will be the grasses that grow in that soil and the cattle that eat the grasses and the people who drink the milk from them. … Our personal health cannot be divorced from the health of the entire food web.”
— from In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan



Issue 16, March 9, 2009
In Tales of the Hasidim, there is a story about Rabbi Baruch, who talked about three ways of bringing money to the zaddik, the head of the temple: “Some say to themselves, ‘I’ll give him something. I am the kind of person who brings gifts to the zaddik.’ Others think, ‘If I give gifts to this devout man, it will profit me hereafter.’ They want heaven to pay them interest. It is a loan. But there are some who know: ‘God has put this money in my hand for the zaddik, and I am his messenger.’ These serve with full and open heart.”
— Ram Dass



Issue 17, March 16, 2009
"Faith is walking face-first and full-speed into the dark. If we truly knew all the answers in advance as to the meaning of life and the nature of God and the destiny of our souls, our belief would not be a leap of faith and it would not be a courageous act of humanity; it would just be... a prudent insurance policy."
— Elizabeth Gilbert



Issue 18, March 23, 2009
“A mystery is that special kind of problem which has no solutions because the more we understand it, the more we see that we don’t understand. In mysteries, knowledge and ignorance advance lockstep. As known unknowns become known, unknown unknowns proliferate; the larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.”
– Huston Smith


Issue 19, March 30, 2009
Our life is shorter than flowers
Then shall we mourn?
No, we shall dance
Plant gardens
Dress in colors
And teach our children
To make the world more beautiful
Because our life is shorter than flowers.
— Toltec fragment

Inspirational Quotes February 2009

Issue 11, February 2, 2009
“The free man, the person who refuses to rule himself according to the tutelage of the market, may choose different satisfactions: time instead of things, happiness instead of wealth. If so, the productive capacity of nations will have to be diminished or production will have to be described in a different way, revalued, like something brought out of a long sojourn in darkness and suddenly exposed to light. Wisdom could become more valuable than widgets. Professors and poets would become the wealth of nations.”
— from A Nation of Salesmen: The Tyranny of the Market and the Subversion of Culture by Earl Shorris


Issue 12, February 9, 2009
"To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer."
— Mahatma Gandhi


Issue 13, February 16, 2009
“We are each responsible for the conduct of our lives – and we are each unique. Therefore we are each uniquely responsible for our actions and choices in this pivotal time in human evolution. There is no one who can take our place. We each weave a singular strand in the web of life. No one else can weave that strand for us. What we each contribute is distinct, and what we each withhold is uniquely irreplaceable.

More than anything else, the outcome from this time of planetary transition will depend on the choices that we make as individuals.”
— Duane Elgin


Issue 14, February 23, 2009
“When someone steals a man’s clothes we call him a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry man; the coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to the man who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the man who has not shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.”
— Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea, around 365 A.D.

Inspirational Quotes January 2009

Issue 7, January 5, 2009
"When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take the step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for us to stand on or we will be taught to fly."
— Patrick Overton

Issue 8, January 12, 2009
"I do believe in simplicity. It is astonishing as well as sad, how many trivial affairs even the wisest thinks he must attend to in a day; how singular an affair he thinks he must omit. When the mathematician would solve a difficult problem, he first frees the equation of all encumbrances, and reduces it to its simplest terms. So simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real. Probe the earth to see where your main roots run."
— Henry David Thoreau

Issue 9, January 19, 2009
"The poor long for riches and the rich for heaven, but the wise long for a state of tranquility."
– Swami Rama

Issue 10, January 26, 2009
"There is no spiritual practice more profound than being kind to one’s family, neighbors, the cashier at the grocery store, an unexpected visitor, the person who does the laundry or picks up the garbage, or any other of the usually 'invisible' people whose paths we cross in the course of a normal day."
— from It’s A Meaningful Life – It Just Takes Practice by Bo Lozoff

Inspirational Quotes Nov/Dec. 2008

In late November of 2008, I began sending a weekly inspirational quote (via email) to over 200 people. The quotes focus on simplicity and spirituality.

I recently realized that I should post those quotes to this blog, too. So here they are, by month (for the most part). Once I've caught up with the past quotes, I will start posting them here each week when I send them out. Meanwhile, if you'd like to receive the weekly email, send a request to ClaireJosefine@wildblue.net. And if you know of anyone else who might appreciate receiving these quotes, please, let them know!

Blessings, and enjoy --

Claire


Issue 1, November 24, 2008
"In truth, it is not the number and diversity of our possessions that are the problems but our attachment to them. When the attachment grows thin and the filament breaks, then we discover that we do not really want so much anymore. What we need to relinquish, therefore, is our attachment to possessions and experiences, not the things themselves. The freedom we are all seeking is freedom from the fear of losing what we believe we own."
– from Nothing Left Over by Toinette Lippe



Issue 2, December 1, 2008
"What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?"
– George Eliot


Issue 3, December 8, 2008
"[Think of] God playing hide and seek with himself, remembering himself, then dismembering himself into the myriad roles played by sentient beings… All bodies are the clothes of the one and only Self in its innumerable disguises, and the whole universe is a masquerade ball pretending to be a tragedy and then realizing it’s a ball."
– Alan Watts


Issue 4, December 15, 2008
"The bird of paradise alights only upon the hand that does not grasp."
– John Berry



Issue 5, December 22, 2008
"God is more glorified by a man who uses the good things of this life in simplicity and with gratitude than by the nervous asceticism of someone who is agitated about every detail of his self-denial. … His [the latter’s] struggle for perfection becomes a kind of battle of wits with the Creator who made all things good."
– Thomas Merton



Issue 6, December 29, 2008
“It can be said that the Earth is a mask of God which appears in many contradictions – good and evil, refined and coarse, alive and dead, enduring and transitory. But behind this cover of plurality is God’s oneness. The boulder and the soap bubble are identical. Stupidity is only crippled wisdom. The dead aren’t dead, the departed haven’t vanished. God lives, and everything that comes from Him is alive. Darkness is only dimmed light. The wrongs are disguised mercies.

Why did God require this concealment? … God bestowed upon the people of the Earth – which is the lowest and darkest of all the worlds – a gift that no other world could have received: free will, the freedom to choose between good and evil. In the higher spheres, God’s light is too radiant to allow doubt and error.”
– from Reaches of Heaven by Isaac Bashevis Singer

Uber Bread

I’ve been working on eating a low(er)-glycemic diet. Toward this end, I’ve modified my multi-grain bread recipe into what I call my Uber Bread – the ultimate in healthy, tasty, dense bread.

Soak ½ cup of wheat and/or oat berries overnight. In the morning, drain them, then put them in a pot with fresh water, bring to a boil, then simmer for about an hour. Remove from heat and allow to cool to tepid.

Once the berries have cooled, combine and proof
2 teaspoons yeast
2 Tablespoons honey
3 Tablespoons olive oil
12 ounces liquid (I use 1 cup room-temperature milk and ½ cup of the liquid that I cooked the berries in)

Once the yeast has proofed, mix in
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups stone-ground whole wheat flour
½ cup oat bran
½ cut wheat bran
½ cup flax meal
½ cup oats
the cooked berries
1-plus cups white flour (as needed to knead)

Knead until dough is smooth and springy.

Coat with olive oil, cover, and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place. (This might take a couple of hours.)

Once doubled in bulk, punch down and knead again. Divide in half and form two loaves. Sprinkle a pizza stone with coarse cornmeal (I use polenta) and place the loaves on it. Cover and allow to rise a second time. Once risen, place in a 350-degree oven and bake for about 45 minutes.

A Few Passover Recipes

Feels like I've been cooking all week!

I hosted a seder for nine people last Wednesday for the first night of Pesach, and attended a friend's very abbreviated seder last night.(Mostly it was a dinner party that used Passover as an excuse to gather, although we did tell the Exodus story and eat all the ceremonial foods, so I guess it counts as a seder.)

My charoset (which is chunky, not paste-like) is delicious, and at least one friend says it's the best she's ever had. Also, both the desserts I made were a big hit. So here, in my inimitable style, are the recipes for those three dishes. There's still two more nights of Passover, if you want to give them a try. Or heck, eat them any old time of the year!

Charoset
Finely chop and combine:
2 apples
approx. 1/2 cup raisins
approx. 1/2 cup dates
approx. 1/4 cup dried cherries
1 orange
approx. 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon and cloves
moisten with kosher blackberry wine or grape juice. If using grape juice, squeeze in the juice from half a Meyer's lemon, too.
Mix well and let sit, covered and refrigerated, for several hours so the flavors mingle nicely.

Serve as a fruit salad, or as a Hillel sandwich (matzah with horseradish and charoset).


Claire's Passover Sachertorte

Preheat oven to 325

Butter the bottom -- but not the sides -- of a 9 inch spring form pan

Melt 5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (I use Guittard)

Beat 5 egg whites until stiff

Cream
3/4 cup sugar (although I used about 1/2 cup of agave nectar)
3/4 cup butter
either 1 teaspoon orange rind, or a splash of orange liqueur (I used Triple Sec)
3/4 cup finely ground almond meal
5 egg yolks

Beat in the melted chocolate

Gradually fold in the stiff egg whites

Pour into spring form pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour.

Top with a chocolate glaze:
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
another splash of orange liqueur (or 1 Tablespoon orange rind)

Once cooled, add cherries or raspberries, or a raspberry coulee


Almond/Chocolate Lace Cookies
Preheat oven to 350.
Melt:
1/2 cup (one cube) butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons 1/2 'n 1/2
1 Tablespoon flour

When melted, stir in
3/4 cup finely ground almond meal

Place 5 or 6 teaspoons of batter on a well-greased and floured baking sheet. Give them lots of space, because they'll spread out wide and thin.

Bake for about 8 minutes. Remove, allow to cool for a minute or so, then place face down on a paper towel to finish cooling. Repeat with the rest of the batter. You should wind up with 24 to 30 cookies in all.

Once all the cookies are baked and cooled, drizzle them with chocolate made by melting about 1 ounce of cocoa butter and 4 to 5 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips together.

Place the chocolate-drizzled cookies in the fridge so the chocolate can harden.

Devour.

Pies! Pumpkin, Pecan, and Mince (sort of)

Here are three Thanksgiving pie recipes that are healthier than the usual versions – and tastier, too!

Pumpkin Pie

(I use fresh pumpkin – cut a small sugar pumpkin open, remove the seeds and gook, then bake, covered, until soft. Scrape the pie meat away from the shell, compost the shell, and use the meat.)

Puree in a blender:
2 cups pumpkin
2 cups half and half
½ to ¾ cup honey
2 Tablespoons molasses (Aunt Patty’s, unsulphured)
2 eggs
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Pour into a single pie crust (basic recipe is 1 cup flour, 1/3 cup butter, and 5 or so Tablespoons cold water or milk – can jazz up with a bit of spices and sugar)

Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 45 minutes or so, until the pumpkin has set and is beginning to crack. Cool before eating.


Pecan Pie (without corn syrup!)

Beat together:
3 eggs
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup agave nectar
5 Tablespoons melted butter
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups pecans (lightly toasted)

Pour into a single pie crust (see above recipe for pumpkin pie) and bake at 350 until done.
Cool before eating.



Also, I tried an experiment that came out pretty good. This is a general guideline, not a recipe as such. I think of it as my Sort-of Mock Mince Pie

Combine:
4 to 5 sliced, peeled apples
About a cup of dried fruit of your choice. I had figs, cranberries, cherries, and raisins on hand, so that’s what I used.
Season with cinnamon and cloves
Splash in some brandy (maybe ¼ cup?)
Throw in some pecan pieces

This one has both a bottom and top crust, decorated as you wish. Bake for 10 minutes at 450, then reduce heat to 350 until golden brown – about 45 or 50 minutes. Cool before eating.

Creamed Spinach, Garlic Kale, White Beans, and Creamy Polenta

Oy, two months already since I last wrote? Okay, I’m a lousy blogger. But then, I’m not writing to be a blogger; I’m writing to share my thoughts, recipes, and life with whoever’s out there reading. (Hello? Anybody there?)

Garden update: Except for micro-slug damage, the winter veggies are doing well. The garlic has sent up its leaves, and the greens are beginning to show up at the dinner table. I’ve harvested the first round of spinach, plucking the largest leaves from the outer edges of each plant. Made an amazingly delicious creamed spinach by wilting the spinach, then covering it with a bechamel sauce (make a roux from 2 tablespoons each of melted butter and flour, then add about a cup of milk and stir it in until thickened) seasoned with a packet of Simply Organic’s onion soup mix.

I’ve also made one meal from the kale – sautéing it with garlic and serving it with white beans and creamy polenta. To make the white beans, soak 1 cup of them overnight, then:

Sauté one chopped onion
Add the beans
Add sprigs of thyme, rosemary, and sage
Add whole, peeled garlic (an entire head)
Add just enough water to cover the beans

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook, covered, for a couple of hours, or until the beans have softened.

If you’d like, add two Aidel’s chicken apple sausages, sliced into ½ inch pieces, about ½ hour before the beans are done.

Serve the beans with the garlic kale over creamy polenta:

Bring 4 cups of liquid to a boil. I use 3 cups of chicken broth and one cup of milk or cream.
Add 1 cup of polenta
Reduce heat to medium and stir constantly for five minutes, then reduce heat further, to a simmer, and continue stirring regularly for 10 to 15 minutes, until the liquid is asbsorbed and the polenta has thickened.
Stir in ½ cup of mild grated cheese – I like fontina or jack
Add one small diced red bellpepper
Remove from heat and serve

Reheated polenta for lunch:
A client of mine turned me on to this. She takes a slice of leftover polenta and heats it briefly in the microwave. (Not owning – or wanting – a microwave, I use the toaster oven.) Then she drizzles olive oil on it and sprinkles it with pepper, toasted sunflower seeds, and a bit of grated parmesan cheese. Yum!


Farmer’s market only has two more Saturdays before it closes for the winter. Luckily, the garden is like a mini farmer’s market. Waiting patiently for me to choose them are beets, chard, kale, and spinach. And I saw the beginnings of a broccoli.

Also, the apples are ready to harvest. I’ll probably wind up drying them or making applesauce. They’re Fujis, and don’t taste very good. No doubt some of them will wind up in the Thanksgiving stuffing, and possibly in a pie. I’m thinking about taking some pears a friend canned that are too sweet for my taste and making a pie with them, apples, figs, cranberries, brandy, cinnamon and cloves, and I’m not sure what else.

Veggie Songs

Peas squeak.

Seriously. When I pick the snow peas from the vine and place them in my hand, they gently rub against each other and produce a squeaking sound. It’s quite charming.

The green beans are quieter, issuing a small percussive snap when I break them free. Although would somebody please remind me next spring that I’m fonder of the idea of yellow wax beans than of the taste? I think there must be something about leaving the beans on the vine long enough to yellow that causes them to get a bit too starchy and tough. The Haricots Verts, however, are delicious: fresh and crunchy.

The sound of dill is softer yet. I picked a paper-lunch-bag full of dill leaves and set them out to dry, the whole time telling the dill how wonderful it smelled and that I was grateful for it; that it would be used well in spanakopita and zucchini latkes, in bread, and maybe even on fish.

And snails make a satisfying (if guilt-ridden) smack as they hit the pavement, having been launched over the fence once discovered hiding among the bean leaves.

This morning was dedicated to harvest. I walked over to the neighbors and picked up two dozen eggs, five of which I gathered directly from the hen house. (The cackling and carrying on of chickens is its own symphony of sorts.) While there, I helped myself (upon my neighbor’s invitation) to zucchini: four little, four medium, and one huge honker (for stuffing). Three small tomatoes made their way home with me, too, destined for tonight’s pizza. Then I wandered into my own garden, from which I harvested ½ pound each of peas and green beans, the bag of dill, and two bouquets worth of flowers (mostly dahlias).

Meanwhile, a loaf of oatmeal bread was baking. And later today I’ll wander over to the cows’ side of the pasture to collect blackberries. I’ve picked and frozen four one-pound bags so far, but would be happier with more. I love blackberries.

But what I love even more is gathering, and eating from my surroundings. I’m reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle right now (I’m in June), and am absolutely loving it. She’s a wonderful writer, and her attitude is refreshing. I wind up comparing her year-long experiment of eating only local food with Judith Levine’s Not Buying It. Where Levine came from a place of deprivation, Kingsolver embraces the challenge with a mindset of abundance and gratitude. And her daughter’s recipes are enticing – I will definitely be trying them. In fact, the book may wind up living on my cookbook shelf once I’m done.

Not that I’m ready to take the localvore pledge, but that’s mostly because of the dearth of local grains where I live. But I eat mostly local food, and of that, probably 90% organic.

In fact, one of the things that amuses me as I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is the differences in crop availability. Kingsolver lives in a region that has seasons – snow, even. She also has more heat than we do here on the coast. My god, she’s talking about teasing tomatoes ripe in mid June! Here it is mid September, and my tomatoes are still little green guys. (My neighbor has a warmer garden plot, shielded from the wind, and his tomatoes are up against a wall that adds reflected heat. Hence he has some ripe already.) I can’t even think about growing hot-weather crops: melons, peppers, eggplant… Of course, I’m allergic to them, so for me it doesn’t matter.

Also, everything seems to be late this year. The first of my sunflowers just opened its sunny face today. And most of my dahlias are tight buds. Hopefully this means it’s not too late for me to put in the winter garden. I planted broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale, chard, spinach, and onion starts on Sunday.

------

My goodness, searching through my posts to provide links to recipes, I realized that I never shared my recipe for spanakopita. I apologize! Here it is:

Wilt one pound of cleaned spinach leaves.

Transfer the spinach to a large bowl and add:

8 ounces crumbled feta
one bunch of scallions, chopped
dill (about 1/2 cup fresh, or two Tablespoons dried)
mint (about1/4 cup fresh, or one Tablespoon dried)
nutmeg (just a light sprinkling)
Pepper (to taste)

You can also add:
toasted pine nuts (about 1/4 cup)
cottage cheese (to give it more bulk, up to 8 ounces)

Melt 4 Tablespoons butter and 4 Tablespoons olive oil together.

Brush the bottom of a square pyrex with the butter/oil.

Now begin the layering/buttering process with the phyllo dough, one sheet at a time, until you have about a dozen buttered sheets in the dish. Place your spinach/feta/herbs mixture on top of the phyllo, then proceed to cover it, one buttered sheet at a time, for another 8 to 12 sheets. Tuck it all in, brush the top with yet more butter, and bake at 350 until golden brown.

Warning: the measurements here are off the top of my head. You may need to tweak them. As always, I'm assuming you know how to cook and am offering the recipe as a guide.

Being Prepared

September is National Preparedness Month.

Just yesterday, a couple of my fellow organizers and I wrote up an informational press release to help members of our community be prepared, just in case. Ironically, tonight when I came home from dinner out with a friend, I discovered that I had no running water. Apparently the water tank has run very low and, this being a dry (drought) year, the well has been inadequate in its duty of keeping the storage tank topped off. Oy. I’ve put a call in to Puryear water delivery so that Bill Puryear can bring me a load of water to refill the tank, which will set me back about a 100 bucks.

Luckily, I have water stashed here and there, enough to get through until Bill comes to save the day. And once I remembered that I have water stashed, I stopped stressing about the pipes being dry. Once again, I have everything I need for this instant, and can be grateful that all really is okay.

So, for your amusement and benefit, here are the preparedness tips that we wrote up yesterday. Hope they help you.

Prepare a communication plan. This includes important contact information for family and friends, and who will contact whom. Remember, if the power goes out and your phone cell dies, you will be without your phone list. So keep a written hard copy and an old-fashioned non-electric telephone handy.

Agree upon a reunion plan. Where will you meet, and when?

Stock up on the necessities of life. The general rule of thumb is three days and three nights of provisions to get you through 72 hours of living without electricity. (In Humboldt County, you may want to plan for longer outages.) Don’t forget your pets! Necessary provisions include one gallon of water per person per day, basic grains, and ready-to-eat, non-perishable food. Remember to include a manual can opener.

Pretend you’re camping. Have a camp stove, fuel, water purification system, a flashlight, extra batteries, candles, waterproof matches, toiletries, and a first aid kit readily accessible. (You may want to keep another first aid kit in your car, too.)

Don’t forget your medications. Advice varies, but we suggest having a two-week supply of all important prescriptions available. Remember to rotate them each time you refill your prescription so that they don’t expire.

Create a Grab and Go bag. This contains a change of clothes (extra underwear for children), jackets, blankets, basic toiletries, a picture of each family member, high-protein bars, bottled water, and your essential documents file. (For more information on creating a documents file, see below.)

Have a radio with extra batteries. A NOAA weather radio is a good idea, especially if you’re in a tsunami zone. Either way, tune to KHUM at 104.3 or 104.7 FM for excellent live local coverage.


How to Create a Documents File:

What goes in a documents file?

Anything that would be a nuisance to replace. This includes:

A copy of all the cards in your wallet, front and back.

A copy of your driver's license.

Your passport.

Other vital documents such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, adoption papers, naturalization papers, your social security card.

A copy of your most recent insurance policies.

Photos of your valuable possessions.

Photos of your pets and other family members.

Your vehicles' pink slips.

Any other deeds showing title to property.

A copy of your most recent tax return.

A copy of your "just in case" data -- all that information someone would need to pick up the pieces if anything happened to you. (You can purchase my e-booklet, Organizing Your Estate, which takes you through the steps for compiling this data. Go to www.wintersdaughterpress.com and click on e-books.)

Gleaning Fruit for the People

Yesterday’s Times-Standard had an article that made me think: Finally!

It’s a simple story about a woman who has the local food bank send in a volunteer gleaner to harvest the abundance of apples on her trees so that the fruit can go to people who need food.

Years ago, when I lived in San Rafael (Marin County, California), I would walk around my extended neighborhood and wonder at the plethora of produce wasting away on people’s unharvested trees. So much food! Apples, plums, figs, pomegranates, lemons, pears … why wasn’t anyone harvesting this? It seemed to me that there must be a way to have the fruit picked and distributed to those who were hungry. But no, I guess people were too concerned about their liability to have anyone come in and pick the trees clean.

Ah, but this is Humboldt County, not Marin. Not only does our local Food for People provide volunteer gleaners, it is part of the national Plant a Row for the Hungry program. As explained in the Times-Standard article, “Gardeners are asked to plant an extra row of food and donate it to Food for People, the food bank for Humboldt County. The purpose of the program is to ensure that everyone has access to the healthiest food choices available.”

Back in those Marin County days, times got tight. There was a period when my partner and I found ourselves needing the help of the local services. The saying “beggars can’t be choosers” was right on; the contents of the grocery bags we received were far from the healthy foods we tried our best to eat. Fresh organic produce? In our dreams. So I’m particularly pleased that programs exist to bring those apples (and whatever else folks plant or can’t keep up with themselves) to people needing help with groceries.

And who knows, with a bit of luck (and a lot more sweat), my garden may start producing enough to share with others! I’m excited – I got a worm bin for my birthday! And, I discovered yesterday, bats have finally moved into the bat house. So we’ve put a tray below their abode to catch their guano. Worm castings and bat guano – exciting shit.

Birthday Party Recipes

Today is the last day of my forties. It’s been a good last day. Went to the Farmers’ market, which was jumping. (The college students are back in town and are buzzing about, getting ready for school to start.) Then I picked up a friend who’s escaping the Phoenix heat, and we drove up to Trinidad for lunch and a brief walk on the beach. From there we went (organic!) blueberry picking at Wolfsen Farm – picked 3 pounds of blubes, all of which are now washed and in the freezer.

And then I began cooking for my birthday party tomorrow. Made three dips: spinach (sour cream, spinach, and Simply Organic’s onion soup mix); a smoked salmon spread (salmon smoked by one of the local tribes blended into cream cheese, seasoned with fresh dill, the juice of half a lemon, and a teaspoon of horseradish); and baba ghanouj. I apologize upfront for the inexact measurements, but I didn’t measure when I made it. Still, it came out so good that I thought I’d share this recipe with y’all.

Baba Ghanouj

Bake two whole eggplants and one large red bell pepper at 350 until they’ve collapsed (about an hour). You’ll want something underneath them – they get juicy/drippy/messy. (Save the juice!)

Once the baked veggies are cool enough to handle, remove their meat and put it into a blender. Add in:

3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 lemon (the juice of)
¼ cup (approximately) sesame tahini
¼ teaspoon salt
2 (or so) Tablespoons olive oil
the juice from the baked veggies

Blend until creamy. Taste, and adjust seasonings as desired.

Yum!

The other thing I made, last night, was a White Chocolate Cheesecake with Raspberry Swirl.

Melt ¼ cup of butter. Mix in a heaping cup of graham cracker crumbs and 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon. Pat into the bottom of a springform pan, then put in the fridge to set while preparing the rest of the cake.

In a Cuisinarte, blend:

20 ounces cream cheese
4 eggs
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
8 ounces white chocolate, melted at a low heat in a double boiler

Pour this on top of the graham cracker crust. Swirl in a few Tablespoons of raspberry sauce (raspberries cooked over a double boiler with just enough sugar to take away the tartness).

Bake at 325 for 45 minutes to an hour – until the cake has set.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool before refrigerating.

Serve with the remaining raspberry sauce (which you reserved and kept in the fridge) drizzled on top.

A Gift to Myself

Listening to a radio show yesterday, I heard the question:

If you were dying soon and had only one phone call to make, who would you call and what would you say?

Normally this kind of question doesn’t work for me. I’m not good at choosing a favorite this or a best that. But the answer came to me immediately.

Anthony. I’d call Anthony and tell him I was sorry, that I never meant to hurt him, and that I love him deeply and dearly.

The radio host ended her show with the obvious question: Then why haven’t you called?

Well, in my case, it’s because he’s clearly asked me to leave him the hell alone. And because I love him, I am respecting his desire not to have contact with me.

But I miss the daylights out of him. Not as my partner/boyfriend. I still believe that our differences and desires were such that being a couple wasn’t the best configuration for us. But Anthony was also my best friend, and I miss his friendship. I miss his playfulness and humor and kindness. I miss our shared history. I miss his companionship, his voice, his silly notes, his cats. I miss being a part of his life, and his participation in mine.

I also remain convinced that breaking up was the best thing for both of us. I hear reports of his life and, from what I hear, he is indeed finding his wings. Which is what I’d hoped would happen when I removed my mothering self from his day-to-day life.

It’s an interesting combination of emotions, to be living with Ronnie and still missing Ant. And it’s hard, knowing that Anthony feels so strongly against me. I never, ever, meant harm.

On a related note: Melanie, my teacher, made an intriguing suggestion to me in class last night. We were discussing which attachments are holding us back. I realized that my biggest challenge was my attachment to how other people think of me. (This probably goes back to growing up with a volatile mother, and becoming hypersensitive to other people’s moods as a survival mechanism.)

Melanie suggested giving myself a birthday present. (I turn 50 this coming Sunday!) She says she does this every year. One year she gave herself the gift of not having to participate in boring conversations for a year. Anyway, she proposed that I gift myself with not caring what other people think of me.

Hmmm… Is this possible? I’ve been told that, at 50, women do exactly this. They stop giving a rat’s ass what others think and step into their own power. I like the idea. Of course, I still care what I think of myself – my integrity remains intact. I guess the idea is to become my own mirror, rather than looking to others for validation.

It’s worth a try!

Those Special Folks from Our Past

I got a very special phone call today, one I never anticipated receiving.

A former student of mine, from the year I taught sixth grade (1989-1990), found me on the Internet and called. He’s pushing 30 now, has a young family and a career. But he’d run across one of those “who was a special teacher in your life?” questions and, once again, as he has over the years, he thought of me. So he looked me up and called, just to tell me that I had made a difference in his life, that I wasn’t like all the other teachers and that was why he and his classmates liked me – I was a real human being, more like a friend.

Oh my God – what a blessing! I remembered that year – my last year as a classroom teacher – as my year from hell. The principal had it out for me, and one of the students made life difficult because he’d really wanted to be in the other sixth-grade classroom with the “cool” teacher. I liked the kids, and I like to think I was an okay teacher. But never in my dreams did I think I’d made a memorable impact on those kids.

And a couple of weeks ago I received a shy “hello” from an old college colleague. I spent my senior year at Sonoma State as second-in-command on the school paper. My colleague was the editor the second semester, so we worked side by side for several months. And haven’t heard from each other since graduating in 1981. I’ve thoroughly been enjoying exchanging emails with him, and am looking forward to his visiting (with his wife) in the fall.

All of which has me thinking about former teachers who made a difference in my life. I can think of four.

Mrs. Fortman – a formidable English teacher at Analy High. It was because of her that I read Chaim Potok’s The Chosen and Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun. She appeared gruff and stern, but her classroom library was filled with thought-provoking (and somewhat radical) novels.

Russ Reade – also at Analy. Russ taught Social Biology, which was one of the two classes I actually showed up on campus for that year. He had us researching and thinking about issues like cryogenics and euthanasia – it was really more like a class on scientific ethics. He retired a short while later to buy a whore house in Nevada.

Cott Hobart – was my Humanities teacher at Santa Rosa Junior College. I hold Cott personally responsible for gifting me with my spiritual path. He introduced us to Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung, and taught about the Eleusinian Mysteries. These have been my spiritual reference points ever since.

Gerry Haslam – taught English and linguistics at Sonoma State. He’s also a writer, and I own several of his books. (I keep very few books.) Gerry was also the faculty advisor on the college paper, so we got to know him reasonably well. He’s one of the most decent human beings I’ve ever met.

Who were your special teachers? And have you let them know?

Summer Recipes

Seems all I’m doing these days is cooking. Which isn’t literally true, but it sure feels that way! Sunday I made veggie lasagna and two kinds of bread. Monday I made my sugar-free apple pie. (See “Apples” for the pie recipe.) Yesterday I made a version of my Southeast Asian shrimp/rice noodle salad. Today – in addition to clarifying almost a pound of butter – I finally dealt with the substantial donation of zucchini that my neighbors brought by on Sunday. (Grated it up, froze some of it, and turned the rest into a cake. Oh, and dedicated the two largest zukes to being stuffed. (See “Cooking Caveat” for the stuffed zucchini recipe.)

One of my readers recently told me that he’s tried several of my recipes – both here and in Following Raven, Finding Ground – and that they’re good. (They are!) Encouraged by his positive feedback, I’ve decided to share the recipes for my recent culinary endeavors. Enjoy!


Light Rye Bread (made in my bread maker on basic setting)
11 ounces water
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons (packed) brown sugar
3 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup rye flour
¼ cup flax meal
1 heaping Tablespoon dried dill
2 Tablespoons (or so) caraway seeds
1 Tablespoon active dry yeast


Challah (made by hand in my wooden bread bowl)
Mix:
1 cup milk
3 Tablespoons sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
½ stick of butter
2 eggs

Add:
4 cups (plus) of bread flour
¼ cup flax meal
2 teaspoons yeast
(poppy seeds)

Knead until satiny and springy.
Cover and allow to rise.

Punch down, knead briefly, and allow to rise a second time.

Punch down, knead briefly, and break into three equal pieces. Roll these out into ropes, braid them, and allow to rise a third time, this time in a warm oven. (You can brush the top at this point with egg wash, and/or sprinkle on seeds.)

Bake at 350 until done, about 45 to 50 minutes.


Veggie Lasagna
A few hours before assembling, I start the tomato sauce, as follows:
Sautee:
One onion, diced
Lots and lots of chopped garlic (a whole head if you dare!)
Sliced mushrooms (about 1 cup)
Cubed zucchini (2 smallish ones)
Chopped tomatoes (I used two good-sized Brandywines)

Once the veggies have softened, add a 15 ounce can of tomato sauce and about ½ cup of red wine.

Season with (fresh if you have it!)
Oregano
Marjoram
Thyme

Cook, covered, over low heat for a couple/three hours, stirring occasionally.

Shortly before assembling, add 1 pound of cleaned spinach and a small bunch of fresh basil to the sauce.

Assemble in layers:

Enough sauce on the bottom to keep noodles from sticking
Lasagna noodles (cooked)
More sauce
Globs of Ricotta cheese (I use one pint total)
Globs of Pesto
Repeat: noodles, sauce, ricotta, pesto
Top: noodles and lots of sliced mozzarella cheese

Bake at 350 until bubbly and deep gold in color.


Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Cream:
½ cup butter
¼ cup oil
1-1/2 cups sugar

Blend in:
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Add:
¼ cup cocoa
½ cup whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
sprinkling of cinnamon

Mix in:
2 cups grated zucchini

Bake in a spring form pan at 350 for about 50 minutes.

Remove the side of the pan, allow to cool, then top with a chocolate glaze. (I melt about 1/8 cup of coconut oil over low heat, then remove it from the stove and mix in equal amounts of liquid sweetener (agave nectar or maple syrup, usually – sometimes both) and cocoa – about ¼ to ½ cup each. Adjust sweetener and cocoa to taste, then pour over the cake.


Southeast Asian Shrimp/Rice Noodle Salad
Chop and lay out on a large platter:
One small head of lettuce (I use red butter)
A healthy handful of fresh cilantro
A smaller handful of fresh basil
Several sprigs of fresh mint

You can also add a grated carrot and/or sliced green onions.

Top the vegetables with approximately 4 ounces of cooked rice noodles (Maifun).

Cook shelled shrimp in a dry skillet. (I am generous with the shrimp, usually allotting 9 or 10 for each person. Wood’s Wild American White Shrimp is especially delicious, and wild caught.) Place the shrimp on top of the cooked noodles.

Drizzle dressing over the salad, and sprinkle with toasted peanuts.

Dressing: (adjust to taste)
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
6 Tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 teaspoons sugar
minced ginger
fresh chopped mint

A Whole New Mind

I recently finished reading Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age. His premise is that, because of the influence of Abundance, Automation, and Asia, jobs that were traditionally mastered by left-brain people are becoming obsolete in our culture and right-brain skills are coming into demand. His opening paragraph reads:

The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind – computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBAs who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind – creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people – artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers – will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.

These people, these right-brainers, sure look a lot like what gets called ADD. Which feeds into my ongoing thesis that ADD is a difference, not a disorder, and that it is an evolutionary shift toward wholeness. (For more on this thesis, see my other posts labeled ADD.) Not only is there an increase in people who are labeled ADD, but Pink shows that these people will actually be the ones most likely to prosper as our economy shifts. (He’s quick to point out, though, that romanticizing right-brain qualities as better than left brain is bogus, that what we need is an androgynous brain.)

To determine whether your career choice is a good fit for our current culture, Pink proposes three questions to ask yourself:
1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Is what I’m offering in demand in an age of abundance?

(Whoo-hoo! My work as a professional organizer meets the criteria!)

A Rainbow of Thankfulness

Chris Guillebeau, who writes at The Art of Nonconformity, was the guest blogger at Zen Habits recently. He wrote about living a life of gratitude, and challenged others to build a habit of gratitude.

Anyone who’s heard me lecture knows I’m big on gratitude, too. Principle #9 of my 12 Basic Principles of Being Organized is “Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude.” My usual rap is that much of our clutter comes from holding on “just in case,” from scarcity thinking, and that the opposite of scarcity is abundance and the quickest way to abundance is gratitude. By practicing gratitude every day, we build new neural pathways in our brain, much like curling weights builds biceps, or like water wears a new course over time. Daily gratitude becomes a habit, our default way of viewing the world, and teaches us that we are indeed blessed. In turn, we are better able to let go of the unnecessary in our lives, to simplify.

Anyway, that’s the rap. Today’s practice finds expression in color. There’s a line from a James Taylor song that runs through my head: “Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose.” Yes. Especially greens. Especially the greens of leaves, the warm young green of the underside of Big Leaf Maples as they’re lit by streaming sunlight from above, and the darker greens of firs and cedars and spruce in the forest behind. And the green of moss on river-wet stones.

Blue skies, of course, are always welcome here on the Pacific Northwest. Today brought the blue of the Pacific, too. After a leisurely late brunch in Trinidad, we went walking at Elk Head, eventually finding a niche along the cliff that provided some wind protection and a view of the ocean, with its two tones of blue – shallow turquoise meeting the deeper and darker, more true blue.

White gulls rode the thermals. As I lay in the warm sand, snuggled against Ronnie, I watched them glide by. One was having fun soaring backwards.

Of course, black ravens rode those same thermals.

Walking along the path we found native lilies just beginning to bloom, an almost pumpkin orange with brown spots. Red columbine with 5 bright yellow tubes in its center draped gracefully. Wild iris in varying shades of purple – from pale creamy with light purple striations to deep purple with yellow markings – brightened the trail. And cheery yellow buttercups (which are actually an invasive weed, but they’re so pretty!) decorated the open area by the parking lot.

On the way home, I noticed that the golden fields of mown pasture grass were now dotted with bales of hay. There’s something so pleasing about seeing acres of hay bales lined outside my kitchen window, extending clear across the valley.

Once we got home, I unpacked my wicker basket of produce that we’d bought at Farmer’s Market earlier in the day. Laid out on my fruit table are my favorite color -- three plates of red: raspberries, strawberries, and cherries. Oh my god do I love summer!!! For these fruits I am truly grateful…

And now, 10 o’clock at night, I look out my office window on a round white moon rising above the wooded hills.

Life is good.