MF community

Whitney was here at K-State!! She and I "phased" together before ballet yesterday and then she participated in the class. We started with a variation of Judith's walking, combining soft wing arms with feathers - gently brushing others as we passed.

So fun to see MF friends here. Working with Courtney as she explores and brings her beautiful sensitivity to her project working with actors in a community theatre.

Master class today with Whitney and Courtney -- the recognition and joy on some faces when they realized they had taken class with Jane here last spring.... slowly but surely the concepts and practices of Movement Fundamentals are coming into being in KS!!

coffee making issues

Did  mention that the other day when I made the coffee I had another "coffee adventure"? Sort of like a bad dream:

I rinse out the carafe, fill it with water and put it on the burner, get the filter and coffee in the right places, plug in the machine and turn it on. I hear a steam-pop sound and a quick loud gurgling as I'm cleaning up the counter. I realize that I don't hear the drip-drip-drip of the coffee filling the pot.

When I look over I see that the machine steaming but the coffee carafe is sitting on the burner full of plain, clear water. YIKES!

I rush over turn off the machine take the carafe off the burner and put a coffee cup on the burner to catch any coffee that drips through while I'm trying to fix this. The water isn't hot, so I know I'll be able to put it in the machine. I'm hoping to get all the parts in the right places before my husband comes into the kitchen and see that I tried to burn up his coffee maker, again.

Of course, he walks in, sees me holding the full pot of water and the coffee cup on the burner and says, "What's going on here?"

I'm busted - so I tell him and he just laughs (he knows as soon as I start back to work he'll be in charge of making the coffee!) and asks why I put the cup on the burner. As I start to explain I realize that the coffee maker has a little spring in it under the basket that holds the grounds. The lid of the carafe pushes this spring up and that is what allows the liquid to flow out of the basket into the carafe. Totally busted myself since if I'd remembered this before I put the cup there he wouldn't have noticed anything wrong.

I open the lid and after a steam burst I'm able to add the water and start the machine so we can have coffee on the back patio as we watch birds catch bugs in the grass. All ended well but until I started this project with Whitney, I had no idea that I had so many coffee making issues. It's really a simple machine with just a few steps... but so many different orders in which to put those steps together!

Sumac Tea

Thinking of Lara and her nettle tea as I made for the first time what is called sumac lemonade or sumac-ade. A more accurate name would be sumac tea, unless you put sugar in it to sweeten it like lemonade. It is sharp and tangy - tastes better than water with lemon squeezed in it but is similar to that taste but not as sour. It is refreshing and thirst quenching drunk cold on a hot day.

(the recipe I used is from this guy and he calls sumac the "wild lemonade berry"  http://www.countrysidemag.com/87-4/sam_thayer/)

Alignment/Function: The sumac plants grow in the woods behind our yard. The berries are full of vitamin C (which is what gives it the astringent, lemony flavor).

Range/Efficiency: The berries are best picked while bright red - they taste sour if you bite them and if it rains heavily on them the red washes out and they don't have much taste anymore. Berries are ripe and tastiest end of July into mid August. The plants grow wild all over Kansas (and other places, too.)
       To make the tea you just pour cold water over the berries, squeeze them and let it sit for a few hours. If you let it sit in the cold refrigerator, it is ready to drink after straining.
       Not so efficient is that my tea jug leaks :(

Vocabulary/Intention: Eating healthy, tasty food from my backyard! Vocab: Sumac Tea!

Very fun to discover that this plant I've seen by the roadside my whole life can provide a delicious summer drink. (Sam says you can dry the berries to make it in the winter but our two plants just produced enough for two jugs this year.) We are looking at zoning our yard, taking out grass and making sections that are wilder, native plants or garden perennials so that there would be more food and less mowing. Sumac plants would make a nice hedge in the summer - they are kind of raggedy looking in the winter but in the fall the leaves turn bright red and golden yellow!

More coffee stories

Second week back and figuring out how to do a few routine things with my new self...

Coffee is still a challenge. Today went well but one day last week I decided plug in the coffee pot after I had put the grounds into the basket (which I had already lined with the brown filter).

This is cool but the "habit" is to turn the machine on right after I plug it in, which is what I did. Then I hear this nasty hissing sound.... I look over and there's no pot on the burner!! It's sitting over on the side of the sink all full of nice filtered water.

At least I didn't put the water in the machine and not put the pot on the burner. R says I did that once a couple of years ago but I don't remember flooding the counter with coffee and wasting all that good caffeine. I think he did that and has transferred the memory to me.

sweetness

When Jane and Sarah were here last April Jane taught 3 master classes in a row to the K-State dance students. At one point we had a 45 min. break between classes and Sarah ran to the union to get (can you guess?) Coffee!! for us.

When she came back she brought us each a delicious carmel. One day last week I was having coffee and bought myself one - thinking, I need just a little more sweetness in my life today - like the sweetness of sharing at the Confluence.

wind memories

Driving home on Friday, from clouds to blue skies, from beautiful cool to increasing heat (104 at my home) I got sleepy. I thought I'd try taking a short nap instead of driving with one eye open and one eye closed ... that's never successful very long. I stopped at a gas station and pulled around to the back to nap. I parked by this beautiful cottonwood flickering its leaves in the breeze.

Reminded of Mary and the tree we made and all the brEAThing and all the beautiful things we shared I rested peacefully, then headed back down the road - refreshed.

There is a small wooded area behind my house and most days in Kansas the wind moves through these trees in waves, usually blowing toward the north when there are leaves to track its passage.

Batesian Mimicry - Thank you Judith!

Yesterday while touring the garden to see what had changed while I was gone:

• Two of the castor beans were two feet taller than when I left with more than twice as many seed pods
• Bottom leaves on the cucumbers are starting to turn yellow and whither - but the plants are producing copious amounts of cucs
• Morning Glories have filled out and now provide shade over the bedroom window
• Tomato plants are loaded but only 3 have ripened yet
• Basil is coming along 
• Bachelor Buttons are blooming and the Turkey Beans are glorious
• Pears are getting bigger

We saw a hummingbird bumble bee moth drinking nectar from the Turkey Bean flowers:

http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/birds/?p=755

So I have to write to Judith because while I remember mimicry, I don't remember the type of mimicry this little moth is living. 

I felt the presence of everyone here with me as I made coffee Saturday morning….

Saturday, July 26, 2014

My first morning back from the Movement Fundamentals Coalescence and I need to make the coffee. I let the water run to clear out the impurities that may have collected in the pipes overnight. (This I learned from Richard as he is more sensitive to tastes and smells than I and also – embarrassing to admit – more aware of deep cleanliness and purification, filtered water – chlorine and chemicals make the coffee taste different.)

Next, I turn on the water filter and let the water run a little to clear that out. Then, I wash the coffee pot with the filtered water to prevent any chlorine taste from getting into the coffee pot. I fill the pot (with the filtered water), carry it to the coffee maker, and realize that I have completely forgotten the order in which I usually make the coffee. I was only gone for 8 mornings – but apparently that was enough time for me to forget the sequence of steps I had made up for myself over the summer.

I fill the coffee maker (usually step 3 or 4) and then, I start to remove the old grounds (the real step 2), but realize that the plate I put them on to dry is still full of yesterday’s grounds (now dried) which I usually empty into the (segregated) coffee grounds compost bag WHILE I am letting the coffee pot fill with the filtered water. So today, I empty the dried grounds, then remove the brown filter with the wet grounds and set it on its plate. NOW I’m ready to rinse out the basket that holds the coffee with filtered water. Finally, I’m back on track. I put the basket into the coffee maker, get the brown filter and put it in and then get the coffee. I’m almost done, I measure out the coffee, close the lid and put the coffee away.

Five minutes later, I look at the coffee maker and see that I FORGOT to plug it in and turn it on! Thankfully, Richard is still outside watering the garden and I’m able to get coffee made before he finishes – just barely!

Nettles

Nettles were a recurring theme during the weeklong intensive. We had delicious shared meals with nettle leaves and chickpeas. Nettle tea and talks about growing and using nettles. I like the tea for maintaining sinus health. In the hot summer it is delicious and thirst quenching served cold. I just stated brewing it in the sun tea jar this summer.

The paradox that something that can hurt can also heal. Care in handling and knowledge of how to harvest and use diminish the hurt and augment the healing.

Bringing the growing, preserving and use of nettles more fully into my life ... dancing with planting, harvesting, eating; remembering sweet new friends who share an affinity for the stinging nettle plant.