Re-Entry

"No rest for the wicked, and the righteous don't need none." This adaptation of the old English proverb is a pronouncement by one of the characters in the lovable Mitford series by Jan Karon, which I am re-reading in these days since that big party I went to on June 12th. Now living with the sweet man who shared it and the new family it created, life is more tender, more luminous, more hopeful.

But it's not any slower.

This week is the final ramping up to the huge Presbyterian Youth Triennium conference held at Purdue University and once again I am going to serve as a group leader, facilitating a "small" group of 30 high school students through the week of interpreting the theme from Esther "For Such a Time as This". I will be putting in 18-hour days and being a substitute mom, pastor, guidance counselor, walking on average 8 miles a day, and missing my family.

I have a ton of thank-you's still to write (note: if you gave us a gift and have not received a thank-you, please know that we are not ungrateful, merely behind) our household still is not integrated, and we are in the process of assembling wardrobe doors from IKEA.

My car is still in the shop. I learned from the dentist I have to have a molar extracted and replaced with an implant. I haven't painted since early June. My in-basket runneth over as much as my cup of blessings. I am trying to re-write resumes and learn to use Twitter.

We have been out of town twice in the past month in addition to our honeymoon, and although it's been grand, I am looking forward to time at home to try to develop some kind of routine and instill some order.

I had to laugh out loud at the character of Dolores Umbridge in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" just before she got her ultimate comeuppance in the forest. Ragged, discouraged, and defeated, she cried, "I just wanted to get a little order!" - or words to that effect. Well, I'm not defeated although I'm feeling slightly ragged and discouraged and really could use some rest.

Bill Cosby once said, "You get plenty of rest when you die". I think a better alternative would be to grab what rest we can in between the high's and low's, and create small islands of order in life. Like one dresser drawer, one bookshelf, or even just the glove box in the car. It may not get the tax return done or the garage cleaned out, but at least you'd find that old receipt for deductible expenses or the good air mattress to take on the next camping trip.

I learned today that George Steinbrenner died. Shortly thereafter, I read a Tweet that he was up in Heaven, firing Billy Martin again. Apparently there is no rest for the wicked, but I say all the righteous and wicked alike need some now and then.

Fan Mail From Some Flounder

Saturday one of the things we did, in between chicken coop cruising (see "Tour de Cluck" references), census taking, and wedding planning, was stopping at the fish monger stall at the Davis Farmers Market. We got a Northern California specialty, sand dabs, and Dan fried 'em up for us later that night.

One of the things I did, since I play with food, was to photograph them before he chopped their little flat heads off. I don't like having any fishy eyes looking up at me from my plate, and I sure as heck don't like two fishy eyes looking up from one side of the fish!

They were more fun to paint than to eat, although the flavor is sweet, mild and delicate. Even after filleting, there seem to be innumerable little fishy bones just waiting to find their way to a good choking spot in one's throat if care is not taken. Dan regaled Sean and me with a colorful childhood story of one such experience.

Between the choking story and the many bones to pick through, it was hard to keep an appetite revved up, no matter how good they tasted. Ah, life.

Anyway, here's a watercolor of the little flat guys. I might try it again later sometime in another media, just as I may try eating them later sometime in another life. Like when I'm not hungry.

Artist Statement (or: Is She Nuts or What?)

Dori can be reached at dori.marshall@gmail.com or follow her blog at http://quicksilverartandspirit.blogspot.com for art and musings or at http://sermonsbydori.blogspot.com/ for The Quiet Woman sermons.

Doriene (Dori) Marshall

Artist Statement for "Tour de Cluck" 2010

"Hildegard of Bingen, twelfth century mystic, counseled her spiritual directees to be 'juicy people,' folks who are so filled with wonder and curiosity, with lusty appetites and high spirits, that they embrace life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness with a burly, grinning bear hug. To be juicy is to be: a fearlessly joyous optimist, a troublemaker tirelessly afflicting the comfortable, a passionate lover of good talk and tasty food, an anonymous prophet hovering over the cosmological riddle, a frequent violator of the ordinance against indecent exposure of the heart, and a guerilla in the insurrection against Dream Molesters everywhere." Rich Heffern, Daybreak Within: Living in a Sacred World

A writer, painter, religious educator, and lay pastor, Doriene Marshall uses watercolors, acrylics, collage, ceramics, and sculpture to pursue her potential as a "juicy" person. A native of southern California, she was transplanted in Davis in 2004 after a 15-year sojourn in Utah's high desert climate where she had begun to uncover the spiritual connection between creativity and the divine universal Creator.

About this Painting:

"Eggs III" is an acrylic painting done from one of about 3 dozen compositions using eggs raised at UC Davis and sold through their meat and dairy program. It is appropriate that this painting completes a circle of bringing wholesome healthy food into our schools, since it originated with fresh, healthy food coming out of the school that anchors our community. The Tour de Cluck raises funds for the Davis Farm to School Connection.

When she's not playing with her food, she's painting it.

For Spring Dreams Lightly

Maybe this says it:

Mistily wafting
Jasmine blossoms unending
For Spring dreams lightly.


Years ago I recall attending Sabbath at San Francisco Theological Seminary for the first time. I was living in Salt Lake City then, and had forgotten the moist silkiness of the air of Coastal California.

One thing I admired so much about the San Anselmo neighborhoods surrounding the seminary was the way even the most modest little plots of garden burst with flowers and flowering vines at this time of year, nurtured by the temperate climate and the gentle way the air holds just the right amount of water vapor to keep flower petals velvety and succulent. Heavier than Utah's arid high desert air, but not soggy like the humid Southeast or Gulf Coast states.

Now I live with an arbor of jasmine in the back garden, under which we gather, visit, grill, and eat on these soft spring evenings. Moving through the flowers, the breezes tickles us with fragrant fingers and remind us that California's season's are subtle, and we need to pause and attend to them or they may elude us entirely, as in dreams.

California dreaming, so light and elusive. As optimistic as Spring itself.

Haiku

Here's a wonderful third line for a haiku, based on yesterday's lush air and fragrance:

...for spring dreams lightly.

Now I am going to be bugged all day for the first two lines. Any ideas?

Study in Mushrooms: Watercolor

I don't know which is more fun-cooking the mushrooms, eating them, or painting them! This dish was from over the weekend (see older posts) but I did the painting last night. I am enjoying the immediacy of watercolors again and had a lot of fun blending the colors for the cast iron skillet.

Have you ever noticed that black is never really black? There is a multitude of shadings all along the color spectrum from indigo blue to a russety deep brown and of course various saturations of color to take advantage of the white of the paper. One thing about working with whites-in a watercolor, they make the painted areas around them really "pop" so it's critical to save a great deal of the white wherever you want sparkle and movement.

Speaking of movement, I had fun washing in the background color in a concentric circle around the shape of the pan. Our stovetop is a shiny black glass which bounces a lot of light around, so getting (again) the sense of light and the fun colors from the reflective surface made it an interesting piece to do.

Shortcut to Mushrooms!

Spring vegetables are so easy to prepare in California, it's practically obscene to call it cooking. Asparagus come in so sweet and tender to the local markets, all you have to do is rinse them off.

I remember as a young woman first learning to cook in my very own kitchen, having to ask a coworker how to prepare asparagus. We'd never had them in my family of origin. I don't know if that's because they were among those "exotic" vegetables that my Michigan- and Ohio-born parents never ate, or if they were among the long list of fibrous foods that irritated my father's stomach ulcer. At any rate, my coworker's instructions included a burdensome amount of scraping, paring, and scrubbing. They then had to be steamed, feet down, in a tall basket within a tall pot, with their toes in 1" (precisely) of boiling water.

Happily, I have learned better since. To do our asparagus now, Dan and I often simply break the toe-end of the stalks off where they naturally "snap", rinse them well in cold water, and toss them into a skillet of simmering water for about 5 minutes then rescue them, shake off the excess moisture, and plate them with butter. If they're large and tough, Dan peels them about the ankles but I just snap them off higher up. Nothing is wasted anyway, since we compost everything.

Mushrooms are even easier since I learned this trick: Don't wash them when you bring them home. Instead, keep them loosely wrapped in the crisper drawer and when ready to cook, take them in the plastic bag, fill it with enough water to cover the 'shrooms, twist the top tightly and shake the bag vigorously for a few seconds. Dump them out into a strainer or colander and rinse quickly with cold water. Spin them in a salad spinner if you have one, or blot them with paper towels if you don't. Slice them into 1/4" slices and put them immediately into a hot (360) skillet with 1-2 T. melted butter and about 1 tsp. olive oil. Keep them moving but do not stir because this will bruise them! If you want a really savory treat, add a bare splash of Worcestershire sauce about 30 seconds before taking them off the stove. They're great with red meat when prepared this way.

Incidentally, that was one recipe my mother did teach me to make, although I was an adult before I liked them!

Dan grilled these steaks out on the patio to make our Saturday dinner perfect. Is it any wonder I'm crazy about weekends?