JULY BIRTHDAY

written by

Drausin Wulsin

posted on

July 28, 2017

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TODAY IS SUSAN'S 65TH, AND LOOK WHAT THE FLORIST BROUGHT -

a bouquet of: milkweed, Joe Pye weed, chicory, cattails, Queen Anne's Lace, and sunflowers. In addition, we pay homage to her adopted birthday-flower - wild hibiscus, in the wetlands, which begins to bloom just at this time.

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In order to feel useful, Susan has smoked chicken-halves for your interest this Sunday. We received a lot of positive feedback on the last batch, so she has smoked a second round. We have 8 halves on-hand, with each weighing about 2 - 2.5 lbs. They only need to be warmed at 200 degrees for 30 minutes. We are calling them "Smoked Capons". If you would like a half, send us an email to reserve one.

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Since we do a lot of driving from Pike County to Clermont and Hamilton Counties, we listen to books on tape a good deal. A recent of high favor is A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles. This is an intricate and uplifting story that speaks to the better side of human nature. In it is a scene that resonated with Susan in particular. The "triumvirate" sit down at midnight, after serving guests all evening in the dining room of the hotel, to a meal of "bouille-base". The description of the reverence with which they receive such exquisite food is fabulous. This has inspired Susan to create the same for her celebratory dinner this evening. We will share pictures.

In reverence for good food and the birth of a valiant woman,







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More from the blog

Sacred Place

It is a privilege to know a sacred place, as I feel I do. In some ways, it seems sacred places are supposed to be scarce and remote, like Stonehenge, Chartres Cathedral, the Taj Mahal, or abandoned Pueblo dwellings. Large landscapes, like the desert, ocean, or mountain ranges feel imbued with the divine. Alaska, the Amazon, and the Serengeti invite a sense of awe. One travels to such places, in pilgrimage. And sometimes such places reorganize the pilgrim's sense of order, inviting disorder or change, that can be both painful and uplifting.

Big Muddy

Here is the Lower Mississippi River, 45 feet below normal pool. Over Thanksgiving, Susan and I shoehorned ourselves onto a cruise ship to learn about the lower Mississippi and its bayou. We started in Memphis and ended up in New Orleans, with stops along the way to explore river towns. This river is the third longest on the planet, providing drainage to 40% of North America. It has historically deposited silt yearly in its floodplains, producing topsoil 120 feet deep, making these soils some of the richest in the world. Vast wetland forests grew beside its banks, of cypress, oaks, and sycamores, populated by a rich array of black bears, deer, bobcats, alligators, and aquatic life. This was the legendary bayou.

Streams & Souls

Streams and souls seem to share character. They are life-giving, they are coveted, they can be impeded, they can be channelized, they can be overwhelmed, they flood, they dry up, they flow downhill, they are a force of both change and constancy, they lie at the center of a community, they will not be denied, and because of this great complexity, they attract periodic resistance. So, it seems that streams may serve as a metaphor for the journey of the soul.