apples and choices

Somehow, today feels like the first day of summer vacation for me although it began on May 28. I am finally at a place where my mind is clearer and my routine is no longer there. The day is wide open for me. First, I write. I find that when I do things “for me” first, I am more giving later. I choose writing in the early morning and painting late at night – that’s how it works for me. This art, while beautiful and magical, is also a burden; it insist on your time and effort – time taken from daily chores and thoughts taken from everyday concerns. It is something you must do but yet it fills up so much space, space needed to be wife, mother, friend, teacher, gardener, housekeeper. But I don’t know why I even concern myself with this, art it something, like a crying baby, that must be attended to. So, for me, I find that if I just sit here for a bit of time in the early morning before the house stirs and before I become someone’s else, I can satisfy the muse and again, late at night when the house is still again and I have energy, I sit at my easel and paint and the next morning when I get up the first thing I do is go to my easel to see what happened the night before – it is so nourishing.

 I am not here to preach, for I have no credentials and I don’t care for that sort of approach, but I am here to share things I think are worthwhile. So, I have decided to post a copy of 12 fruits and vegetables that you might want to consider buying organically – the Dirty Dozen for 2011.

1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines (imported)
7. Grapes (imported)
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries (domestic)
11. Lettuce
12. Kale/collard greens

b u

p s