Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Happy New Year







Thinking about the new year, and about New Year's Eves, past and present
 and remembering; the dancing, the parties,
 the bridge games and lobster sandwiches,
 the old friends, the crossing of arms in a precious circle as we sang Auld Lang Syne, 
and the incredible sweetness of the New Year's kiss -
 and I think idly of how the significance of this day has changed without the beloved beside me,
 and then more seriously about where in life I am situated now, 
as the new year looms 
and as I jump almost immediately into my ninth decade
(astonishingly!)

And I acknowledge that the living I have left to do is mainly
 an awareness of the beauty of the gift.

Which in turn reminds me of Mary Oliver and her poem about 

"This World".


I would like to write a poem about the world that has in it nothing fancy

But it seems impossible.
Whatever the subject, the morning sun
glimmers it.
The tulip feels the heat and flaps its petals open
and becomes a star.
The ants bore into the peony bud and there is the dark
pinprick well of sweetness.
As for the stones on the beach, forget it.
Each one could be set in gold.
So I tried with my eyes shut, but of course the birds
were singing,
And the aspen trees were shaking the sweetest music 
out of their leaves,
And that was followed by, guess what, a momentous and beautiful silence
as comes to all of us, in little earfulsl, if we're not too
hurried to hear it.
As for spiders, how the dew hangs in their webs
even if they say nothing, or seem to say nothing.
So fancy is the world, who knows, maybe they sing.
So fancy is the world, who knows, maybe the stars sing too,
and the ants, and the peonies, and the warm stones,
so happy to be where they are, on the beach, instead of being
locked up in gold.

And I wish you all the happiest of new years, 
filled with this lovely awareness of the most mystifying and magical things
 that surround us - so commonplace at times, but so priceless,
and sometimes so ignored in the busyness of life.




Monday, December 29, 2014

Y is for Yams

ABC Wednesday
December 31st, 2014

The letter is Y and the veggie is the mighty yellow YAM

You may not have noticed that X got Xed out by Xmas last week, but here is my offering of yams......



Definitely a holiday vegetable, whether candied or mashed with brown sugar, a wee bit of orange juice and perhaps a dash of nutmeg.



Although I have to say I prefer Sweet Potatoes nestled up against my turkey and cranberry sauce.

The Yam is the common name for some plant species in the genus Dioscorea that form edible tubers
(whereas the Sweet Potato is part of the Morning Glory family)

There is also the 'New Zealand Yam'!!!


Its Latin Name Oxalis Tuberosa

Prepared for the table in much the same way the common Yam is,

boiled, baked or fried,  or served as a sweet.

In Mexico the New Zealand Yam is called Oca and it is
eaten raw with salt, lemon and hot pepper!!!

And that probably reaches the boundaries of my knowledge about Yams, 
but perhaps it has added a little to your trivia about the Alphabet.

For more about the letter Y visit here at ABC Wednesday
with thanks to Roger, Denise and ABC helpers.