Wednesday, November 2, 2011

I Name My Trees. So What?


I have had numerous post-Storm Alfred reflections, but this is the one I choose to share. While numerous people, including friends and family, have suffered in myriad ways from lack of access to heat, hot water and electricity, my focus is on the loss of life in my yard.

When I woke up the morning after Alfred raged through Connecticut, I was speechless at the devastation in my yard. Lilacs that I have lovingly pruned and transplanted for the last 17 years that are now 20 feet tall were lying on the ground. My dogwood, that was planted when Turner was born and is now as tall as my house, was snapped in half like a toothpick. Two of my maple trees took heavy damage with major limbs falling within inches of our house. But what broke my heart was my Mama Willow…she had lost fifty percent of her branches.

Mama Willow is a commanding presence in my yard. She is our home base in the event of a fire. She is our shade—on the hottest summer days, we are comfortable under her arches. She is the best climbing tree…my boys and my neighbor’s boys have done countless flips from that perfect, low branch on the right side. She is the largest presence at 145 Parker Farms Road; and prior to 10.29.11, she was beautiful. I was so sad.

In the midst of my sadness, I made calls to borrow chain saws and enlist some muscle to help with hauling. Some advised waiting for the town clean up day and some had already gotten quotes from arborists and tree pruning services (to the tune of thousands of dollars).

That is when it struck me.

Why aren’t I as heartbroken about the brokenness of people? Why aren’t I coordinating resources to help the sick, addicted, lonely, downtrodden, and desperately poor of the world? I give one week of the year to help the poor in La Romana, Dominican Republic and it doesn’t feel like enough. I want to get to the point where helping the disadvantaged feels as personal as helping save my Mama Willow.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

My Summertime Companion

I don't leave home without it.

If you are a baseball mom—or soccer, lacrosse, or you name the sport—you may already be acquainted with the power of the rolling cooler. But this post is my homage to what has become one of my most useful, and therefor valuable, possessions. This model, purchased at Stop & Shop for about $30, is my favorite because it has a hard plastic interior and is easy to clean. The styles that have a soft, vinyl inside always get smelly and moldy after one season. This is my third summer hauling this puppy around and she's still growing strong!

Below is my masterlist of items to include in your cooler; I promise it will increase your popularity!

• food and water are the no brainers, but here are some specifics. The beverages should back on the bottom, with loose ice. All sandwiches should be packed in plastic containers, not baggies to avoid the soggy factor. Recycled chinese food containers fit in this cooler perfectly!
• the top, zippered compartment fits lots of snacks easily; just don't then put heavy things on top or instead of having chips, you'll have bits of chips.
• other essentials: sunscreen, bug spray, purelle, wet ones, napkins, plasticware, salt.
• individual gatorade powder packets
• sewing kit (I have used mine to fix a button that popped off a uniform; and not once, but twice, have used the needles to extract sunflower seed shells that got stuck too far up in a ball player's gum (ouch!) because dental floss wasn't working. And yes, the needles were sterilized in between times!
• a stack of paper napkins; twice in one weekend these were used to solve bloody nose crises.
• wash cloths serve myriad purposes; the most important for my family is when the ice in the cooler starts to melt, you have an instant sweat relief rag during really hot summer games.
• bottle opener/cork screw: more valuable for the beach or post game activities.

And best of all, whenever I head out with my partner in tow, I hear the old Bud Lite commercial theme song in my head...except I change "Mr." to "Mrs."

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Best Fruit Crumble on the Planet

This is so easy to make, totally delicious, and relatively healthy as desserts go. (Shown here is strawberry-rhubarb cobbler.)

Ingredients
—approximately 6 cups of fresh fruit (this is a rough number—could be 5, could be 7). Some of my favorites are apple, apple/strawberry, pear/raspberry, apple/rhubarb, strawberry/rhubarb, and nectarine/raspberry.
—1/2 cup all purpose flour
—1/2 cup old fashioned oats
—1/2 packed light brown sugar
—1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
—5 Tbsp cold butter

• Preheat the oven to 375.
• Put your fruit into a 2 qt baking dish.
• In a bowl, mix together the flour, oats, brown sugar and cinnamon.
• Chip off pieces of the cold butter into the bowl and once it is all in the bowl, using your hands, smush it all together. it won't be perfectly or evenly moistened...it will in fact be crumbly, but mix it together the best you can.
• Crumble the topping over the fruit.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes

Monday, April 25, 2011

Running Mishap

As I shared in a previous post, I am in the midst of the Couch to 5K program. In fact, as of this post, I am about to complete week 6, 2/3rds of the way through. As with most new endeavors, the process has had its highs and lows. Today I share one of the more absurd moments.

We were a few days into the April vacation and my rambunctious 13-yr-old and his best buddy were restless. My husband, Paul, and I were about to head to the track at our local high school. I suggested the boys grab a football and come with us. Like two oversized and goofy puppies, these man-sized boys bounded to the car. As Paul and I begin our run, the boys head into the center of the track and occupy themselves for the next 30 mins leaping into mid air trying to catch the football at the apex of their jump and then flop on the pole vaulters' mattress.

And then it all went awry.
Very soon into my run, my right bra strap slid off my shoulder. As soon as I pulled it back up, the left strap slid down my left arm and rested in the crease of my left elbow. I put my iPod in my other hand and arighted my left strap. Immediately, the right one goes down again. This unbelievably frustrating process continued for at least a lap and a half of the track. By now, I am so frustrated I am gritting my teeth. Then, a great song came on my ipod and transported me away from the physical rigors of running. Does that happen to you where your brain leaves your body? Well, when my attention returned to the moment, both bra straps we resting comfortable in the crooks of my elbows and my bra was around my waist! I think what drew my attention back to reality was the fact that the drooped bra straps we restricting my natural running motion.

So, with my son and his buddy right there, my solution was to just remove the bra and keep running. I know; I'm a classy girl.

Today's lesson: Foundation garments are important...even in sports.

Friday, April 8, 2011

I See Dead People

Spoiler Alert: If you have never seen the movie "The Sixth Sense" (and I highly recommend that you do), read no further because I will give away one of the most turn-on-a-dime plot revealers of all time.

One of the most chilling lines ever, right? When little Haley Joel Osment playing the role of Cole confesses to Bruce Willis' character that he has a sixth sense...one beyond sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. He can see people from another dimension. People who have left the time and space dimension of Earth and are wandering around in some sort of altered dimension. Crazy, right?

Today's tale is a wandering one that will ultimately reveal that I have come to the realization that I too have a sixth sense. Thankfully, mine is different from Cole's.

The story starts about a month ago. Paulie, my husband of almost 19 years, is an avid exerciser. His father had a quadruple bypass at age 54 and that possibility scares the dickens out of Paulie; thus he works out several times a week and has for as long as we have been together.

However, like many, he always gains a little weight over the winter months...and this winter was especially hard to be motivated to exercise. Who had any juice for that after all that snow shoveling?

In early March, Paulie asked me if I would begin a 9 week running program with him called "Couch to 5K." My initial response was, "Have you met me? I am the least athletic person on the planet!" My second response was, "Hell no." Thankfully, when my maturity started to wax and my freshness waned, I realized that it had been a while since the last time Paulie asked to do something with me. So I acquiesced and as of today we are three-and-a-half weeks into the 9 week program.

At the start of week 4, the Couch to 5K plan is to walk a five minute warm up, run 3 mins, walk 90 seconds, run 5 mins, walk 2.5 mins, run 3 mins, walk 90 seconds, run 5 mins, walk 5 mins to cool down. I confess that the idea of that first 5 minute run was daunting. However, for the first time ever, I hit what people call "their stride". That had never happened to me before. This is also when my "sixth sense" kicked in.

I see movement. I see it in patterns of people in crowded places, and in this instance, I saw movement by people who were not even there.

We were running at the track at Sheehan High School and what I saw was a flash mob event that would involve hundreds of people. Simultaneously a celebration of fitness and community, the flash mob I imagine would involve young and old. And in my head it is set to Fat Boy Slim's "Right Here, Right Now." I could see the whole event, both the gathering of participants and the invitation to watch, being communicated and promoted via social media (Facebook and Twitter for sure). Now all I have to do is get permission from John Gawlak to use the track!

Sometimes my "sixth sense" brings on a choreographic idea like this, and sometimes it is just an awareness of how other people move; how their bodies work, how the shape of their hips/knees/feet affects they way they sit, stand, walk. It doesn't happen all the time and it has been a while since it happened as viscerally as it did when I was running.

Paul and I will soon head out to accomplish the Week 4, Day 2 session of Couch to 5K. I wonder what will spring to mind today as I hit my stride.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Pot Roast in the Slow Cooker

Family Friendly Meals Series—Day 11

This one is a no brainer. It's both easy-peasy to cook, and the reason I have no photos is that my family ate it all so quickly that it's all gone. No lie!

Put a pot roast in your slow cooker with the beer from a bottle of Long Trail IPA. Turn it on low and walk away. Let it cook for the 8-9 hours you are at work. When you get home, throw a pound of wide egg noodles on the stove top, and toss together a salad. The pot roast shreds easily (I hand removed the fatty parts of the meat so my kids weren't grossed out) and I served it over the noodles with a little bit of the juice from the crock pot. It will definitely need salt; you can add it while it is cooking or season to taste based on the dietary needs of your family.

Enjoy!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Today's Experiment

I wanted something comforting for lunch, but I also wanted something healthy. After having gone to Park Central in Hamden for dinner last week, where I had butternut squash soup, I have been wanting to make my own. Well, today was the day.

Ingredients
2.5-3 lbs butternut squash, diced
2 red potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large stalk of celery, diced
1 large red onion, diced
2T butter
chicken stock, about 6 cups or so
salt and cambodian kampot pepper

1. Melt the butter on medium high heat in a large pot. Put all the diced ingredients in the pot and stir them around for about 5 minutes.

2. Cover the vegetable and butter mix with chicken stock, cover the mixture and let it come to a boil. Once the mixture comes to a boil, turn the burner down and let it simmer for about 45 mins, or until all the veggies are soft.
3. Using a submersible blender, puree the mixture. If the mixture is too thick for your liking, you can add a bit more chicken stock. Mine was perfect as is. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper—I used Cambodian kampot pepper and it was out of this world. My husband, for whom I have been cooking for 20 years, says it is one of the tastiest things I have ever made.