We just completed our Holiday Concert this past weekend complete with readings from Dicken's A Christmas Carol. My favorite piece from the musical selections was a haunting version of "In the Bleak Midwinter" written by Abbie Betinis. Somehow the contrast of our current excesses became all the clearer when paired with the sparse, clear harmonies of Betinis and the difficult times of Dickens. I have to admit that I long for a simpler time especially during the barrage of advertisements and mindless consumption that seems to begin earlier and earlier in the year.
This week we start preparing the PSO Holiday Pops concerts in earnest. The work culminates in 6 concerts starting Dec 20: and ends with two concerts back to back on Sunday Dec 23. It can be tough to maintain the "right amount" of holiday spirit with that many concerts (particularly when you add in the nightly rehearsals starting the Tuesday before) so the choristers do our best to support each other with gifts of food and spirits.
My complete absence from our own family life during that concert week has sparked an odd tradition in our house. Although we practice Judiasm with our children, I was raised Methodist and really missed the pleasures of a decorated tree. And so, we began to decorate our tree with strings of 6 pointed stars and other hand made and unusual ornaments made by our kids and family members. My dad has added a wooden elk, a painted loon and several other carved birds. We have a metal moose with a hanukkiah in place of antlers, and scores of musical notes and miniature french horns in deference to our love of music and my brother's profession. We have a painted ornament with puffins from our trip to Alaska and a minature wine bottle from Italy.
Since I often can not even buy a tree until the last minute, our Jewish friends Stuart and Beth and their children have taken to starting off the decoration spree so that when I arrive Sunday night after the last concert, the tree is already up and lit. We join together to finish the decorating in record time to the dulcet tones of Harry Belafonte's Christmas album and a mixture of wild klezmer if I can find the old cassette tapes. Not a bad tradition if I say so myself.
So Happy Hannukah and Merry Christmas and any other holiday you choose to enjoy! Any may your New Year be true, simple and full of love.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Re-entry
Just returned from 13 days away on a cruise with my parents, sister and husband. We were on a transatlantic cruise and so had 6 days in a row all at sea. I have to admit I usually love the days at sea for their slow pace, gentle rocking and just being out of contact with the real world but the seas were pretty rough during half those days so I spent many hours asleep from the anti nausea meds. Still, had a lovely time reconnecting with my sister and my folks who were happy to veg out with us in a Cabana overlooking the sea.
The ports of call were beautiful in Portugal and Spain and I was so sad to arrive and promptly leave Citavecchia, Rome within one hour, to return home. My husband saved us from major stress due to a much delayed flight and had us rebooked and home an hour earlier than we would have been had our flight left on time. I could just feel my neck and shoulders start to stiffen up as we dealt with the crowds and the stresses of travel.
Now we are home and the animals are so happy to see us back. It is quite unseasonably cold and grey here in Pittsburgh. The good news is that I have not missed much in the garden and will be able to start planting within a week or two. The asparagus has just started to come in and the garlic scapes are not up yet. Life is good.
The ports of call were beautiful in Portugal and Spain and I was so sad to arrive and promptly leave Citavecchia, Rome within one hour, to return home. My husband saved us from major stress due to a much delayed flight and had us rebooked and home an hour earlier than we would have been had our flight left on time. I could just feel my neck and shoulders start to stiffen up as we dealt with the crowds and the stresses of travel.
Now we are home and the animals are so happy to see us back. It is quite unseasonably cold and grey here in Pittsburgh. The good news is that I have not missed much in the garden and will be able to start planting within a week or two. The asparagus has just started to come in and the garlic scapes are not up yet. Life is good.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
whole foods
OK I admit it, I have started to shop at Whole Foods again and somehow feel guilty about it. As if I am now no longer one of the 99%-ers or something..
It happened after work when I ran in to try to pick up something from the salad bar before a rehearsal since I knew I would otherwise stop at a fast food drive in and eat something I would regret. They had a local chef touting healthy greens with high ANDI factor (I admit I just spent 20 minutes searching the web for that and it stands for High Aggregate Nutrient Density Factor). Basically that stands for foods with high nutritional value and bulk that fill you up up without fattening you out. I ended up getting a large plate of their raw kale salad with the garlicky aminos dressing and I am now officially addicted.
My version is a couple of leaves of different kinds of kale (de-ribbed) (dinosaur, red and green) along with some Italian parsley and any other crispy green that catches my eye and any other nut or bean I want to add today. After chopping the greens into manageable size I put just a little olive oil on my hands and rub the greens vigorously between my palms to soften them up just a bit and then pour on the dressing (which I shamelessly buy by weight at the salad bar instead of trying to make from scratch) and toss. The dressing reportedly has Tahini, lemon, lots of crushed garlic, aminos and plum vinegar in it but I have not been able to recreate it to my standards yet. This usually reduces to two large bowls of greens and goes a long ways toward filling me up but still tasting great due to the garlic dressing.
I have to admit that the quality of the veggies at WF is significantly better than at my local Giant Eagle (or Big Bird as we call it) and is usually the same or even sometimes better (!) price despite being organic. The only problem shopping there is the tiny parking area and the rabid shoppers who vie for the rare open spot. I haven't seen any mayhem yet but you can feel it's potential even among these healthy Prius driving folk! I've taken to parking on the street to avoid the wary stares as we circle the lot. Feels sort of like duck-duck-goose when someone finally leaves..
Unfortunately my other recent addiction is Burgatory ("a hell of a burger and a heavenly shake") so any good I am doing my body I am also undoing with regularity. Ah well, have to love the contrast too!
It happened after work when I ran in to try to pick up something from the salad bar before a rehearsal since I knew I would otherwise stop at a fast food drive in and eat something I would regret. They had a local chef touting healthy greens with high ANDI factor (I admit I just spent 20 minutes searching the web for that and it stands for High Aggregate Nutrient Density Factor). Basically that stands for foods with high nutritional value and bulk that fill you up up without fattening you out. I ended up getting a large plate of their raw kale salad with the garlicky aminos dressing and I am now officially addicted.
My version is a couple of leaves of different kinds of kale (de-ribbed) (dinosaur, red and green) along with some Italian parsley and any other crispy green that catches my eye and any other nut or bean I want to add today. After chopping the greens into manageable size I put just a little olive oil on my hands and rub the greens vigorously between my palms to soften them up just a bit and then pour on the dressing (which I shamelessly buy by weight at the salad bar instead of trying to make from scratch) and toss. The dressing reportedly has Tahini, lemon, lots of crushed garlic, aminos and plum vinegar in it but I have not been able to recreate it to my standards yet. This usually reduces to two large bowls of greens and goes a long ways toward filling me up but still tasting great due to the garlic dressing.
I have to admit that the quality of the veggies at WF is significantly better than at my local Giant Eagle (or Big Bird as we call it) and is usually the same or even sometimes better (!) price despite being organic. The only problem shopping there is the tiny parking area and the rabid shoppers who vie for the rare open spot. I haven't seen any mayhem yet but you can feel it's potential even among these healthy Prius driving folk! I've taken to parking on the street to avoid the wary stares as we circle the lot. Feels sort of like duck-duck-goose when someone finally leaves..
Unfortunately my other recent addiction is Burgatory ("a hell of a burger and a heavenly shake") so any good I am doing my body I am also undoing with regularity. Ah well, have to love the contrast too!
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Daily gratitude
It feels odd that I am writing about being gratefull for finding out I have a painful medical condition, but lately my "glass half full" attitude has stalled on me and, given my line of work, I was starting to imagine pretty awful stuff. After all, why should I have any right to expect something benign during a week when I have watched a family try so hard for divine intervention that they left little room for their 42 y daughter not to feel like a failure for finally succumbing to her disease.
Miracles do happen, but they don't always look like we hope they will. Personally I think that patient achieved her miracle just by having the strength to finally get home from hospital as sick as she was and hooked up to so many tubes and drains but that is no consolation to her minister father and loving husband who called 911 and did CPR on her in front of her 12 y old son.
So, yes, I am deeply relieved and gratefull that the pain in my back and arm, and the numbness in my hand is a good old "garden variety" ruptured disc and not some bizarre cancer metastasized to the bones in my spine. I guess I hadn't realized how much I was expecting "bad news" until the doc called ( called!) with results and I had to sit down. The fact that he was willing to talk and it wasn't one of those "could you come to the office for an appointment" calls let me off the hook right away.
I have started steroids ( hence no sleep yet at 230 am) and big dose Ibuprofen and have even had a few nights of Valium for muscle spasm with surprisingly little effect. I thought the meds would really knock me for a loop but pain is a pretty strong stimulant. I've also noticed it has heightened my sense of smell (and I smell worse when I hurt!...more than you need to know).
But my pain will be temporary. There will be an end in sight and probably no lasting effects or need for surgery.
What a wake up call for mindfulness. I am trying to appreciate this pain for what it is telling me. Slow down. Appreciate your life and those around you more. Don't try to do too much (yes, even at yoga! ...no more head stands or striving to do the hardest position just because others can). I am more aware of the symptoms my patients face every day after these last few illnesses. I can empathize with the time it took them to finally get their answers and to the frustration of trying to describe the severity of those symptoms without being seen as "weak" or "whiney" or (particularly for us women) "just stressed out". In some ways it was reassuring to have something "real" (to medical men) to corroborate and confirm the pain. I know now what this is..and what it is not and i am grateful just for that.
Miracles do happen, but they don't always look like we hope they will. Personally I think that patient achieved her miracle just by having the strength to finally get home from hospital as sick as she was and hooked up to so many tubes and drains but that is no consolation to her minister father and loving husband who called 911 and did CPR on her in front of her 12 y old son.
So, yes, I am deeply relieved and gratefull that the pain in my back and arm, and the numbness in my hand is a good old "garden variety" ruptured disc and not some bizarre cancer metastasized to the bones in my spine. I guess I hadn't realized how much I was expecting "bad news" until the doc called ( called!) with results and I had to sit down. The fact that he was willing to talk and it wasn't one of those "could you come to the office for an appointment" calls let me off the hook right away.
I have started steroids ( hence no sleep yet at 230 am) and big dose Ibuprofen and have even had a few nights of Valium for muscle spasm with surprisingly little effect. I thought the meds would really knock me for a loop but pain is a pretty strong stimulant. I've also noticed it has heightened my sense of smell (and I smell worse when I hurt!...more than you need to know).
But my pain will be temporary. There will be an end in sight and probably no lasting effects or need for surgery.
What a wake up call for mindfulness. I am trying to appreciate this pain for what it is telling me. Slow down. Appreciate your life and those around you more. Don't try to do too much (yes, even at yoga! ...no more head stands or striving to do the hardest position just because others can). I am more aware of the symptoms my patients face every day after these last few illnesses. I can empathize with the time it took them to finally get their answers and to the frustration of trying to describe the severity of those symptoms without being seen as "weak" or "whiney" or (particularly for us women) "just stressed out". In some ways it was reassuring to have something "real" (to medical men) to corroborate and confirm the pain. I know now what this is..and what it is not and i am grateful just for that.
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