Emily's Tulips

photo by S. Auberle

Nature rarer uses yellow
than another hue;
saves she all of that for sunsets,
prodigal of blue.
Spending scarlet like a woman;
yellow she affords
only scantly and selectly,
like a lover's words.

-Emily Dickinson

Gullightly

photo by S. Auberle

To my Pisces friends: Dora the Explorer, Sharon Too,
Linda, Susan, Colleen, and all you other cool fish
out there, have a beautiful birthday and may you soar
high this year...

(yes, we fish can fly--higher than most!)

love & blessings,
-mimi

DREAMING

photo by S. Auberle

Suppose that trees
had a voice,
calling out
as we passed by.

Suppose they held us
with tender branches
telling us their stories.

Suppose they sang
us to sleep,
cradled
in their loving arms.

Suppose, for once,
we listened...

- mimi

(published in Common Ground Anthology)

BLOSSOM

photo by Sharon Auberle

MUSINGS I

Back in LaLa land. Though I don't live in California, Arizona is close enough that the vibes (both good and bad) float right over the desert to land on our shoulders like golden faerie dust.

Spotted: two bumper stickers

My Karma Ran Over My Dogma
and
What Would Scooby Do?

Spotted: four vanity license plates: (I love reading these)

GID E UP

and on two BMW'S, one behind the other:

(first car) ALWAYS
(second car) N4EVER
I swear this really happened. I almost ran off the road.
(Do they drive everywhere in separate cars???)

Lastly, my personal favorite: OPLZSNO

A heartfelt plea to the snow gods from us here in the peaks and pines of northern Arizona where the fire danger, at the end of February, has been bumped to HIGH, which usually doesn't happen till June. We are currently experiencing a very serious drought, have only received two inches of snow this season, instead of our usual one hundred inches. I personally attribute this to global warming...

OPLZSNO,
- mimi

ALWAYS

a necklace of birds

adorns winter's barren tree

always love remains

- mimi

GREEK PASTA

Deep winter night, full moon, good friends, good food, good conversation. A bottle of wine or two. Can it get much better? Here is the first recipe from Mimi's Cafe--compliments of friend, poet, chef, free spirit and instigator--Jude Genereaux.

Greek Pasta with Shrimp & Feta

Once you gather and prep all the ingredients this recipe cooks up fast.

Start boiling water for the pasta.
In large skillet saute in 1/3 cup olive oil:
- (l) medium sliced onion
- (3) fat cloves of garlic, pressed
- then add (1) T oregano and (1) t basil

Add a bit more olive oil to mix as it cooks, and a little water
to a saucey consistency.

Begin boiling the angel hair pasta (about 3/4 box), at the same
time add to the sauteed mix:
- 3/4 cup kalamata olives
- 1-1/2 cups halved grape or cherry tomatoes
- 3 oz. crumbled feta cheese
- (1) lb. deveined, thawed, medium shrimp

Stir. Heat to hot, then pour over drained angel hair and top with
another 4 oz. crumbled feta cheese. Serve immediately, with
salad, corsican bread and wine.

yes, yes!

So This Is Joy

A valentine for all my loves,
tall and small, wherever you are.
I love you...


Mozart as the sun rises,
turning north again

oatmeal with blueberries,
honey and hot tea

painting
one perfect pear

the garden, winter-banked
in dazzling snow

knowing you are in this world

- mimi

CRACKED POT

I rarely pass on things that arrive in my e-mail, since most of it is junk, but this caught my eye, though I have no name to attribute it to.

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it. The other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years, this went on daily, with the woman only bringing home one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, but the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfections and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.

"I'm ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled. "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I've been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that makes our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

So, to all my cracked pot friends, have a luvly day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path.

WINTER

I walk these winter woods

the cold rushing through me

like a river of stars

filling me so with grace

I can barely breathe.

- mimi

VESPERS

Early evening walk
ice crunching beneath my boots

in the east, dark clouds
are rising from behind the crater.

Night is falling
down through winter stars

and geese call overhead
their wildness echoing in the blue air.

A man walks by,
softly says good evening.

His hair is fine and brown
falling in his eyes.

I want to brush it back
and I don't know why

except that the rosy light of snow
on the mountain is so tender I could cry

but the wind picks up, stinging my face
and I hurry home

to scribble in my books
poems of light and wings and desire.

- mimi

small change

Okay, first goof. That would be a LOVE SONG to the earth, not a LONG SONG, though both will do. I do believe in serendipitous mistakes, however, so maybe love songs to the earth should be long..

Since I'm posting again, will take this opportunity to add:

"Today is a gift. Have fun."

(words of an eleven year old boy, a cancer patient, who died in December.)

Welcome to the Cafe

Come to the cafe--I have a soapbox,
walls to hang art, open mics
for poetry and songs.

Here we honor our elders, shoot on sight
anyone uttering the words senior citizen.
We dance, we love our bodies,
spend a lot of time on the floor
seeing the world through a child's eye.

We work hard for peace and the planet.
If you have a love song to the earth
or a peace poem, send it to me
if you like, and I'll find room for it.

Here we celebrate food.
Believe in the Slow Food Movement.
Specialize in Southwestern and recipes
like your grandma used to make.
Send a recipe now and then, especially
if it has lots of garlic in it.

Tell me what books you're reading,
what music you're listening to,
what's your passion.
Poet Mary Oliver says: "be ignited or be gone."
What ignites you?

Just getting started, but open 24/7.
Stop by and bring your friends.

FOR PEACE & THE PLANET:
CONNECTING THROUGH THE ARTS

beginning

yes, yes