By the time I got around to having breakfast this morning it was time for lunch. It’s been like that, lately.
So I made a sandwich.
[hippy hairs, tomato, avocado, turkey, white extra sharp cheddar cheese, mustard, purple onion, gluten free bread]
[Odwalla lemonade, Pellegrino, mint from the garden]
[I tend to be a bit heavy handed with the mustard…Kettle baked salt and vinegar chips on the side…]
Thanks to a local bakery, local like 10 minutes by foot from my back door, I am on a freshly baked gluten free bread list and I pick up my loaf once a week. It’s actually awful stuff, keeping in mind that I’ve spoiled myself for a few years by baking my own bread, from scratch, on a weekly basis. But, if I toast it a bit I can almost pretend it’s delicious. When I build a sandwich with it, it tastes quite good and it feels strong to have a bready substance in my body. As for the meat, you know I don’t really like to eat anything we haven’t harvested from Idaho and Wyoming lands, but our freezer is empty and I’ve been working really hard lately; climbing, running long 9 mile loops in the mountains, an interval weight class at my gym once a week (which has been AWESOME for my chronic rib displacement issue) and biking — when that’s all said and done my body is really craving meat. Lots of meat. So I’ve been buckling down and consuming poor little barnyard fowl in the form of sandwich meat and sausage (as well as fish). I still can’t seem to eat enough. Ever. How does one fill a bottomless pit, anyway??? Impossible (say it with a French accent)!!!
In other news, this ship was sinking this morning. Seriously. Struck-by-an-iceberg-all-hands-on-deck-ready-the-lifeboats-geez-that-Atlantic-Ocean-is-frigid- SINKING. I embarked on an endless search for sodium bisulphate all over town. Everybody was out! Rather frustrating. I finally found some in Chubbuck (a neighboring town) at a Lowe’s hardware store and I was so annoyed with having wasted so much time that I swore a bit in my head and at one point I even stomped my foot. Poor behavior for a lady. I know. But I’m not perfect…
I tried to sit down at a coffee shop for a calm little latte and a bit of letter writing but I felt guilty sitting there leisurely when I have (had) a handful of gardens that are full of weeds, six pairs of earrings to package and ship out, a kitchen full of dirty dishes, dogs that need exercising, bills to pay, emails to answer and sodium bisulphate to hunt down. The panic was rising. Rising all around. I was swimming in the thickness of it. Then I sent a SOS text to a friend and she talked me down off the ledge. Everything is fine now. Everything is fine. One thing at a time. One day at a time.
The most beautiful thing I’ve seen today would have to be the small flock of sparrows inside Lowe’s. They were perched on a shelf in the seasonal section. I sat down in a patch of orchids over in the plant section and just watched them and leaked a few tears. Then I stood up, paid for my sodium bisulphate and drove home. Now that I’m here, the gardens don’t seem so weedy, I’m not quite so overwhelmed, someone patched the hole in the starboard side of this ship and we’re seaworthy once again. We’re going to keep cruising through these cold waters. I can see a big white albatross coasting about on a curl of wind, straight ahead.
Land is near.
Land is near.
I’ll do my best.
I’m doing my best.
Tell me about something beautiful you’ve seen today.
I need some beautiful.
I need a truckload of beautiful.
Love,
The SS Plume
Just for the record, I like it when you stomp your foot.
i'll tell you what: i saw something beautiful today. it was your soul. it's glinting at me from 1500 miles away (a completely surmountable distance by plane, as i shall know myself in the near future) and it makes my heart sing.
tra
laa
laa
i love you, hang in there, we are almost there. and our best is the only thing we can ever do. the rest is not our business.
xoxoxoxo
Gardens are beautiful,,,I love my garden becouse its blooming now,,,,,
there is some pics what i did with my roses in my blog:):)
/ annaleena
Plume, maybe this will help you a bit:
http://christopherandtia.blogspot.com/2010/07/very-best-gluten-free-sandwich-bread.html
Christopher and Tia are two bloggers who constantly battle with their gluten affliction. And, as a result, they've come up with some great gluten-free recipes (none of which I've tried, but I'm sure they're tried and true).
Hope this helps!
N.
In those sinking ship moments I try to remind myself of the previous time I felt that way, and that it did eventually get better. It always does.
Most beautiful thing I've seen today: My 7 year old's toothless grin as she discovered ants making themselves comfortable in the house she built for them in our garden. 🙂
M: Oh geez. If you would have been here today I'd have stomped my foot ten times and then laughed hysterically in your arms. Miss you.
She: I'm so glad you'll be here soon to help me weed.
Hem: LOVELY!!!!! Gardens are very beautiful. Hopefully by this evening I'll be able to see what I planted instead of weeds weeds weeds!!!
N: I have lofty gluten free baking plans but for the time being, I can't fit it in to my life schedule. Or, I should say, It's low on the priority list:) I'll check this recipe out and print it off for my recipe file and hopefully, sometime soon, I'll get around to using it! THANK YOU! xx
We're growing giant pumpkins, and every morning I wander out there and leave the whining children and the dirty dishes behind and gaze at what is beginning to look like Hagrid's giant pumpkin patch (just like in Prisonr of Azkaban). They're taking over. I love them. They make me happy. The End.
p.s. put some music on, if you're manning the lifeboats you really should go down singing. Wishing you nothing but the best and hoping for better days.
Buffy Lucy: So true! So true!
As for ant farms, the 57th time I fell in love with RW was when we were fostering an ant colony in New Zealand on the paving stones outside his dorm room……I'll tell you all about it sometime. xx
Susie. MUSIC ON. Ship me a pumpkin. Pronto. Pleaseo. x
Oh and the sandwich looks delicious even if the bread is awful and I don't even eat meat, good job building that mountain.
Also, I know the grass is always greener, but I kinda want some of those problems you have… i want a garden 🙁
The most beautiful thing today… I went to my favourite bakery to pick up my usual four loaves of the best (um, not gluten-free) bread in town. And there was a lovely lady chatting with such animation with her companions, long white hair swept up in a hasty knot, thick sweater draped artfully around her shoulders, and she was just so beautiful, it made me excited to grow old. I want to be like her. And then there were these two men, friends running into each other coincidentally, and their vigorous handshaking was so heartfelt and almost zealous, but what they really needed was to hug. Men are so silly sometimes! And then there was the cute fella who poured me my coffee, and he had lovely tattoos… And well, there was just a lot of life in that place. And it was all beautiful.
A swath of sun, pouring through the trees, making the dew tents in the grass glisten like crystals. The morning light twinkling in his eyes, my trusty steed tried to sneak some grass on our walk. And as I went back to the house to get the dog, a pair of bunnies giggling in the panseys, having a little tidbit to go with their grass. It is indeed a beautiful morning here.
I forgot my beautiful thing, as I was reading this post I thought of Thom Yorke's cover of All for the Best. It goes something like this:
"One day the stone will roll away
Soon you'll see
you're far away from home but never far away from me
And that's all for the best"
Beautiful words and music always make my day. Hang in there lady, you are incredible!
Easy…the most beautiful thing I caught a glance of at 3 a.m. was my kitty flat on its back breezing his belly…repeat at 4…repeat at 5. While you were eating your healthy sandwich I consumed half a block of RitterSport Cornflakes chocolate…oh well, such is the life of a chemist…and I had so much bisulfate around me I did not know what to do : )
Something beautiful, this, from my friend Jeff, who was Steve and I and Caloi when we had to say goodbye to my sweet Cheyenne last night:
http://hawksburnhall.blogspot.com/2010/07/2010-day-194-fallen-star.html
Beautiful is being blessed with an amazing wolfie-girl for 12.5 years, and good friends who loved her so much too.
I was sitting at my desk, calculating something that seems important (but probably not so, in the grand scheme), and it began to pour! Watching pouring rain from 17 floors up is amazing! I'm sure all of the plants at home have water cupped in them, and the grass is getting greener as I work! Amazing day!
HA!!! Hippy hairs! That classic, I eat them all the time and now they have a perfect nickname…in the beauty department, over here in Honolulu we have a backyard full of avocados and mangos from our tree! I was just asking my girlfriend last night if we are allowed to send them in the mail…too bad for such tight agricultural guidelines I have many friends out there that could use a taste of paradise…maybe I can sneak one in a cleverly disguised package!
Beautiful thing, beautiful thing… aha! There he is. My new husband, wrapped up like a babushka in a duvet.
Also your blog, SS. I have just woken up to find the morning gone, and I need to prevent a shipwreck myself.
(But I have a book to print today, so shipwrecks won't do!)
Impos~SEE~blegh!
Kind of like…?
"What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object?"
Today I saw the strength of the man I love…His beloved Grandfather died this morning and he is holding his Father together {He is a carpenter after all…}…Beautiful and sad…
I love the ship metaphor Plume…So apt.
Keep pushin' on…
xo
Andrea
{the word veri is micas 🙂 …seen any good ones as late?}
beautiful = the post-op xrays of a hip sugery i did this morning AND the stability of the patient under anesthesia thanks to amazingly well balanced drugs. LOVE it when surgery goes well.
ps what brand of kettle S&V chippies? I have a tough time finding ones that aren't made with evil gluten filled malt vinegar…
This video totally made my day… just go to youtube and search "double rainbow." It's sweet and funny and made me feel like I need to get more excited about life.
A Great Blue Heron flying a little too close over my backyard. He was a gift, blessing, and magical grace. Every time my husband and I see one, we have to call each other. They are always a sign that everything is going to be okay, even if the day started off horribly. Hang in there, sister!
beautiful things… hmm.
how about Umber's new look? tres chic, eh?
lingering water droplets that sparkle in the sun on plant leaves after their morning drink.
neighborhood kitties that come out to greet me on the sidewalk during my early morning outing.
afternoon cloud cover on a too-hot afternoon (didn't think I'd be saying THAT a month ago).
connections made with very fine people online that make me have a lot of faith in our future.
the little things, the details. beauty surrounds us!
beautiful = being awoken from my nap by my man with a grilled veggie snack from the garden (we have zuchinnis that are almost as big as my arm! well, maybe i exaggerate a wee bit; and these really funky looking beets that are concentric circles of pink & white). also, i made a new friend this weekend. i like Good People.
(does looking forward to the folk festival this weekend in town count, too? old man luedecke, don ross, great lake swimmers, bruce cockburn!)
sending you lots and lots of <3
Harum-scarum puppies playing and getting into the most amazing things they shouldn't as a cold front approaches to break a heatwave…that eerie thunderstorm yellow light at dusk and small white canine forms running over the deep green grass.
And earlier, one pup sitting happily in a garden tub of gravel, mud, and water, looking for all the world like a sailor. There will be photos.
XX
D
Simply the rain falling in Baltimore…we've need it so badly and the entire earth seemed to shed its layers and smile from the ground up.
Okay, so I haven't seen something beautiful yet today (kinda stuck in an office) BUT I keep watching this –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI
and I laugh HYSTERICALLY! Even if you've seen him before, watch it again. Sheesh, my sides hurt.
Thank you for prompting me to think about the beautiful today. I've had to think long and hard, because frankly, today hasn't been very beautiful. It's sickly hot & humid here, and because I have a baby due any day now, this weather has me in a foul mood. Tried to sleep it off, but that didn't help. What did help, however were the two phone calls from my hubby (calling just because), and the lovely friend who's going to cover a commitment I have this afternoon (simply because she is lovely).
And I had this beautiful realization, too – even though my mind is overly wrapped up with the impending birth of this little peanut, my two sons have nearly grown up before my very eyes! I realized this when I tried to shop for them in the boys' dept. of my local store today, and had to find what we needed in the mens'!!
oh my that does look like a delicious sandwich! I am missing my sandwich fix as they say that preggies should avoid the deli meat. I miss my salami sandwiches very deeply.
oh somedays this ship sinks a few times…fret not.
i know it does not necessarily sound like something you might think to be 'beautiful' but to me it was…our 7 year old daughter, who is not your typical gal (are any of them?) likes golf, so she is in a wee golf camp this week and although it is mostly boys, the most beautiful thing i got to see today was the look on her face when she took her stance and positioned herself and the little sort of grin on her face that showed me how proud she is of herself (now, that made me leak a few tears)…she took that swing and hit that ball like nobody's biz and damn did she look good!:) hope you are enjoying the boat ride dearest noisy plume!
I think its a current theme the world over, this bottomless pit need to eat and eat . . . I actually can't stop indulging (and now that I've seen those gorgeous sandwiches, I'm hungry . . .) Happy thoughts, hey. I hope tomorrow is a better day!
while on the way to visit my parents ( 3 hours away ) today i passed the time by looking at the clouds. not the safest… i know.
i saw a BUNNY cloud. two lop ears. a sky blue eye. and a signature tiny nose.
even though what i saw was not a "real" bunny. it was a real cloud resembling a wabbit!
how is the gluten-free diet going? have you noticed a difference?
hoping more beautiful things come your way,
Lyns x
Hi Jillian!! The most beautiful "thing" I saw today, was my little daughter! She is always the most beautiful view on earth!
Warmly
I saw her this evening. After spending the morning at the doctor and afternoon at the hospital. She was a welcome relief.
http://theillies.blogspot.com/2010/07/posing-miss-daisy.html
Hang in there!
The most beautiful thing this week: my husband is back home – after six weeks away. Beautiful.
I know you are missing yours. Be strong, sister!
Cast not the first stone. ..................................................................
Yesterday I saw myself for the first time in a really, really long time. About six weeks ago I made a decision to start taking better care of myself – to being healthy, exercising, to listening to my body more, to taking time to prepare food, to revel in small things, to take deep breaths. And for the first time I realized exactly how much I had missed all of this, how much I needed it, and how I had allowed my poor self-care to bleed into my relationships.
It was a beautiful thing, to me, to see me again, the happy me, the content me, after so very long.
Well BOY HOWDY!
These are all such beautiful things!
Thanks for sharing these snippets of your lives with me, sweet ones. I managed to hurdle the hump of overwhelmedness yesterday and hopped in the studio once I was done running, willy nilly, all about town.
Thanks.
For existing.
In the first place.
xx
PS The salt and vinegar chips are KETTLE brand and are gluten free (says so on the bag) as well as BAKED which makes them practically guilt free which is really good because I have a potato chip addiction and I constantly crave salt…..YUM.
Plume, I think youre great. Ive been reading your stuff for a bit and I think your kookiness is so nice. Anywho, today I was having one of those days as well, and after a nice lunch and laughing fit with my sis and a friend, I realized how lucky I was… to have people and relationships who can literally cure all things that seems earth shattering in my day. After a smiles and a leisurely lunch, my day was put into perspective, realizing that we all pile things on too much… and heck, if they dont get done, what the worst that happens? Our weeds grow a bit taller and we enjoy their flowers, our things get mailed late once or twice… so what I say. so what.
I just thought Id tell you your space is great and I have a sneaking suspicion youll be just fine. Most of the time we all are.