morning

learning through life after making a problem of sorrow waves moving me--seems we always have to stretch again after a respite. life...dawn breaks and promises sun for the first time in days. i rush in loads of laundry. the shoulder season before wood stove replaces sun heat. 

read about st. john of the cross this morning. the hardship and cruelty he endured despite and inside of his faithful open heart. suffering i cannot conceive of, even as in moments this life feels so damn hard. then tolstoy sings in me, the hardest and the most important thing is to love this life in the face of suffering, in unendurable suffering. known in the novel by an imprisoned, beaten man. perhaps the really, really difficult must needs lead us into faith. for survival. 

as always it's the simple that leads me home. this time of year, brimming with neighbourly food gifts, preserving and storing as well as learning to teach, settles me in. 

getting to know sarsaparilla root. spicy cleansing and easily dug. especially in chai or hot chocolate with dandelion, burdock and echinacea. yum. 

what's yummy in you today? 

love, kate.