Food | Open Space Practice, (AKA: A Thousand Shades of Gray)

This will be my third year doing August Break with Susannah Conway. She describes it this way, “This is a community project that has no real rules – the idea is to simply take a photograph every day for the whole of August. That’s it. Pause, look around you and shoot what you see. Live inside each moment. Pay attention to what’s there.” I love the way this project has always transitioned me from summer to fall, from vacation back to work, helps me to slow down and notice the shift in seasons. Here’s what the schedule of prompts looks like this year.

Today, I made myself a chicken salad sandwich for lunch. Last night Eric barbequed a whole bunch of chicken breast for the dogs and had already chopped it up, so it was easy. He picked some basil from our garden, and I mixed it with our favorite mustard, the vegan mayonnaise I use (mixing chicken with vegan spread, a contradiction of sorts I know, but I can live with it), dried cranberries, and walnuts. I put that and some spinach between two slices of Dave’s Killer Bread, the Good Seed variety. I really wish I’d had some purple grapes because they are in season and so delicious right now, so I made sure to add them to the grocery list. May you be well fed today, kind and gentle reader.

1. Lemon Poppyseed Scones from Whole Foods.

2. Found recipe for Tomato Rhubarb Chutney. I can’t wait until we have fresh tomatoes again, for eating and to try this recipe. Our friends had a jar of tomato chutney on Christmas, served with cheese and crackers, and I could have eaten it straight out of the jar with a spoon. It was so good.

3. The Great Clear Out. I’ve been working for close to two weeks on clearing out my office space, which led to cleaning the garage, the front closet and dresser, and the “dog cabinet.” It feels so good to clear out some space, let go of things that no longer serve me, clean up and make room.

new shelves in the closet for my journals

4. Meditation practice. I’ve been having some horrible anxiety lately, as we try to figure out what’s up with Sam, determine how to help him, keep him comfortable (he has some sort of nerve issue in his lower jaw), and meditating is one of the only things that helps me to calm down.

5. Being on break with Eric. He’s one of the other things that helps me calm down. It’s good to get to spend some extra time with him right now.

Bonus Joy: The way Sam sometimes curls his feet under when he sleeps. This morning, he got on this bed under my writing desk because Eric had started the dryer and Sam has decided he doesn’t like laundry. He digs himself a little nest in the corner and tries not to think about it.