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What! Pick your own mussel sauce?!!!

Yes, it’s true. Ditch Plains, a brilliant restaurant down in Greenwich Village, was given a name I can never remember so now I carry the business card around in my wallet.

29 bedford street follow the button down shirts and bohemian camisoles getting crafty drinks at the bar like the “Drunken Preppy.” Yum.
Then see the menu. It is basically a summer field of paradise. Lobster roll, clam strips, fish and chips…. and the mussels… fours sauces to choose your own adventure from. Served in a large metal pot… and a basket of fries you will eat and eat and it will seem to refill from the bottom in crispy bistro fry wonder. Now go stop wasting time. You will want to go to there.

www.ditch-plains.com/

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cell phones in public places

I can be exasperating when it comes to technology, and for me that means anything beyond a paper and pen. I know that. The truth is, I don’t care – not that I don’t care about technology, no, no, I don’t care about being exasperating sometimes. For instance, do we always have to answer the cell phone? – Perhaps no, unless it’s an important call. I feel that answering a call when you’re out with someone is a slap in the face to the someone you’re with, and also it’s an exercise in patience for anybody in a public place forced to listen. Sometimes a call is urgent. Urgent, however, means different things to different people. Cell phone users are often amusing though, and can become entertainers of sorts – the motions, facial expressions, and tone of voice, could easily be part of a comedy show. So, I’ll just say this, thanks for the laughs. And, if I’ve made you laugh when taking an “urgent” call in a public place, you’re welcome – for the entertainment 🙂

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Cozy country cabin in the middle of the lower east side NYC…

I just went to a quaint storybook restaurant straight from a time when eating with a dead animal head above you spoke for fresh meat. Freemans is found at the end of a tiny alley (as they describe on their website, which I took as filled with lurking sinister figures waiting with cockney accents to pick my pockets, but is actually a sunshine filled wide walkway between two buildings, where those on the waiting list chat while adjusting flouncey hipster sunglasses).

Since I went for brunch I cannot give the full lay down of the menu, except to say that everything we had was good. The “Roast pork sandwich, pickled zucchini, and garlic mayonnaise with green salad” -amazing! Why has no one fed me pickled zucchini before? Shame on you. Thin, maintaining flush positioning next to other sandwich parts and not falling out. Brilliant. Their cocktails came in squeal worthy early century champagne glasses. Squat and cradling the bubbles that spurted up from just above the stem. Even the vegetarian could not speak poorly about the plentiful taxidermy that hangs above on the surrounding wood walls. It really just completes the log inn/restaurant by the side of the road feel frequented by adventurers and those who haven’t died of diphtheria yet on the Oregon Trail. (Though we gave thanks for not sitting at the table that had an ooh to realistic looking wasp hive dangling precariously over head). We left full and lighthearted with a fantasy mini getaway feeling as we adjusted our hipster sunglasses and ran from this constant drizzle.

www.freemansrestaurant.com

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david carradine

Thank you David Carradine for all the terrific entertainment you provided in the Kung Fu movies which I very much enjoyed watching,

Now, at this time of your passing, hopefully, people the world over will keep in mind that only your family and friends need know how you died. As for the rest of us, it’s none of our business. All indications suggest that you were well-loved and that you loved well.

Go in peace.

www.david-carradine.com

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osho, st. francis of assisi, and. . .

I have a DVD called Love And Hate Two Sides of the Same Coin, in which Osho talks about awareness, and of “Never judging anybody by his act.” and to, “Try to find out his awareness. Otherwise, don’t judge at all.” During the entire time of the DVD the camera rests on Osho’s calm face, his steady, clear eyes, and his hands which move slowly and gracefully when he speaks. The DVD was inside of a book I’d bought a few years ago, and read with mild interest. Now with the rereading of it, along with watching and listening to the DVD, I see flashes of The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle in Osho’s words. The power of now, awareness, consciousness – what would the world be like were we all to put them to use?

I didn’t know until this week that the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi was written in his honor during World War I. Did you? The movie, Reluctant Saint – Francis of Assisi, is based on the biography by Donald Spoto, and makes all other movies about St. Francis look like fiction. In an interview, Donald Spoto said that “He’s one of the most misunderstood people in the history of organized religion.” I think he knows what he’s talking about since he says, “I’m a theologian by training. I did a Doctorate in theology with a concentration in New Testament studies, and the primary work as a teacher that I did for many years was as a professor of religious studies of scripture, of Biblical literature and languages, and Christian mysticism.” With this background, it would seem that if anyone can tell the true story of St. Francis it’s Donald Spoto. He’s also written seventeen other books on “the lives of enormously creative and important artists, such as, Alfred Hitchcock, and Tennessee Williams, and great actors like Laurence Olivier and Ingrid Bergman, and a great American woman, Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis.”

Maybe you’re looking for some great books for summer reading? Maybe you’ve found some?

* * * * * * *

www.osho.com
www.hitchcock.tv
www.laurenceolivier.com
www.ingridbergman.com
www.tennesseewilliams.net

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new york open center

The New York Open Center has been in the Soho area of NYC for 25 years, and for anyone walking miles of blocks, and tending to all sorts of things in that area, the meditation room and small bookstore is a nice respite. It’ll be different now because they’re heading on up and moving to 22 East 30th Street. The Spring/Summer Programs 2009 of the New York Center’s easy-to-read, and not jammed- packed catalog, says they’re: “NEW YORK’S LEADING CENTER OF HOLISTIC LEARNING & WORLD CULTURE.” I used to consider the Center a gift to New York because when it was founded there wasn’t a whole lot of holistic anything going on in the form of classes in the NYC area.

I called the administrative office for a catalog two weeks ago, and the informative person answering the phone mentioned that she’d taken the Bollywood Dancing course. The “Bollywood Dancing course”, hmm! – I thought, that course would definitely go on the slightly stepping out of the comfort zone list.

Now with the catalog in hand and late evening descending, I got to thinking about the courses offered, and the reasons people register for them. A few could be: enjoyment, learning, wanting a challenge, accompanying someone, meeting people, meeting people having similar interests, and stepping out of a comfort zone. I peruse the catalog once more wondering: 1) which course would take me out of my comfort zone. 2) which course would be completely different from anything I’d taken before. 3) which course do I think I have no interest in pursuing, but, in pursuing it, find it wholly interesting.

There are different ways of stepping out of our comfort zone, and I wonder if registering for a class is one of them. In the past, I imagined that stepping out . . . would entail leaving who we think we are, and the things allowing us to believe in who we think we are, for an unknown experience. Now I ask, does that have to mean leaving our physical surroundings?

By now it’s impossible to think of sleeping as I’ve all these questions to answer, and I’m doing all the work since I’m the one asking and answering, and it’s getting tricky. That’s okay, along the way I’ll feign boredom and mind will leave me alone. 🙂

Have a beautiful day.

www.opencenter.org

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eknath easwaran

I’ve been thinking and reading about meditation for awhile, and now and then, dabbling. I guess that’s the right word since I’ve not yet become an every day meditator. Then last month, I found a teacher in a thin book squeezed into a very narrow space on a shelf with many larger books overshadowing it. I don’t know why, but whenever I see a small book trying to hold its own with the big ones, I make every effort to release it. As it turned out the little book titled, Your Life Is Your Mesage by Eknath Easwaran is a gem. On the back cover Barbra Streisand wrote, “Your Life Is Your Message is about changing the world by changing ourselves.” And Marvin Hamlisch wrote, “I still can’t believe how much wisdom is packed into these slender pages. This isn’t just a book; it’s a friend.” I think that about sums it up.

Eknath Easwaran founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in Tomales, California. I have the feeling from reading his words, that if anyone can lead another to the path of meditation, he can. I’d never heard of him before rescuing “Your Life Is Your Message” from its tight spot on a book shelf. Then recently, while walking on a clear, cool day, I noticed a used bookshop having a sale. A lot of people were on the sidewalk peering across long tables of books. I joined them, and found The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho, and The Vagabond by Colette for a song and a dance. Then I went inside the shop, and something caught my eye. Yes! -MEDITATION by Eknath Easwaran was calling me. I took it from the shelf; there was no doubt in my mind that it belonged with me. On the back cover Henri Nouwen wrote, “This book has helped me a great deal.” And Huston Smith wrote, “No extravagant claims, no pretentious jargon. Just a clear, insightful exposition of meditation, and an excellent guide to its practice.” I think so, too.

* * * * * * *

www.easwaran.org
www.barbrastreisand.com
www.marvinhamlisch.com
www.henrinouwen.org
www.hustonsmith.org

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tama kieves

I subscribe to Tama Kieves eletters, and this week under Tama’s Musings she wrote about “Mothering Ourselves: Nurturing Yourself, Your Dreams, and the World.” She writes at her soul level, and she shows no hesitation in sharing the person she was, the person she is, and the person she’s becoming.

I imagine that to be on a cruise with her, and the other spiritual teachers joining her, would be a gift one could call “Mothering Ourselves.”
www.tamakieves.com

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every so often and once in awhile

Every so often and once in awhile are two delightfully mysterious and playful expressions. Mysterious because they say very little, and playful because they hint of wanting to casually hold back in being too specific. It’s a rather useful ploy when one’s not ready to answer, or when an iffy answer suffices. I wonder how these string of words manage to get accepted at face value, suggesting a listener actually knows what’s meant when a question is answered with one, or the other of these two idioms. It’s amusing when you think about it. For instance, someone asks: “Do you cook for your family?” and you reply, “Every so often.” What exactly does that mean – once a year, every other month, only on weekends? The questioner is still in the dark with no real answer forthcoming (because you’re on to a different subject), and the fact that take-out is on the agenda most days is yours to divulge, or not. The one who first strung these words together was: 1) very clever, 2) in a tight spot, 3) didn’t like to commit, or 4) a fast thinker. They allow for easy answering of some ticklish questions. Clever, indeed.

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happy parenting day

It’s easy to believe that being a loving, caring, happy, and somewhat peaceful parent in the year 2009 has its own worst list of fears, uncertainities, anxieties, perplexities – more so than other decades. I’ve said I wouldn’t want to raise a child in today’s world. On second thought, no matter the decade it’s always been challenging and exciting, and although the techie age has somewhat replaced playing hopscotch, jumping rope, happily eating a fudgicle while doing somersaults, etc., the same value system is always there to be tapped.

There have been a lot of changes since my children went through childhood, but the time-honored way of parenting with love, intuition, common sense, soul searching, innate intelligence, observation, communication, enjoyment, trust, sense of humor, and knowing when to let go, are still alive and kicking.

My children were raised in Manhattan, and it was there that I noticed the many hair-raising ways people have of bringing up their children. Some didn’t believe in any discipline – not even a slight reprimand when it was called for, – kicking, hitting, and screaming at mom and dad were accepted; others gave their children credit cards to do whatever, to buy whatever, before their children understood the basics of life; one couple bought an apartment next door for their two children who were below high school age so that their before-children lifestyle could be continued; children were left with sitters who watched tv all day long, or regularly socialized with friends instead of being attentive to the children; there were children having easy access to their parents’ “adult toys”; parents vacationing and leaving children with less than the best; it’s a long and interesting list, and is exciting reading in a novel, but leaves food for thought in real life. I noticed also that people are remarkably resilient, and come into the world with their own strengths and talents which have the potential to take them beyond earlier misadventures.

And there were awesome parents who – most of the time – had huge amounts of enthusiasm, fun, and wisdom, and taught their children, other children, and other parents, by their example.

Being a parent means different things to different people. I guess it will always be this way. The world’s parents are not cut from the same cloth. And why would we want it any other way? Perhaps that’s what makes it all challenging, exciting, and having to stretch mind, body, and spirit.

This posting has somehow become about parents, so that’s what it will be – HAPPY PARENTNG DAY TO WOMEN AND MEN WITH CHILDREN IN THEIR CARE. Wherever you are, have a beautiful day.

* * * * *
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. – Khalil Gibran