Fresh tomato sauces. Easy.
Saute chopped onion and garlic in olive oil.
Skin and seed fresh tomatoes.
Add fresh basil and salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer 45 minutes.
Puree in food processor.
Simmer 15 minutes.
I added ‘meatballs made by her’.
A Cottage by the Sea |
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I posted this under Cottage Companions, Comfort Food. But here it is now while tomatoes are begging to be picked from the vines. My two friends, Marilyn and Ruth, gifted me the tomatoes. Very grateful! Fresh tomato sauces. Easy. Saute chopped onion and garlic in olive oil. Skin and seed fresh tomatoes. Add fresh basil and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 45 minutes. Puree in food processor. Simmer 15 minutes. I added ‘meatballs made by her’.
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If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know how essential gratitude is to me. I learned it from my mom, who led her life giving thanks, and whose last words were ‘Very Grateful’. Thus the title of my book: Very Grateful: The Story of My Hundred Year Old Mother and Me. I continue to try to keep gratitude front and center in my life. For at least five years my husband and I have been naming a gratitude at the beginning of the day. Recently we decided to mentioned two: one personal, the other for the wider world. For example, this morning his personal gratitude was for the effect of the cooling weather on our grass; mine, that I was home after a lovely trip to Bushkill Falls with the family. On the wider world arena, he was grateful for lack of violence at the political conventions, noting it was a sign of hope; mine that a friend was being cared for at a loving nursing home. When I take time for silence, solitude and simplicity, gratitude seems to occur not only in the morning, but throughout the day. A quiet day. The visiting family has taken the T to Boston, to the Kennedy Library and Faneuil Hall. It is the hottest day of the season, but there is a breeze. I’m very grateful for the family that is here and for the family not here; for the humid weather that is part of the seasons of New England; for our grandpet; for the solitude that is never lonely. Last day of March, my grandmother’s birthday. Born in 1885, Mimi, my mom’s mother, would be 131. I wonder if someone will live to that age. Maybe, if we don’t destroy ourselves before then. There’s so much hate going on—politics in this country, and beyond. Do I speak up? What do I say? What do I do? Right now my best answer is to stay calm and loving and lead the most caring, honest life I can. Right now that means not judging; if I can’t feel positive, than at least I can BE QUIET. Right now that means following my bliss and going to Florence and being a peaceful presence there. I’m off on Sunday. Right now that means starting and ending the day with gratitude, something my grandmother taught my mom, who passed it on to me. So what are your gratitudes on this rainy day? I started to say dreary, but that felt ungrateful. Raining it is, which of course is necessary. In fact, in New England, due to the dearth of snow, we are in desperate need of any kind of precipitation. Dreary, on the other hand, is feeling packed and I don’t need to feel dreary about the weather today. My choice. No reason to let the weather ruin my life. So here are my three for today, and it just after noon. I choose to be grateful for the rain, for my friend who came for coffee, and for Russ who is replacing a window glass broken by a fallen branch, Sometimes I think that this blog is morphing into a gratitude blog. Oh, I’m not giving up on silence, solitude and simplicity, but it seems that those can best be attained when I live a life of gratitude. When I think gratitude I hear the music of silence, feel the calm of solitude, and experience simplicity in the midst of activity. Here are my gratitudes from just this morning: the birth of a friend’s beautiful, healthy grandson, my favorite mittens found at the bottom of my recycle grocery bags, a good report from the dentist. I know that I’m not offering anything new or profound here. I never do. But speaking out loud and sharing with others helps me on my journey, so I figure it may help you as well. Being grateful, seeing the cup half full, makes my life just that—a life overflowing with joy. Thanksgiving is upon us and as you know, gratitude is foundational to my life, the gift my mom gave me and so many others. We can be thankful, grateful, however you want to phrase it, in personal prayer, but what about expressing it out in the world? Sharing gratitude changes us, changes others, changes the world. Arthur C. Brooks, in “Choose to Be Grateful. It Will Make You Happier” (NYT, November 21, 2015), offers some suggestions, but please, read the entire text. • Acting happy, regardless of feelings, coaxes one’s brain into processing positive emotions. • Choosing to focus on good things makes you feel better than focusing on bad things. • Choosing gratitude can also bring out the best in those around us. • Move to “exterior gratitude.” Write two short emails each morning to friends, family or colleagues, thanking them for what they do. • Be grateful for useless things. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/opinion/sunday/choose-to-be-grateful-it-will-make-you-happier.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share Today...this moment. Sun is shining after rain this morning when I went out to get the paper at 5:30. I have made brownies to take to Vermont to give to the men who are going to help load a U-Haul with my friend’s things. My husband is going to drive the U-Haul. The things will be stored in our barn for a month. Our friend’s husband died in October. We are sad but very grateful to help. Our friend is strong. That is how it is, living NOW, in the moment, this moment. Here’s my blurt for today. I’m feeling a pall, which is something I usually don’t experience. It’s a beautiful day. I am very grateful for family and friends, my health and my life. I’m going to see my two sisters and brother next weekend, something that doesn’t happen often since my brother lives in Portland, Oregon. Then I’m off to Italy by myself for two glorious weeks of solitude. So much to be grateful for, and I am. I’m usually a half full kind of person, but sadness looms when we lose a long-time very good friend. I’m just being with it and being grateful for the friendship and good times. This week continues to give us Perfect 10 days. Not just with the weather but with everything. Every day my mom expressed gratitude for her life, and I’m feeling that way right now. People know about my book: I’ve mailed copies to family, put it out on FB and emailed information to friends. And yet, with the exception of my niece who lives locally and received her book yesterday, no one has read it yet. They know about it, but they don’t know it. I’m very grateful for the first review given to me over the phone last night: "I can hear Grammy's voice so clearly.” |
Contact me: bobbifisher.mac@mac.com
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