Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 « A Mother’s Journal

Fried Green Tomatoes

By Lynn, on November 6th, 2007%

Not the movie, no, the real stuff. We are supposed to have below-freezing temps tonight, so I picked all the green tomatoes and brought them in and fried them. You can see them sitting on paper towels to soak up any excess oil. They look so oily in the picture, but they weren’t, I promise. They were so yummy! They are sort of tart-sweet on the inside, like green tomatoes would be, but the cornmeal coating on the outside is salty and it’s just a really good combination.

I also made deviled eggs this afternoon. My children LOVE those. In fact, my daughter tested them twice before supper, she said to make sure they’re safe for the rest of you to eat. Uh huh.

I went out book shopping today at the thrift stores. I found some keepers. You can see my treasures, and I have been lazily reading and enjoying the play Driving Miss Daisy which is in the literature book I found. That play is awesome. I have never seen the movie, but now I know what all the hooha was about. What a touching story.

Anyway, the literature book has got a lot of good stuff I’ll want to be doing with Joe for school the rest of this week.

There’s a book about Beatrix Potter, and a story by Louisa May Alcott that is lesser known than her other work, and W.O.W. is a book of quotes by writers about writing by Jon Winokur. The others are treasures too.

Broken Dishes, Intact Dreams

By Lynn, on November 6th, 2007%

What are we if we don’t have dreams?

One of my dreams is my mosaic art: to have a lively mosaic business in the midst of my perennial garden. I want a little rustic workshop to house my workbench and tools. It needs to have a wood stove in it to keep me warm in winter, and of course for effect! I want to make special mosaic works-of-art for special people. Walking daily through my garden, with the butterflies and birds, surrounded by sun and bloom, imagining the next project is my dream.

If I can dream it, I can do it.

I have a stack of broken and chipped dishes to cut up this morning. It is ironically beautiful to me that something broken represents something whole. That something thrown away is waiting to be turned into something that someone wants to buy. I think that very aspect of mosaic art is one of the things that so much appeals to me.

After careful cutting and breaking, I have jars of tesserae just waiting to be placed on a base.

My one concern these days is that I don’t become overwhelmed with all that I am doing. With more than one interest brewing — more than one pot to stir — it is easy to give each one only a little attention and end up with mediocrity.

Mediocrity is not what I want.

Chasing after one’s dreams seems on the surface to be without schedule, without bounds, without thought. To the contrary, I believe dreams coming to fruition is the result of faithful, careful tending. Like navigating a ship across the sea: steering, watching, setting a course, staying out of shallow waters, avoiding all that would sink you. In other words, scheduling, respecting boundaries, and constantly thinking.

Here’s to dreams…