mulberryshoots

I’ve been thinking about time lately. How to plan for the next run of time. Because I’m approaching a birthday in December that seems a little high in count compared to how I feel about myself inside, I’ve decided to bring the outside of me more in balance with the inside. So, juicing is a new routine. I prepared green smoothies before but it seemed to be fattening with all the fruit and bananas involved. Now, it’s just juice with vegetables that fill my refrigerator with their bulk: kale, spinach, celery, carrots, green apples, cucumbers.

Instead of fasting on juice only, I’m thinking about juicing for breakfast and lunch, then preparing a light meal for dinner with fresh fish, vegetables and salad. Maybe some charcoal grilled teriyaki chicken thighs like those we had the other night. This way, I don’t have to give up cooking and trying out new recipes or ways to cook, which is something I enjoy doing every day.

Thinking about time makes me think of “carpe diem”–just do what you really want to do and more, each day. But don’t go crazy. Toward that end, I found a new pair of Merrell sneakers, taupe suede, white mesh and apricot-white colored shoestrings like the ones I saw on a young woman with a backpack at the airport last week. Just having them on feels good and makes me want to start walking more. Think I’ll go by Cape Hedge beach this weekend and walk along the shore during low tide. Haven’t been there in awhile (see “ashes to ashes“.)

I also wonder how long I’ll last. I see lots of older people these days it seems. Last weekend, I met a woman in her nineties, who had the most joyful smile and calm manner even though she had a splint bandaged on one leg, her ankle swollen. She was going to visit her husband in the assisted living unit nearby later that morning. In her small home, she had her golden retriever and her Steinway grand piano rebuilt by G. about ten years ago. Plantings outside each dwelling were lovingly cared for — I saw a woman planting some flowers where her Dad wanted them in his front yard, next to the home that M.J. lives in.

So, today, because it’s been drizzly and grey, perfect weather for planting, I’m going to find a good place that is part shade for the two Japanese primroses and the perennial dianthus that will surround them in the front garden. And also plant the five flats of morning glories that go in every year in front of the barn which climb the strings to the second floor deck where their color illuminates our mornings in the fall (see “one day at a time“.)

But first, I’m going to make my “mean, green juice” (kale, cucumber, green apples, ginger, lemon, carrots) to give me energy for the rest of the morning. And maybe I’ll think more about time and what’s important about it in the way that I want to spend my days.