Under a Red Roof

I don’t need no posse!

August 12, 2008 in Remembering, Watching by Colleen | 1 comment

That is one of my favorite quotations from Bernie Mac, who sadly passed away on Saturday. From all I learned about him during his short life of only fifty years, it really sums him up. He was his own guy – irreverent and hilarious with a heart of gold – he didn’t need anyone to back him up.

While I was less keen on his stand-up – it being a bit racy for my taste, I loved his television show and his appearances in movies like Ocean’s Eleven and Bad Santa. The man could make me laugh – fully belly, grab a tissue, you better make sure you go to the bathroom first, so you don’t have an accident kind of laughter.

His show was definitely not your typical program about a guy raising kids. He wasn’t cute or silly in his foibles, which, for me, made it all the more real. He struggled with the idea of spanking, wanted to be a man, yet enjoyed a manicure from his favorite Korean lady and was always on the lookout for ways to keep his hands soft. He loved bubble baths, cigars, and a good game of poker. My absolute favorite part of the series was when he would sit in his chair and address the audience – mostly to explain himself, sometimes to ask us for advice, calling us “America,” calling us into his telelvision world. So very good.

I guess it was his turn to be called elsewhere. Thanks for the laughter, Mr. Mac, because, unless you actually knew him, he didn’t like to be called Bernie.

Concoctions

August 11, 2008 in Making by Colleen | 3 comments

The Cooper-Sohn household is a pretty DIY place for many reasons: thrift, environmental conservation, better heath, and curiosity. I’ve grown a bit tired of products that come in plastic that will be here for millenia after I am gone, have wacky ingredients that I cannot pronounce, are used for industrial purposes, or are just unreasonably expensive when I know I can make it easily. This photo is a prime example of our household satisfying those urges.

From left to right:

Queen of Hungary Water – I bought the book Better Basics for the Home by Annie Berthold-Bond a couple of years ago. It is full of practical recipes to make a healthier home – from body care to cleansers, even paint. I’ve tried many of the cleaning recipes, but only recently turned to the body care section, baby steps. Queen of Hungary water was originally made by gypsies as a medicinal remedy, but she swears by it as an astringent, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. It contains lemon balm, rose petals, comfrey, rosemary, lemon peel, sage, and apple cider vinegar (most of the herbs grown in my very own garden!). After it sets for six weeks (one more week to go), I will dilute it with rose water (that I also made myself), and watch my skin turn to something akin to a baby’s bum. Well, at least, here’s hoping.

Deodorant – This is a variation of a recipe I found over at Angry Chicken. I used baking soda, corn starch, shea butter, cocoa butter, vegetable glycerine, jojoba oil, and essential oils. I’ve been using it for a couple of weeks and am very pleased. If I put it on when my pits are moist, it rubs in quite easily and keeps the stink down. Thanks Amy!

Kombucha – Gregory and I first saw a recipe for this in Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. Our curiosity was piqued, so we consulted the oracle that is the internet and read more. The descriptions of this “tea,” and more importantly, the SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast), sounded healthy, but a little gross, too, so when we saw a bottle at New Seasons, we proceeded with caution. We needn’t have. It was good, and we were hooked. Said bottle cost $3, so we started looking for a source for the culture to make our own, which was a bit of an adventure. We asked around at a couple of natural grocery stores, gave them our phone number, and were eventually contacted by a guy in North Portland. We went to his house, met his family, and saw his colony of scobys. Very interesting to say the least. Now, with dear Gregory as my brew master, I’ve got all I need at about fifty cents a bottle.

Birch Water – I keep my plastics consumption pretty low, but the place where I had the biggest trouble was hair care. Nobody bottles shampoo in glass, so I turned to Better Basics and found a recipe that was pretty appealing. It uses birch water (branches steeped in boiling water, then strained), glycerine, castille soap, rum (yeah, that’s right – rum), and essential oils. It doesn’t make the lather like we’re used to, but it smells great and leaves our hair shiny and scalp tingly. I’m hooked!

I’m still buying some of these ingredients in plastic containers, but I feel a little better knowing that I use them for multiple purposes (like cleaning, skin care, deodorant, and shampoo), which, ultimately, is reducing my overall consumption of the junk. It’s the best I can do for now.

Paradox?

August 9, 2008 in Quoting, Remembering, Thinking by Colleen | 2 comments

I was a weird kid. I loved classical music when other kids liked the Eagles, did not enjoy the Dukes of Hazzard, preferred being alone, and liked lying on the dining chair on my belly with the plate on the floor while eating. However, I think my crowning glory of weirdness was when I had a “thing” for Richard Nixon in the fifth grade. I wouldn’t call it a crush, more like a curious fixation, so much so that my Halloween costume was what I’d call “casual” Nixon. I wore a mask (of course), white button-down shirt, and a cardigan, with a pair of slacks and loafers. I looked good and I gua-ran-tee that I was the only child at my school, or my neighborhood for that matter, dressed in such a fashion.

Why do I bring this up? Yep, you guessed it, here I go with another anniversary. Richard Milhouse Nixon resigned from the Office of President of the United States thirty-four years ago today. You may still be wondering where I am going with this. Holy smokes Colleen! This is the guy who resigned because of Watergate, helped wreak havoc in Vietnam, and said such horrible things (on tapes that he made) about minorities and Jewish people that it makes me wanna say, “Did you kiss your mama with that mouth?!”

Now who is the paradox, right? Well, I’ve never said I’m an easy person to figure, ever. But, Tricky Dick was a paradox, too, and in many ways, quite a good president. Here’s a list of some pretty amazing accomplishments that occurred under his administration:

– Rapprochement with China (Only Nixon could go to China!)

– Regularization of relations with the Soviet Union, including encouraging the Kremlin to abandon plans for a submarine base in Cuba.

– Return of U.S. Prisoners of War in 1973 (including John McCain – sorry Amber)

– Return of Okinawa to Japanese Sovereignty in 1972

– Establishment of the EPA

– Extension of the Voting Rights Act which abolished literacy tests for voters, among other things

– Achieved voluntary desegregation of schools in the Deep South

– Established the Office of Minority Business Enterprise and the Department of Commerce, as well as the Philadelphia Plan to increse the hiring of minorities

– Establishment of Title IX – very important to us ladies

– Reorientation of Federal Native American policy to encourage tribal self-determination rather than assimliation into American society and culture

I guess where I am going with this is that life and people are not as black and white as we make them out to be. Goodness and righteousness need not be paradoxical. We may not always see it in others, particularly those we dislike, because it is hidden under arrogance, cruelty, or our own clouded judgement, but it is there. Moreover, regardless of our political affiliations, religious background, income level, or race, we are all capable of and have committed grievous errors in judgement and conduct. We just haven’t been exposed on the national stage. This does not make us bad people. It makes us human.

So, what better way to remember Nixon than to remind ourselves that it may not always be the easiest path, but it is better to be lonely in kindness, caring, and forgiveness than among a crowd in hatred. Nixon, on his last day, knew this too. It was a bit late for him, but his words ring true:

“Always give your best, never get discouraged, never be petty; always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.”

Tiny Holes and Grace

August 6, 2008 in Being, Feeling, Loving, Receiving, Thinking by Colleen | 2 comments

I was lying on the sofa, reading, when I glanced up at the light. Ugh, it’s got dead bugs in it, I thought rather loudly to myself. As I stared at their little dead bodies, I lamented the sometimes insidious nature of insects, and how they often create work for me. Like how, now that I’ve noticed them, I’ll have to go through the hassle of getting the step ladder, carefully removing the fixture, and cleaning it all up – definitely not on the top ten list of cherished activities (though what is? hmmm…).

Then, as I continued gazing at the light, I wondered, how do the little critters get in there anyway? Though you can barely see them in the photo, they only appear to be specks, they seem too large to have crawled in through a hole. Yet, there they are.

This got me thinking some more about how tiny, often imperceptible, holes in my being act as an entry point on a spiritual and emotional level. I thought about people and events that I don’t like, and how little bits of them squeeze their way through a perforation in my shell and infest my mind with angry and unkind thoughts. I really hate it when that happens, especially when I know how much lovelier life is when I’m not tumbling down to the lower depths.

Then, as grace would have it, I also thought about those same holes, and how the most wonderful and generous gifts enter through them: a smile when I least expect it, a kind word, the light in the hallway, the sight of my husband, a million different instances that spread like the light of dawn in my heart.

Suddenly I felt tears prick at my eyes, and I looked at the bugs again but this time with gratitude. Thank you for bringing this bit of grace into my life.

Happy

August 5, 2008 in Loving, Quoting by Colleen | 2 comments

“Very little is needed to make a happy life.”

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

I spent about ten minutes dashing about the house like a spaz, looking for the camera. I was just so darned happy to see this beautiful light streaming down the stairs and had to capture it.

This is something I absolutely adore about our house – the light. During daylight hours, no matter the time of year, it is always beautiful. Sometimes it is bright, like this photo. Other times, it is cool, or diffused by the myriad leaves on the surrounding trees. Most importantly, it is always pleasant, always there.

It is such a treasure to have something so ordinary as light, so everyday, be so wonderfully pleasing. Marcus Aurelius certainly had it right. I am indeed living a happy life.