Friday, July 21, 2006

Tomatoes


It seems every day I have at least a few tomatoes that are ripe - only cherry ones so far. I have one full size tomato that is starting to turn. Maybe by the end of the weekend I'll be able to make a fresh mozzarella salad with my own tomato.

Creative Sisterhood


Tonight was Creative Sisterhood. We are approaching three years of coming together each month and sharing our lives. It was a really good gathering tonight. Everyone was here for the first time in awhile and the energy when that happens is always amazing.

I tried a new recipe tonight for a chocolate cake. I didn't care much for it but everyone else seemed to like it. I was able to send everyone pieces home so I only have an empty cake plate left, which is what I wanted. When I make something I really love, I like to have some left the next day. But there's no point in wasting calories on something you only sorta like. I mean it was chocolate - so by definition it was OK - but I've had other chocolate I like more.

I made iced tea tonight, with mint in it. I made a mint mixture first - just pouring hot water over freshly picked and washed mint. After it had steeped I cooled it and mixed it into the brewed tea. I also garnished each glass with some mint. I should have taken a photo of the glasses, but I didn't get that done. Oh well... next time. It was good.

Teresa stayed for awhile afterwards and it was great to have a long chat with her. Even though we see each other often we don't always have time to connect in a meaningful way. Tonight we had a nice long chat about all kinds of topics.

One of the things we talked about was being "fragile." People rarely believe I am fragile, even when I tell them, "I'm fragile" in those words. Because people are used to me being strong, sometimes people tell me, "oh, you can't be fragile... you just can't... you have to be the strong one." So, I end up being fragile alone, which is not good. I have had a couple of boyfriends who let me be fragile, but it's rare for me. Teresa had a couple of interesting thoughts - one is that sometimes I seem like if anyone asked what was wrong I would crumble - which is true. The other is that even when I say, "I'm fragile," and I'm being as direct as I can imagine being - what else can those words mean - but that I say that with "authority" too so people don't really hear the words - only the tone.

We also talked about relationships. I'm really puzzling over some patterns in my life and trying to dissect them, figuring that's the best way to learn from them. However, I've been unable to figure them out yet.

My topic for the evening was to have everyone talk about if the group is serving a purpose in their lives and if so what it is. Teresa mentioned that she forgot one of her points which is that most really good events have a "social" more formal time, and then they have an intimate time. Like at my Christmas party, there are people who come early and chat a bit and stay awhile, but they leave early and eventually there's a core group that stays late, and we have a much more intimate time.

We used to do this with Creative Sisterhood, but really don't anymore to the same degree. There are times when all six of us reaches that "intimate" state, and it's always more of that than you would have in any other group,but it happens more rarely now. Of course, tonight Teresa and I had a really wonderful, intimate conversation together. And as is always the case, I hate it that others missed out on it. I guess that's just the nature of groups of any sort.

It was a good night.