Happy Mother's Day to All who care gently for others (mother's or no)

Feels good to be back! I've been working on edits of YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE, the new book, plus a comment for Sandy

Fasting continues to be wonderful. And I'm running a mile every morning, usually with the puppy as I'm training her to be Sarah's service dog. And it feels great. The biggest difference being that I'm really looking forward to it and often just start running throughout the day, and that I don't mind running uphill any more.

On to the recipes and pictures:

This one looks so delicious!
Spring Mix (baby greens)
Papaya*(I always buy the Maridol papayas; large and I love the deep red peach color)
Avocado
Red Onion
Clover Sprouts


Maridol Papaya, from the inside. Isn't that star of seeds lovely? The papaya seeds can be dried and ground to make a pepper. I think I mentioned standing by the window in a hotel in California while my Aunt Lola told me always to swallow the papaya seeds, and I never cut a papaya without thinking with Love about her. And I always swallow the seeds, except when fasting.



Here are two containers with my juice:
fresh squeezed orange or tangerine juice* from Whole Foods
Strawberry juice
Papaya juice*
Prickly pear juice*
Juiced garlic, ginger, and jalapeno (the jalapenos were a gift last September from Ray, our dear neighbour Gen's son, who lives in Maryland. He gave me a big bag full, which I froze and am just finishing up. The peppers get soft, and don't lose any of the hotness. Quite the contrary!
Ray and his lovely daughter Lisa are up here to visit Gen for Mother's Day.

I didn't take a picture of it yet, and he's been feeling tired (and he works long hard hours outdoors), so I shopped for him, along with our food, this morning, and made a salad of (so far):
Rhubarb chard*
Carrots, grated*
Green pepper*
Avocado
Onion
And I'm planning to add Papaya* and orange segments and a dressing of extra-virgin olive oil, Eden's raw apple cider vinegar, fresh garlic*, and sage since it's growing all year round here.

Born To Run, a Mushroom Burger, and a Fruit-Nut Salad for a Calm Mind

Here's the title of the book: BORN TO RUN: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World has never seen. I really appreciate that title, as my books have really long titles/subtitles. It's like: You want to get it all in.

The book is so interesting that when Baby, one of the dogs, woke me at 3 a.m., I got up to read some more. There's a See inside this book function with quite a lot of text (at amazon). (This is totally unsolicited. I found the book yesterday because I was overwhelmed with the desire to go out running again in the afternoon, and it was drenching rain, so I decided to look for something on running, to redirect all the energy to my mind, and I found this book.)

This wonderful group of people - the Raramuri [there's an accent aigu over the second a] use a lot of cactus juice, albeit in the form of tequila; although they have another drink that doesn't appear to be alcohol, with one of the two ingredients being cactus. ~*~

Extra blessings to Duke today.

Okay. On to food:

Carrot-Mushroom Burger

Carrots*
Mushrooms, Baby Bello
Garlic*
Bok Choy
Red Onions
Celery
Flaxseed Oil

Blend the carrots and garlic together, and then throw in the mushrooms. This could be dehydrated in the sun, only it was pouring rain yesterday. So just press into burger shape and top the greens with it, then top with onion sliced really thin. The onion may be marinated first in the refrigerator in the Flaxseed Oil.


Calming Fruit Salad

Rhubarb Chard*
Strawberries
Prickly Pear*
Papaya*
Walnuts*

I'm using the term 'calming' instead of anti-inflammatory as I think it gives a more healing feeling. Our bodies need calming just as our minds do; and a calm mind calms the body.

The book is: BORN TO RUN, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World has never Seen (His title is as long as mine are. You just want to get all the germane facts right up there on the cover. The rest of the title of A RADIANT LIFE is Raw Food and the Presence of Love; and YOU ARE LOVED AND SAFE which is almost out has a title even longer than BORN TO RUN, a book that is so fascinating to me that when one of the dogs woke me at 3 a.m., I got up to read some more for about an hour.) One thing about this tribe of super athletes is that they drink a lot of cactus juice (albeit transmuted into tequila). However, they have another drink of it that doesn't seem to be alcohol.

Okay, now on to food:

Carrot Mushroom Burger and Calming Fruit Salad

I think calming is a more healing term than anti-inflammatory. Kind of like: "Peace, be still." -- to pain, and all suffering. I've not had that thought before, that

Running with the Deer

Wow! I feel so good. This is not unusual when fasting, however this Good is even better than the usual good. I've started running again. Haven't really run in a few years. Have even been running in the heavy rain we've had. And today, reading this book on amazon, (I'll put the name in later), I'm having this overwhelming desire to marathon run, to run with the deer (a story my stepson told me about 38 years ago, about a man who saw a herd of deer running, and began to run with them. He ran with the deer all day!

That's what made me originally want to run long distances and marathons. I'm not a good runner, hating track in elementary school. And I was a heavy smoker for 13 years. And suddenly, I just know I can be. Don't know if it's the cactus juice, the fasting, the constant connecting with God ... I just feel so good.

Trusting that the unseen Good is there/here. And, at what level are foods, colors, fragrances, healing our minds, while the body follows mind's lead?

The breakthrough hasn't evidenced again, and yet it has left me in an entirely different mindset, having seen again (and it's been a long time) that Sarah is right there where the imposter with autism appears. Not only right there, but able to be entirely differently. Not only did she do something she'd never done; she also woke the next morning, still in that space, telling me about a dream that was about something she's never dreamed before. I'm not really into dreams; it's just that this was so ordinary and so startling, and such a happy thing.

Life with autism is like walking a tightrope, and pretty extraordinary. ... And it has taught me incredible balance.

This imposter idea came up with Charis, (my God-granddaughter) when she was little and spent lots of time with us, as I took care of her. She'd get into a mood if she didn't get her way about something and would get mean. It came to me one day to say: "Little girl, do You know where Charis is?" She looked at me big-eyed, like I'd lost my marbles. I continued: "She looks a lot like You, but with a sweet expression on her face. She's even wearing clothes like yours! Can You help me find her?"

Without a word, she'd get up and go into another room, only to come bouncing back all smiles, saying happily: "Charis is back!"

She was about two years old the first time, and we did this scene many times over her early years. What a marvel it was, and so much fun, and she never failed to get off it. I had to take the est training to learn how to do that!

Charis' presence was very healing for Sarah, as her second regression (pesticide-caused) into autism came shortly after Charis was born. Sarah was quite wild, frequently. Charis and I would pray when this occurred. One day, during an episode, Charis, who spoke very little at the time, sweetly said: "Don't cwy Wawa, I wuv You." Sarah immediately got quiet and went back to exercising. I can still hear that little healing voice.

Love is certainly the healer.

Here are the ingredients:

Red Beets*
Golden Beets*
Red Onions*
Boy Choy
Spinach*
Lentil Sprouts*
Dandelion Flowers and Stalks
Curry Powder*
Kale Rabe [This name is my invention, as far as I know, for the seed stalks that come on kale and collard plants]
Light Sprouts [Sarah's name for the sprouts that look like alfalfa or clover, etc., as opposed to 'heavier' sprouts like mung beans, lentils, black beans, etc.]
Flaxseed Oil (and could be Hempseed Oil or Extra Virgin Olive Oil).


Avocado
Prickly Pear* (Citrus: orange, lemon, lime, tangerine, etc. can be used if prickly pear is unavailable.)
Rhubarb Chard*
Tomatoes
Dandelion Flowers


Rhubarb Chard*
Baby Lambsquarters* (wild green)
Red Onions
Lentil Sprouts*
Kale Rabe
Flaxseed or Hempseed Oil

A variation would be to add raw walnuts or pecans in place of the lentil sprouts. And some butternut squash would go well, and be visually pleasing too.


Romaine Lettuce
Red Onion
Baby Bello Mushrooms
Grape Tomatoes
Light Sprouts
Flaxseed Oil

Several years ago, I got this strong craving for the Baby Bella Mushrooms (has become Bello to distinguish from Portabella I guess). When we'd go to Whole Foods, I'd buy two boxes and have one and a half eaten before I got home. Sarah would sit in the car commenting that I was eating them like candy, and I was. I couldn't get enough of them. This went on for about eight months! I ate a small fortune in mushrooms, and then I'd had enough.

So maybe they are like the shitake, also anti-in.flammatory? And sometimes I wonder if there is more to certain foods being helpful for us. I'm not sure I have the words for this, and it feels like there's more to it than consumption and use. Suppose things that have taste and fragrance and beauty also have a song of healing music for us? Suppose these plant foods felt to be healing for our ailments, are actually healing on another level, not the body, but the mind?

Suppose the colors awaken something dormant in us, and their song soothes what we call our soul. Perhaps the lovely tastes encourage us? Is fresh food that is satisfying, satisfying needs we didn't even know we had, reminders of wonderful things long lost and forgotten?

Interesting ideas and inspiration abound when fasting.

Here's my current juice:

Tangerine Juice
Papaya, garlic and hot pepper juice added to the tangerine. And as a treat, some strawberry juice too.

The color is as pleasing as the taste.

Three Beautiful Meals and a big Breakthrough

Prickly Pear*
Papaya* [Note: I like using the papayas when the outside is mostly green, with a little yellow. If You're shopping at an Indian Store where they sell green papayas, they don't usually ripen, at least for me, and aren't sweet; they are, however, very high in enzymes, which is good. In A Radiant Life (our book)there's a 'pizza' crust recipe using the pulp from making green papaya juice. We kneaded it with tahini (before finding out that commercial tahini isn't really raw), and it actually looked like a white dough pizza. It was pretty funny. We topped it with sun-dried tomato sauce and I think sliced summer squash.]
Bok Choy
Dandelion greens
Dandelion flowers
Avocado or walnuts

Although I didn't notice Sarah reading what I wrote above, as she is doing cross-pattern exercise right now, she just asked me if it could be made with macadamia nuts ground to a butter, instead of tahini. I'm wondering how she read this from the angle she's at? She's right though.


Golden beets*
Lentil sprouts* homegrown always, easy and inexpensive
Avocado (nuts or sunflower seeds would work well too)
Curry powder*
Spring mix
Rejuvelac

Dandelion Flowers
Papaya*
Prickly pear*
Avocado
Cherry tomatoes
Rhubarb chard*
Spring mix (I think I mentioned this was on the sale table at Stop and Shop: Organic Spring Mix, 1 lb. boxes, for $1.99 I'm so grateful for bargains.

I find the more I check in with God, the more harmonious things become. (That isn't always obvious when dealing with an autism meltdowns! ... Wow. ... Something is working here. Sarah, who has been over the top difficult, suddenly stopped her exercise to hug and kiss me and repeat over and over "I love You"; that's a first. Sitting here stunned. The occasional hug and I love You, but kisses?? Wow.
,
Is it my fasting, the a-i food and juice, the supplements that the cactus juice biochemist suggested yesterday? (methyl B12 [in the past the shots made no difference], methyfolate, P5P pyridoxal 5 phosphate or active B6, and methionine.

We've had a giant breakthrough before while I was fasting and praying ... and we just took the supplements last night for the first time. Wow ... (I tend to say that over and over when I'm stunned by something really good.

One of Sarah's junior high teachers said years ago: "There are no false highs." So any glimpse of good can become a permanent fact.

Wow.