The First Time
November 26, 2014
“…Outdoors we are confronted everyday with wonders; we see that the miraculous is not extraordinary but the common mode of existence. It is our daily bread. Whoever really has considered the lilies of the field or the birds of the air and pondered the improbability of their existence in this warm world within the cold and empty stellar distances will hardly balk at the turning of water into wine – which was, after all, a very small miracle. We forget the greater and still continuing miracle by which water (with soil and sunlight) is turned into grapes.”
~ Wendell Berry
I have lived all of my life near the Pacific Ocean. I grew up going to the beach and wading in the waves, tasting the salt water on my skin and listening to the sounds of seagulls flying overhead. As a child, a trip to the seaside filled me with joy and wonder. As an adult, I tend to take my proximity to the shore for granted. Too often I have driven up or down the coast thinking about to-do lists, politics, what I’m making for dinner and numerous other subjects other than the miraculous, life-giving ocean in front of me.
That is, until I read the story of Ruby Holt, a 100-year-old woman who recently saw the ocean for the first time in her life.
A mother of four who spent most of her life picking cotton on a farm in rural Tennessee, Ms. Holt and her late husband were hard-working people who never had enough leisure time or extra money to go to the sea. She had seen pictures of the ocean and heard people talk about how wonderful it was, but she herself had never walked on a beach or seen the water in person.
Earlier this month, thanks to the efforts of the assisted living center where she now resides and an organization which grants wishes to the elderly, Ms. Holt finally visited the ocean. Two workers from Brookdale Sterling House, filled out an application to Wish of a Lifetime, and arrangements were made for her to take an all-expenses-paid trip to the Perdido Beach Resort in the Gulf of Mexico.
A motorized wheelchair, equipped with special tires that roll over sand, got her down to the water. Then, with the help of a walker, Ms. Holt strolled along the shore and dipped her feet in the waves as she watched her first-ever sunset over the ocean. She turns 101 on December 13th.
I don’t live as close to the beach as I used to. I now live inland a bit, in the foothills of the local mountains. I see them everyday.
A few years ago I was driving a couple who lived near me home from a funeral. A dear friend of ours had committed suicide and the mood in the car was somber. As we drove up the road toward the mountains, my friend, who grew up in another state, pointed to the majestic hills in front of us and exclaimed to his wife, “Look honey, look where we live!”
Now, when I am driving near my house, I often think of my friend and his wife and the day that I saw my local mountains through their eyes. When that happens I smile and say to myself, “Look where you live!” The concerns of the day cease to fill my head with noisy conversation and, in that moment of awareness, my heart is filled with gratitude.
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
~ T. S. Eliot
~~~~~~~~~
Cranberry, Orange and Pumpkin Seed Coffeecake makes a lovely breakfast treat or hostess gift during the holidays.
Cranberry, Orange and Pumpkin Seed Coffeecake
(Or Muffins)
The green of the pumpkin seeds and ruby red of the cranberries makes this delicious bread a festive holiday treat. This recipe is easily doubled.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange zest (about one navel orange)
1/2 cup raw, unsalted pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Preheat oven to 375°F
Lightly grease bottom and slightly up the sides of an 8-inch round cake pan or line 6 or 7 muffin cups with liners.
In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg with a large fork. Set aside.
In another bowl, beat sugar with egg, then mix in yogurt, oil, vanilla and zest.
Add wet ingredient to bowl with dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Mix in pumpkin seeds and cranberries. Do not over-mix.
Spread batter into prepared cake pan or divide between lined muffin cups.
Bake cake for 18 to 23 minutes, or when edges begin to pull away from pan and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Bake muffins for 15 to 18 minutes.
Let cool on a rack.
Makes 6 to 8 servings
Recent Comments