Read.Eat.Listen: Regeneration

I was dismayed, heartened, inspired and confused by the latest report by the UN on Climate Change. Dismayed that things are as bad as they are; heartened that experts are not shying away from the truth; inspired by the possibilities for taking action and confused at how and where to start on the individual level. The upshot is, of course, there's no more time to waste when it comes to taking action to slow climate change and no more excuses to be made: climate change is a man-made problem. We've a couple more decades, if that, to halt or slow the crisis. This lifetime. Right now. Where to begin when the problems — from fossil fuel use, to fracking, to plastics in the ocean, to rampant development —  have such momentum? Fortunately, there are many people on it. Now it's our turn to listen and believe that what we do today affects tomorrow and  that the affect can be beneficial. Toward that end, I've been so encouraged to see all the footage of hatching Peregrines from the 'nest-cams' set up around the Bay Area. By the 1970s, the Peregrine was an Endangered Species, a victim of rampant pesticide use, but with diligent efforts by biologists and a ban on DDT use, the falcon population recovered. Thirty years of combined legislation and action works. Now look at them go: 

Read: Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior, a takes on climate change in novel form. "Flight Behavior is a brilliant and suspenseful novel set in present day Appalachia; a breathtaking parable of catastrophe and denial that explores how the complexities we inevitably encounter in life lead us to believe in our particular chosen truths." 
Plus, this article: UN Climate Report Charts Ways to Halt Global Warming

Eat: An afternoon snack at Piccino in Dogpatch the other day entailed a spring soup made with butter beans. Butter Beans, or Fava Beans, are those large, lovely kidney shaped beans that look engineered for presentation possibilities. They're also yummy. I've got my eye on this easy breezy spring salad of Fava Beans with Red Onion and Mint.

Listen: I've been on an Over the Rhine jag most of the year, I admire The Lone Bellow and I've been a fan of eTown since the 90s when I lived in Boulder and watched many a live taping. So I was delighted to see this Over the Rhine/Lone Bellow/eTones rendition of Slip Sliding Away. Beauty. Yes.

Read.Eat.Listen: Surrender

Seemingly out of nowhere this week, I came down with a 24-hour-ish bug and ended up canceling two-days worth of my oh-so-carefully made plans. Poof! I didn't go out of the house for a day and (mostly) unplugged. Kind of a drag and kind of a blessing at the same time. Today, everything was so vivid, the sun coming out after rain rendered the sky that much more blue, sprouting seedlings in the garden that much more green, that I felt grateful for the enforced break from it all. It's really easy for me to get busy, to try too hard, to try to figure it all out now, when the truth of the matter is I only have a certain amount of control over events.  The benefit of getting sick is how easy it makes it to stop — thinking too much, doing too much, whatever — and listening.  I'm reminded that surrender is not about giving up or giving in, it's simply about stopping the fight.

Read: Yay, it's national poetry month. There's a nice blog "A Year of Being Here" that features a mindfulness poem each day. One recent entry from poet Chris Forhan:

"Joy"  
It seized me—never mind the circumstance: sudden
scent in the breeze like cinnamon, sun silvering
a roof as the unicycle parade began—it seized me

as sickness does, wholly, with no mercy,
all of my body obeisant to its law as though none of it
were mine, finally: not the joy or the body. —Chris Forhan

Eat: Caldo aka hot soup. There's a Mexican restaurant in town, Acapulco, that does a kick-ass version, either veggie or with chicken, and its all I wanted to eat while under-the-weather. Here's a veggie version from Food 52. Simple, good, healing.

Listen: My pal and life-long music eductor Sally, gave me David Sylvian's 'Dead Bees on a Cake' on cassette many years ago (it was first released in 1999). Today I got in the car after yoga and heard one of the songs from that record, ' Krishna Blue,' and recalled how great that CD was. I also remembered another song on Dead Bees that fit the day: "I Surrender."

Read.Eat.Listen: On 'paws'

After the flurry of getting the CD out and playing a run of back-to-back shows, a pause was in order. The weather turned, leaves needed raking, Alameda beach was walkable again after its re-sanding, the laundry needed to be done, medical check-ups were called for, as were extra naps. So of course it seemed like a good time to adopt a cat. We've been in our new-to-us-old bungalow for more than a year already, not the longest I've lived in one place in a while but definitely the most rooted. And despite loving animals, I haven't had a pet to call my own in over a decade. But in recent moths, we've been spontaneously drawn into pet stores (including in the middle of the MEOW Conference in Austin last month).

Sammie!

After a recent gig, we popped into a nearby Pet Co and found the one, a feisty little rescue cat named Sammie. We appreciated the high level of disdain for overzealous children she displayed, and the curiosity expressed at the appearance of two people with guitars in hand milling around the cat display. After an interview with Island Cat Rescue to see if we had it in us to take on the responsibility of pet ownership, and some calendar juggling with her foster parent, Sammie moved in and promptly found favorite nooks atop guitar cases and stereos. A big shout out to Island Cat Rescue, whose passionate, all-volunteer advocates are fulfilling a big mission "to reducing the suffering of abandoned and feral (wild) cats and to educating and empowering the local community to relieve them from their plight."
If you want to support them that much more, or adopt a pet yourself, stop by ICRA's  Holiday Boutique next weekend, Dec. 7 in Alameda.

ICRA'S HOLIDAY BOUTIQUE
Saturday, December 7, 2013, 10 am until 6 pm at the Alameda Elks Lodge, 2255 Santa Clara Avenue (click for map)

Gifts, decorations, baked items, jewelry, cards, gift wrap, and so much more – all at prices well below retail (cash or checks only) Come and support the work we do with our community’s homeless cats and kittens needing spay/neuter, medical care, and forever homes!

Read: Lightweight reading dept: In need of more grounding after running around, gigging and traveling all over the past month, I found myself on a reading binge of "Sunday Routine" in The New York Times.   Each week, the paper interviews cultural luminaries from editors to conservation biologists, opera singers to designers about how they spend their Sundays. I was taken with common themes among successful folks including getting up early, owning pets that figure into their daily routines (and help police them) and having ritual restaurants.

Woodhouse Fish Co, Fillmore St, SF

Eat: For Californians, tacos are comfort food. As such, we've developed somewhat of an unofficial hunt for the best fish taco. Of late, we've found taco sustenance at Off the Grid gigs via The Taco Guys, in our 'hood at El Caballo, and when in the Fillmore this week, we ordered up a batch at the low-key but a little upscale (for tacos) Woodhouse Fish Co. Jury is out on batter-fried versus sauteed fish, and I'm partial to corn tortillas, but I can wholeheartedly recommend all these taco purveyors for the discerning taco aficionado.

Listen: I was driving down the road the other the day and this over-the-top live recording of Van Morrison singing with John Lee Record came on. Instant uplift awesomeness.

Cold day questions

Some Questions on my mind today:

1. Why is it you often feel really GREAT just before you get sick?
2. How does anyone manage to get everything precious and wonderful out of the Vitamix after mixing something up?
3. What's with LinkedIn's new(ish) hyper-endorsement tool?

I know. Not so terribly deep, but I woke up with a sore throat and an urge to stay in bed all day after a kick-ass day of energy. I eat healthy, I stand on my head almost every day, what gives? Oh well. We're going to Portland tomorrow and being sick in a hotel for three days was and is not part of my plan. So my focus has narrowed considerably.  Tea. Water. Wellness formula. Juice. Blankets. Internet.  A super food  smoothie that's o-so-yummy (this one featured dates & almonds) though some of its precious drops remain in the bottom of the darn mixer. I'm keenly aware that I'm grateful to have this very minor conundrum.

In the meantime, a bit of sleuthing while I convalesce didn't turn up complete answers to my questions but did provide some interesting Answer-like fodder:

1. Really? Your Body Clock Can Determine When You Get Sick 
2. It's all about the spatula 
3. Said to make it easier to endorse folks with one click, I seem to be getting endorsed for some things I don't really do. Go figure.

And, speaking of Portland. As I was searching out things to do and shows to see while I'm there, I grew enamored with the Portland Cello Project, who alas, won't be in town when I am, but have made a wonderful record of Beck's 'Song Reader,' (which I'm now blasting).

Read.Eat.Listen: Feeding the Muse

It's been cold or raining or both this past week in California and I really have just wanted to read and eat and yes, listen. Fortunately, there's no loss of material. Mostly, though, I've been on another Bettye Lavette bender since hearing her rendition of "Dirty Old Town" on the radio and discovering she had a book out, too
Read:  At the same time she released the new album, "Thankful N' Thoughtful," Lavette also published her memoir "A Woman Like Me" this year. Sassy, ribald and rollicking, it covers her 50+ years living big ups and downs of music.
Eat: Smoothies have been replaced by warm rice bowls. Mine usually involves kimchi and avocado, tofu or eggs. Here's an especially inspired Vegan Macro Meal by The Lunchbox Bunch that adds tempeh and mushrooms to the proceedings.
Listen: Who doesn't want to project as much cool and emotion in a songs as Bettye Lavette when they grow up? Her latest collection  is full of her reinterpretations of tunes by the likes of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Neil Young. She takes the song to an entirely new depth,  dripping wisdom and soul. Phew.