creole tomatoes

It’s winter. It’s cold. And tomato season and long warm nights are months away. I have to dream a little.
Paging through all my photographs this morning, brought me to this shot of a wall I would drive by, constantly, whilst in New Orleans.
What is a Creole Tomato, anyway?

“The Creole tomato is such a bright red that it sometimes looks more like a painting of a tomato than an actual fruit. It’s okay to admire its beauty, especially if you are practicing the skill of delayed gratification, but most of us can’t look for very long – there is eating to be done.” – an essay by Diane Dees about Creole Tomatoes

… able to survive our wretched Louisiana summer because of the Creole tomato. The humidity is always at dripping-sweat level, the temperature ceaselessly in the 90s. If we’re lucky, summer lasts only four months, but some years we are doomed to suffer from May to October. The roses become distorted and faded, their leaves covered with blackspot. Giant grasshoppers devour amaryllis leaves within seconds. There are piles of laundry, as we deceive ourselves into believing fresh shirts will make us feel better. Our cars turn into heat capsules, and the deck smells like a mass of rotting organisms.

All summer produce is marvelous, of course, and we buy luscious Alabama peaches from roadside stands, pick cucumbers and squash from our friend’s generous garden. But anyone can do that. You have to live in south Louisiana to eat Creole tomatoes.

The Creole tomato is grown only in certain parts of south Louisiana, where the soil is just right. It can be large or medium-sized, and has an imposing corona at the top. No corona? Not a Creole.

ready to fly

sometimes, it’s not comfortable to fly.
sometimes, it’s not graceful to fly.
sometimes, it’s not polite to fly.
sometimes, it’s not even-keeled to fly.
sometimes, it’s not perfectly perfect to fly.
sometimes, you don’t even feel like flying.
sometimes, your bed is just comfortable.

But fly I must.
soon.
soon I will fly.

Garden of Eatin, Ninth Ward

Brilliant Enthusiasm.
I am glowing with those words. I walked in the door an hour ago from a 4am flight, threw my bags down and edited a few photos to share with you all.
Never have I been more proud of my friends and of myself for really, truly giving and invoking change.
Seeing a need and filling it with love, kindness and non-stop energy.

In the midst of a class I was helping teach, I was suddenly surrounded by a crowd of fifth graders who wanted to look at my eyes.
I took the opportunity to silently say “I believe in you” to each and every kid, while they peered into my vibrant green eyes.

More pictures and information coming. For now, for today, Give Yourself to something or someone.
Big thank you to each and every donor who helped Lighting Up The Sky make it down to New Orleans.

inside job: twelve hour dance-a-thon

A twelve hour dance-a-thon at The Sugar Shack in Los Angeles to raise money for Lighting Up The Sky‘s New Orleans Garden Project.

ideafication

…between a Paul Stamets mycelium lecture, 8AM soil remediation conference calls with an NPO in New Orleans and a collaboration with Doris Hicks, an Obama favorite. I am absolutely LOVING my friend Elizabeth who plods along every step of the way into life adventures — fearlessly and excitedly. With conviction that anything is possible and accomplishable.

If you don’t have someone who inspires you to be better, I highly recommend taking some time to track down that ONE person who gently shoves you into new situations with a heavy dose of responsibility, hope and anticipation. Say it with me now “Go On Gurrrl”
holler now ya’ll.