sunbeet summer heat

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Thoughts on Religion

"He thought, 'How strange this is! Everywhere, in so many individual rooms and chambers, whereber you might be and regardless of your present business, you are constantly seeing these fragments of religions hanging on the walls, fragments that in part say a great deal, in part not so much, and in part nothing at all. What does the male nurse believe? Surely nothing! Perhaps religion for many people nowadays is nothing more than a half-measure, a superficial, unconscious matter of taste, a sort of interest and habit, at least with men. Perhaps a sister of the nurse decorated the room this way. I could believe that - girls have more personal grounds for piety and religious contemplation than men do, whose lives have always been in conflict with religion, always unless they happened to be monks. But a Protestant minister with his snow-white hair, his mild patient smile and his noble gait is and remains a beautiful sight when he strides through a lonely forest clearing. In the city, religion is less beautiful than in the countryside, where peasants live whose very way of life has something deeply religious about it. In the city, religion is like a machine, which is unfortunate, whereas in the country one perceives the belief in God as being just the same as a field of blossoming grain, or like a huge lush meadow, or like the delightful swell of lightly curving hills behind which a house stands hidden, containing quiet people for whom contemplation is a sort of friend. I don't know, to me it seems as if the minister in the city lives too close beside the stock market speculator and the godless painter. In the city, the belief in God lacks necessary distances. Religion here has too little sky, it smells too little of the soil. I'm not putting it very well, and besides, what use is any of this to me? Religion in my experience is a love of life, a heartfelt attachment to the earth, joy in the present moment, trust in beauty, belief in mankind, a feeling of carefree pleasure during revelries with friends, the desire to ponder and a sense of being responsible for misfortune, smiling when death arrives and showing courage in every sort of undertaking life has to offer. In the end, a profound human decency has become our religion. When human beings maintain decency in their dealings with each other, they are maintaining it before God. What more could God want? The heart and all the finer sentiments can together produce a decency that might well be more pleasing to God than dark fanatical belief, which can only disconcert even the Divine One himself, so that in the end He'll no doubt wish not to hear the prayers thundering up to His clouds any longer. What can our prayers mean to Him if they come bawling up so clumsily, presumptuously, as if He were hard of hearing? Mustn't you imagine Him possessing infinitely acute ears if you can picture Him at all? I wonder whether the sermons and the peals of the organ are agreeable to Him, the Ineffable One? Well, He'll surely just smile at our efforts, dubious as they may be, and hope that it will occur to us some day to leave Him in peace a bit more often.'"

from Robert Walsers's The Tanners, pp. 281-283

Monday, May 31, 2010

Backpacking the Deschutes

In referring to the narrator's brother and artist:

"He has seized Nature in his arms like a voluptuous mistress and is now pressing kiss after kiss upon her lips until both of them - Kaspar and Nature - are out of breath. It almost seems to me as if Nature were powerless and impotent before true artists and overcome with devotion just like the sort of mistress who denies you nothing."

from The Tanners by Robert Walser

Two weeks of intermittent rain did not make for a good start to summer. People were getting cranky and irritable. It was time to get out town fast.

An early start Sunday morning heading due east from Portland an hour and a half led three friends and myself to the Deschutes River TH by 12:30. First trek of the season. The hike description on PortlandHikers can be found here. The hike was long but flat. The first half we followed a hiker only path along the river before scrambling up rocks to the main biker-friendly road. It sure did make me wish I had a mountain bike. The views were outstanding. Oregon's sudden and striking change of scenery west to east never fails to amaze me. Bare, golden rolling hills followed us across the river, towering over a railroad still in use. Claire counted 86 cars for one Burlington Northern Santa Fe cargo. On our side of the river were tall grasses down below and jagged rock faces to our left. At several points along the way were old wooden boxcars, and the remains of some wooden rails could been seen peaking up through the gravel under our feet. Before settling down at our campsite for the night we hike a mile and a half further to come to an old abandoned homestead. Yet, new corn was planted all over the sandy property. Sounds like a mystery for the Boxcar Children. (dun dun dun)
Our short rest here found me with what I can only guess is an ant bite on my bum. Shucks. We came across many snakes, and one particularly large and hissing rattler who did not want to let us get by. Though tics are reportedly heavy in the area our checks at the end of the day did not evidence as much. After a good 5 hours and 13 miles of hiking we set up camp near a large multi-family party of rafters with teenage girls and box wine. At our camp it was pasta for dinner, tea for dessert. As soon as the tea was sipped the rain started. We scrambled into our two matching tents and hit the hay. It rained nonstop until 8 the next morning, exactly when we were ready to get out and going. Sometimes everything could not work out any better and the air is heavy with magic. A quarter to ten and we were back on the road again. It was slightly less pleasant with all my fresh blisters (I must get new shoes). But 10 miles and 4 hours later we made it back to the car just long enough to throw down our packs and jump in the river. Now it's really summertime! On our drive back we stopped over in Hood River at the Full Sail Brewery. We each ordered a half pound burger and all made the Clean Plate Club. That is a lot of meat. We looked around to see if anybody noticed how impressive us four girls were but all the other patrons were too absorbed in Nascar crash reels replaying on ESPN to take notice of us.
I barely made the drive back awake amidst a food coma. Now it's time to reset up my tent in the backyard where I've been camping out the past week or so. Isaac's been doing the same and the site of our tents side by side is adorable.
Much love to you all,
Happy summer,
Maya

Midday stretching, in a boxcar.

Backyard Camping.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Spring has Sprung!

planting pansies in pots

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Back in Stumptown

Hihihello! I am back at it in Portland, and it is not too cold! In fact, it was a beautiful sunny day yesterday and also today. I am only taking 3 classes as it turns out, which I wasn't expecting, but this just means more time for gardening and creating. I ran into the last two people who are moving into my house next week on campus today - Matt & Molly. They were there stealing internet. We sat outside and ate our lunches together and they shared their homemade candied oranges with me. I have very good feelings about the next chapter of life.

Mung Bean Cutlets

Last night, my housemate Robby and I made mung bean cutlets and ate 'em like hamburgers.
Did you know? Mung beans are easier to digest than most other beans. They also have one of the highest protein content of any bean!
Note: This recipe is in no way precise. We winged it. For the spices, we just kept adding them and taking taste tests until it tasted to our pleasure.
1. Reconstitute dried beans (find them in the bulk food isle) by soaking them in water overnight. 2. Cook 'em. (1 C beans: 2 1/2 C water; yields 2 C cooked beans - decide on amt to cook accordingly)
3. When cooled fully, finely dice a purple onion and ample garlic. Saute in olive oil until onion is translucent.
4. Add onion&garlic to mung bean pot + ample thyme, oregano, rosemary, s&p, red pepper flakes, and cumin
5. Mix thoroughly and make batter into patties.
6. Fry in olive-oil equipped pan on stove (like latkas!)
7. Enjoy on pleasantly toasted bun w/ fresh onion/tomato/ketchup/mustard!!