What came first? Collar or Color? Gong or Gluten?
Bonjour, Chers Lectours! (Dear Readers!)
Lots of news forthcoming, but first. Happy 2024!
Since we last spoke, our family has had the wonderful and unique 8 week experience of birthing and raising, nine golden retriever puppies. It was very hard to describe. We all lived in a world where the day was divided into feeding and sleeping and changing. And then for the puppies too! LOL. Time was experienced much like when my boys were infants, but with obvious differences.
The puppies were named and called by their collar color. This is designed to avoid getting attached to them. But haha, that didn’t happen, of course! It’s been one week since our last puppy went to his forever home. But we also are lucky because Abbie and Erick have adopted one, Puppy Red or Osso. Do you know what Osso means?
The questions that plague me are: Did Red choose his collar, or did the color choose him? For he was - though his name is now Osso, but in his Red days, he was the epitome of Clifford, the Big Red Dog.
And would Brown puppy always have been Brown, even if he wore a different collar color? And he was one of the few that did wear a different color than the one he received at first. He lost or outgrew his birth bequeathed Dark Pink collar and became Brown, then his Brown collar broke and he became Black. Did Green become The Explorer because of his color? Did each puppy become like their color or were they that color before we slipped the collar on them? They grew from 10 ounces to over 10 pounds. They began their culinary world with nursing at Momma Sunnie’s milk bar and ended up their time with us eating Royal Canin Kibble. At meal time they were divided in groups of 3 and we began calling them by their color when it was their turn to eat. Purple looked up, as did Pink, Blue and Yellow, Orange and Gray also, when we called them. There is so much love going out to Erick and Abbie and Rich for all the round the clock care and feeding and weighing and poop-cleaning and washing and mopping and playing.
During our last days with Orange puppy before he went to his new home, I found solace and comfort watching Flavor Origins on Netflix. This show is based on food traditions in various Chinese provinces. Perhaps in alignment with the mountainous terrain of hidden China, I’ve found doing sound healing and meditation with Gongs is quite incredible. But just like the collars and the colors, who knows which came first: the Gong or the Puffed Gluten in Gansu? Have you ever found yourself asking these questions in, and about, your life?
Where you can find me:
An Excerpt From My Next Novel A Hundred Years of Becasse
Coming soon…a Companion Cookbook!
The Bread of Dreams, Recipes and Portraits of the Mistresses of Psomi.
Follow me on Instagram for a very special giveaway related to the upcoming cookbook.
Grand Prize: A Bread of Dreams Seed Box (follow me for the reveal of the box, and what’s included in the box).
Secondary Prizes: Three signed copies of the cookbook, "The Bread of Dreams, Recipes and Portraits of the Mistresses of Psomi” plus, a jar of Sourdough Levain! And speaking of sourdough, did you know about:
Wild Sourdough Project at NC State in North Carolina?
Next time: Do you have a favorite novel set on trains! “Murder on the Orient Express” by Agatha Christie is a classic, but have you read “Peaces” by Helen Oyeyemi?
“Oyeyemi once again pushes the boundaries of the novel. . . A surrealist tale of love, heartbreak, and being haunted by the past.” —Kirkus Reviews
Thank you, and Happy January, Chers Lectours! (Dear Readers!)
All my gratitude to you for being along on this adventure and for reading my novel, Tales of the Mistress! I would so appreciate it if you would post a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Truth is, even a few words can help others find my book!