And Finally...

Final Prompts from HWAMC:

 You made it! 30 posts in 30 days! Today, write a recap of your experience. What was your favorite prompt? Least favorite? What have you learned?
 Describe your HAWMC experience in one word!

Recap: April has been an extremely transitional and often uncomfortable month. I transitioned away from two months of dog-sitting in a comfortable, large, somewhat remote home. My grandmother, who is very important to me, died--age 93 and ailing, but suddenly nonetheless--and I found myself dropping everything, including an enormous amount of money, and flying to Israel. Then I returned to AK, spent less than two weeks alone in the water-less cabin that has been my home for several years and is no longer, and thence out to Athens, GA, where I am now. Even without the extra trip provided by those few days off my meds, the month has been a whirligig of displacement, recollection, keen emotion, and uncertainty for the future. Nonetheless, there have been some glimmers of optimism toward that future also. 

Additionally, I finally got my own domain and started this wordpress blog, as I'd been talking about doing for about two years, thinking I'd have time this month to learn/teach myself how to do all sorts of things to make it just how I wanted it, as well as migrating the original blog over here.

Was I crazy? I don't even have my blogroll in my dashboard, let alone the comments set up, such a big reason for me to move... -- But therein lies much of what I've learned in this month. Life is full of ironies, and:

• No matter how pretty or not-pretty it looks, the blog comes with me everywhere.
• Sometimes having a prompt helped get me to write a post even when the day was basically over; other times the prompt was a turn-off to my creativity.
• Paradoxically, I think I may have lost readers during this process. I don't think anyone has come over to my blog from HAWMC either. Paradoxically, I'm not feeling too hurt right now. As I breathe life into this new blog, I draw on my new sensitivity to and understanding of audience/readership and feel I'm honing it even when I suspect no one's reading at all and 24 out of the 24 comments I receive are spam trying to make my nonexistent readers buy sunglasses, solar panels, or penises.
• Despite being a constant companion, my blog hasn't taken over my life, not remotely. But I think I only skipped one day the whole month, this past Sunday, despite all that long-haul travel.
• I'm learning how to talk frankly and openly about having bipolar disorder and beginning to recognize that if I am willing to be frank and open, my eloquence as a writer may turn out helpful to others. May turn out to be helpful to me, too!
• I'm (back) in the "Well, I don't really have anorexia" frame of mind. Do you think I do?

Prompts: I liked the "day to day" prompt because of how it invited us to look at our conditions integrated into the rest of the world and life, as they in fact are. Adversity the day before got me going, so perhaps I liked it in that sense. I didn't like the prompts about social media and making compilations of those. I'm simply too ignorant.

The HAWMC experience in one word? Sidewinder.

Receding Snow, Snow Smoothies

I've never been much for ice in my drinks. So typical of my timing, then, that I should acquire a penchant for "snow smoothies/ice cream" just as our epic snow streak starts to dwindle. Especially at the edge of the bluff, the snow is receding fast...

...although we still have a snow field back from the bluff. Last night I don't think it even froze here.

A glass of snow blended with spirulina and other ingredients makes a wonderful soft-serve type lunch, as I shared in my last post, or just mix the snow with water and chosen flavor (as in this rosewater cordial) for a refreshing mid-afternoon lift. Unfortunately, snow drinks tend to make me chilled as well, but I'm enjoying the taste and texture so much right now that it seems worth it!


So far this week, I've stayed off the caffeine pills and caffeinated tea, and I've stayed off the cacao, and I've slept at least more than I had been, and gobbled down meds like a good girl. But I still wanted my snowy spirulina lunch, and I discovered that it could be just as delicious without the cacao!

This one was: 
1/3 cup nut milk (I used unsweetened Almond Breeze)--just enough to spin the blades
1 cup fresh local snow (I'm going to have to start thinking of alternatives)
1 spoonful spirulina
1 teaspoon lucuma
1/2-1 teaspoon mint extract
stevia and xylitol to taste
1 pinch lecithin granules and/or 1/2 teaspoon xanthan or guar gum


Blend until smooth in a high speed blender.
Mint ice cream! OK, maybe not quite, as there's no fat in there. You don't miss it, though. Definitely mint sorbet--refreshing, a little sweet, delightful.


NB I know that this is very light on calories. However, it's also very easy to make into a more substantial offering. You could use full-fat coconut cream instead of unsweetened almond breeze. You could add some melted coconut oil, which would make it more ice-cream-like and creamy in general, and would add good nutrition too. You could triple the amount of lucuma, and add some tocotrienols, which are also creamy. You could even add some flax seeds, although you should make sure to blend very well so that they're not gritty. Carob powder? Carob goes beautifully with mint. Protein powder? Sure. I feel spirulina offers a good dose of protein, but doubling up would be good too. And you could substitute some of the snow with frozen nut milk. 


One of the things I love about smoothie-type recipes is how infinitely elastic and versatile they are--so easy to make your own. 


On a very different note, RIP Adrienne Rich, role model and inspiration for poets, especially women poets, for over half a century.