Chop Tomatoes, Carry Laundry
Thursday, May 8th, 2008(13 of 50)
While waiting to reach Nirvana, one must stay busy with everyday chores. “Chop wood, carry water” is the teaching that humbles even those on the verge of enlightenment.
The utter necessity of handwork is at the heart of enlightenment and creativity. Having finished up my little movie project, and having watched it a few more times until I was a bit embarrassed of its tone, tired of finding little quibbles that I could have fixed but won’t because it’s too late… I turned my attention to the dirty kitchen. Time to do the dishes, and then do something about those tomatoes that are going to rot.
I made corn tomato salsa in the style of pico de gallo. With spring onions, cilantro and fresh jalapeño. With garlic of course. It was delicious on my humble black bean tacos tonight.
But for me, it was the simplicity of chopping tomatoes, onions, jalapenos. Cutting out the almost woody tomatoey insides, putting the little black bits in the Mother Earth bowl along with the limp and slimy bits of spring onions – taking great care to deal with the seeds and pith of the peppers so that I wouldn’t give myself “the treatment” … it was all sheer pleasure while my mind happily babbled along.
Two thoughts came out of the chopping: 1) cooking from scratch engages all five senses and the mind, and 2) compost is nothing short of a miracle. (The Mother Earth bowl is the designated spot for compost scraps and gets dumped out there almost every day. Almost.) More on these later.
As for carrying laundry, thank Maude for a good washer and dryer because such mod-cons elevate the drudgery of hauling and heating water, hauling and wringing wet clothing to a near-scientific and aesthetically pleasing task.
(Plus when the child(ren) get(s) home, you can point to the folded stacks and say, “Put those away, or I’ll nag you.”)