Poetry & Words – Page 25 – The Oaxacaborn Blog

If you’re around food at all, you’ve likely heard of the Top 8 allergens…milk, eggs, fish, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, soy, and wheat. Notice that corn is nowhere on that list? The FDA doesn’t recognize corn as an allergen (maybe because it’s in everything!) This is frustrating for those of us who are allergic to corn, and poses a particular problem when contacting a company to inquire about the presence (or absence!) of corn in a product.

That’s why it’s so refreshing when a company not only recognizes corn as an allergy risk, but also goes out of their way to list specifically which products are and aren’t corn-free. Behold, the most recent product list/food allergy guide from Pacific Natural Foods! This list is helpful even if you aren’t battling a corn allergy, as it also addresses yeast, organic soy and other ingredients. Click on the image view the full PDF version.

Poetry & Words

106 degree days and coyote nights

August 25, 2010March 21, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

it‘s so dry outside, it feels like the world is going to crumble up and blow away. 106 is hotter than i remember, somehow.

the nights are still cool, so we sleep with the windows open and the delicious Delta breeze blowing through the screen. the coyotes roam the countryside freely after dusk, and i’m at least once every night i’m awakened to their high-pitched yowling. sometimes it starts out slowly, just one coyote, and then slowly inches up, up, up as more and more voices join in, until finally the howls reach a fever pitch and the four corners of the house reverberate with their yi yi yis.

The daily Coyote

i love the contrast the earthy owl’s soft whooing against the sharp cries of the coyote. i imagine the owl is the sound of the feathered clouds slowly floating over the moon, while the coyote’s calls are the stiff branches of the dried california live oak branches, reaching up in vain to the august sky…reaching for rain that never comes.

Image Credit: The Daily Coyote

Poetry & Words

a little glimpse

July 22, 2010March 21, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

yes, i know. i haven’t been blogging much (at all?). but really, blame it all on our little kumquat. for such a tiny little human, he/she sure has a very strong opinion of how i should spend my days. (i.e., kneeling in front of the porcelain throne.)

mom recently gave me a framed version of this lovely Mary Cassatt image:

and can you guess where i hung it? yes. above the porcelain throne. i like that reminder it gives me. this too will pass. for such a time as this. everything in its season. how a very brief trial will reap unspeakable rewards.

i can see a little glimpse of what’s to come in that mary cassatt image. the look on the mother’s face. the curly-haired child. the cup of coffee.

and i’m filled with such joy.

Poetry & Words

and all the waves of the cobalt night

May 20, 2010October 13, 2011 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

by the firelight of wakened waves
and silent clouds of whistling stars
the universe shifted, thread by thread
and all the waves of the cobalt night
shifted in sleep and turned in bed.

when the sunlight breathed and woke the world
and verde leaves grew greener still
the dew sank low into the red clay earth
the oceans swayed and azul spilled
while creation sang of the Saviour’s worth.

here a mortal breathed and a mortal prayed
and welcomed dawn and the newest days
and folded sheets and whistled grace
and sought the horizon’s brightest face
knowing well the yonder shore
would bring promises spoken before
and the Light would shine without a veil
and all would kneel and all would hail
wounds made perfect, love made pure —
— prepared for us, beyond deep azure.
-07 july 2009

both images via my brother john

Poetry & Words

A Brief History of Cinco de Mayo

May 5, 2010March 21, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

Does anyone find it mildly amusing that Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of the Mexican militia’s victory over the French?

Apparently the French were peeved that Mexico had stopped repaying a loan they owed France and took it upon themselves to invade Mexico. (You know, they say Abraham Lincoln took Mexico’s side, but he didn’t exactly do anything about it — he was kind of preoccupied fighting a war of his own).

Continue reading “A Brief History of Cinco de Mayo” →

Poetry & Words

smashing chocolate

April 27, 2010March 21, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

i needed chocolate chip cookies today.

we didn’t have any chips, but i did have a stack of 100% dark chocolate bars in the cupboard. (don’t judge. when it comes to sweets, i am allergic to pretty much everything except the raw-vegan fruit-nut bars, so i get 100% cacao dark chocolate bars for gifts. for every holiday. from everyone.) i reached to the bottom of the stack, counting backwards from easter…valentine’s day, birthday, christmas. yes, christmas. that would be the oldest one.

i held the chocolate bar hard, pressing my fingers down through the foil, letting my finger tips feel the outline of the words ghirardelli on every square, letting my fingers trace the outline of the ridges between each rectangle of bitterness.

then i reached for the rolling pin.

Continue reading “smashing chocolate” →

Poetry & Words

ramblin’ girl

April 17, 2010March 21, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

it’s late. the only light in this room is the cool, unblinking light of the sleek iMac screen. my fingers tap a subtly methodical dance across the plastic keys. i notice that each each sentence is separated by the dull staccato of the double space.

from the adjoining room, i hear the sound of water trickling over paint brushes, then the soft padding of stocking feet over hardwoord floor. i listen to the couch squeak as my love sits back down in front of his paints, clean brushes in hand.

my cough rattles my chest cage, and then this room. the cough deepens as the night grows on, the cough that reminds me i’ve missed two of the five very first days at a new job this week. the cough that reminds me i am not invincible, and i cannot control every circumstance. i cannot always be perfect. i cannot ever be perfect. but that’s another story for another time.

his voice cuts through the silence, comforting and warm. his voice sounds just like the way it feels to be curled up next to him on the couch, my head on his chest, tracing the pattern of his graphic tee with my painted fingernail. today, it was white clouds on dark cotton, and the outline of a vw bus.

today it was white clouds on dark cotton. i like that. i think in life, i tend to focus too much on the dark, and not quite enough on the white, bright clouds.

tonight, though, i’m daydreaming of the shapes in those clouds. wondering where the wind will blow us next. we’re still walking underneath this sky, together, pushing forward on this long road.

and Your Love lies our salvation.

listen: orange sky | alexi murdoch

Poetry & Words

everyday redemption.

April 14, 2010March 21, 2014 Gina @ Oaxacaborn

in the whirlwind of the last few weeks, this blog has been neglected. (wait, who i am kidding? it’s always a whirlwind.)

my last job was slowly sucking the life out me, day by day. (did you get that? my last job?). so anyway, at my last job, i felt stuck, like i had no out, no options, and yes, sometimes it even felt like i had no hope.

and then, out of the proverbial blue: a new opportunity. a new beginning. a new job. as my friend shanley texted me when i told her the good news, “this is everyday redemption.”

this is. everyday redemption. and He is forever faithful.