Urbs in villam

Chicago’s motto is Urbs in horto:  City in a garden. And flowers are nice. I love the gardens that our city has shoe-horned into every nook and cranny. I love that they give away a million tulip bulbs every year after the bloom is done. I love our world-class park system. But imagine a city [...]

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From language to law to community

There are steps to creating a sustainable life. In our society the realities of sustainability run up against the national character. Rigid self-sufficiency and individualism are the holy grail; in the words of Maxwell Anderson, how you can tell an American is that you cannot tell him what to do, even when it’s in his [...]

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Conspicuous sustainability

Sustainability for a middle class American is an oxymoron. Our entire way of life is premised on unsustainability. We live in houses bigger than we need (even those of us in “small” houses). Americans own more cars than households; in fact, more cars than drivers. We are blessed with constantly fully-stocked shelves at the grocery [...]

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I don’t agree with you, but you’re still my sister

I usually try to stay away from politically charged issues. I’m a terrible debater, and I tend to start to sympathize with every heartfelt argument I hear. But we recently lost readers on the blog because of a political position and I feel it needs to be addressed. I’m not writing this in support of [...]

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Living by the rules

Recently a new friend remarked that I had “a lot of rules.”  This was in response to my statement that I don’t read the gossip magazines anymore, triggered by the death of Princess Diana, but supported by my belief that we are too susceptible to bread and circuses and that it interferes with our ability [...]

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Inspired or Inadequate?

We spend a lot of time here at Not Dabbling talking about living mindful lives, eating REAL food, reducing the amount of processed food in our lives, detoxing our lives, living more simply and how to achieve these goals. What we don’t often talk about it how the people around us react to these decisions. [...]

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Take the $5 Challenge

OK all you REAL foodies, this challenge is for you. It’s been 6 months since the REAL Food Challenge and this is the perfect way to get back on track if you haven’t been keeping up with REAL food. Slow Food USA initiated the $5 Challenge. The goal is to cook healthy meal for less [...]

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Ten years

What struck me most in the days after September 11, 2001 was the empty sky. I wrote this on September 12. The sky my grandmother saw before the War to End All Wars before her war, one hundred years ago, was empty but for cloud rain bird wind leaf snow The sky my grandmother saw [...]

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One day a week

Originally posted on Sconeday in 2010 Last year, I lost weight by eating. You heard that right. I lost weight by eating. I never set out to lose weight, and didn’t care that much, as I wasn’t terribly overweight for someone of my age (BMI 29, now down to 26). But in March of last [...]

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Weekly Photos: Happy Birthday, America

These days, it’s hard to be a pink-haired, goddess-following, urban-farming Crazy Old Lady who votes left (oh, far far left) and yet loves her country to the point that I get a little choked up just thinking about it. I spent the afternoon at our community garden, where interestingly they had a film crew from [...]

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