Change is in the Air: New Directions From Maggie's Farm

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” -unknown*

Well, hello there.

Remember me? It's been a while, hasn't it? I've missed you!

And so much has happened during this brief hiatus. Okay. You've got me there. Not so brief.

If you've been around here for a while, you'll know I'm not often at a loss for words. Not even a shortage.

I suppose there is a first for everything.

But this post was just so hard to get out!  I kept writing it in my mind, and lo and behold, as soon as I had it all tidy and pithy and eloquent, something new would come along to rattle my bearings and it would need rewriting.  I wanted it to be light and funny.  I was having a hard time making it all light and funny.  Because it's really not been all that light and funny.

Simply put, it's been a wild ride.

Friends, there have been a lot of changes in Maggie's world....lots.  Lessons learned, losses endured, the highest of highs, and, occasionally, the lowest of lows.  It was one of those years.  You've probably had a few of them, yourself.

Some changes, good, some changes, challenging.  Loss both public (Goodbye fifty pounds! Hello fifth decade!) and private.

I'm not being purposefully vague, although I can see it may appear that way. But it's all so, so, well so MUCH. So let's just cut to the chase and I'll tell you what's going on NOW, and, perhaps, little by little, I'll be sharing what's happened along the way in blog-sized bits.

The NOW part, after all, is the EXCITING part.

This little country mouse is now a sassy city mouse!  I'm excited to be working in support of local farmers, here in Austin, and the surrounding Texas counties.  I'm thrilled to be traveling by foot, bike, car, bus and rail with my bestie-- the trusty Nikon, capturing the sights. I'm absolutely stoked to be visiting the restaurants, cafes, kitchens, food trucks, dive bars, holes in the wall, specialty shops, wine trails, community gardens, farmers' markets and more in this fair city, state, and occasionally when wanderlust gets the best of me, beyond.

Watch for some changes here, too. There are plans for this little blog.  And plans for another, less food-centric, more personal-window-on-the-world blog, too. (There's a little sneak preview of the mood of my new project at the end of this post.  I'd love to have you join me there, soon!) I'm exhilarated by it all. Of course I'll keep you informed all along the way.

Sharing my window on the world.

Will I be in the kitchen?  Heck YEAH, I'll be in the kitchen. I've expanded my catering operations, resumed cottage food production, and the few days a week I formerly spent cooking at a University of Texas sorority grew, last semester, into meal preparation for anywhere from 70 to over 250 chapter members and guests, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as many as 6 days a week. That's a lot of meal prep. And a lot of sorority girls.

I've been at it in my own little kitchen, too; my new sweet spot in the center of the city, only blocks from downtown, right in the thick of things. I've fed the frat boys next door endless bowls of pasta and sauce. I've baked, and broken, bread for my newest neighbors. I've been abuzz and a-bike, collecting ingredients from local markets and specialty shops and generally doing that thing I do...eat well, feed well, hone my skills,--sharing that special kind of culinary care the best way I know. I can't wait to share the domestic alchemy with you.

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.  Delicious Ambiguity.” 

― Gilda Radner

You know they say that no matter where you go, there you are, and though, outwardly, the world as I've known it for a while has experienced a tectonic shift, I'm still here. Some of my best cheerleaders and partners in crime have passed on. Animals I'd come to love and cherish are now being loved and cherished away from me. The idyllic peace (mostly), and traffic-lite country highways are now displaced by rush hours and public transportation. Yet, here I am. Perhaps a bit road-weary, but dust me off a little, and really, I'm the same Maggie I've always been.

Taking the moment and making the best of it.  Never really knowing what might happen next.

Celebrating Delicious Ambiguity.

(Gilda always did get it right, didn't she?)

A little peak at my newest project in the queue, Through the Lens of a Late Bloomer.

*This quote, often attributed to Marilyn Monroe, has no clear source upon research.