A Peaceful Place
Nature is settling into its peaceful winter landscape. No need for finery when one has to keep a low profile. Trees are down to their bare bones, dead leaves at their sides. Hollow grasses still sway and bend but they’ve left their color behind. As we walk through the woods at OxBow Park, the sky now penetrates through the denuded branches and shares its color with everything it reaches. I breathe in the fresh mid-December air and I absorb the peace around me. It soothes my spirit and slows down my busy brain. I’m looking for peace this week.
When I was growing up in Belgium, we did not own a TV. My neighbors, a couple in their seventies, did. They would invite me over to watch children’s programming on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, when school was only half days. I felt very adult as I hopped over their stone wall to sit with them and watch my favorite TV shows. In their TV room, they offered me the recliner so I could put up my feet. In the dim light of the green painted walls, I would get absorbed in the games or plots of characters on the shows. Then when the last credits rolled, Monsieur and Madame would invite me into their living area, sit me down at their square wooden table tucked into the corner of the room and pour me a glass of black currant juice. Madame would bring out her homemade galettes, a small waffle that she made in her waffle iron. As Monsieur sat beside me listening to the low hum of the radio on the shelf above us, I enjoyed the delicious combination of that dark flavored juice with the buttery sweetness of the galettes. I always had just two. There was nothing more peaceful than that space we shared. It was a haven away from my family’s busyness and where I was totally accepted as me with no comparison to other siblings. Though few words were spoken, I felt their care and yes, love. I remember those hours as a peaceful getaway from normal life, a respite from school work and duties and a space where life carried on with no chaotic intrusions.
With the impending cold, I slowly turn my thoughts inward and start to cocoon and I try to reach back for that feeling of peace. We all need a place where we can leave behind the urgency and drama of life, a haven to call our own. I can’t wait for that first blanket of snow that covers all the imperfections. Meanwhile, I will create my own layer of peace by stepping back, laying low, leaving life’s chaos outside the door. And I’ll make those galettes and eat them in a peaceful space. Here’s the recipe.
Galettes
1 c. flour
¾ c. white sugar
½ c. melted butter
1 pinch of sea salt
2 large eggs
Mix everything in a small bowl until mostly smooth. Ladle onto a heated and greased small square waffle maker. Cook until brown. These will keep well in a cookie jar. Makes 10 nice sized galettes.
