Dylan & Rachel, '93

From the Awesome Veggie Reader (Late Summer, 1993)

My dear “step-children,” Dylan and Rachel, graduated from high school in June. Rather than buy presents that would soon appear in garage sales throughout the state, I offered them “experiences” of their choice.

Those experiences changed my life. Although we have been close for twelve years, our relationships deepened this summer. I’ll tell you why.

Rachel, who was once referred to by her second grade teacher as a flibberty-gibbet who couldn’t settle down or get serious, asked to go with me to the 1993 Summer Pilgrimage to Mt. Shasta with Huichol Indian Shaman, Brant Secunda. It was my third year on the mountain with Brant and I looked forward to sharing it with Rachel.

At first she wondered what she was doing there. “How much chanting, praying, drumming and singing can we do in seven days? I wonder if I can get out of this…” But, by the evening if the second day, she had collected many hearts and friends in her usual way, had settled into the rituals and routine of dance, dirt and drums and… began to enjoy herself.

I chose not to go on vision quest that year, but to participate in the support-team fire circle of chanters and drummers, sleeping by the campfire, drumming at midnight and praying for the successful vision quests of those who walked into the mountains on their own for the night, without protection, food or water.

. . . Continued Here. . .

The Awesome Veggie Reader

In 1991 I was living in St. Helena, California. I was a seven-year veteran of the MAC World, having gone through the Classic, the SE and then, I think, the 2CI, or some such spelling. It was a wee while ago. It was a skinny little thing my Mac guru, Clifford, called the “pizza box.” We thought it was so cool because it was skinny. Little did we know.

Armed with SuperPaint, the beginner’s graphic application of the day, and some Astro Bright yellow paper, I launched The Awesome Veggie Reader, a bi-monthly newsletter, kind of a tree-ware blog: stories, recipes and tips for the kitchen. Some ideas die hard. Here I am today, with Ginna’s Café, my virtual kitchen/studio. It’s basically the same, only with more years behind me and more information under my belt, including a much more sophisticated computer (17” PowerBook G4) and way more powerful programs (InDesign, Photoshop, and all that) and my own personal webmaster (www.spiritsound.com)!

In essence, though, it is the same. Sharing thoughts, ideas and recipes with people who love to cook, grow things and make stuff. My readership back then was about 60 dedicated folks who subscribed for $18 a year and received 6 newsletters (in yellow), at least ten innovative recipes per issue and stories that at least I thought were interesting. Now, Ginna’s Café is online, and lots of it is free.

As I leaf back through issues of the Awesome Veggie Reader, I notice several things. First, the clip art is so… lame! Where did I get that stuff? Odd little line drawings full of… dots! Wow. I stand by the recipes, though, even if the typography is a little… unstructured. Everything seems to be in a size 12 font, probably Times, and, actually, there are more different kinds of display fonts than sense!

At the time, I belonged to a local Ghee Club, a group of six people who loved Ayurveda, read everything that Dr. Deepak Chopra wrote, and made ghee for each other in turns. We all practiced the ancient Ayurvedic lifestyle as much as we could, visited with a semi-local Ayurvedic Practitioner, and ate lots and lots of ghee: ghee on rice, ghee on vegetables, ghee on toast. Even ghee on graham crackers. Oooh, that was memorable. (Check the Free Stuff Page on my Ginna's Cafe website for a Ghee Recipe)

Another “Little did I know” moment: two years later, I was working for Dr. Chopra myself, making ghee by the bucketsful and designing menus for spa guests undergoing the cleansing treatment at the Chopra Center for Well Being in La Jolla, California.

I loved writing and producing the Awesome Veggie Reader. It was filled with notes on my spiritual practice, recipes gleaned from years of experimenting, and a place for me to focus my love of everything creative. I’ll reproduce some of the AVR here, for your, I hope, pleasure and edification. Recipes will appear on the FREE STUFF page of the website. Stories will emerge here. Next Blog entry: Another Awesome Summer, direct from the AVR, wherein I take my 18 year old step-children, Dylan and Rachel, on adventures.

Thanks for listening. GB

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