Seriously. Is a frog winking at me a good omen?
It’s been a bit of rough week. And while I won’t go into my personal strife, I’m always looking for signs from the Universe to guide me. Yeah, I’m woo woo and proud of it.
There’s an astrologist I follow named Elsa. Today she said—“ The Moon in Capricorn conjuncts Pluto today. Luckily she’s supported by Jupiter in Virgo and Mercury in Taurus. Yep, that’s our grand trine in earth. Meanwhile, the Sun, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune make up a mutable grand cross.â€
So, zoom, that went right over my head. I don’t know a grand cross from a minor one. But, at the end of her report, she said something that caught my attention.
“Something important to us is out of bounds on what we can control. We just have to have faith that it’ll end well, eventually.â€
Now that was exactly what I needed to hear. Lately, it seems a lot of things are out of my control (I just received a jury summons for the months of July and August, for example), and I’ve been reaching deep into my faith and general positivity to navigate. I’ve also been looking for those signs from above that I mentioned earlier. Any trail of breadcrumbs to confirm I’m still on the right path helps tremendously.
Tonight, my husband was invited to the end of the year church choir party. He took me along. I think it was because he likes my company, but more likely it was because the bass section was to bring an appetizer. My husband thought I might be better suited to that duty, so I made bacon wrapped peppers, tucked them in an insulated bag, and we took off.
After we arrived I grabbed a glass of wine and wandered out to the host’s backyard. It was gorgeous—groomed, mowed, and planted with flowers—and I plopped down near a small pond and waterfall. As I sat lost in thought, my eyes wandered over the stones surrounding the pond. The sound of running water is always soothing to me and I allowed myself to relax. After a moment, I noticed just the slightest movement to my left. There sat a frog, wet from his dip in the pond, staring at me. I stared back. And then it happened. He winked.
I sized him up for a moment and then decided to wink back. He didn’t turn into a prince or even move for that matter. He just continued to stare. We sat in companionable silence for quite some time. The buzz of the party was all around, but we were at peace. Given my crazy week thus far, it was a simple and generous gift.
Winking frogs? The best part of my day!
How about you? Do you look for signs to help you along day to day? Please share!
Here’s the recipe for the appetizer I brought along to the party. The “poppers” went very quickly and received rave reviews.
Party Poppers from Southern Living, myrecipes.com
Ingredients
12 medium jalapeno chiles (I used mini bell peppers instead.)
1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1 cup finely chopped cooked chicken
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
12 hickory-smoked bacon slices, cut in half
24 wooden picks
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut each chile in half lengthwise; remove seeds and membranes.
- Stir together cream cheese, chicken, cilantro, lime juice, and salt. Spoon 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons chicken mixture into each chile half, spreading to fill the cavity. Wrap each half with a bacon piece, and secure with a wooden pick. Place poppers on a lightly greased wire rack in an aluminum foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake in preheated oven until bacon begins to crisp and chiles are softened about 25 minutes. Increase oven temperature to broil, and broil until bacon is crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
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