Summer months in Northern California are hot.

 

This month we are featuring one of our favorite seasonal appetizers:

 

Marinated with a touch of rose and garnished with our citrus crumble, it is an exciting, refreshing one bite wonder that is a must try during the final weeks of Summer gatherings.

 

We make entertaining easy at La Saison.

 

Building on last month’s newsletter, the Cancer moon has now met up with the Leo Sun.

 

If the moon represents our emotional body, the sun represents the inner fire that drives our life force into motion. When our inner landscape feels safe, we have the confidence to be bright and bold and who we came here to be.

 

The first team that I was ever on was the Simsbury Farms Swim Team in 4th grade. I remember the Crosby family being ‘the swim family’. Their dad coached and his daughters were intense and borderline intimidating at the age of 9. How my mom survived morning drop offs before 6AM is beyond me. I would throw up almost daily from nerves, jumping off the awkward sandpaper textured white block into the overly chlorinated, frigid water and yet somewhat befuddled, I wonder how I still choose to swim during the Summer months.

 

Swimming is strange. Most of the strokes, you are face down while breathing; gasping through your mouth to inhale and releasing from your nose to exhale while under water.

 

I was an athlete in high school which meant Monday- Friday we would practice and on weekends perform. There were superstitions and rituals galore before games.

 

For the month of July, Monday- Friday when the Sun was highest in the sky at Noon each day, I would walk past prints of Napa Valley scenery with vineyards and poppy fields lining the hallway as I entered ‘my spaceship’.

 

My team of typically three would be stationed at ‘the mother board’, an adjacent room full of screens and cameras and intercoms talking to and watching me while I lay alone.

 

It reminded me of Universal Studios- a space simulator if you will. How cool that I get to experience this each day, says the 9-year-old inside, at least for the first week…

 

Behind the same locker door, my daily routine included placing a drop or two of Halo Peppermint on the crown of my head for spiritual protection and a blend of oils made by female survivors over my chest. I would take a moment of silence for each person before and each person after me while noticing the changes in front of me reflecting back.

 

From day one, I took my hospital gown home, the same one.

I didn’t wash it, not once.

I allowed the essential oils to seep into the fabric fragrantly forming a familiar safe space to wrap me while in ‘space’.

 

In my left hand, I held my selenite wand, which I have held for years particularly when I am public speaking to ground and keep me calm. In my right hand I held another sort of ‘wand’ that came with a button and connected to a scuba style breathing tube that would be placed in my mouth before each session.

 

I would lay down on my back, arms high above my head in somewhat of a motionless back stroke position and when prompted to take a deep breath, I would press down on my button, inhale until I couldn’t, imagining storm troopers coming to the front lines saying, clear the way, we have work to do! Simultaneously I was transported through ceiling tiles that were so crystal clear, they made me feel like I was in Hawaii with incredible accuracy of swaying palms, blue skies and bright red hibiscus flowers all while listening to 80’s music trying my very best not to dance. The irony is that I am hoisted 5ft above ground- I choose this truth as comforting versus metaphorical.

 

Right before I feel like passing out the intercom opens and a sweet female voice slowly says, breath. I exhale and gasp, just as I have trained all these years under water. 

 

‘You’re all done for today!’ my team would enthusiastically say.

 

Leaving radiation, I would pass by souls of all ages and in all conditions. Some with canes, some with beanie’s, others in masks several with all three perhaps asked to fight a little bit harder than me today…

 

Our bodies are connected to the stars. The constellation of Leo governs the heart and is ruled by our brightest most generously giving star, the one who warms and feeds us daily with nutrients embedded in its rays, The Sun. 

Our relationship with the Sun is often complicated. Some of us worship the beams that bronze our skin while others lather ferociously for ‘protection’ of God forbid, Cancer…

 

When I first learned of my Cancer diagnosis what I feared most was my light being dimmed. The audacity I thought that at the top of my professional game and best years left of my youth, the ugly C word would show up. The nerve!
 

However, Cancer has been such a gift!

 

And this is an example of how Leo can be mis understood and perhaps blinding at times. The same experience for one can be so different for another. Leo shows us how to embrace our natural desire to shine; Validating and giving us permission to be our brightest light. Some may shame this as selfish where as Leo teaches us that it’s okay to celebrate ourselves through expression of self and sharing the abundant solar life that lives within each of us.

 

This can be hard though if you are uncomfortable with loving yourself or are not proud of yourself or don’t know how to reach your potential. It can almost hurt to feel the sun/solar rays and warmth of fire that is often felt when someone is in their full Leo expression because it’s bringing up something that may not be attainable right now.

 

In Japan there is an art called Kintsugi which means ‘golden repair’.

It is the art of fixing broken pottery with powdered gold.  The pottery often becomes more valuable, precious and even more beautiful than the original piece. What a metaphor!

 

Often, we try to disguise our wounds. However, there is a deeper beauty to our wounding, to our scars. When we allow the golden light from the higher planes to remold us, we become even more exquisite, we become imperfectly perfect, we become impeccable.

 

Our wounding and ‘mistakes’ are part of our authenticity!

 

I have been navigating changes and transformation for years through precision and grace. This has been one of the gifts of Cancer; pure presence and preciousness of awareness. In many ways I have never felt or looked better. Ironic, enlightened, delusional? If anything, I have realized that it is not the role of the Sun to play small so that others feel comfortable when taking up space.

 

Thoughts are like ladders to the divine- to our higher selves- the more we are connected, the lighter and brighter we become.

 

A fundamental change is coming and it’s coming from inside of us.

As we start realizing that while being ‘here’ in the physical, we are being tapped on the shoulder to remember our purpose for why we are here, and the bridge starts being repaired back to living from our heart with reverence for our mind, knowing that our true purpose is in service.

 

It was May of this year when I met Anthony Myint.
The chef/founder of Mission Chinese and Zero Foodprint; a non-profit doing their part to fight climate change by addressing greenhouse gas emissions through investments in carbon farming. 

My first paid job was on a farm in Connecticut at the age of 14.
My heart has been on the same path since- I love supporting farmers and have always been ‘a granola child’ as my sister has so aptly called me.

 

At La Saison, ‘Farm to Table’ is literal as we are a farmer focused kitchen. We work directly with farmers to design seasonally inspired menus using solely what is being harvested and preserving the bounty of the season for seasons to come.
 

And so, it is time, to align with the future in mind.

On a mission to regenerate the land through supporting farmers.
This partnership is the first step to our next step for growing our La Saison legacy and giving back to our tremendous farming community.

A percentage of our monthly Farm to Table sales will go directly to grants and these grants will be awarded to applicants who are dedicated to the land through regenerative farming. 
 

We are the very first Napa business to partner with Zero Foodprint and I am so honored to be among the visionary restaurants and food service providers getting involved.

 

I could have chosen to be a victim with my diagnosis, persecuting others for my pain and selfishly rescuing problems that were not mine to solve. Instead, I chose to be a grateful for the opportunity, trusting the process and present to the journey. Anything worth doing takes courage, focus and loyalty- all Leo traits.

 

Richard Rudd is a beautiful poet and guide during this time of great change. He founded what is known as The Gene Keys; a modality I work with in my Gentle Guidance practice. The italicized words below are from the voice of this extraordinary mentor.

 

 

I am hopeful that I will have another exciting announcement next month!

Until then, permission to be as bright as the Sun, it’s the Leo way. 

And if the Sun has already set, trust that it will rise again tomorrow…