I had a good idea…to open up this page a bit, I thought to bring in friends (or people I wish were friends) that I regard as kindred spirits.
I love the word kindred… it comes from Old English kinrædan, having to do with kin, family. Well of the three spirits I begin with, one actually is family…my youngest child. Amanda is over-the-top gifted…a poet, writer, needlewoman, gardener, she is a very old soul. Her website is a hoot…if you leave a note on it, you would encourage her to add to it (it’s been awhile).
Of the other two ladies, one is a woman I dearly wish I’d known–someone who, after being told by her professor of mining engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, “The female mind is incapable of grasping mechanics or higher mathematics or any of the fundamentals of mining taught,” became that university’s first woman to gain a degree in Mining Engineering. Then her Up Yours! spirit had her dress as a man and, with a woman friend, drive a Model T Ford 2,400 miles across America. After reconnoitering here and there for a bit, she took off to the Belgian Congo where, living with a pygmy tribe, she worked for the Red Cross for two years. Her final adventure there was walking across Africa all by herself. Next to the Orient, where–before and during The War–Hahn supported herself as a correspondent for The New Yorker. Her derring-do makes my head hurt… Now when I say Emily is a kindred spirit, I do not mean to imply I could’ve accomplished any one of her feats–I’m merely a wistful admirer.
My third Kindred Spirit is the incomparable Deborah Madison, a beautiful woman inside and out…and remarkable pioneer in the culinary world. Deborah is one of the prime reasons multitudes of us set luscious vegetarian dishes on our tables. More, she was immensely generous to me at a time in my life when I’d decided to teach cooking…couldn’t have done it without her…
More Kindred Spirits to come…