watching my plants grow

I grew up in big cities and I still have somewhat of an issue connecting with nature in a big way. Big nature as in wild water rafting, mountain climbing, several-day bike trips, overnights in a lean-to in the woods and stuff like that. I don't feel comfortable in big nature because of a lack of guidance and experience.   Instead, I connect with little nature in the form of my houseplants or my vegetable garden. I get really excited when seedlings emerge from the soil in early spring, and I love accompanying them on their growth journey through the season towards becoming fully grown vegetables.  It's a bit like watching your children grow and develop and change and come into being.  

Discovering little green tomatoes among the greenery and then seeing them grow grow grow into big red ripe juicy fruit we can actually eat is awesome and so rewarding.  The whole process is a bit magical to me.  When I find a ripe zucchini lurking under its big protective leaves it is like finding a present or a prize.  And I love bringing the flowers from the vegetable garden into the house, a bouquet of purplepink chive flowers, or perhaps a few sprigs of white and gangly arugula flowers together with a few sage flowers.

I don't think it matters how you come to appreciate nature, how you connect with it, how you come to respect it - as long as you do it in your own way.

my favorite word is "sure"

That's what my friend said a few days ago. And she is right.  Can you imagine how easy your life became if everyone of your requests was answered with "sure?"

Imagine you asked your son to clean up his room and put away his clothes, and he replied "sure."

Imagine you asked your coworker to help you figure out some computer problem that has been bugging you for days, and she answered "sure."

Imagine you called the plumber to fix your leaky faucet and asked him whether he could come tonight at five, and he said "sure."

Imagine you asked your boss for a reasonable and well-earned raise, and she simply said "sure."

Imagine you asked a friend to help you move a heavy item over the week-end, and he said "sure."

Yesterday afternoon I was relaxing with the newspaper. I had about fifteen minutes before I needed to get dinner going in time to leave for an evening meeting. Just then my daughter asked for help pulling her spring clothes down, and putting her winter clothes up and away, something we had been wanting to do for a few days.   I grumbled something, I didn't want to be bothered, I stuck my head back into the paper, then I remembered that little magical word "sure,".................and went up to help her.  She was so happy and surprised and said "I thought you weren't gonna help me?"

By saying "sure" you say "yes" to life.

rushing to yoga

My life is pretty busy and I love my Slow Yoga time. It brings me right back down into myself, relaxes me, grounds me (which means regaining a healthy perspective on things), all the while keeping me limber and flexible. So why did I not go to yoga yesterday?

I was rushing around the whole day, getting things done, driving a half hour to pick up my vacuum cleaner that needed servicing, coming back (another 1/2 hour), getting something else done, helping with homework, doing some actual work work in between, picking some emergency toilet paper up at the supermarket - and always thinking in the back of my mind that I would make that 6:15 yoga class (after missing the 12PM class). We weren't going to eat until after 8 so we could all have dinner together. But returning from yoga around 7:45 with no dinner prep work done beforehand would have meant either rushing again or eating really late.

"Enough," I said, after finally being back home at 5:50. I would have had to leave my purchases sprawled on the counter, changed, rushed back out to make that class, rushed back and hurried to get dinner on the table. What was the point of rushing to make that yoga class in order to relax, just to have to hurry again to get dinner on the table?  So I didn't go.

Instead, I slowed down with a sigh of relief,  sat down with hubby for a glass of wine while chatting about the events of the day, then prepared dinner in peace and quiet. Sometimes all that rushing is just not worth it.

the soft glow of candles

I love candles. The more the merrier. Lit, of course. There is something mystical about a live flame - the flickering, the color range from blue, to white, to yellow, then orange, and the changing length of the flame, depending on the wick and how it burns.   Candle watching can be quite mesmerizing and meditative.   But what I think I like most about candlelight is the soft and uneven glow it lends to the surrounding space. It adds more depth than the even and flat light of a lamp. "Mom, can I blow the candles out." Before children are allowed to light them they want to blow them out.   Poof. Then they graduate to being allowed to light them with adult supervision. Perhaps you remember how special it was when your child was allowed to light a candle for the first time?

Candles are another one of those quality-of-life things that we should use more often. Outdoor candlelight in the summer feels different from indoor candlelight in the winter. Candlelight adds magic to so many different settings. I like to light a candle when I take a bath.   It makes me feel pampered. Sometimes I light a candle on my desk when I work, it gives it a special feel, it seems to soften the energy. When I light candles on the table for a birthday breakfast, a celebratory dinner or a dinner party, it not only makes it look festive, it also sends the message "it's special."

Christmastime is a time for red candles - on the tree (yes, we use real candles in special German holders that screw directly into the tree trunk), on our Advent wreath, and throughout the house.   A special table setting will look great with colored tapers to match the decor. Most other times I like the elegant glow of off-white candles.

Flickering candles on the picnic table on a hot summer night make the world stop in its tracks. I like the soft glow of candles in weighted paper bags along a walkway, on some rocks in the garden or on a beach. Two summers ago in Italy, when their grandma was not well, the children lit a candle for her in every church we visited.   At Halloween tea lights in little and big hollowed-out and carved pumpkins, inside and outside, announce the beginning of the dark season that candles help to brighten so beautifully.  I like lots of tea lights placed in clusters or rows. It's like tulips - one looks skimpy, lots make a statement. And no birthday table in our house is complete without that special single lit birthday candle and a bouquet of seasonal flowers.

the nature of our dualistic world

Living 25 miles from a nuclear power plant (as the crow flies) makes you wonder sometimes. They always say that these facilities are safe - until they are not (think Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three Mile Island).  There simply is no guarantee.

We live in a dualistic world. You may wonder what that is and what that has to do with it? The world we live in exists through its opposites, it exists as a juxtaposition of contraries with all the shades of grey in between. We would not be able to experience dark without the existence of light, we are unable to define love without its opposite evil, we experience sour in comparison to sweet.

When we make a choice in this world, when we vote for something, when we make something happen, inevitably its opposite is brought into existence. That is the way this world functions. We strive for safety, actually we think we can guarantee ever more safety with ever more refined technology. But that's a fallacy, it's a delusion.

When we vote for nuclear power, its positive and negative aspects will inevitably manifest for us. If we don't want to experience its negative aspects - nuclear meltdowns, contamination and radiation catastrophes - we must eliminate the use of nuclear power altogether.

When we vote for the death penalty, we must accept the horrendous reality of botched executions, such as the one in Oklahoma last week. The only way to avoid it is to abolish capital punishment altogether. If we decide that genetic engineering can make positive contributions to the world we must accept its negative flip side. There is no way around it.

Think about it.

how's your memory?

A few days ago I attended a brief seminar on memory improvement. Two interesting points, in common with Holistic Living, came up.

The first one was presented in the context of techniques for remembering names when meeting new people. Matthew Goerke, the speaker and an expert in memory development, explained what meditation teachers are always stressing, that the untrained mind is like a wild horse. It goes wherever it wants to - not necessarily where you or I want it to go. Without intent and focus a person's name basically goes into one ear and out your other because your mind is meanwhile chattering about your to-do list for the afternoon or that you'd really like a tuna fish sandwich for lunch. Key is to take control of your mind, to be in the Here and Now, to tune into the person you are meeting, to repeat her name with focus and intent while shaking hands. Chances are you'll remember her name again when your paths cross in the supermarket aisle, instead of remembering the face vaguely, but neither where you met nor her name.

The other point had to do with the beliefs we subconsciously hold about ourselves and how, in this case, they impact your memory.  You might say or think "I have a hard time remembering things," or "My memory is getting worse the older I get." This type of running internal commentary is like a mantra and becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy if repeated often enough.  Instead, begin to repeat how you'd actually like to be, even if you have to fake it before you truly believe it (our minds can't distinguish between the two, so "fake it 'til you make it" is good advice).  Better to keep saying to yourself and others "I have great memory," or "My memory is getting better every day."  If you repeat it often enough this, too, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

No need for ginkgo biloba. Instead, be mindful and focused (tell your mind where you want it, keep the reins tight), and think and speak what you do want (a great memory in this case), not what you don't want or fear (such as "I keep forgetting things," or "I can never remember names").

When Matthew Goerke asked us at the seminar "How's your memory?" we learned that our answer should be "Great."

hurry-nights

Even though I cook from scratch, even though I don't buy ready-made meals, I still need to build conveniences and short cuts into my meal planning routines.  And there are definitely those hurry-nights when there isn't much time.  So I have come up with my own "fast foods."  What they really are are building blocks for meals. For one I precook legumes (beans and chickpeas), which I buy in bulk from the food coop, in a large pot and freeze in portion sizes in baggies.  I can take them out in the morning and use them that night to add to a salad or soup, or to use as a side dish.  The advantage to canned legumes is that they are without preservatives or salt.

Frozen organic vegetables are another convenience food.  I usually have spinach, corn, peas and string beans in my freezer.  I can make a spinach pie on the spur of the moment or creamed spinach as a side dish, corn and peas (mixed or alone) can be thrown into a quick soup, into a frittata (together with little potato cubes perhaps), or served as a vegetable.  The thin frozen French style string beans make for a very elegant side dish in a pinch  or when I'm out of fresh vegetables.

Cooking a large pot of stew, chili or soup when you have time, then freezing some in small portions, makes for fast food on a day you don't have time to cook (I just need to remember to thaw it in time).

Some cheeses freeze well.  I keep cheddar, mozzarella and feta cheese in my freezer for impromptu meal making.  There are so many quick uses for grated cheddar, and it makes vegetables under the broiler taste great (think broccoli, potatoes, cauliflower).  The feta is for a quick spinach pie, or if you like a Greek Salad in the summer, and the mozzarella is for homemade pizza or inside an oven baked polenta.

A quick, simple and really satisfying (and gourmet) dinner-in-a-hurry (although I like to savor this one with a glass of red) is a cheese spread with baguette and some freshly cut up fruit (pears, grapes, also the little Persian cucumbers) - literally an instant meal if you have purchased the cheese a few days earlier.

Spaghetti sauce, homemade or store bought, is my next convenience food, which I use as a base for homemade pizza (you can premake pizza dough and freeze it, or buy it ready, or make "instant pizza" on a tortilla or even an English Muffin), and of course a quick pasta dish (throw in some capers and black olives for a super easy Puttanesca sauce).

And my parents freeze their leftovers in small containers, then do a "tapas night" with a table full of small dishes when they don't have time to cook.

That hurry-nights have to mean take-out pizza or Chinese is a myth.  By the time I order pizza or Chinese and pick it up I have already made one of my fast foods (and they are cheaper and healthier for sure).

right or wrong?

We easily tend to judge something as right or wrong - after all we live in a dualistic world and can't avoid seeing our existence through juxtapositions.  Good and bad, black and white, cold and warm.  It seems only natural to take sides, argue, condemn, judge, and feel bad when someone doesn't share our opinion.  But it helps to see the other person's perspective to understand how silly some arguments are, and how what we thought was "wrong" ends up being "right" from a different viewpoint. Let me put that into perspective.  A few years ago my sister and I had a discussion  over towel drying logistics - this was before I stopped using my clothes dryer.  I argued that dryer dried towels felt so good because they were soft, which conveyed to me the feeling of "freshly washed."  On the contrary, my sister, who doesn't have a dryer, said (most Europeans actually don't).  Her scratchy and stiff line dried towels give her that feeling of "freshly laundered," she explained, because soft towels leave the impression that they have been used and need to be washed.   Ok, point well taken. A few years later, when energy costs went through the roof, I woke up and stopped using my drier in favor of drying racks (air and sunshine are for free, electricity is not) - and lo and behold, my attitude changed 180^o and I found myself adopting her position.

Wars are fought over such "rights" and "wrongs."  We know the familiar arguments over toothpaste tube rolling up, or not, and how to insert the toilet paper roll into the holder, with the paper down the front or the back.  Try putting yourself in the other shoes next time you are ready to judge a person for their nose ring, their opinion, their hair color (blue anyone?), or their religion.

Happy Earth Day

Today, I am wishing you a "happy" Earth Day with the caveat that our worldwide window to tackle climate change is beginning to close.  A few days ago I read something about 15 years.  If we don't achieve a definite downward curve on carbon emissions within that time frame our lives will change drastically, and not for the better. We can't keep shrugging our shoulders and putting the onus on "the government," because "the government" gets its nudge from all of us.   Things change when true pressure is exerted on "the government" from all of us.  Change comes from within, moves from the bottom up and out, and government is a reflection of us.

Why am I saying all of this?  Because the onus for drastic change is on each one of us! Now!  Don't throw your arms up in despair at the enormity of our challenges.  Instead, make a conscious effort to embrace what needs to be done by fully accepting our environmental calamity and committing to make a difference.

So, what can you do?  Here are lots of ideas, and the more of them you incorporate into your life the better for all of us.

Recycle and compost your kitchen scraps, plant a garden, buy an energy efficient vehicle (or at least consolidate your trips, or car pool), insulate your home to the max. and consider installing new tight windows, read all you can about climate change and the environment in general, buy local,  bring your own bags to the supermarket (no more plastic bags!  there is a plastic swirl in the Pacific Ocean the size of Texas!!! and plastic does not, I repeat, does not disintegrate in hundreds and hundreds of years),  drink well water and forego buying water in plastic bottles (and who knows what leaches into that water from the plastic anyhow),  read all you can about industrial food production, then make a drastic change in where and what you buy to feed your family,  install solar panels on your home (30% incentive state tax credit until 2015), consider a geothermal heating/air-conditioning system  (after tax credits, cost is similar to a conventional system and you'll be off fossil fuels), switch your electric supplier to one who provides 100% electric from renewable sources, eat less meat (it's better for you anyways), spread the word to other people and inspire them to make a difference, most of all - inform yourself and become aware.

Don't be surprised that none of this is for free. However, you have a choice of making these investments now on your own terms (consider them an insurance premium for environmental health), or shortly being forced by environmental circumstances into a very ugly reality that money and technology will no longer be able to improve.

If you love your planet make it a happy Earth Day by making a difference for yourself and your children and grand-children.

April showers bring May flowers

The grass "popped" and went green from one day to the next this past week-end when the weather suddenly turned warm.  This is when I truly know that spring has sprung.   A warm rain was falling outside.  The next day it snowed and night time temperatures dropped to winter levels.  Now it is pleasant again.  That's April. Spring is about a fresh start, a bit like New Year's, but tied to nature, as opposed to a man-made calendar.  The cycle begins anew.  As a matter-of-fact, when I was little in Germany the school year used to begin in the spring with Easter.  In April the grays and browns of winter slowly give way to spots of color - a bit of tender green here, a white Snowdrop or yellow Narcissus there.  Still timid, but so refreshing.  I open the windows to let the crisp outside air in, so nice after the warm dry indoor winter air.  I look forward to yellow forsythia and soon the pink of luscious magnolia and whites of the fruit trees.  The bolder colors come later, I have to be patient.

The never ending cycle starts again - how reassuring in a chaotic world.  Happy Spring!  Happy Renewal!  Happy Easter!