I'm writing this while finishing my third morning cup of green jasmine  tea.  Why is this a big deal?  Because I'm a former morning coffee-holic.  I've been drinking coffee since I was about fourteen years old.  Of course, at that time (back in the 70s) my morning cup was made from Maxwell House instant crystals to which I added Coffee Rich (a non-dairy 'creamer' made of hydrogenated coconut oil, water and corn syrup, seriously) and sweetened with either sugar, or more likely, Sweet-n-Low (saccharine in that little pink packet).  What can I say?  I grew up in the era of laboratory foods: TV dinners, instant mashed potatoes, Stove Top Stuffing, Cool Whip, Velveeta--you get the idea.  I remember my parents trying to step up their game by emulating Mary Tyler Moore on her show by buying one of those hour-glass drip coffee pots (see below).  By the way, I spent much of my childhood salivating over that apartment! So cool.

The glass hourglass was a bust.  It produced watery coffee that took too long to drip and was cold by the time you could drink it, but home-brewed coffee was in its infancy.  The Mr. Coffee machines came on the market in 1972 and eventually we got with the program, but probably not until about the late 1980s.  The original plain $20 model is still very reliable for brewing a big pot.  Alas though, coffee--for the time being--is a thing of the past.

At the age of 53 this year, I've discovered that my "entering menopause" self cannot tolerate coffee.  My morning cups were setting off hot flashes which then resulted in stomach cramps and diarrhea.  I stubbornly clung to my morning joe, but finally had to say enough is enough.  Thus, I'm back to tea.

I have given up coffee before--for three full years to be exact.  When my husband met me I was in the midst of a stint drinking only green and herbal teas.  I was lean, healthy and running a lot and practicing yoga frequently.  I had plenty of energy and felt good with my tea.  I'd take a mug with me everywhere, including dinners and parties.  I never wanted my host to think they had to accommodate my desire for green tea with soy milk and stevia (my evening dessert tea).  I'd just BYOB.  Then my husband and I went on a trip, there was a coffee shop we'd visit every morning, and suddenly I was back on the coffee wagon--BIG TIME.  I'm not one for much moderation.  When I fall, I fall hard.  Suddenly coffee was a several cups a day thing.  My husband is Canadian, he teaches up there at a university, so trips up north invariably included multiple cups of Tim Horton's.  There is a Tim Horton's on nearly every street corner so opportunities were abundant.  Given all the research we've been reading about the benefits of coffee, I figured this was an alright obsession.  I was completely alcohol free and didn't ever drink soda, so what was the big deal?  Honestly, it wasn't a problem until MENOPAUSE.  Suddenly my beloved beverage was leaving me doubled over with cramps, sweating and feeling nauseous on the porcelain throne.  That was a problem.

Here's the thing, when faced with necessary change we have two choices.  We can either embrace with enthusiasm, or resist with resentment.  The first option produces a new experience and positivity, the second is merely indulging your inner brat.  I decided to lean into my new self and get serious about drinking tea not coffee.  What does this mean?  I bought a beautiful sky-blue china teapot, a tea cozy (essential for good brewing and keeping tea warm), a giant mesh tea ball to make loose tea brewing easy and less messy, and I am buying teas.  All kinds of teas: Jamaican butter rum black tea blend, organic green jasmine, lapsang souchang (a smoked tea that smells and tastes like a campfire), white tea with a rainbow of flower petals, Breakfast in Paris (an earl grey tea with lavender), and so on.  Each tea fits a different mood and presents a very different flavor profile.  I'm playing and experimenting.  And at night I have a decaffeinated lady grey tea with half & half and a few drops of vanilla stevia.  Yep, I'm back to my evening dessert tea--a comforting ritual.  

The lesson I've learned from this is that a dietary health setback or bodily change does not have to signal loss.  When framed in the right context, it can be an agent for pleasure and powerful change.  So, here's an exercise for you to practice:

1. Identify something in your diet that isn't really working for you.  Sure you may like it, but it doesn't like you back!
2. Think about how taking that thing out of your life will make you feel.  Will you experience profound loss?
3. If loss or resistance is what you feel, then think about a healthy replacement.  It could be tea for coffee (as in my case) or La Croix for soda (even diet soda, which isn't good for you), or rye bread (very healthy) for white bread, or homemade salad dressing instead of gloppy bottled ranch, or soy milk for dairy (if you are finding you don't process lactose well), or peanuts for chips, etc.
4. Instead of feeling burdened, jump into it.  Do some research, look for the best options.  "Eat This Not That" has good nutritional information and reviews of products.  Go with the best so that you don't feel cheated.
5. Buy yourself the right equipment and make it cute or pretty.  My blue pot brings me cheer!

Finally, these lessons can apply to many life changes: jobs, money, relationships, location.  Accept change as necessary and exciting and you'll never be bored!

Artfully yours,

​Lisabeth

Ever hear of the phrase "get your ducks in a row"?  Well, that's what you need to be doing right now.  March and April are important months in which to set yourself up for a lovely summer and fall.  What that means is "cleaning" house--doing a proverbial spring cleaning, but you need to know what you are up against!  We are literally being dragged (often kicking, screaming and complaining) from cold, dry weather into cold, damp and wet weather, or temperature ups and downs, or extreme rains, or very high winds, or all of the above in the course of a week.  This plays havoc with our lungs and sinuses, bringing on colds and infections.  In my case, high winds mean fever blister breakouts on my lip. Others have constant runny noses, or watering eyes, or headaches.  You need to start to clean out that damp back-up meaning you want to go for lean and green foods and liquids.  Less fat, more bitter tastes (greens, herbs, teas, even sweeteners like molasses).  You're trying to sweep out the stored fat and any built-up toxins, physical or emotional.

Because this is your charge, March and April can be a tough emotional months and transitions to navigate. You're getting cabin fever, but the weather isn't going to allow you to lounge outside with that latte quite yet. Your beautiful yellow daffodils open up, only to be crushed by heavy snow. Your blossom trees freeze in an ice storm and you don't know if they'll set fruit or even survive. You're slopping around in mud and slush and it seems like your boots will never be clean and dry.  You always seem to have an open umbrella in the hallway airing out.  You may feel tired, blue and worn out just as the weather is starting to warm up.  You need a plan so that you can approach that fresh season with energy and high spirits.

The remedy: Embrace the change with some smart strategies and some positive thinking informed by the knowledge of what this spring cleaning time is all about.  This means "greening up" your diet (and no, that doesn't mean shamrock shakes or green beer), doing some detoxing, seeking healthy heat therapies, moving as much as you can, and getting some extra sleep to help adjust to the time change of Daylight Savings.  Let's start (but not END) with diet:

 Good Breakfast Choices:

1. “Thai” Smoothie (apple or pear, ginger, natural peanut butter, coconut milk, almond milk, frozen banana, cinnamon)
2. “Gingerbread” Smoothie (apple, frozen banana, ginger, almond milk, molasses, garam masala, cinnamon)
3. Green Juice (Spinach or Kale, Cucumber, Apple, Mint, Celery, Grapes, Ginger & Lemon--any or all of the above are great)
4. Fuschia Juice (Beet, Apple, Carrot, Lemon, Ginger).  Drink less often, but for a fun change of pace.
5. Stewed apples/pears (cook an apple, chopped large, in a small saucepan with a bit of water or apple cider, and a few cloves, add a lemon peel.  Feel free to add prunes.
6. Oatmeal with maple syrup or stewed apples
7. Corn mush with maple syrup or stewed apples
8. Chia pudding—seeds soaked overnight in almond milk with vanilla extract, dried cranberries, almond slivers and unsweetened coconut—add cinnamon and nuts upon eating, if desired.
9. Green Tea 
10. Everyday Detox Tea

Good Lunch Choices:

1. Green Salad—lots of veggies/greens with a simple dressing of olive oil, lemon juice and garlic.
2. Roasted or Steamed Squash, Steamed Greens
3. Tonic Soup (broth with ginger and garlic) with Greens and mushrooms and green onions, add some buckwheat noodles
4. Lentil Soup with greens
5. Vegetable Stir-Fry with Quinoa
6. Artichoke with lemon/olive oil, steamed veggies with brown rice
7. Asparagus, asparagus, asparagus
8. Edamame/Green Peas with brown rice, lemon, olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs
9. Pureed green pea/arugula soup
10. Fish, eggs or tofu for protein
11. Green Tea
12. Everyday detox tea

Good Dinner Choices: SAME AS LUNCH (or Breakfast)—these are all interchangeable!

• Drink a cup of hot water with lemon first thing in the morning, followed by green tea throughout the day, a detox tea or lemon tea into the evening.

CLEAN A CLOSET! (OR A DRAWER, OR CUPBOARD) My daughter is even more hard core than me.  She really loves spring cleaning.  Closets are done and a mountain of clothes went to Goodwill.  No sentimental hanging on.  It feels great.  No books from book sales come in unless an equal number leave.  It's great karma and very cleansing and liberating.

MOVE!!!  Take a walk outside or do a walk/exercise dvd inside.  If it’s rainy then grab an umbrella.  Go for at least 30 minutes.  Take in the weather, landscape, sights, smells and sounds.  If it's just too depressing, then do indoor exercise but do not skip it.  Take yoga classes.  Bounce on a mini-trampoline.  Jump rope.  Lift weights--get a dvd for instruction, or look something up on You Tube.  No excuses, there are so many options nowadays.

HEAT THERAPY: to combat all that cold dampness, drink lots of hot/clear liquids and if you have access to a sauna or whirlpool bath, use it.  If not, then run a hot bath (if your skin is dry and itchy, add colloidal oatmeal to the water).  Or, if you cannot take a bath, run a hot shower and add a few shakes of eucalyptus oil to the shower stall.  Use body butter or massage oil on your skin afterwards to ward off dryness.  Soak your feet in a basin with hot water and Epsom salts, add an essential oil like lavender or eucalyptus.  If you want  an upgrade, buy a "foot spa".  I purchased a Homedics one for $39.99 on Walmart's site.  What's wonderful is that the water stays perfectly warm.  Marvelous and easy luxury!

SKIN THERAPY: My latest easy favorite, inexpensive Korean facial mask sheets, I put one on while having that hot bath.  Clean your face nightly with cold cream, it cleanses and moisturizes.  I also love a high quality face cream (my latest crush is Charlotte Tillbury's Magic Cream).  

SOUL THERAPY:  Find some good reading material.  Now is a great time to delve into a spiritual book you've always wanted to read. Something by the Pema Chodron, or Surya Rama Das, or Eckhart Tolle, anything that examines life and your place in the universe.  It's also a great time to dive into the work of a favorite poet.  Maya Angelou, Rita Dove, Mary Oliver, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost---whatever you find feeds your soul.  I like to read a poem first thing in the morning while drinking my hot water, do it before opening email or social media.  My latest favorite is Hart Crane--an Ohioan who unfortunately killed himself at age 37.  He used language like no one I've ever seen.  So lyrical.

MORE SOUL THERAPY:  Visit your local botanical gardens (it really can be a salve at this time or year), the art museum, a natural history museum, a concert or lecture at the library.  Give yourself the gift of more knowledge.  Water and nurture your mind.

Remember, May is around the corner, leaves will bud and open, flowers will bloom, sunny days will arrive, heavy sweaters will go back into the dresser drawers.

March into spring like a gentle and wise warrior!
Happy Greening---

​Lisabeth

March, despite the arrival of Spring Equinox within it, can be a very difficult seasonal transition for the body and spirit.  Most schools (including mine) have their "spring break" and yet the weather often does not cooperate.  We're ready for sunshine, light jacket weather, and blooming bulbs.  Unfortunately the weather is often mercurial with snowstorms, heavy rains and ice.  In Northeast Ohio, we had temperatures in the high 60's in February (I hiked in a tank top one day) which encouraged the bulbs to pop up.  The snowstorm that hit the eastern half of the U.S. the past two days has certainly taken care of those.  And so it goes--we get a little lift, and are smacked back down into the cold, gray and damp of late winter, sort of like that old "whack a mole" game.  And then there's Daylight Savings Time--an hour lost!  This is March Madness after all.  Not the basketball kind, of which I know very little, but rather the winter to spring, cold to wet (before hot and dry) kind of madness.  

March is an important month to set yourself up for a lovely summer and fall.  What that means is "cleaning" house--doing a proverbial spring cleaning, but you need to know what you are up against!  We are literally being dragged (often kicking, screaming and complaining) from cold, dry weather into cold, damp and wet weather, or temperature ups and downs, or extreme rains, or very high winds, or all of the above in the course of a week.  This plays havoc with our lungs and sinuses, bringing on colds and infections.  In my case, high winds mean fever blister breakouts on my lip. Others have constant runny noses, or watering eyes, or headaches.  

Just as important, March can be a tough emotional transition to navigate.  You're getting cabin fever, but the weather isn't going to allow you to lounge outside with that latte quite yet.  Your beautiful yellow daffodils open up, only to be crushed by heavy snow. Your blossom trees freeze in an ice storm and you don't know if they'll set fruit or even survive.  You're slopping around in mud and slush and it seems like your boots will never be clean and dry.  You always seem to have an open umbrella in the hallway airing out.  

The remedy: Embrace the change with some smart strategies and some positive thinking informed by the knowledge of what this Month is all about (after all, it is named after the Roman god of war).  This means "greening up" your diet (and no, that doesn't mean shamrock shakes or green beer), doing some detoxing, seeking healthy heat therapies, moving as much as you can, and getting some extra sleep to help adjust to the time change.

 Good Breakfast Choices:

1. “Thai” Smoothie (apple or pear, ginger, natural peanut butter, coconut milk, almond milk, frozen banana, cinnamon)
2. “Gingerbread” Smoothie (apple, banana, ginger, almond milk, molasses, garam masala, cinnamon)
3. Green Juice (Spinach or Kale, Cucumber, Apple, Mint, Ginger & Lemon)
4. Fuschia Juice (Beet, Apple, Carrot, Lemon, Ginger)
5. Stewed apples/pears (cook an apple, chopped large, in a small saucepan with a bit of water or apple cider, and a few cloves, add a lemon peel.  Feel free to add prunes.
6. Oatmeal with maple syrup or stewed apples
7. Corn mush with maple syrup or stewed apples
8. Chia pudding—seeds soaked overnight in almond milk with vanilla extract, dried cranberries, almond slivers and unsweetened coconut—add cinnamon and nuts upon eating, if desired.
9. Green Tea 

Good Lunch Choices:

1. Green Salad—lots of veggies/greens with a simple dressing of olive oil, lemon juice and garlic.
2. Roasted or Steamed Squash, Steamed Greens
3. Kitchari (seasoned yellow lentils) and Greens
4. Tonic Soup (broth with ginger and garlic) with Greens and mushrooms and green onions
5. Vegetable Stir-Fry with Quinoa
6. Artichoke with lemon/olive oil, steamed veggies with brown rice
7. Edamame/Green Peas with brown rice, lemon, olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs
8. Pureed green pea/arugula soup
9. Fish, eggs or tofu for protein
10. Green Tea

Good Dinner Choices: SAME AS LUNCH (or Breakfast)—these are all interchangeable!

• Drink a cup of hot water with lemon first thing in the morning, followed by green tea throughout the day, a detox tea or lemon tea into the evening.

MOVE!!!  Take a walk outside or do a walk/exercise dvd inside.  If it’s rainy then grab an umbrella.  Go for at least 30 minutes.  Take in the weather, landscape, sights, smells and sounds.  If it's just too depressing, then do indoor exercise but do not skip it.

HEAT THERAPY: to combat all that cold dampness, drink lots of hot/clear liquids and if you have access to a sauna or whirlpool bath, use it.  If not, then run a hot bath (if your skin is dry and itchy, add colloidal oatmeal to the water).  Or, if you cannot take a bath, run a hot shower and add a few shakes of eucalyptus oil to the shower stall.  Use body butter or massage oil on your skin afterwards to ward off dryness.  Soak your feet in a basin with hot water and epsom salts, add an essential oil like lavender or eucylptus.

SKIN THERAPY: My latest easy favorite, inexpensive Korean facial mask sheets, I put one on while having that hot bath.  

SOUL THERAPY:  Find some good reading material.  Now is a great time to delve into a spiritual book you've always wanted to read. Something by the Pema Chodron, or Surya Rama Das, or Eckhart Tolle, anything that examines life and your place in the universe.  It's also a great time to dive into the work of a favorite poet.  Maya Angelou, Rita Dove, Mary Oliver, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost---whatever you find feeds your soul.  I like to read a poem first thing in the morning while drinking my hot water, do it before opening email or social media.

MORE SOUL THERAPY:  Visit your local botanical gardens (it really can be a salve at this time or year), the art museum, a natural history museum, a concert or lecture at the library.  Give yourself the gift of more knowledge.  Water and nurture your mind.

Remember, April and May are around the corner, leaves will bud and open, flowers will bloom, sunny days will arrive, heavy sweaters will go back into the dresser drawers.

March into March like a gentle and wise warrior!
Happy Spring--

​Lisabeth


​

​
​Grim stones whose gray lips keep your secret well,
Our hands that touch you touch an ancient terror,
An ancient woe, colossal citadel
Of some fierce faith, some heaven-affronting error.
Rude-built, as if young Titans on this wold
Once played with ponderous blocks a striding giant
Had brought from oversea, till child more bold
Tumbled their temple down with foot defiant.
Upon your fatal altar Redbreast combs
A fluttering plume, and flocks of eager swallows
Dip fearlessly to choose their April homes
Amid your crevices and storm-beat hollows.
Even so in elemental mysteries,
Portentous, vast, august, uncomprehended,
Do we dispose our little lives for ease,
By their unconscious courtesies befriended.  

--Katharine Lee Bates, 19th century poet, educator and author of they lyrics to "America the Beautiful".

Summer Solstice officially arrives this year on June 20th, and will be marked by the unusual dual occurrence of a full moon.  I love the change of seasons and this one promises to be especially special with the lunar event.   I try to always note, and often celebrate, the celestial change of seasons, however I won't be donning a druid's robe and traveling to Stonehenge.  I should think that summer solstice would be the worst time to visit the ancient monument--far too many people looking for spiritual fireworks.  The above watercolor, by one of my favorite painters, British painter J.M.W. Turner, and the poem by American poet Katharine Lee Bates, both reference the supernatural allure and lore of this arrangement of monoliths. Archaeologically speaking, the site is spectacular, but the evidence indicates that the site was used over the centuries for a multitude of purposes.  It served as a site of worship, burial and even as a spa offering specially healing waters.  And it continues to serve as a tourist destination and "bucket list" stop for many.

I find summer solstice to be the perfect time to truly sink into summer. It's when the reality of another academic year having come to a close fully starts to set in and my body goes into a more relaxed state.  I will admit, it takes me a while to get there.  If you are having trouble transitioning, you may need to employ some special techniques to get you into an appreciative mood of the new season.  Many years ago, I had a real problem with this transition.  I had just finished my doctoral studies and had been awarded my degree and had finished my second year of full-time teaching.  I had literally used every day off to finish my dissertation and I was emotionally and physically spent.  After school let out, I found myself in a deep funk.  For weeks--I'm talking five weeks--I sat in a chair on my screened-in porch staring at the woods.  I had zero energy to tackle anything.  Occasionally, I would think I should at least watch some television, but would then realize that getting up, turning it on, finding something of interest--it was too much.  This post-dissertation depression is fairly common.  The extraordinary effort required to finish and pass is often followed by a period of letdown and lethargy.  But this sort of funk could happen to anyone following a major event, or even as a result of expecting a summer filled with fun and excitement.  Maybe you just don't have that in you!  

Here's how I pulled out of it.  I started reading a book series: Jan Karon's Mitford series.  Karon tells the story of a pastor living in a small town in the Blue Mountains who, at age sixty, finds his whole life changes.  Just as he's gearing down for retirement, his circumstances shift dramatically. The book pulled me in, and then I was out searching book outlet stores for the various volumes in the series.  The story, the quest, it all pulled me into someone else's world and gave me some purpose.  Most importantly, it afforded me a respite from my own circumstances. Sometimes we need that.  So, if you are needing a way to shift over to summer, give reading a series a try.  My husband and I will be traveling to Iceland in July, and so for the past several weeks, we've been reading Arnaldur Indridason's murder mysteries featuring the detective Erlendur. They have provided us with a description of the country and a distraction from the end of a very crammed, and unfortunately traumatic, academic school year.  

Some other ways to soften into summer:

• Pick a poet and follow them daily.  I'm really into Amy Lowell (another 19th century female Massachusetts poet like Bates) right now.
• Take up a practice--I've gotten back into yoga and am feeling my body and attitude soften from the hard shell I built up over a tough year.
• Walk after dinner.  In Italy, passeggiata (an after dinner stroll) is a tradition.  No speed walking here.  This is a leisurely walk meant to help the digestion and to socialize with family and friends.
• Eat cooling and easy foods.  No elaborate prep.  Salads, fruit and cheese plates, yogurt, cold chicken.  Keep it simple.
• Sit outdoors and just be.  Sipping a cup of green tea, watching the birds, the squirrels, the chipmunks--it's entertainment enough for me.
• Play--frisbee, badminton, catch.  Nothing formal, just fun.

Rest, Read, Rejoice.  Summer will be arriving in a couple of days with a strawberry full moon. Savor the beauty and the peace.

Artfully yours, Lisabeth