What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?

I like my well being. So I use strategies regularly.

I have lots of strategies.

Stay hydrated

Enjoy my coffee

Yoga regularly

Try to only eat sweet food after a good meal

Walk as much as possible

Listen to upbeat music or podcasts

Read

Breathe consciously

Look around and feel grateful

Be picky enough as an eater to only eat food I like and savor it

Find joy

Keep learning

Let things go

Get enough sleep

Artwork of course

Life sometimes can move fast.

It can get intense.

If I keep myself feeling healthy and well, I just do better. I’m like a toddler that way, and I no longer apologize for it. I’m sensitive. My energy picks up everything, so I have to plan accordingly.

What’s your go-to comfort food?

I dearly love my comfort foods. I probably love comfort in general but I’ll admit I used to not allow myself to enjoy it much.

When I was in the parenting phase, I thought comfort was a luxury I didn’t have time for or could afford, so I went along, going without, often lumping it, for years. No surprize that I was an endurance runner. I’m good at enduring or I was…

But, I’ve changed. I’ve expanded my outlook a little.

Now, I take my comfort very seriously. I’ve learned that when I’m in a comfortable vibrational state, I’m happy. I show up better.

I’ve learned that there is a lot more to life than enduring, in fact, I may have reinvented the endurance process for myself.

Now, I eat what I want and don’t eat what I don’t want. I pay attention to how I’m feeling and when it’s off, I do something different. I excuse myself from things, change the topic, get off the computer or phone, hang out in nature, stay hydrated etc. I put my needs above where I used to put them.

And when I want a food for comfort, I make sure I’m comforted in every way, because if I’m craving comfort, I’ve probably been enduring something uncomfortable for too long.

I once went through a rough patch and regularly made Kate Hepburn brownies. There was a poem I read, that said when you’re feeling down, dress in gray and black, draw the curtains, slump your shoulders, bake a black cake…wallow.

There was something about the list that made me laugh and at the same time want to follow its advice. A sweet surrender. So the brownies became my black cake.

What’s your favorite game (card, board, video, etc.)? Why?

Monopoly. I have some good memories of playing with my grandkids. Once when they were small and Rose was too young to do much besides roll the dice, we dragged out the game and set it all up. She did insist on all piink money. Their black lab Stone, zigged zagged across the board which made the kids all scream. No one cared if they won or not. It was August and we all had that hot, bored summery feeling. Pushing Stone out of the way and re positioning everything was just funny. It was chaotic but made for a perfectly perfect memory.

I like card games too…and backgammon

Also, there are some fun games we invented at the park. One was called monster and it was just a version of tag, only when you were caught you became a monster with the ‘it monster’ until everyone was a monster and only one person was trying not to get tagged. We played this every time we were at playgrounds. until one day Lily aged out of playing at the playground. This happened slowly and abruptly. I read somewhere that we do everything for the first and then last time. Usually we aren’t even aware when its the last time.

I miss those babies! Those little chipmunks voices…

What foods would you like to make?

Well. I would like to make some dishes from what is growing in my garden!

I am the most impatient gardener! I love looking at what changed overnight. I love searching for tiny green versions of everything. I am genuinely excited for every full grown pea pod and every single green bean. I actually found two cucumbers and one zucchini and a full bowl of green and yellow beans!

We have so many green tomatoes! I just know they will start turning red while I’m away! This heartbreaking truth I can only handle because I’m pretty sure there will be an ongoing supply in August. We have six thriving plants!

I’m not just excited about MY garden either. My neighbors have been doing this for years! One has eggplant ready to pick! The other has a patch of zucchini that looks like a five foot jungle.

I’ve been making every kind of salad. I can not wait to make a Greek salad with my own tomatoes and cucumbers!!! Or fry up some zucchini! I’ve been putting the peas raw in salads. My lettuce has been hanging in there. I pick some every night! Tomato sandwiches! BLTs! Buffalo mozzarella with my own basil and tomatoes. I’d love to make a veggie quiche! Last year we had some of Martha’s eggplant, I made eggplant parmigiana. No one thought they liked eggplant, but now it’s an often requested favorite. I have two very tiny hopefuls growing right now.

I never knew I could be so excited about growing vegetables! They actually pretty much grow themselveseS. With all the rain we hardly even have to water. I do pull out little weeds and spray soapy water where bugs seem to be nibbling. Mostly I just look and marvel. Once empty dirt is now lush and growing!

Which activities make you lose track of time?

Any art activity. Most creative pursuits.

I love in-the-flow timeless feeling. You look at the clock and somehow three hours disappeared.

Today I spent some time painting the name on my boat. 91 degrees and humid, but I stood out there and worked on it for an amount of time that I don’t even know. Suddenly it was after 5:00 and dinner had to be started. I’m not finished…

Reading

Cooking

Shopping…

What makes you happy and why?

In my vigilance and determination to stay in a comfortable vibration, I changed the prompt.

I have never before been more aware of the importance of how I feel. Energy. Positive energy!

Hanging out with friends and family! Why?

Love

List 10 things you know to be absolutely certain.

Well. Here goes (I read the prompt after a conversation about knowing practically nothing. Promptly afterward)

1 The sun will rise

2 The sun will set

3 The tide will come in

4 The tide will go out

5 Most living things breathe

6 The first breath we take is in, Our last breath is out

7 Change is part of life

8 Everything dies

9 Love is a higher, lighter vibration than hate

10 No two people are the same. There never has been or ever will be a person exactly like you.

Are you seeking security or adventure?

Or neither. I can’t tell. It’s more like I’m just trying to hold on to the tilt a whorl ride that I’m falling out of.

If you could host a dinner and anyone you invite was sure to come, who would you invite?

My whole family.

We haven’t all been all together for awhile.

If it’s unlimited, I’d have everyone I love from both coasts.

What do you think gets better with age?

Understanding, wounds, investments, cheese, wine…

Time heals.

The passage of time is interesting. It ages everything, but it also softens and smooths. It helps us get used to things. Get to know things, comprehend and understand both people and circumstances. It helps practice add up and become proficiency. It unravels puzzling details and soothes and heals pains and breaks, both physical and emotional.

What gets better with age/time? Not everything.

The things that do, are hard to describe in a word, but we all know them…