Since about the time I plunged into the blogosphere, in 2008, I've been following a number of artists and photographers. Kelly Rae Roberts, being one of the more spectacular. Instagram has helped me reconnect with many of these artist bloggers and more. Here's a video from her "about" page. Enjoy. (And see why I'm enthralled.)
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My friend, artist Pam Jolly Haile, whom I know from Art & Soul Studio, Nashville Nonviolent Communication and the Vanderbilt Meditation Group, is pictured far left at my home during a recent open house. What is pictured here to the right of her is a moving project described by Pam below:
"I have been attending Watkins College of Art, Design & Film for over 10 years, slowly working towards my BFA degree. I am executing a large art project that I will be exhibiting for my graduation show in April. I have set the goal of collecting 3000 thumbprints to be displayed as a single circular piece. My intention is to make a statement that we are all One, though individuals. It will require approximately that quantity (3000 thumbprints) to construct a piece of a diameter that measures the same as the average height of all humans--that's 5' 5 1/2".
"We are collecting prints on at least 8 types of paper to bring texture and richness to the piece, also representative of our human community. Our project is shaping up to represent the beautiful diversity that makes up our world. We have children of all ages, ninetysomethings, men, women, various cultures, people with autism and other disAbilities, meditating groups and varying geographical regions represented--and that's just what I know of so far."
3/27 ADDENDUM: NOTE CHANGES IN DATES & LOCATIONS: You can see the finished piece in Nashville's Watkins School Gallery beginning Fri., April 26th through Wed., May 8 except for May 3 and 4, when it will exhibit at the TAL (Tennessee Art League)'s new location, 219 5th Avenue North, (next to The Arts Company). Cool, huh?!
#WeAreAllOne #One
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Just when I thought it was over....When I wrote this blog post series on tea, I thought I was a bit nutty. That no one out here besides me cared. (Although I knew the later was not true, just not sure any of my readers cared.) Thanks for the comments on the blog and Facebook saying you did, were interested and were learning.
I'm back to share another story on the healing power of tea. I shared in Part II, a couple of my "go-to" tea cold remedies. And for the drinking readers out there (ha,) you know that sipping tea is synonymous with slowing down a bit and take a moment's breather. At least. But, for as many years I've been drinking tea, I didn't discover the truly de-stressing powers of the hot beverage until the last half-dozen years.
Last Wednesday morning was stressful. Grace had an appointment with Social Security to claim benefits because she is now an adult with a disAbility. I barely got out the door with any breakfast, let alone tea. But, I did have the sense to brew what I was craving: chamomile. Good choice. Starting when I was pregnant with my now adult child, I have learned to listen to what my body craves--down to certain vitamins and minerals (it helps to know what foods have these properties). So, that rush-rush, stressful meeting morning, that craving--it was probably my body's intuitive way of saying: "Take some chill-out tea for this venture. You'll need it!"
I was nervous about the meeting as at nearly at the last minute, I didn't think I'd done all I should have to prepare and I'd heard so many horror stories of the process. (Long, long story.) And, funny, as I write that, I think it sounds awful lot like the process of entering the school systems with a child who's recently been diagnosed with a disAbility. Perhaps I was not taking my own advice here. The game has changed and it's a lot more bureaucratic now with a lot less relationships to be formed by fewer people delivering less services. And, who ever heard of a governmental office being warm and fuzzy?!
I digress.
It was Wednesday following a long-holiday weekend, with an extra day tacked on for Grace to go to the beach with his father and grandmother. She got back in the night before. Our appointment was at 9 that next morning. Okay: be early. But, being early meant we stood outside in 30 degrees temps--Grace with remenants of a cold--for those 15 minutes we showed up before our appointment. Out came the Teavanna mug with steaming chamomile. Sip. Sip. Warm. And then, midway through the interview, sip some more. And that's when I noticed that medicinal effect that I'd known of for more than two decades but only in the last half-dozen actually felt. So, remember: it's takes good tea. A fresh variety. Brewing according to directions. No wonder I never experienced the benefits of chamomile's calm when I was buying less tasty brands; purchasing them, unknowingly, old, sometimes; using less than stellar (microwaved) water and letting my cup get cold.
I'm glad I've learned these little tips over recent years because that day, that tea in the middle of that interview with a government bureaucrat, was the equivalent of a delicious yoga pose, a shoulder massage or maybe a hit of Xanax (or so I hear of the later).
May you also savor the joys and find your little oasis in a good cup of tea. Life is beginning to bloom on beloved bare branches, but March, here, has started out fickle with snow, cold and warm and back to cold again. And right now? I'm sipping chamomile and lavendar. Ahhh. Thanks for reading!
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Okay! Ready? To make tea, you boil tap water, pour, steep and sip. Right? Worse, nuke a mug of tap water. Right? Nope and nope. Trust me. The type of water and how it's heated does affect the taste. I'll skip the parts about what temperature and bringing to a boil or just before a boil and all that that some say are necessary for certain teas. I boil and follow the steeping directions for each individual tea.
My electric Black and Decker tea kettle quickly brings a wee or a lot of
filtered water (or anything but tap) to a boil. If I'm using loose herbs, I prefer to
spoon them into a basket for steeping. I use the baskets that come in the vessels I mention below or you can purchase one, such as this. Then I set a timer for the
precise time recommended on the box, which varies according to the of tea. I
don't dump the pot every time I make a spot, but I do fill the pot with
fresh filtered water for each new day that I serve up a cup.
Remember to steep according to directions. This is probably the key reason people don't like hot tea and find it bitter. It took me years to realize this.
Grace insists on an infusion of honey for her mugs while I drink all of mine plain but Earl Grey and sometimes a fruity blend. I've recently, signed up for Weight Watchers meetings again. I'm a "lifetime member." I'm ready to lose the next 10 from my 25 pound relationship gain 2007-11. Sometimes one spoonful of honey doesn't get it and each serving of the golden delicious costs me two Weight Watchers points. I'm experimenting with less honey for those blends that just scream HONEY! and a little stevia. I'm working on getting the amount of stevia down but seems when I get close, it accentuates the warm, yum, medicinal-healing taste & healing properties of honey.
Black, green, fruity herbal or just herbal, savoring my cuppa at just the right temp is key to enjoyment. If I'm road tripping I take this along, by Teavana. Absolutely the best for keeping tea piping hot for hours. I mean 3/4 of the way from Nashville to upstate South Carolina. Nearly a day's length. Great to pack for a bundle of errands or a day writing at the library (sssshhhh!). I was unable to verify if Franklin Tea still sells a tall steel mug that is perfect for shorter jaunts as it's not as uber insulated as the Teavana mug. When I want just a mug to perch arms length away on my desk while I work at home, I found a steel large (not tall) mug by Starbucks, which is my fave. (I didn't pay this much for mine.) Ceramic only works for me if it's a cup sipped in a cushy chair face-to-face with a friend. No distractions. I'd love to hear your favorite varieties for cermic mugs that keep tea warm. I'm interested in local handmade pottery varieties and those with lids. Remember the wider the mouth, the more air will swoosh in and cool your hot tea. Go smaller.
If it's more than just me enjoying a spot of tea, especially if there's more than two and/or we'll be sipping more than one cup, I'll heat my large cast iron Japanese Tsetubin, which can be kept on a tea light warmer, or thought not advised, I sometimes keep it on a special warmer eye on my flat top stove. I recommend Teavana for larger Tsetubins. The materials used to construct the pot are important. Some less expensive models can chip ceramic paint. Franklin Tea has an array of fun pots for serving up small, or individual batches to a guest. Remember to heat up any serving vessel first before adding the water in which you plan to steep the tea. My Canadian friend used to do this each time I visited her during the colder months. This was before I became more tea savvy. I thought the warming up of the pot, the tea cozy and all a bit overkill, but she always served the perfect pot. Now I get it.(You warm it up by boiling tap water and then pouring it into the pot and letting it heat up the pot before dumping and putting in the fresh, pure, heated water for steeping the tea.)
If you've read this far you're gawking at my geekness or your resonating and you totally get it and/or maybe learned something new, maybe you'll even venture to try tea again anew. You'll either get me or not. I hope you do. If not, go ahead. Laugh at my expense. I'll enjoy my tea and never would I spit it in your face. ;)
The rest of the series:
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Fun to see this famous sculpture at the 21C Museum Hotel during New Years in Louisville. Enjoy the day. May chocolate, roses and love be abundant in your life today. And, always.
Plus: here's to my many passionate woman-artist friends who are participating in a Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge dance in Nashville at noon today, as a part of One Billion Rising Nashville to "WALK OUT, DANCE, RISE UP, and DEMAND an end to violence against women." Other Nashville observations of this international event today are here.
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You're back?! Good! It's still officially winter. I'll switch off to iced almond milk decaf lattes or iced Passion tea when the weather warms, but as long as the trees remain naked, I'm warming my insides with--ahhhh-a cozy mug of simmering hot tea. Thanks to those of you on Facebook and in the blog comments section who let me know I wasn't fantasizing that this info would be wanted and useful to others! As promised, here's my favorite brands and varieties I love to sip from the time I stumble out of bed to the time I slip back beneath the covers at evening's end.:
This winter, I'm on a tea drinking roll, more so than ever. I'm usually starting my mornings with a black tea such as the classic Earl Grey with honey and sometimes lemon. I enjoy Stash's Double Bergamot variety of the old Earl. I also keep a tin of sachets from Starbuck's Tazo Earl Grey with Lavender. Harney & Sons makes an English Breakfast that's to die for and sometimes I switch it up with a darjeeling or an oolong.
Be vigiliant on the steeping time! Many teas become bitter quickly (especially some blacks, oolongs, some greens and even some herbals, such as lavender and camomile). Some only require a minute or two. Read the labels and set a timer!
By mid-morning, I'm wanting something milder and switch to green or white teas. My favorites include The Tea Spot's loose Meditative Mind with rose buds, jasmine buds and white tea. A fabulous brand is Two Leaves and a Bud's Jasmine Petal (green) is out of this world. Oh, the smell and taste! The perfumy-ness of both of these is half the delight of sipping them!
My taste buds go for fruity for the afternoon. Over the years, I've found various blends that did the fruity-taste
trick include hibiscus and rose hips. I used to love Teavana's pricey Peach
(chamomile) Tranquility, but have fallen out of love with the company
as some of the blends are tasting weaker and I've switched back to Harney & Sons. I'm liking Harney & Son's Mango Fruit Tea. I
find the fruity teas I favor most tend to come loose and with actual chunks of dried
fruits. A good fruity teabag is Starbuck's Tazo Passion Tea sachets (which does contain Hibiscus). This
and a simple Earl Grey are my go-to's when a sore throat threatens to
invade. Plop in a chunk of fresh squeezed lemon and a generous dollop of
preferably local grown honey and sip, sip, sip. Ahhhh. Sore throat goes
bye-bye. (There truly is a medicinal properties at work here. A former nutritionist recommended the old Earl for the healing bergmot plus honey and lemon as go-to's for coughs and colds. But be careful given the caffeine content after noon if you're sensitive like me. I also keep some Stash brand Earl Grey decaf for such ocassions. Of course, Twinings makes a good decaf variety, as well.)
Tea varieties come and go from grocer shelves as stores change up their offerings and quality can wane. Good tea, sadly, can be a bit hard to find
sometimes. Beware of buying from conventional grocery store shelves that may not get as much traffic turnover. Or, also from discount warehouse-type stores or online sites, as the tea can also be old. I prefer to purchase mine from the source manufacturer to ensure freshness.
As the day draws to a close, evening ushers sunset and, if are fortunate given our schedules, often a slower pace. In addition to guzzling what I've left unfinished on the counter or in a mug in the console of the car, Grace joins me in a ritual of a delicious herbal. She opts for a bag of fruity blend or something herbal, such as the following, that promises me that she might snooze off to slumberland sooner, I hope. For me, it's pretty standard: a bag of Traditional Medicinals Chamomile or Chamomile and Lavendar or the said blend by Harney & Sons. I've also found some wonderful blends over the years that combine rose buds, lavendar and camomile. Right now I'm enjoying Harney & Sons' Mother's Bouquet.
Stay tuned for Part III on sweeteners, water, water temp, pots and serving vessels. Meanwhile, sip and savor! Ahhhh! Here's last week's post. [Addendum: Part III
Photo: From a Chattanooga Riverboat hotel, first shared in my post on "Not So Perfect Entertaining."
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Google fails me in finding the verse I recently read comparing coffee...I paraphrase:
coffee--harried and hurrying
tea--savoring, soothing, sitting.
Winter time for me is. Tea Time.
Over the last decade, I've become a bit of a connoisseur. Maybe a bit of a tea snob. My earliest taste memories of tea were from my growing up years in the 60s and 70s. We drank spoon-able mixtures--stored in old jelly jars--and gifted for Christmas. Remember those? The lids gritted open to contents of sugar, Tang and Lipton powdered tea. Lipton offered about one variety--dark and bitter. In college we dunked those bags ritualistically in our mugs atop long, formica-surfaced cafeteria tables.
In Atlanta mid-29something, I worked elbow to elbow on magazine staff with artsy types who sported, deskside, their own tea kettles, pretty ceramic mugs with lids and colorful cardboard boxes of wax paper sealed natural fiber tea bags containing a rainbow offering of herbs. I learned about Stash brand back then and thought it primo and still think it a notable brand.
Back then, sometimes tea was good. Too often it was bitter, stale, tasteless or had gone sadly cold.
Somewhere, I got savvy and I realized why I and so many people didn't care for tea too much (if we could see beyond our mugs of varying shades of brown coffee) was that we didn't know how to choose it, make it or serve it. Whuh? Once a tea drinker or a would-be drinker masters a few details, the beverage is transformed. Trust me on this and then, pardon me if you already know all this. Watch "The Journey with Grace" subsequent weeks (most likely Mondays,) to read about brands and varieties I've found yummiable, what I use to sweeten or not, to heat, serve and keep it deliciously hot. Meanwhile, happy sipping!
Photo: Rowena Soriano Gonzlez Aldridge
Post two in the series, here; three, here.
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The day after Christmas I woke up angry. There was a part of Christmas that did not go as planned. (And I'm not talking about gifts here.) Aha! In dissecting it with my teacher, I got it. While my concerns were legitimate and understandable, the root of the problem was planted within. That is, within me. I got angry because I placed an "expect" into a situation. In the end, I expressed my truth to the person concerned but only after realizing that I had to take responsibility for going into a situation thinking it would be different. I set myself up for...suffering.
And then it happened again two days later in a much less significant incident....The parking lot of an establishment I was planning to patronize is always packed. I drove to a row where I saw a car backing out. Just one car-filled space from me. But. You know the story. As the car began to pull away, another car rounded the corner at the other end of the row. The driver thought she'd scored a parking space. But, the space was mine. I'm pretty sure I got there first. I looked ahead at the driver, while we waited for the car pulling out to move on. And, I got a sense of heart clarity: Give it to her. Let her have it. Let it be hers. Be kind. Just do it. Easy. And so, I did. I drove on and looked at the young woman and shot her a peace symbol. (That's something I do a lot in traffic to thank someone for letting me edge in front, walk a cross street while they stop. Maybe this woman thought I shot her a bird--?) She half-rolled her eyeballs and half-sneered. What?!
I drove on to the next lane and as the universe would have it, there was a spot for me, only closer to the store. As I parked I thought of all the clever one-line zingers I could say to this young chick if I saw her in the store. And I did see her. She shopped for an item right next to me. But, somewhere between the antiperspirant and the lotion aisle, I got it. She wasn't the problem. The problem was my expect. I was very clear in giving her the space. It felt good. But I wasn't clear in my snippedity attitude when she didn't act as I...expected.
I recall a question someone once posed to me about this type of traffic "transaction." What if you just do it without an expectation of acknowledgement, they wisely proposed?" I had lamented letting other drivers merge their cars in front of mine in crowded traffic. I almost aim to let out at least one waiting car in front of me. But if it's not acknowledged with a wave or a mouthed "thank you"? Well, I cop a bit of a 'tude. What's the problem here? What are my motives? Do I demonstrate love and kindness to others to be thanked and acknowledged? Or do I simply come from the field of love and do it with no expect.
Lesson learned. Again.
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So, here's the deal. For a long time I've had more figured out about the autism parenting journey than I have had about other parts of my life. The last two-and-a-half years have been my wake-up-punch-in-the-face after falling ever so flat and hard on said face.
The other night, I read part one of this two-part blog post series to my spiritual teacher. I shared my thoughts about how it felt when someone approached me just the opposite way and how it's done and how it feels. "That's it, Leisa! That's the experience! You've got to take what you are learning into your everyday life with other people!"
The transferable experience goes as follows. In reliving the familiar experience of having someone offer up some piece of information or some solution or "cure" they are so sure I have never heard of about autism despite that I live this life every day and not in a vaccum, I described how it felt when someone did approach me sensitively. It looks something like this:
They ask questions. They approach with humility. They are respectfully curious and come as a student, not a teacher. They lay down any assumptions about what they think I don't know. They say things like: "I bet you have heard of this...." "You are probably inundated with information...." "I heard about such and such. I figure you have an opinion. What do you think? What is your experience?" (The later can backfire if it's asked with bated breath, the person bug-eyed and eager to tell me they think this or that is the end-all, be-all and sure-to-fix-all.)
It's a lot like nonviolent communication, I said to my teacher. You ask how the person feels, instead of assuming. You gather data, inquire what they might need. Ask questions instead of issuing statements.
When this happens, I soften. My defenses do not rise as they do when I am approached by yet another person, often strangers, offering up whatever fix-it they've read or heard. The autism-causative vaccine issue creates the most polarization with people just knowing that it's one way or the other and holding tenanciously to their truth and either assuming that I, of course, agree, or, that surely I don't believe that. And then, there are those who are open and curious. And what they'll hear is that I give both sides weight and do not veer to either extreme. They've opened the door to listen and dialogue.
So, the take home version of the golden rule here is to not assume that others want to hear what I know or what I think I know. To inquire first. To gather the data and see how others are feeling. "Wait to be invited," says my teacher.
That. Is a route for the safest way to manuever the obstacle course of the autism parenting journey, or any journey, especially when it is a journey that is not my own.
Instagram photo, Percy Warner Park Cross County Trail, ©LeisaHammett.com
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