mermaidcamp

mermaidcamp

Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water

You can scroll the shelf using ← and → keys

Food Truck Infatuation, The Juice Well

July 17, 2014 — 5 Comments

One of the ways I enjoy travel is by trying all kinds of gastronomy. In Austin the food truck craze is very advanced. There are more trucks than I could have imagined, most with permanent locations. I found a barbecue place close to home yesterday and was tempted by the cheese jalapeño grits they serve as a side. When I stopped to try the grits, the Juice Well was open next door. Now I have a problem.  I have fallen so deeply in love with the food at the Juice Well that it will be hard to move on and try anything else.  This vegetarian juice and smoothie bar goes to great lengths to prepare natural, homemade sandwiches and entrées that compliment the liquid delights.  I was thrilled with my Merlin’s Magic juice blend that was spiked with garlic and lemon juice.  The sandwich I ordered, the Kraftwork, may honestly be the best sandwich I have ever tasted.  I am hooked.  They make their own sauerkraut with red cabbage which is to die for. Pickled green onions and other veggies are all made in house.  The result on the sandwich is fantastic, beating the hell out of the dill pickle relish we normally find between bread.  I do want to try other trucks but I need to go back to the Juice Well to taste more of the dazzling creative specialties they are making right around the corner.  To complicate matters I found a Colombian restaurant near here that had a super long waiting list for lunch. The Colombians serve arepas, and even if they are not exactly Venezuelan style, I love me some arepas.  I have to find a time when Casa Colombia is not overflowing with customers.  I was really thinking TexMex, but there is more exciting food to eat around here that we don’t have in Tucson.  I have my work cut out for me as gourmet taster.

I Love Dead People

July 17, 2014 — 4 Comments

Oakwood Cemetery

Oakwood Cemetery

My own fascination with dead people is neither religious nor political. I study my own ancestry to get a broader understanding of history and how I came into being. When I travel I love nothing better than to check out  cemeteries to meet the locals and see what they have been doing. I am lucky right now to be situated between two very old and very large grave yards.  All of these people have died in Austin, Texas over the span of hundreds of years.  I notice what similar features the plots and monuments have in common, and then notice what makes each grave distinct.  The designs and the grand expenditures tell one part of the tale, but if you let yourself imagine what their lives were like and how they made the journey here history becomes a real human story.  Some might think graves are macabre, but to me they are clues to the ongoing conditions of cultural change.  The dead at Oakwood express themselves in a few ways:

The handshake:

The private yard:

The Texan:

I learned that some of the important people in history in Oakwood have QR codes on the grave to give you the entire story of their lives.  I did not have my phone with me today, so I will go back and try this super smart way to get more out of a grave yard visit.  The grounds are lovely and well maintained.  I count this one as a top destination for those of us who love graves, topped only by all the people who fell off the Matterhorn who are buried in Zermatt (still the best I have seen), and the one in Salzburg at the monastery.  Y’all come and discover these dead Texans for yourselves.  They are cute and friendly.

Travel Time

July 16, 2014 — 2 Comments

luggage

luggage

Time may be finite, but I notice that it can expand and contract based on circumstances. When I am home I always have some day to day chores waiting for me. Being busy is not my style, but I do cross items off the to do list in a regular fashion. Planning is big for me, but it often leads to changing plans.  I drive very little by choice, so on line shopping is a big friend of mine when I am not supporting local businesses.  My routine includes time with friends, my dog, and my neighbors as well as tending the garden and running the house. I find excitement in studying my ancestors, history, culture and the arts.  I rarely need to go anywhere to stimulate my imagination and creativity.   I had a long career as a travel agent, so I am very able to make choices and plans that suit my fancy in terms of a destination.  I like to spend my holiday time involved in activities I either can’t do at home, or just don’t do at home.  Some of my favorite vacation features are:

  • Natural bodies of water..of any kind, with a strong preference for hot springs
  • Sporty, creative community
  • City life..I like nature just fine, but I don’t want to stay in it
  • Shopping of an unusual, artistic nature
  • Music
  • Museums, art, science, anything
  • Historical societies
  • Graveyards
  • Interesting cuisine and agriculture

My budget for both time and money is set free during holiday times.  I look for new ways to spend both that I have never done.  I do a lot of research before i visit a place.  I usually have a long list of possible places I want to go, and then let the weather be the deciding factor.  I need some rainy day plans as well as some perfect day plans.  My main goal in traveling is to flow into  a new schedule, a new culture, and a new rhythm based on what I discover.  I usually do some reconnaissance on foot to see what the neighborhood has to offer before I set out in a car.  I study maps and read reviews to help me decide what to investigate.  It is a perfect combination of very well informed and not obligated to anything.  I am looking forward to doing this for the next to weeks in Austin, Texas, live music capitol of the US.  I hope my gentle readers will enjoy the trip as you come along for the ride.

 

Calamondin

July 14, 2014 — 6 Comments

calamondin

calamondin

calamondin

calamondin

calamondin

calamondin

calamondin

calamondin

One of the generous citrus trees in my garden is the calamondin. It bears fruit for many months which are useful and tasty.   It is odd to have such a large crop in the middle of summer, but we had a very unusual winter in Arizona.  The tree is loaded with ripe and green fruit in the middle of July, so we can expect to have fresh fruit until September.  The tree comes from Asia where it is popular in Indonesian and other cuisines.  It has medicinal as well as culinary applications.  My next door neighbor is from Viet Nam.  She told me they dry the peels in salt, which is later used as a remedy for sore throat.  Other known medicinal uses include as a cure for constipation.  Be advised about this one.  We prepared a drink with water, honey and calamondin juice for my mom to drink on a car trip.  She enjoyed it so much that she polished off a quart, which gave her a bad case of the runs.  Moderation is important when you try the juice.  I have made infused vodka just by soaking the fruits in it, which turns out very well also.

I have started making bitters.  I have mad a batch of peach and one of apricot, both made from our own trees.  The taste is interesting, whether you cook with it, drink it as a flavoring in fizzy water, or use it in cocktails.  I am experimenting with new combinations, using a book to guide me about the proportions.  Next I will whip up a batch of calamondin bitters, for which I am slightly altering the recipe the book gives for lime bitters.  I think this will be a delicious way to make use of calamondin’s tart and unique taste.  A little bit of bitters imparts big flavor to food and drinks.  I adore the taste of limes, but the crop failed in Mexico this year and prices are sky high.  Calamondin makes a pretty substitute.  They can often be found in Asian markets if they don’t grow near your home.  You can make simple syrups, bitters, or just juice the fruit fresh in cocktails. Here are some cocktail ideas to get your creativity started:

Chi Nei Tsang, Ancient Healing Art

July 13, 2014 — 3 Comments

I am lucky to have found, right in my neighborhood, a Chi Nei Tsang practitioner of great talent and ability. Her name is Desiree Maultsby and her practice is at Rooted Massage Therapy in Tucson.  I  wanted to address inflammation in my organs that was discovered at my thermography session.  Obviously my lifestyle and diet are under my own control and can be improved.  To help me better understand and improve the chi flow in my internal organs I wanted to use Chi Nei Tsang because I know it is effective.

Taoist practices are simple, yet complicated.  There is order, but there is a great deal of mystery as well.  Chi, universal energy, moves through the body and around it.  The way we direct chi, and allow it to flow will determine the state of our health and our mood.  The most basic way to think about chi in the abdomen is to bring to mind the proverbial knot in the stomach.  Stress, improper habits and diet, and other factors can constrict and block the flow of energy and circulation in the internal organs.  Deep breathing is the best way to relieve these constrictions and restore good function to all the organs.  With the help of a practitioner a chi nei tsang session can bring dramatic and instant results in healing congestion in the abdomen.  There are simple practices of self massage and breathing techniques that can be done between sessions to greatly enhance the results.  This is, for practical purposes, a meditation technique.  Your awareness will grow from this practice, of both the power of your breath, and the importance of freeing up energy in the organs.

Physical issues that bring pain to the abdomen may very well be related to trauma held in the gut.  Breathing techniques and sound vibrations have healing effects on the specific organs.  Your practitioner will guide you by giving you meditative instruction as well as reminders about breath.  By working very closely together in this way deep psychic wounds you don’t even know you have can be healed.   The treatment is not at all like a Swedish massage, which I really like for the pleasurable feeling at the time.  This is a full on transformational pursuit.  If you want to chat or stay on the surface, then chi nei tsang is not for you.  You remain clothed and the treatment takes place on a mat on the floor, to make the best use of gravity.  I am very impressed with the progress my body has made in just three sessions with Desiree.  I recommend her work to anyone interested in making profound changes.  She provides plenty of supplemental information for those who want to do their homework.

 

Grapefruit Magic

July 3, 2014 — 3 Comments

Citrus pardisii

Citrus pardisii

My grapefruit tree is healthy and bears very well for months each winter. We enjoy fresh juice daily from January until about the end of March.  The intoxicating aroma of the blossoms fills the air for about a month in March.  The plant is ruled by the sun, like all citrus fruits. It has zingy, cooling and cleansing properties that are prized by health lovers.  The fruit and the juice are delightful, but the essential oil of grapefruit has very useful qualities.  Buy pure unadulterated oil and store it in the dark because it oxidizes quickly, therefore has  short shelf life.  Using it with a carrier oil, like jojoba, it can be very helpful to warm up and boost circulation.  The benefits of using grapefruit in a massage oil include:

  • ease join pain by stimulating muscles and joints
  • treat congested skin disorders like clogged pores and oily skin
  • diminish water retention and cellulite in specific areas

To use the oil for aromatherapy delivered by inhalation you can use a diffuser or use a few drops straight up on a handkerchief.  The subtle and immediate effects of the inhalation include:

  • headache relief
  • calm nervous tension and stress
  • uplifts the mood in depressing situations

I never get tired of the smell and the flavor of grapefruit.  It makes me happy and nourishes me.  Cocktails made with grapefruit juice are very high on my favorites list as well.  What is your favorite way to experience grapefruit?

Contemplatives in the Desert

June 23, 2014 — 1 Comment

Hilton Big Horn

Hilton Big Horn

I was privileged to spend the weekend with a group of about 170 people who came from all over the country to a conference on the Spirituality of Healing taught by James Finley.  The group included many mental health professionals and teachers who were earning credits in continuing education in their professions.  Many were members of churches with meditation/prayer groups.  I was new to the genre, but felt right at home in he congenial student group. I saw an ad for this in a local paper and followed up with some research into James Finley.  I ordered a couple of audio books he wrote and signed up for the conference.  The resort where it was held is where the Dalai Lama taught in September of 1993, so I have very fond memories of the place.  The Hilton El Conquistador was turned into the the El Comtemplador for a couple of days.  The hotel is dog friendly so my partner and dog could come along for a staycation away from home.  It was a remarkable experience.  I did not photograph the sessions or the participants because I did not want to distract myself from the teaching.  I am happy I made that decision because those photos would add little to this post.

Dr. Finley is very generous with free resources on his website, His teaching in person is designed to pack the time spent together with dense, rich, profound, yet simplistic and practical ideas.  His background allows him to use language of psychotherapy as well as religious language to explain his concepts. He is a brilliant speaker, but the style of presenting really enhances the message he brings.  First of all, he establishes silence in the hall where the conference takes place.  There is time and space outside the room to talk.  On the second day the group broke bad and got noisy, so he asked that we reestablish the silence in the room.  He uses humor to make his point many times, and refers to  patient/clinician dialogs to shed light with specific examples.  In his opening remarks he lets the audience know that trauma is a difficult and personal subject to address.  He encouraged each person to leave the room, move around, take breaks as needed.  He repeated several times, “To thine own self be true.”  This was good for me when I decided the chairs were not sized so well for me, so I took up a spot against the wall where I had support from the wall for sitting or could even lie down.  The sessions covered in sequence his Seven Steps of Spiritual Healing, which logically build upon the preceding steps. He speaks for a little over an hour to cover the material and then a 15-20 minute discussion is opened with the students.  A short break for everyone is followed by the next lecture.  The time is very well ordered and managed to the greatest advantage of the students.  I must say the staff at the resort could not have been more pleasant and helpful, which was icing on the very tasty cake.

He shows the highest regard for the integrity of the students in his assignment of homework.  He gave us several exercises to do on our own that will require a great deal of time and consideration, and then moved on to his core curriculum. If you practice you reap the benefits of practice.  If you don’t, you don’t.  Dr. Finley drives this point home in dramatic and impressive ways in his teaching.  Not only is the task of enlightenment or healing our own responsibility, but we are doing it as a microcosm of all that is.  We can only  put ourselves in the position of least resistance for our desired outcome, and then let go.  Deep meaning, philosophy, poetry, art and love are contained in each precious moment, available to us, and being created by us.  We have all heard such statements somewhere in our past, and may believe them.  What Dr. Finley offers is a system, a practice, a devotional idea to stabilize the consciousness in a state of pure love.  It requires diligence and patience.  He ended by giving us homework for seven years.  It was the perfect wrap up for this conference. He showed how to use lexia divina, discursive meditation, and practice to move into and through the seven steps.  He assigned us a step each week for seven weeks, then do that seven times (49 weeks) after a short break we were to take it up again from the beginning..seven steps, one step a week , repeated 7 times.  Of course, after a break we are to start at the beginning, until we have done this practice for 7 years.  I am sure some kind of heavy duty breakthrough would have to take place if we were all to do our homework.  I love his optimism in assigning it.  If you have a chance to study with these contemplatives, take advantage of it.

 

 

Staycation on Earth

June 17, 2014 — 5 Comments

cheers

cheers

hotel dog

hotel dog

The earth appreciates that I need less travel in my life that I did when I was younger.  I was a carbon hog, flying all the time. I enjoyed it and will not regret it now that I like staying at home better than ever. I got while the getting was very good, and now I fly with much more selective purposes and goals in mind. I saw a lot of the world, and plan to see more of it. I also plan to concentrate on the wonderful options available in Arizona that require little time in transit.  I like the idea of maximum tourism time and minimum time on the road.  We have stayed at resorts around Tucson and in Scottsdale that make us happy for different reasons.  These days any hotel stay has to include our coon hound, Artemisia, who is a hotel fan.  A short get away with the dog that includes some dining and walking in nature works as a retreat for the whole family. I usually like to get in the water, but since I do that at home all the time it is not my first priority when looking for a weekend location near home.  There are many benefits the staycation offers the holiday maker as well as Mother Earth:

  • Save travel expenses
  • Save travel time
  • Overpack if you want, no penalty
  • Bring foods and drinks with you to suit your tastes
  • Invite local friends to join you for happy hour or a hike during your stay
  • Bring pets, no drama
  • Supports jobs in our own vicinity
  • Can introduce new restaurants or entertainment venues for future enjoyment

Consider a place near home that makes you want to get away, but not very far away.  You might find you will come back from holiday much more rested and perhaps in harmony with the earth.

Iron John’s Brewing Company in Tucson

June 15, 2014 — 1 Comment

For our Father’s Day fling I took Bob to Iron John’s Brewing Company for some beer and a tee shirt. His needs are simple, with craft beer and tee shirts always hitting the mark. We had tried some of the beers last week at pizza throw down and had agreed that Iron John was our favorite new discovery that intrigued us.  They hold free tastings each Saturday from 11-6pm in their small but very cool artisan brewery and bottle shop.  They are not opening a bar or a restaurant. They have a passion for the art of beer making, and are sticking to producing small batches of seasonally changing beers.  They sell in a few local restaurants, and are open at the brewery Thursday-Saturday for sales of the current line up.  Although I am not much of a beer drinker myself I liked all of the samples I tried.  They take great care to adjust each water source for each beer, sometimes adding minerals to distilled water to arrive at the perfect chemical balance.  They also buy small batches of brewing yeast and grow it themselves to assure quality.  I was impressed with the taste, the tour, and the dedication these folks are showing to making an excellent local product for local consumption.  I am always happy to support locals serving tasty treats to locals.  Bob has a beer collection to make his week a pleasant and delicious one. We recommend a visit  and a tour to anyone who likes beer.

Cafe Botanica at Tucson Botanical Gardens

May 29, 2014 — 1 Comment

I ate lunch today at my new favorite restaurant, Cafe Botanica. This charming restaurant is nestled into the  exotic greenery at Tucson Botanical Gardens.  I visit frequently and for no particular reason had never eaten there.  When I met a neighbor who works there as a server I decided to make a point to try the food.  To my great surprise the offerings are the most seasonal, the most creative, and for my personal taste, the most delightful plates in the city of Tucson.  The concept is to make use of every kind of local, organic, sustainable source of ingredients.  I think they go beyond any other restaurant to achieve this goal, but without the brilliance of Chef Cristopher and his wild creativity the concept would not be as smashing.  He combines ingredients I would not have thought of, including some I have never eaten, such as radish tops.  The result was exactly the kind of full flavor, gorgeous to see, plate of variety I want to eat all the time.  The great news is that I have a garden, and they will trade me prepared food for some of my extra produce.  This could become a serious habit…the kind with only positive effects!!!

New Summer hours will start on June 3, including a weekend brunch.  Dog membership also begins on June 3, and has expanded to inviting member dogs on both Tuesday and Thursday this year.  The innovative menu, and the fact that the gardens create a cooler micro climate for morning walks will be an exciting new addition to our neighborhood.  There will also be Thursday dinners this summer with BYOB wine.  This is a major upgrade for Tucson.  I highly recommend Cafe Botanica to anyone.  There is an air conditioned inside dining room for times when it is too hot.  The gourmet, homemade dishes are very reasonably priced, and there is no chef more caring, and into it, than Christopher.  Mandy, my friend and server, puts her heart into making guests feel right at home.