holiday

Showing posts with label holiday. Show all posts. The posts are listed in chronological order. Click the post title to read more.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012 in , , , , , , , ,

Autumn Aromatherapy // What (and What Not) To Do


A change of seasons brings a fresh feel in the air, a softer color to the light as it's filtered through colored leaves, and a shift in our moods and cravings. The advent of fall also brings a return to work routines and many gatherings, both professional and just for fun. It always seems to go so fast, and you want to treasure each moment of carefree comfort. You can relish sitting on the porch in the evening with just a light jacket, gabbing with friends and stargazing into the cool autumn sky. The only chill you really get is just enough to make an excuse to snuggle closer to your date, who if you're lucky smells a little woodsy.

 If you surround yourself with aromas apropos to fall it will help you to create rich, striking memories of this special time. Your sense of smell ties directly into the part of your brain where memories are stored, so it makes a perfect way to enhance your experience of seasonality...  

Writing and pictures by yours truly with tips on great online suppliers, which natural essential oils to use, and ways to use them for get-togethers, home, and the office.  Mmmmm...Smells like fall to me.



Thursday, December 10, 2009 in , , , , , , , ,

Free Food - an Ode to Nourishment


Funny that the place I now visit
for donations of government cheese
bread
and frozen blueberries
is also a place that provides
sustenance of an entirely different sort.
Like a trail of crumbs
followed through the forest
scratched knees
fingers bleeding
and each crumb I put on my tongue
dissolved quickly
only to lead me to the next.
But not now...

The first visits were humbling
on levels I had never reached before.Tears of desperation gracing my cheeks
like pilgrims
wandering through the arid landscape
seeking and seeking -
A glance of kindness
asylum
and a safe place
to strip off the artifice of the outside world
and just ask -
Ask for help.
Garments of pride and prejudice
fall off like lettuce leaves past their prime
and mix in with the moldy vegetables
hamburger buns
kind, worn hands
and government paperwork.
Sign here - X
To receive service.

The hours spent waiting
amidst others also seeking
As if we are all on a subway train
that departs from an old church basement
between 9-11 AM every Thursday.
Enter the underground
and have a seat.
Your turn will come soon enough.
Look carefully at faces in this lobby -
the antechamber on the way to who-knows-where,
but it must be better, right?
Eyes filled with misty, lost thoughts
quickened by deliveries of spoiled apples
and the scurry that ensues to
snare a share.
Piles of men's shirts
boxes of shoes
they all spur the pace of the room
then return to sit
and wait some more.

I become half-visible
when I enter the doors of the station.
Anonymous and among the mounting ranks
of middle class Americans
hungry
for something more.
This Thursday morning journey has a hidden gift
that goes beyond the groceries.
Watch travelers joke and talk.
Stop and look
at the light falling on faces.
Try to see beyond the skin
to the internal clickings and clackings
of the tracks going by -
the crumbs hitting tongues
just a little more softly.

The time I fill with open thoughts
exposed to something I never would have seen
except I needed this -
for whatever reason -
I needed this.
Needed the cans
the bags
the bundles
and the time.
A year-long journey on this side street
to seek
to see
beyond the temptation of food
to being truly fed
to sit and read "Trout Fishing In America" one more time
and laugh at stories of trout flashing in streams
caught cold from the waterFor that was dinner in a different time -
a more self-sufficient time for all of us.
And now I sit
and instead of tears I can giggle a little
as I wait for my bags
and know that my journey is nearly through.
At home the frozen berries, blue and sweet
taste strangely like gratitude
spreading their sugar on my tongue.
Thank You

Dear Friends,
For the last year my family has been receiving assistance from our local food pantry. The journey of the past year, including this particular experience, has been nothing short of transformative for me. I could not be more grateful not only for the assistance but for what I have seen and felt during this time in my life.

I think it is important to remember as food stamp enrollment is soaring and food pantries are having difficulty maintaining food supplies that this can happen to anyone. It isn't just the downtrodden, the homeless, the mentally ill... it can be any of us. There is no shame in wanting to provide for your family and there is no shame in asking for help when it is needed.

My family's food budget was hit drastically at the beginning of this year as we struggled to make our mortgage payment. For 6 months now we have been waiting on news of a mortgage adjustment that was promised through the Home Affordable program. That program has now been denounced by the New York Times as having helped perhaps only a few tens of thousands of the 650,000 applicants who have requested adjustments due to hardship. Our lender, Coldwell Banker, has offered nothing but empty promises. Our government should be ashamed. This program is an utter failure and I can only assume that so many other families like ours are holding on, paying what they can, and seeking other assistance to make it through.

Through the amazing grace of our local pantry system, the generosity of my neighbors, and some very creative side work we have forged ahead. I just wanted to write a bit to the world this holiday and remind those that can to please donate and do what you can. But for grace and good fortune in your own life you could be here too.

It was in high school choir, taught by Claude Westfall, that I learned one of the most important life lessons I could have ever received.

"We are only as good as our weakest member."

This is true not only for a choir but for American society and the world as a whole. It is time to lift each other up a bit, to offer a hand to someone struggling, to think a little less about self and a little more about all. There could be nothing more important at a time of year dedicated to sharing and giving. Sometimes all it takes is a smile, so if you have nothing else to give right now perhaps just give that.

A little Good Will goes a long way. I'm proof, and I hope to share a little of my own and pay it forward.

Thursday, December 27, 2007 in , , , , , , , , ,

Sweet Memories - holiday aromatherapy


What are sweet holiday memories made of?
Well, of course sugar, spice, and everything nice - No, wait, that's little girls! But there is a good deal of sugar and spice during this festive time of year, and actually those few extra pounds we all usually feel afterward say that there might be a bit too much of all that. But there are so many delights besides just the gastric ones, and to overlook them would really be to miss the better part of holiday memories.

When I was a child one of the very special parts of the holiday season was at the beginning of December when my mom would bring our holiday books out of storage. We had a full box of Christmas story books that were saved solely for this time of year. My mom, a reading specialist, was always wild about books and read to us regularly. At Christmas this shared time added to the magic of the season.

Several weeks ago my mom brought a book to my daughter Tru that I recognized immediately. It's called The Sweet Smells of Christmas, and is a story about a little bear that anticipates Christmas through the smells around him: an orange, a pine tree, gingerbread, candy canes... All are depicted in good ol' scratch 'n sniff format so the reader can enjoy the smells of Christmas along with the little bear. More than any other time of year, the holidays are indeed a season defined by smells. The profusion of pumpkin pie and evergreen scented candles at stores everywhere is enough to say that these aromas evoke a lot of sentiment.

 This is totally appropriate, since our sense of smell is the strongest sense tied to memory. A brief whiff of a scent from your past can instantly connect you to that time gone by and even make you feel as if you are right there again. Smells are actually tiny airborne molecules - small enough to vaporise in the air and then dissolve into your mucous membrane. From there they travel a path to your brain cortex and also to your limbic system. Your limbic system is a primitive (sometimes called reptilian) part of your brain that controls emotion, memory, and behavior. The cortex is responsible for your conscious thoughts. So smell impacts both of these areas.

 Smell is one of our most important senses from a survival standpoint. Smell helps us sense danger in the form of fire or poison and conversely helps us sense security and safety. Mothers and children can recognize the smells of each other, and the smells of our favorite foods will cause us to start salivating in anticipation of a good meal. So in that way it is no wonder that smells of pine trees, spices, fruits, and baking are so forefront when we think about the winter holidays. These experiences are so burned in our collective memories that once the days draw short and the air begins to cool we instinctively begin to crave these quintessential smells of hospitality and celebration.

 As a business owner I see sudden telltale spikes in sales of Silver Fir and Wild Orange candles in the fall that tell me that people are hitting the holiday mood. I also built our newest perfumes around themes of spices, citrus, and chocolate - all heady, stimulating scents that warm up the body and have a physiological effect as well as that crucial tie to pleasant memories. I really enjoy that what I am making is going to become an integral part of someone's precious memories.

 So, as we enjoy the afterglow of Christmas and the promise of the new year I am hoping that your holidays will be memorable, cozy, and full of delights for your senses. Make it fragrant and you'll remember it always!

View mobile version
Copyright 2011 Blissoma and Julie Longyear. Powered by Blogger.