Hygge is about being kind to yourself—giving yourself a treat, and giving yourself, and each other, a break from the demands of healthy living. Sweets are hyggelige. Cake is hyggelige. Coffee or hot chocolate are hyggeligt, too. Carrot sticks, not so much… it should not be something fancy or extravagant. Foie gras is not hyggeligt. . . ...
Read MoreYesterday was our third grandchild's second birthday, same day as our wedding anniversary. What a fortunate coincidence! A new sun rises, golden yellow, exquisite, Lips velvety petals, black amber eyes, eyelashes to die for. Wrinkly neck, wrinkly hands, fuzzy cheeks. Delight rises from the bottom of my belly, my heart, my head. I am showered with bliss. Do you know who I am? I ask smiling from ear to ear. You simply look. I can’t stop hugging and kissing till you lay under moon light in your bassinet. When you cry, adoring parents wrap you up in a cocoon. You lull back into womblike trance. Kisses on your forehead, your cheeks, your tummy, leave a lingering sweetness. I treasure them for our moments of separation. Two years pass; flits of a butterfly. You smile when I kiss your...
Read MoreCombined with meditation, yoga liberates vast resources of energy and keeps our physical, physiological, psychical and spiritual systems in radiant health. Yoga folds moments of stillness and moments of movement into one another. In this practice, you explore your body’s terrain to experience intense body sensations. Your body gets lubricated, your joints and muscles function smoothly, your blood circulation increases and your entire skeletal system gets toned. Practicing yoga teaches you how to relax your muscles so that your mind also relaxes. When mind is anxious body gets tensed. When mind is calm body also calms down. The simple reason is that body and mind are connected. Try practicing Shavasana (the Corpse Pose) when you feel agitated. Lay down on the floor with your legs slightly apart and your arms away...
Read MoreOur grandson, Mokhta has written his first fiction book. The two-hundred-plus-words booklet has four chapters. Written with a pencil on two 8 x 11 mauve colored thin drawing papers, the pages are cut in half and then folded making the booklet sixteen pages long. The title is Basketball Meets Pin. I reprint it below without changing a word. He wrote all exclamation points himself. Chapter One Basket Ball was lonely. He met pin. They played. They talked. They had fun. One day Basketball saw a swirl. Not just swirl, a beautiful swirl. It was a single swirl with lots of colors in it with some green color. The swirl could take them 97 miles an hour! It was funny. Chapter Two Then pin came over. Can I greet you, asked pin. Yes, said Basketball I...
Read MoreThis morning one of my twin golden Pothos plant delighted me! As I turned this lush indoor climber around I discovered three stems lying on the ground waiting to be trimmed. Here is the story of why this sight was so pleasant. One of the many things that thrilled me when I came to the United States was luscious indoor plants. Seven years later, when my parents visited us my mother too was delighted with plants thriving inside our home. She added a philodendron to my small collection. That plant is a quarter of a century old now. Its attractive foliage, although gone through many ups and downs, continues to grow in soil enriched with humus. Through years I have placed it in shade, under filtered light or in indirect sun....
Read MoreMy Aria, My Rosebud, A few months before your birth your mother called to tell us that you were going to be a girl. "What a blessing!" I said as the images of my own two blessings surfaced in my mind. As a young woman, I used to daydream about having a little girl of my own. My fortune doubled when we were blessed with two daughters: your mother Srimal (Garland of Happiness) and your Massi Zoon (Moon). Now some thirty years later, with your birth a fresh wave of delight has surged. You, Aria (Melody, Hymn, Song). Here is another opportunity for me to observe and experience your life, a young woman's wonderful world, all over again. As I write this, you are one year old, and I am at the threshold...
Read MoreIt was the Monday after the Fourth of July. Our daughter and her husband entered our front door, hugged their eight-month old baby Ariana and kissed their son Mokhta, now five-years old. "Did the "To Do List" help, Mommy?" she asked me in the kitchen where I was brewing Darjeeling tea for them. They had returned from a three-night break at Nemacolin Resort to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. Before she left, she had placed a piece of paper on the refrigerator that read: "Ariyana's To Do List" 7:00 Wake Up and 4oz. milk ~10:00 ...
Read MoreMy husband and I were waiting for the arrival of Mokhta, our grandson, when we heard our daughter's car stop in the front of the house. I opened the front door and saw Mokhta already out of the car looking up at the crabapple tree. He turned toward us and after a moment's pause, started to run. Afraid that he might fall on the pavement, I walked briskly toward him and he jumped right into my open arms. I kissed him and hugged him tight; my love of four months was waiting, wanting to be expressed. I kissed his little hands, his silky head of hair, and his cheeks that were not as plump as they used to be when he was a baby. "We ate chocolate, Nani," He said as...
Read MoreIt took me a while before I got used to my new appellation "Nani"-maternal grandmother. Nani was just a respectful title my grandson, Mokhta, was going to address me with. I began to think myself to be a Nani but it was very slowly but surely that I began to feel like one. Another new term of endearment that took me a while to get used to was my daughter as Mokhta's "Mommy." My baby was now herself a mother. At the hospital, the day she gave birth to our grandson, I was not quite sure how the young couple was going to ease into routine after a major transition in their lives. Before we had left their home she had said not to worry and assured us that they...
Read MoreMy Mokhta, My Pearl, With your birth on September 16, 2006 you raised my status in the family by making me your, Nani, maternal grandmother. Thank you for that! Nine months prior to that date when your mother told me that I was going to become a Nani I understood it but didn't know what to feel. How to feel? I had heard a grandmother's love for her grandchildren is overwhelming. Why didn't I feel it right away? My grandparents had passed away before I was born so I had not experienced this love. I had some knowledge of what I, now a Nani, was supposed to feel for you but I didn't feel it yet. I was more worried for your mother's health during the pregnancy and delivery. Being a painter, I...
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