The Spry Life

"If you don’t have an activity in your life that causes you to lose track of time, you need to find something."--Gordon Livingston, psychiatrist and author of Never Stop Dancing

I am a sucker for a good quote. I read entire books just to find the one nugget ... and I collect them all in a word doc on my computer (some make it into the magazine). I love this one. It's a reminder that the things we call "hobbies"--knitting, painting, reading, running, swimming--are not the trite time-wasters that some people think they are. In fact, many of us who love these things call them "guilty pleasures" ... but I think, as Dr. Livingstone, I presume (!) does, that they are NECESSITIES. They are essential parts of a healthy life. I don't have enough of these healthy pastimes, really. Reading and running are really the only things I can get lost in. But most of the time when I'm doing them, I'm not lost enough--my head is to occupied with what to have for dinner, when I have to pick Johnny up from wherever he is, what's next on my agenda. But it's those moments when I'm transported out of the day to day that I truly cherish. Here's a promise I will become more single minded, and get lost a little bit more often.

What causes you to lose all track of time???? Share!

Lisa D

Another study (OK, so I've been reading a lot lately) confirms the fact that eating the Mediterranean way--can help you live longer. The researchers looked at Greek participants in a huge European study, and found that those who drank alcohol only moderately, favored olive oil over saturated fats like butter, and ate little meat and lots of veggies, fruits, nuts, and legumes (like lentils) lived longer than those whose diets didn't contain those components.

What the study didn't say is how delicious eating this way can be, so I will say it here. Some of my favorite foods are Mediterranean in heritage--tabbouleh salad, hummus, stuffed vegetarian grape leaves. Here's a recipe from our files for Scallops with Tabbouleh Salad--don't let the length scare you ... it's mostly a matter of chopping and whisking a bit. Enjoy!

Lisa D

You might have heard that Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald--the woman who discovered a lump in her breast when she was a staff doctor at the South Pole, and ended up doing her own biopsy and chemo until she could be airlifted out--died yesterday. She was 57, and had survived 10 years after her life took the dramatic turn that led her to become a book author and motivational speaker. 

I remember hearing about her story, but I didn't read her book (Icebound). It will be on my list for my next trip to the used bookstore.

I heard this quote from an old interview with her on NPR yesterday, and wanted to share.

"I had a romantic notion that there was a fronteir and there were adventures to be had in another time, but not in our time. Now I realize that there are always adventures in life--that's what life is. It's just this long up and down adventure. And the South Pole really taught me that, that it isn't a different time, it's now."

Certainly words to live by.