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Plat de Saison

Healthy eating is one of the pillars of good health, and eating seasonally aids us in maximising the benefits of the food we eat. It occurs from time to time in British periodicals as a side dish to the main course of exotic recipes, but it should really be at the heart of what we consume. When I checked the spelling of my title, I discovered to my delight that the French magazine, Marie-Claire, had monthly seasonal recipes. Could you imagine Cosmopolitan doing the same?

No, me neither! But considering how much type is devoted to food and cooking, we might try harder to bring seasonal eating into the mainstream. There are several reasons why, but the key one for me is that nature always knows best. Sophisticated beings though we are now, our bodies were designed to work in harmony with the earth. And in the wonderful symbiosis of humans and nature, she provides what we need, just when we need it.

A rainbow of produce Image: Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

Of course, those in less affluent parts of the world only eat seasonally – airfreighted strawberries not being an option, but assuming they have enough to eat, they are better off for it.

Just what you need

If we can align our eating habits to the season, we will be providing our bodies with the food most suitable for that time of year. During the winter, I crave heavy, starchy foods – pies and mash and root vegetables. In the summer, I am drawn to lighter foods – salads and fruits. Of course, these foods supply what we require at that time. During the cold winter months, we need energy to keep warm (and perhaps some comfort from the long, dark days.) In the warmer months, we need fewer calories, so a light salad will satisfy. In spring, the first vegetables actually give our bodies a spring clean removing toxins and restoring the healthy functioning of our organs.

Wild garlic appears in woodlands from March. With pretty white flowers and a distinctive scent it is easy to locate. Just follow your nose. Image: Anna Auza on Unsplash

How much ‘spring cleaning’ you wish to indulge in is up to you, but simply choosing a few more seasonal produce at your next shop will certainly do you good.

Better nutrition

Food, like any other organic material, deteriorates over time. So, the longer the food has been stored or in transit, the less nutritional value it has. In contrast, the closer to harvest, the better the nutrition. Foods that have been transported around the world have inevitably been hanging around. They are likely to have been intensively farmed and treated to ensure a long shelf life. I’m always a little shocked at how short the time is for the vegetables I dig from the garden, but it is a reminder of how quickly foods decline when left to their own devices.

Before you start to despair that you cannot get to a farmer’s market every day or grow you own, there are plenty foods that are very happy to be kept – especially when dried. Nuts, legumes, lentils, dried fruits and oils lose little when dried and equally, frozen foods are often a good choice for maximum nutrition. Peas packed and frozen within hours show little variation to the nutritional content of fresh. Tinned foods are a little less ideal as they often contain sugar, but they are still a great source of one of your five a day.

A matter of taste

It rather goes without saying, that fresher is better. Recently picked produce most definitely has a superior taste. While some produce is reasonably forgiving about waiting to be eaten (like carrots) others are positively diva- like. My favourite vegetable, that is only in season for a mere month or two, is asparagus.

Get it while its fresh! Image: Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

This little beauty needs to be purchased in season and eaten when you get home. The reward? A delicious and delicate taste that requires no other adornment than a little salt and olive oil. And that’s perhaps the most important thing about buying in season. Produce at its best doesn’t need any extra fussing in the kitchen. It tastes superb as it is. New potatoes and butter; fresh green beans and pepper; locally caught fish brought in that day – there really isn’t anything to beat it.

The best value

A basic rule of economics is that price will be determined in relation to supply and demand. The more abundant the supply, the lower the price. It makes sense then that produce that is in season and therefore abundant, will be cheaper than at other times of the year. Which makes seasonal eating a win: win. It is lower in price and higher in taste. And to make the best of both of these, you can buy in bulk at their peak and then freeze or preserve more for later.

Healing nature

Since nature has been so obliging in providing all that we need, it seems only fair that we make some effort to help her out too. Intensive farming, pesticides, excess wrapping and air miles all take their toll. Seasonal eating reduces all these. If we take our bags to the shops, buy seasonally, locally and ideally organic, we can do a great deal to reduce the pressure that food production places on the planet.

Getting started

If all this seems a bit like too much hard work, start small. During lock-down we’ve been buying groceries online and we were tending to go for the same old staples week after week. Our vegetable patch was resting and I was rather losing sight of what was in. Of course, winter is the time for root vegetables, so we added parsnips and swedes to our cart. I should have consulted the excellent BBC guide: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/seasonal-calendar which shows not only fruit and vegetables but the best times to buy meat and fish. The same site suggests seasonal recipes to whet your appetite. With spring on the way, our options are expanding. I’ve just picked some long awaited leeks and the broccoli finally promises to produce something other than leaves. There is still a little parsley (herbs are almost always in season) and I’m planning on using some of these ingredients for dinner with other, store bought, seasonal vegetables.

Spring harvest (plus resident snail) Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

As someone who is easily overwhelmed by too much choice, I rather like having what is available to decide for me. And if we follow the seasons, we will be constantly changing and expanding the foods we eat and diversity in eating is key to optimal nutrition. So as we move into the period of greatest abundance, I urge you to give seasonal eating a try. There is nothing to lose and much to gain. Bon appetit!

Celebrating the Season

Of all the seasons, spring is definitely my favourite. From around mid January, I start yearning for the Earth to wake up, to display all the delicious blooms and blossoms it has been cultivating in the dark for months. This year my longing for spring has been especially acute, but at last it is almost here.

The first day of spring varies from whether you take a meteorological point of view or an astrological one. (How confusing!?) The meteorologists mark it as the 1st of March and the season ends neatly on the 31 May. It’s the same every year and convenient to measure. Astrologically, though, the beginning of spring varies a tiny bit. Here spring is marked from the occurrence of the vernal equinox -when the sun crosses over the equator and begins its steady climb northward. As the Northern Hemisphere is now tilted in the direction of the sun, the days will become warmer and lighter.

Here comes the sun! Image: Patrick on Unsplash

For me, the second makes most sense, tied as it is to Nature’s rather than Man’s calendar. Though we already have some spring flowers – little flags of hope – true spring is not yet with us. Only when the sun is firmly in our quadrant, can we look forward with some certainty to warmer, longer days ahead. This year, spring arrives on Saturday 20th and I am making plans to welcome it.

Spring festival

Spring has been celebrated since time immemorial. And with good reason. Surviving winter in the past was no mean feat: starvation and sickness were the hallmarks of the season. In Poland, where winters are particularly harsh, their spring festival involves a parade carrying a straw effigy of Marzanna – goddess of winter, plague and death – which ends with its ritual drowning in the river. This symbolic death of winter makes way for the the life-giving hope of spring.

In warmer climes, spring is welcomed with exuberance. In India, Holi is celebrated with a riot of colour – mainly on other people. In Japan, families sit under the frothy profusion of cherry blossom, enjoying picnics and this ethereal, passing beauty. In Persia, they begin Nowruz, their New Year. I used to go to a gorgeous Persian cafe in town, which brought the celebration to its customers – including goldish in an ornate bowl, sprouting seeds and, it goes without saying, delicious food.

Goldfish are symbols of life Image: Ahmed Rizkhaan on Unsplash

In the West, of course, our spring festival is encapsulated in Easter. Spring was originally called Lent – a shortened version of the Old English Lencten or the lengthening of days. It became bound with the forty days of reflection and preparation for Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday which we call Lent today. The more secular spring became fixed by the sixteenth century. And I like that the season contains both associations.

A time of growth

For true renewal to take place, we need to shed our old layers – literally and metaphorically. As the spring sunshine points out all the accumulated dust and dirt acquired over the winter season, we are prompted to spring clean, washing, dusting, emptying cupboards and discarding the old and the worn.

We may resurrect our spring clothes from boxes in the loft or purchase new ones; we may invest in bigger purchases with the optimism that they will bring a new life of sorts too.

But if we focus only on the material, we are missing the opportunity to spring clean our minds and spirits. Though I do not observe Lent in the traditional sense, I have used this time to increase my meditation and spiritual practice. I am trying (and struggling) with forgiveness. I’ve lived long enough to have been hit by plenty of the ‘slings and arrows’ not only of misfortune but insensitivity, unkindness or indifference. And these are burdens – dark spaces that lurk within me. Spring provides the perfect opportunity to open the windows wide and let the sunlight in. A spring clean of the soul will bring more joy than any tidy cupboard, no matter how well organised.

A time of flowering

My favourite definition of spring is ‘to burst forth’ – as water does from its underground stream; as a coil does when released; as a bulb does once it has pushed its way through the burnt umber earth to explode in the brilliance of the hyacinth or narcissus.

And we too can become these blooms – radiant and giving. Mehmet Murat Ildan put it rather wonderfully when he said, ‘When you smell a spring flower, it’s as if the soul of that flower settles inside you! And then you become that flower for a short time!” It is time to smell the flowers, for a flower is never a bad thing to be.

Its beauty is there for everyone to enjoy. It holds no grudge against the hand that picks it, for spring flowers regather their strength in their bulbs to return next year. Winds buffet them, but they bend and nod their heads. If we learn from them, and take their cue, our spring can be a real opportunity for renewal and rebirth. Part of my spring ritual involves gathering these blooms and inhaling their scent. They will be at the centre of my spring celebration on Saturday. That and planting seeds. It’s time.

Be more flower! Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

Developing Lovingkindness

Recently, a dear friend sent me a musical version of the lovingkindness meditation that she had recorded for her church. It was so haunting and lyrical that I have been singing it to myself, several times a day, ever since. It was something that I wanted to share, but was not sure how best to do so. Should I include it in the Valentine’s post? Should I include it in a meditation one? In the end, I decided to showcase it all by itself.

Good advice! Image: Jon Tyson on Unsplash

What is lovingkindness?

This blended word is one that is used freely by myself and others, but to be honest, I was not sure of its roots. It simply seemed wholesome and ideal. So I looked it up. According to The Buddhist Centre, the lovingkindness meditation is a translation of metta bhavana. Metta means love, in the non-romantic sense, in the Pali language. And what is Pali? It is the language in which the surviving Buddhist scriptures are written. It is not a living language, but rather a literary/liturgical one. Bhavana means ‘development or cultivation’. So, lovingkindness meditation is all about learning to develop a feeling of love and kindness both towards yourself and others.

A perfect place to focus Image: Zoltan Tasi on Unplash

Five steps to developing lovingkindess

Traditionally, the meditation follows five steps with each taking about five minutes to complete. For a more detailed explanation, please check out: https://thebuddhistcentre.com/text/loving-kindness-meditation. I’ve given an an abbreviated one here:

Step one: Focus on yourself in a positive way. Allow a sense of lovingkindness to embrace you. You might like to add a phrase or chant to help you, for example, ‘May I be happy and well,’ or to visualise your love as light.

Step two: Think about a good friend or someone you care deeply about. Send your lovingkindness to them. Again, use a phrase or image to help you.

Step three: Now consider someone you know but have no particular feelings about at all – a sort of neutral relationship. Extend your lovingkindness to them.

Step four: This is where things get a little harder. Here you want to envisage someone that you actively dislike. We are putting the ‘love your enemy’ directive into practice here. By focusing on their inherent humanity, and ‘that of God within them’, you can move beyond your negative feelings to wish them only love and in doing so free yourself from the bondage of hurt and anger.

Step five: In this final step, you include everyone above plus all the people of the world. You may start with your immediate environs and move out to your town, country, continent and end with the whole world. You can include the planet itself. The Earth could certainly do with some loving kindness.

When you are finished, you can come back to the present by wriggling fingers and toes, returning gradually to a non-meditative state.

Baby steps

I appreciate that meditation is not the easiest of things to learn, simple though it appears to be. We need to find time and a quiet space to do it and in this hectic world, that is not always easy (though lock-down may be a blessing here). I confess that I am not always very good at formal practice, though I find it less difficult when I combine it with my breathing exercises. I also find it much easier to sing! Were you to hear me in the shower in the morning, I would be singing my lovingkindness mantra. It is a wonderful way to set intention for the day, even though I may not get past breakfast in achieving it! I also sing it last thing at night and in my head any time in between to reset my grumpy, demanding ego.

Here’s the musical version:

My friend Elizabeth and Anna give a beautiful rendition of this hymn/meditation

Finding your own path

Whether we use meditation or prayer or quiet reflection, it doesn’t really matter. What does is that we cultivate lovingkindness for ourselves and those around us and in doing so contribute to a more compassionate, non-judgemental and loving world. For all the benefits, you may like to read the excellent article in Psychology Today : https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/feeling-it/201409/18-science-backed-reasons-try-loving-kindness-meditation

For me, this meditation benefits both myself and my relationships. When you are ill and somewhat disabled, it is very easy to adopt society’s view of you as a somewhat lesser person. Lovingkindness – in starting with the self – reminds you of your inherent value and helps keep self-criticism, depression and stress at bay.

It is also a great reset button when one’s mind spirals down the rabbit hole of negative thoughts in relation to others. If I can catch it in time, feelings of resentment, judgment and anger evaporate as I run through the three lovingkindness mantras of I, you, we. You cannot send wishes of peace and love to someone and remain angry at them for long.

Though I have been practising meditation for some years now, I am still a beginner. We are all beginners. Developing lovingkindness is just that – an endless path of progression. It takes time and commitment. But given the choice between spinning and repeating the rhetoric of division or quietly working towards placing lovingkindness at the heart of our relationship with all living things, I know which I would choose. Though practice may not make us perfect, it can certainly help move us in the right direction.

In Praise of Small Things

One year, my son bought me an adorable Flow calendar featuring an illustration of a tiny pleasure for every day. These tiny pleasures might be something as simple as observing a new bloom or a chat with a friend or the first coffee of the morning. Anything that brought a smile would qualify. As I tore off each page, it encouraged me to look more closely at the world and appreciate how little things are often what give us most joy.

Then lockdown arrived and my already circumscribed life became even more constricted. While shielding, I could visit medical establishments, but not much else and my world became my house and garden and the few blocks surrounding it – with occasional thrilling trips to the countryside. I had a choice: go completely bonkers within the straight-jacket of restrictions or find another way to expand my world.

Observing the world from the window. But her mug says it all. Image: Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Look closer

Perhaps it was an early obsession with Mary Norton’s The Borrowers or residual childhood memories of fairies in the garden, but I have always been acutely aware that there is a lot more going on than what we see on the surface. If your world seems small, the trick is to change perspective and look closer. Just as a tiny drop of pond water appears as nothing interesting; put it under a microscope and it will be transformed. There will be a whole world of activity, including tiny creatures too small to detect with the human eye. From what at first seems insignificant and lifeless, emerges something very much alive.

Though I haven’t (yet) embarked on any scientific investigations, I have made greater efforts to look much more closely at the world. And my, how magnificent it is! While at the dog park, I started studying the bark on the trees. Every tree was quite different: some barks were smooth to the touch and some entirely rough. Most showed scars, and many were carbuncled with mounds of either undeveloped branches or parasitic growth. Many were covered in lawns of yellow and green lichen – but, of course, mainly on their north facing sides.

What worlds are contained here. Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

In the garden, if you are willing to sit for a while and refocus, there is endless activity in even a square metre of ground: ants scurrying on their errands; bees and butterflies making brief forays into flowers and beetles with their glorious, iridescent carapaces glinting and colour shifting in the sun.

Starting small

Spring is the perfect time to start thinking small. The season is tentative, knowing that blasts of winter can reappear at any moment with sometimes devastating consequences. So Nature has learned to keep things somewhat miniature until the dangers have passed. The earliest flowers are crocus, snow drops, wood anemones, pansies and violets huddling inconspicuous and close to the ground. Only once the promise of warmer weather seems more certain are they joined by their larger, more showy relatives: daffodils and paperwhites; camellias and hyacinths.

First flowers. The delicate beauty of snowdrops. Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

Zoom in

A good friend has recently acquired a macro lens for her phone and sends me gorgeous images almost daily of all the objects and plants she has photographed. Many are unrecognisable so close up, but all have a fascinating attraction. In them, the everyday becomes exotic, almost surreal. The components that make up the stigma and stamen of a flower with the background of vibrant petals looks like some forgotten Georgia O’Keefe painting.

My favourite is of a little piece of moss – now an abundance of green flowers. But what makes it extra special is the Green Man peeking out from the foliage centre right. I’ll let you look for it!

Of course, not all of us have such a lens, but we can still look much more closely at the everyday, perhaps focusing on a particular angle or segment. Either way, the familiar will become strange; the ordinary, fantastical.

Miniature appeal

Lastly, we are programmed to love small things. We may collect tiny charms for a bracelet or have an intricate train set layout. And who doesn’t love kittens and puppies? Small, cute things awaken the nurturing side of us. They need our protection and to be handled with care. Their size and fragility make them precious. And we simply love toys!

We also prefer things which do not pose a threat. Since we are bigger than these tiny things, we feel more powerful and in control when placed in relation to them. In times such as these, a sense of both is to be welcomed.

The appeal for me, though, is in the way that they expand my horizons by proffering a whole new vista in a scaled down form. Our brains, it seems are programmed to respond in such a way. According to Mentalfloss.com, ‘Research has shown that our gaze—and likely our touch too—is drawn to the regions of a scene or object that hold the most information. Part of our attraction to miniatures may be that they provide our sensory-seeking brains with highly concentrated dosages of tantalizing stimulation.’

Miniature humour. Image: Hello I’m Nik on Unsplash

While our movements may be restricted, our minds certainly are not. With a little imagination and a willingness to look a little closer, we can make, as John Donne did with love, ‘…one little room an everywhere.’

Bring Me Sunshine!

After what seems like an eternity of rain, Sunday finally lived up to its name. And as the clouds parted and the sun made its entrance, the world was literally transformed. The little playground next to the puppy park was filled with rambunctious children and smiling parents. People shed their extra winter layers, and some, in a moment of extreme optimism, donned their shorts.

Nature too was cheered by the change in the weather. Reluctant buds suddenly bloomed, filling gardens with the Easter colours of purple, white and yellow. Happily nodding daffodils and jonquils brought their own sun bursts that lingered even after the sun shrank shyly away behind the clouds.

Daffodils mirror spring sunshine Image: Miss Mushroom on Unsplash

What’s in a name?

With the sun’s appearance on Sunday, I thought I would have a look at the derivation of the name. It is rather more interesting that I first thought. While most countries have a ‘sun day’ derived from the worship of the sun god, others refer to it as first day or resurrection day or something else entirely. Interestingly, traditional Quakers give it a numerical designation, first day, since the days are named after heathen deities and Exodus 23 stipulates that we ‘make no mention of other gods’. Though my favourite version of Sunday is the Old Russian, which translates as ‘day with no work’.

In the West, it is a day associated with worship. The early Christian church did not see a particular conflict between the sun and the Son – each provided life and light. St Francis said: ‘Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures, especially through my lord Brother Sun, who brings the day; and you give light through him. And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour! Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.’

Lifting our spirits

It really isn’t surprising that celebration of the life force that is the sun has been absorbed and twinned with so many other major religions. The Ancient Greeks attributed Helios (and sometimes Apollo – the god of light) with bringing the sunlight each morning – driving his fiery chariot from East to West daily. Yet even this was derived from much earlier sun worship. In the same spirit of adaption and absorption, the Judaic and Christian calendars have the spring equinox as one of their central festivals. The relatively modern Christian religion blending the resurrection of Jesus with that of the Earth herself at Easter.

Whatever your beliefs, there is no doubt that at this time of year, light has once again become ascendant. And such an event is bound to lift the spirits. How can one not hope when the days are getting lighter, crops can be sown, flowers picked?

Enjoying spring! Image: Karl Fredrickson on Unsplash

The healing sun

The Ancient Greeks were also prescient when they made Apollo, among his many other attributes, the god of healing, because the sun really can make you well.

In terms of our mental health, getting enough sunlight is vital. Sunshine literally lifts our mood by boosting our serotonin levels. This hormone/neurotransmitter is our body’s happy pill, keeping us contented and calm. It is also linked to our production of melatonin, a hormone vital for good sleep. By getting an hour of natural light in the morning, we can help our bodies produce enough melatonin at night for deep slumbers. Further, melatonin is a natural defence against stress. The more sunlight (and possibly exercise) you get outside, the better your spirits. So if you experience difficulty sleeping, as I do, I’d recommend the sunshine cure.

Sunshine also plays a very important role in ensuring that the body has sufficient vitamin D. Though some foods contain small quantities, it would be difficult to get enough through diet alone. The good news is that fifteen minutes of whole body exposure is sufficient to generate your daily requirement. The bad news is that few of us live in a climate where sunbathing is an option and during winter only our faces peak out from under hats and scarves.

In this case, we need to take it in the form of supplements – especially through the dark months. Why? Because vitamin D is vital for healthy teeth, muscles and bones. It is especially valuable now, as vitamin D supports the immune system in keeping colds and flu at bay.

For those of us with MS, vitamin D has an even greater role to play. This little video explains things further.

But it is not only those with MS who need to maintain optimal levels of vitamin D. Deficiency in this important vitamin has also been linked to many other serious illnesses including: diabetes, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease. A simple blood test can check your levels.

Though we cannot always have bright sunny days, we can enjoy natural light and gain most of the benefits. So welcome the sun and find time every day get outside. Your body will thank you for it.

The Power of Love

As we celebrated Valentine’s Day this week, I thought it would be the ideal time to write about the power of love. We tend to think of love as something romantic – a sexual pairing, but the Greeks were much more expansive in their views. They had eight words for love and each one has its own distinct characteristics.

Romantic love

Eros – It is love based, at least initially, on sexual attraction. This powerful love has fuelled some of the greatest art, in every medium, from opera to pop, plays to film, fine art to graffiti.

Something to sing along to while you read.

Romantic love is so powerful, because it ignites our passions and fills us with a sense of euphoria. This phase of romantic love is called Ludus or playful love. Though what begins with puppy-like affection can turn, when misdirected, to Mania or obsessive love. Not everyone can handle the power of love.

No doubt, St Valentine would not be impressed that his sainthood has become associated with Eros, having died in defence of his faith. He was, however, attributed with marrying Christian couples against the wishes of the Emperor, Claudius II. So perhaps, there was a little bit of the romantic in him after all.

The universal symbol for love Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

Love and marriage

Ideally, married love endures and fulfils the promise ‘Till death do us part.’ When this occurs, the heady rush of erotic love matures into Pragma. When we see a sweet old couple sitting together in the park, we are witnessing this love. Though love as a marathon event is not always the easiest, it is the one designed to yield the greatest rewards. The power of this love is in offering stability in society as a whole and in the smaller unit of the family. Though it may not be attainable for everyone, it is still one that I think is worth aiming for.

Linked to this love is Storge or family love. It is the intense bond a parent feels for a child and family members for each other. It is equally applicable to friends who, through long acquaintance and deep affection themselves become ‘family’. As families become more fractured by geography or separation, it becomes increasingly important that we nurture this kind of love. Though often overlooked, I feel this love is the glue that binds us and helps us to develop the skills to love those outside our immediate circle.

Family love crosses generations Image: Ekaterina Shakharova on Unsplash

Platonic love

More appropriate loves to attribute to St Valentine would be Agape and Philia. The first is the most comprehensive love, since it embraces everyone in its affection. It is unconditional and compassionate. In following Jesus’ teaching, St Valentine did love all and even cured his jailor’s daughter of her blindness. His desire to spread his faith extended to trying to convert the emperor, though this sadly, proved a step too far.

Philia or brotherly love, is an ideal love between friends and equals. To the Greeks, this was one of the most important forms of love, far surpassing that of the erotic. And I think they had a point. Our longest standing relationships are those of our childhood and early adulthood. These are friends who, when we meet up again after even the longest separation, feel as comfortable and cosy as a hand knitted jumper. For me, these friends automatically fall into the category of family. They have always been my safety net and I feel infinitely blessed to have them. Though I think this love can be stretched fairly thin, personally, I feel they are too precious to allow to drift. Keeping in touch; letting them know you care, invariably strengthens this powerful love.

Though Friendship Day isn’t until 30 July, I think these wee cards are a great way to show your affection. And yes, I did make one myself!

Love yourself

Loving yourself –Philautia -is a more complex one. In one unhealthy extreme it becomes narcissism, but in its proper manifestation it is a crucial element in finding all the other kinds of love. For if we do not love ourselves, how are we to love anyone else? Self-care and self-compassion are vital to our well-being. Just as in the safety manual of an airplane, we are told to put on our own oxygen mask before attempting to secure another’s, we must make sure we take care of our own mental and physical health before attempting to engage in anyone else’s.

This truth has become glaringly obvious to me over the past few years. Every step I take to maintain the best health I am able allows my husband to live a normal life. Were I to quit trying and slump on the sofa, I would soon deteriorate to a point where he would have to stop work and look after me. Self-care is often far from selfish and though my case is perhaps more obvious, it applies, to some extent, to every one of us.

Self-love does not mean that we have an exaggerated, positive view of ourselves. Proper self-love acknowledges our own imperfections and, rather than projecting them onto others, works to rectifying them whilst compassionately accepting our inherent imperfection.

So, perhaps we should be writing a love letter to ourselves this year. (And all the other folks who make our lives a little more special.) Love is far too powerful an emotion to be restricted to just one day. I believe that expressing your love everyday seems a much better idea.

Longing

This is the waiting time. Vaccines have been approved and are rolling out with great efficiency in the UK. Yet, not everyone has been vaccinated nor will be for some time. And in many other countries, the process has barely begun.

Spring has teased us with the first, beautiful blooms only to submerge them in snow. The lengthening days start and finish in freezing temperatures. The current lockdown has no end date – only cut off times for some vital government financial support.

Is it any wonder then that I am filled with longing? As I am sure you are: for a return to life without the low level hum of anxiety; of warmth and sunshine; for at least a glimmer of security; reunion with friends and family.

Brave crocuses, tempted out on a fine day, frozen and shrivelled by snow the next. Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

My health situation means that I live with constant uncertainty, a background noise of ‘what ifs’. The pandemic has just been one more layer and though I try to remain a positive person, by last weekend, I felt it all overwhelm me. Longing was turning into despair and despair is not a luxury I can afford. There would be no coming back.

I practised all the things I advocate in this blog. I increased my exercise, my meditation and made more art. I slept in to try and recuperate from disturbed nights. I studied the view, willing myself to appreciate every bud and tree and sky. I turned to my friends for help.

And it worked.

Winter beauty. Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

Standing in the garden, it seemed that everything was dead until I looked more closely. The very tips of trees were in bud. Low to the ground, bulbs were pushing through – some only weeks away from bursting into life. Taking some deep breaths, I tried to feel the garden. It pulsed with life. Like sleeping beauty, it was only mimicking death, waiting for the sun’s kiss of resurrection. And though we can predict almost nothing else: the world will turn, the warm days will come. Spring is on its way.

Come on out! The snow is bracing! Image: Craig Whitehead on Unsplash

Walking in the cold, bundled up like a Michelin man, is a bracing tonic. Like computers, MS sufferers need to be kept cool in order to function, so though the weather is not most people’s ideal, for me it offers an opportunity to extend my walking range. My walking poles keep me from stumbling on the uneven pavements and Jeff and Hermione are good company. By the time I return, I can barely move and my final steps are more leg swings from the hips than true walking. But this burst of fresh air, forcing my blood to circulate and the joy of reaching incrementally further distances makes it all worth while.

Craft production has gone into overdrive. My fractured mind needed focus. Out came the air drying clay, papers for cards and a quirky diorama. Origami stars were made for my granddaughter (she loves them) and plans were made for even more projects. Scattered thoughts were corralled into something productive and rewarded me for it. Who cannot feel happy at a task completed? It doesn’t need to be professional or perfect – just done. Before there were only raw materials. Now there is something!

A magical, miniature diorama courtesy of Flow Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

And lastly, I spoke to friends. For once, I allowed myself to reveal weaknesses – fears and frustrations. And my honesty was met with compassion and practical help. Many of my friends are a bit older and due their vaccinations now, so I thought I would simply ask if they heard of any spare doses to offer my name as someone who would come at a moment’s notice to avoid wastage. Unbelievably, two days later just such a scenario arose and I was privileged to get my first dose. I wish everyone I knew was so lucky and wait impatiently for them to be protected too.

When I was beginning this post, I was determined to find a fissure of hope in the wall of despair; to pry it open and let the light in. As it transpires, that was done for me. I am still longing for the spring and its abundance of flowers. I am still longing for longer, warmer, lighter days. I am till longing to see my friends and chat and laugh in person. But this last week has shown me that miracles are possible and even when they are in abeyance, we have the resources to prevail.

Home ECO-nomics

With all the current political and health concerns, it is easy to forget that the Earth needs our help. Whilst we all know that we should be doing more to save the planet, it is often difficult to find the time and motivation to actually do so. And as with many worthy activities, it can seem rather boring.

Be a friend of the Earth Image: Louis Maniquet on Unsplash

But what if we change the narrative? What if, instead of thinking that it is something we ought to do that it is something that we can enjoy doing: something that brings us financial or creative benefits or both?

The topic is endless and complex, so I shall begin on the small scale and where we can see the results. I shall begin with the home.

The three Rs

Here’s a jolly little song to inspire you!

There is a very simple formula for living a more environmentally conscious life and that is to follow the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Focus almost always tends to fall on the last, and although that is important, it is not as significant as the others. If we reduce the amount that we consume and reuse what we have, recycling becomes a small part in a virtuous cycle.

Twenty is plenty

With heating accounting for 50% of UK homes’ heating bills (Energy Saving Trust) it is worth thinking about how much we actually need. It turns out that like the ideal speed limit near schools, 20 is plenty. This equates to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Of course, if you need it warmer to keep well, turn it up, but for most of us, a woolly jumper will do the trick.

Since we are always dressed for dog walking, this temperature suits us fine. Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

Heat efficient cooking

Despite cooking food being a significant part of a household’s energy use, I seldom see guidelines on how to cook more efficiently. So here are a few I have picked up along the way.

Put a lid on it! The simple act of putting a lid on a pot decreases the cooking time and reduces energy costs. Many foods, once brought to the boil, will cook very happily without any heat at all when sealed with a lid. I use this method to cook vegetables and rice and it works a treat. (You can always turn the heat back on if they need a little extra.)
Match the pot with the hob. Placing a smaller pot on a larger hob could waste up to 40% energy according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy. And this was with only a 2 inch differential.
Oven on? Fill it up! If you have an oven on, try to fill all the shelves. It may take a little forward thinking (putting the butternut squash in to make soup the next day, for example) but it is well worth it. And cooling ovens can be used to dry fruit leathers, herbs and kale chips.

Food glorious food

Food waste in the UK is beyond startling, currently around 20 million tonnes. The true cost of this is huge: in the production, packaging and transport of wasted food; the financial cost to the consumer and its disposal in already overstretched land-fill sites. A few steps can go a long way towards reducing this waste: planning your grocery list; resisting multi-buy deals on fresh products unless you can realistically use them all and learning to use up everything in the fridge.

My cooking tends to be determined by what is getting closest to its sell-by. So I start by seeing what needs to be eaten and plan my meals around that. It takes some of the strain of what to make for dinner out of the equation. An all-time favourite is ‘bottom of the vegetable basket soup’. Soups are a brilliant way to use up tired vegetables. This one is easiest of all. Take your sad vegetables, clean and chop. Fry a chopped onion, add vegetables and stock plus any seasonings/ herbs your fancy. Bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and let vegetables cook until tender. Reheat before serving. Add rice or oats for a thicker, heartier meal.

A delicious starter for pennies – and no waste Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

If you wish to economise on food bills and have that virtuous warm glow of helping the planet too, here are a few ideas to enable you to do that. Buy wonky veg! Most supermarkets now sell ‘imperfect’ (in appearance only) vegetables at ridiculously low prices. These vegetables would probably have been thrown away – all the effort – and energy used to grow them wasted.

Whilst organic vegetables are ideal, they can be expensive. And if they are flown in from New Zealand, I’d question the benefit. Local is always better. If you can get both, that is perfect.

All of us have home freezers, and these work most efficiently when full. Ours contain bread and baked goods to keep them fresh; fruit and veg from the garden and commercial sources. We’ve just discovered frozen avocado chunks- perfect for guacamole and no more wasted avocados that go bad over night.

Smart containers

When it comes to reusing, containers are the key. Without going crazy, look at the product you are buying and think how you can give the packaging a second life. Ideally, go for something that you know you can easily reuse – like Nutella in a tumbler glass rather than an oddly shaped jar. Be imaginative. Even the protective sheath on a greetings card can be reused for small items. My favourites are glass jars, which have endless possibilities. Most of my storage containers are old pickle jars. I love the tiny jam jars for lip balms and even made my American husband a patriotic snow globe from an old olive jar.

Jars – How do I use thee? Let me count the ways. Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

Decorate with stickers or pretty labels to give them a personal touch. Another great resource is magazines. Read, enjoy then repurpose. And when you are done? Recycle!

Paper play

Beautiful papers are too good for the recycling bin Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

Pretty magazine papers are perfect for wrapping small gifts, making bespoke envelopes and practising origami.

Wrapping paper can almost always be reused if opened carefully and pretty gift bags will certainly serve many times. Old calendars, with their beautiful illustrations on quality paper, make wonderful backdrops for cards. And old greeting cards make super gift tags.

One of my favourite paper resources is books – the old ones whose covers are falling off. There are whole books on this form of upcycling and book art is a special love of mine. Printed pages (as with sheet music) can be used in endless ways from jewellery to hedgehogs.

And all those little paper scraps? They are perfect for collage.

The final step

Once you have enjoyed using everything, then it is time to recycle. Out of courtesy to those handling your waste, it is good to give containers a wash in soapy water before putting in the recycling bin.

The more you consider your use of the Earth’s vital resources, the more you are likely to look after them. In doing so, you will save money and the planet.

I have only touched on a few ideas here, but I would love to hear from you if you have any imaginative or practical ways to minimise domestic waste. Please pop your ideas in the comments section below, and if there are enough of them, I shall present them in a future post!

Harmony

We live in divisive times. These last few years have seen fractures widening on so many issues: Brexit, Trump, race, gender and sexual orientation. Increasingly, what began as dialogue and debate has fallen into the shrill cry of outrage. And as each shouts louder, the quiet voice of reason is drowned out.

Without doubt, there has been plenty to be concerned about. Injustices too many to count have occurred; individuals and groups have suffered. There is much to be done. But talking and blaming are the least likely routes to a lasting solution. Our only hope is in learning to listen.

Many notes, but one beautiful sound Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

When singing in a choir, as much of our energy needs to be directed to what everyone else is singing as in following our own lines. The diversity of the notes, the varying ranges and tones are what makes the music beautiful. So too, in society.

We need diversity to thrive. We need to have our ideas and values challenged. Without this, we risk falling into a sort of mono political void – where the extremes of Nazism on the right and communism on the left reside.

Recently, I have been very disturbed by the tendency of the cancel culture to fall into this very trap where their battle cry is: If you do not agree with me, then I shall ostracise you, or worse have you lose your job. In the defence of one kind of thinking, individuals have simply suppressed another.

And it is so seductive. Who doesn’t enjoy feeling right? Who doesn’t enjoy that sense of moral superiority? We post and repost sometimes cruel memes, knowing that we will be rewarded with smiley faces and supportive comments. No-one I know likes Trump, for example, and his behaviour has been outrageous. However, I fear that in joining the jeering masses that criticise him, we too have become diminished. If we fill our heads with hate, I fear our hearts soon follow.

And the wedge between those who support him and those who do not widens further. What we need to do is ask why anyone would support such a man. The same has been true of Brexit in the UK. It is so easy to view the holder of the opposite opinion as a fool or worse. And perhaps some are, but when it literally divides a nation in half, we should assume that there is some cause for their position. If we discuss, if we listen, we may discover that they have cause for their beliefs. We may unearth the very fears and difficulties that led them to it. We may, if we are willing to dive into that messy, challenging area of policy change, work towards helping resolve them.

Black lives matter

Together, black and white make beautiful music Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

Of course, black lives matter and the global protests have sparked a long-overdue discussion of how race impacts lives. That so many (of every hue) marched in support of this is a sign that a good number genuinely value our multi-cultural society. But speeches, and marches, only go so far. We need to engage with one another and this is not possible when either side is viewed as the enemy. I was somewhat appalled to see when I opened my online library catalogue that one of the best sellers was titled: Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race. Ironically, I’m sure that it will be read by numerous white readers wishing to improve their understanding, but it saddens me nonetheless that many feel the divide is unbridgeable.

Perhaps a sign of hope should be taken from the star of Biden’s inauguration: a young black woman reciting her own work with the first female, mixed race Vice-President sitting behind her.

Brilliant and wise words

Let it begin with me

Since my post was going to be about harmony – blending a variety of voices into one beautiful sound, I looked for an appropriate audio-visual representation and found this gorgeous choir below. The singers come from diverse backgrounds. If I was looking for something to sum up what I hoped to say, it is this.

And let it begin with me is a powerful challenge. Ultimately, we cannot wait for others to show us the way. The times are too pressing for that. We can only look to our shared humanity and follow the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have done unto you. When I meditate on equality, I always come back to this. It is as simple to say as it is difficult to carry out. Yet if we wish to live in a world where we respect and value each other, we really don’t have an option.

Sky Watchers

I have always loved looking at the sky, not just as a barometer of the weather, but as a moving, infinitely varied landscape of colour and light. It is every watercolourist’s dream: hazy pastels, borderless clouds, colours bleeding imperceptibly into one another. At times, it is framed by my window; at others it expands until it abuts with land or sea. And it seems, I am not alone in this obsession. Many of my friends are equally absorbed by the heavens as they transform throughout the day. We are the sky watchers.

This post is for them and to showcase some of the many, beautiful images they have shared with me.

Dawn

One of the main advantages of winter is that it is possible to witness the dawn without having to get up too early. As someone who needs their sleep, I fully appreciate that. Some of the dawns we have had recently have been truly magnificent and I regret not having a camera on hand to record them. For a few days, the sky was tangerine – stunning and uniform in its orange glow. Most days, it is more subtle: pale peach and yellow segueing into pale grey-blue.

Day

Recently, the skies have been a uniform grey, heavy with clouds pregnant with rain. Sometimes, I’ve been unable to see the clouds for the rain or the deep mists that sometimes engulf us here on the coast. Sometimes, our venturing out in such weather is rewarded. After a spectacularly wet, windy walk along the promenade when the rain was intermittently replaced by hail, we made it back to the car only for the rain to stop and a brilliant, arching rainbow to bridge the sky. We couldn’t help but smile and feel our blustery walk had been well worth it. A friend had a similar experience and, unlike me, had a camera ready to capture the magic.

Capturing the elusive rainbow Image: Carol Stadelwieser

And sometimes, the sky even manages a Hockney blue. When this happens, we can enjoy the clouds in their endless manifestations. Here’s a wonderful one, where the cloud looks like a stretching swan’s neck or a tear in the sky’s fabric.

Sunset

The sky’s show stopper is sunset. In this final blaze of glory, the sun washes the sky with colour before darkness descends. Sometimes it is a magical play of candyfloss pink and blue – a celestial baby shower as here:

Evening sky Image: Karen Costello-McFeat

Or it is a fireburst:

Or a preview of the night to come. As the moon rises, the sun sets and sometimes we get to enjoy both.

Sunset over Eastbourne Image: Jane Cockburn

Night

And I am equally enamoured of the evening and night skies, though I am yet to master the art of photographing them. I love the purple feel of dusk, the black silhouettes of trees and buildings, the papercut outline of bird or bat.

And deep night is especially magical. Since wee Hermione often has late evening walks and even later trips to the garden, I can often be found staring up at the constellations and the moon, tracking its shape and size as it works through all its phases. A friend is equally enchanted and we text each other when a full moon or an especially beautiful one appears.

Night’s majesty Image: Free credit stockvault

The sky is liberal with its beauty. We need neither special equipment or location to enjoy it. All we need to do is look up.