The Neti Squirt

The Neti Pot! This I have found to be a verdant way of treating allergies and head colds. No meds, just a, um.m.m, seasoning of salt and baking soda mixed in water and up the nose.

I don't actually use the pot. I use the Neti Squirt.



They call this nasal irrigation. That sounds verdant, doesn't it. You don't have to buy salt packs.

Here is a recipe:

◦1/4 teaspoon of non-iodized salt (pickling salt is recommended)
◦1/4 teaspoon baking soda (not baking powder)
◦1 cup of warm water (not hot)

You can use a little more of the salt/baking soda if you want. Too much and it will sting.

The actual squirt bottle that I use is by NeilMed.

Try it if you are wanting to treat allergy or cold symptoms without using a lot of medicine.

to cage or not to cage...

OK, so we were enjoying a beautiful lunch today, and you know, if you are thinking, any situation can become a moral dillemma. Or at least a chance for philosphizing about moral concerns. So we were eating at a place in Opry Mills mall called the Aquarium resturant. It is a beautiful place and you literally feel like you are underwater there. Fish are everywhere, in huge tanks, and there are even sharks and manta rays.

You walk in and you are immediately struck by the beauty of it. You just want to sit and watch the fish go round and round; it makes you forget to look at the menu! They are just going round and round and round. And somewhere mid-meal it hits you. That shark has been just going around and around for almost an hour. And that is all he gets to do for the whole day. Every day...

So is that a good thing or not?

It made me think of Dory from Finding Nemo. You know, the one who has like a 3 second memory. She just floats around and cant make a connection with anything because she can't remember anything. There were some of those same kind of fish in the tanks. Life for them has to be better here than in the ocean, especially if they truly have the limited brain capacity that people say they do. I mean, they have a reasonable amount of space, constant food source and no predators. I think people tend to forget that "life in the wild" includes a very high infant mortality and a very short lifespan for more animals. Whereas life in captivity may mean a less interesting life, but it is certainly one that is more comfortable and long. And that seems to make sense for the Dory fish. But for the sharks? The big Mantas? The Eel? Aren't they made to dart and zoom, hunt and roam, kill and eat? Circle with one fin out of the water? It is hard to feel good about their constant circling.

Our discussion turned to zoos as well.  Is it right to keep animals in a cage? Shouldn't they be "out there" where they belong? But where is "out there" these days? I mean, think about the wild cows in India. They are allowed to roam, but there is certainly a risk to the humans they live near. And for many animals their habitats are shrinking and disappearing. Many an animal loving zookeeper truly believes that his or her work is integral to the preservation of many species. So if we as a planet want to keep animals in their homes, we are going to have to change how we do business in a major way. ( And I don't think that would be a bad thing. I won't repeat what has been said so many times, but feel free to mentally add here a monologue on the destruction of the rainforest, extinct species, pollution, etc.)

One blogger said this:

"Viewed through a sentimental lens, it’s an understandable conundrum [That is, whether animals should be kept in zoos and tanks or allowed to simply live in the wild]. And it’s a conundrum that highlights why, despite attacks suggesting the contrary, the work of animal rights is a highly unsentimental enterprise. To argue that we must consider the rights of animals like Tilikum and Tatiana is to accept that we must put aside our wish to experience these animals firsthand, and consider rather what is best for them. For many of us who love animals, it is in some ways a sacrifice. It is putting aside the selfish love of childhood, which insists that somehow, we must possess what we love, even if it is just with our eyes, and moving toward a mature love, one that recognizes we can best honor the animals we adore by allowing them to thrive in our absence, far from our view."

I like this quote for its last sentance. We must, as adults, go through that process, giving up what we want in exchange for what is best. In some cases arguments could be made that letting an animal back in the wild may not be best for it in particular. I mean, the wild cats that live among us (that is, on the streets and in the barns of America, I am not talking about so called big cats) are much more of a menace and danger than our pet cats. AND the wild cats suffer much more than our pets. So we must make determinations about that based on reason. But over all, I am in agreement with this blogger's feeling. Regardless of what we human's like or want, animals are better off living where they belong, in their natural habitat.

And we certainly should not think we can contain these dangerous animals without fear of consequence. They are still WILD ANIMALS. This week a true tragedy occurred at Sea World. A trainer was killed by a Shamu-like whale (a killer whale living at SeaWorld, and we all know that killer whales living at Sea World should all be named Shamu, even though this one wasn't. When I was young I saw Shamu at the Sea World in Ohio and wondered how he could live both in Ohio and in Florida at the same time...) But anyway, this story leads to a lot of renewed discussion of the relationship between man and beast. I think about when the white Tiger attacked the magician from Sigfried and Roy, or the chimp that ripped the woman's face off. Again, it is not shocking that these events happened, and it should give our society pause as we think about our relationships with animals. They really aren't made to put on shows for us or live penned up in a cage. Can we make it work? Sometimes. But it will always be a tightrope walk at best. If we forget that, we are in deep Elephant poo.

Another issue is the use of animals in medical and scientific testing. NASA has recently been doing some experiments using monkeys to test the effects of space radiation. Here is a link to an admitedly biased article about it. And when I say biased, I don't mean outrageous, just that the writer is clearly against this form of animal testing. And I think we definitely should be when there are viable alternatives. But there are gray areas depending on how we value the greater good of human lives.

Basically, I like this discussion. We as individuals have little power to make changes in the world as a whole, but we do have our vote, for one, and our ability to changes how we act in this world. This may be refusing to go to zoos, if your conscience convicts that. Or it may be donating to save the rainforest. Or it may be boycotting all of NASA, as one post suggested, although I am not sure how you do that...not eat astronaut ice cream? Or this may be picking up polluting trash at a local waterway.

Here is a great link on how we can help the animals in practical and realistic ways. Their take? Go on a whale watching cruise and skip Sea World completely.

I would LOVE to get your take on this one...

A whole lot of inspiration

So I started this "verdant" journey with the idea that this year, my 30th, would be the year where I would start living a better life in every way. Of course the obvious ones are included, better health, the bikini body I have always wanted, etc. Also, I wanted to become Spiritually verdant, growing and maturing that aspect of myself. I wanted to become economically verdant, both personally and as part of a global economy that, although I probably can't single handedly change, I can at least do my best to not encourage in its wackiness (some may say wickidness).

So today at lunch we were eating at the Wild Cow again, and it was quite busy today I must say! Some at the table suggested that my last blog post had something to do with it. But I digress... We took another picture for the very purpose of this blog post. And as I looked at it tonight, I realized that this table was full of inspiring women. But this blog is about one of those women in particular. Girls, I am giving you all your props, but I want to say a few words about one friend of mine. I will call her RFM.

You see, she probably would not have chosen to eat at the Wild Cow, at least it would not have been a first choice. But she agreed because she enjoys hanging out with the rest of us, and she is almost always up for new things. And that is one thing I admire about RFM. She is not fearful, but boldly goes where she has never gone before! She is flexible and doesn't let things get her down. She rolls with the punches, but watch out, because when needed she can punch back too!

And RFM is honest. She will tell you how it is, she will openly disagree with you, and she will shed light on dark places. And all with the most loving spirit and the righteousness that comes with truth. I love it. I want to be a more honest person, too.

One last quality I want to mention is that she is steadfast. Once she knows she is right where she should be , she will stand firm and stand and stand and stand. This has come through both her strong faith and her life experience. And it is great to see. A real inspiration.

So I say all this to say, if we want to live a verdant life, it is important to surround ourselves with verdant people. People like RFM, or others, like RS who inspired me to start this whole vegetarian experiment. I am so thankful to her for that. Or her sister, who I think was the one who inspired her. Or MR, who not only lives vegetarian, but puts her beliefs into action with the hours and hours of volunteer work she does helping both animals and people who can't help themselves. So today, I felt like I was really part of a power squad.


On another note... I was also thinking again today about the name of this resturant. Here is a link to an interesting article about wild cows. I think India is one of the few places to have wild cows. Quite literally we are talking about jungle cows who, at times, will come out of the jungles and kill humans if they cross their path. To quote the article, "Science cannot defy their logic". If ever there was a phrase to make you want to read on, well, that is it! So I did. It is quite an interesting tale, one that really gives me a new respect for the name "The Wild Cow". I used to think of that name as kind of silly. But a wild cow is not a tame cow, and a cow that is not tame is a cow to watch out for!

I must end this post by quoting the last paragraph of the above noted article. I will tie the two divergent parts of this post together with this... We all should be inspired by something! For some, it is the great people they are surrounded by, for others it can be something as simple as the sight of a wild cow!

"So absorbed were they in relishing the tender shoots of post-monsoonal greenery, they did not notice us. Except for a semiadult male, probably on sentry duty for the herd, who threw its head at us from the safe distance with a belligerence befitting Myke Tyson. The more little you are, the more pugnacious you are! Such little muggins often fall prey to stalking predators. The master bull was at its dignified best, cool and composed, busy grazing on a patch a few ten metres away from the rest of the herd. The ambience was soft enough to make me emotional. I murmured at that majestic wild beast – “for God’s sake, don’t move further south”. The forest boundary was just a couple of miles away southward from that spot."

The Wild Cow for lunch

OK, so we did a lot of debating about the name of this resturant, but we decided to try it in spite of the name. The Wild Cow is a new Vegetarian resturant in Nashville, TN. The name refers, ironically, to the fact that cows are not wild, because probably almost all cows in the US are livestock cows. The website says:

"We started the Wild Cow to provide delicious, cruelty-free, healthy food to the people of Middle Tennessee. We will never support the inhumane and environmentally destructive factory farm system that dominates our agricultural economy, nor will we support corporations like Coke and Pepsi that thrive off of our addiction to sugar and artificial “food”. Nearly all of our food is purchased in it’s whole form, meaning we make almost all of our own sauces, dressings, soup stocks, etc. This means that we can name every ingredient in the food we serve!"


The Wild Cow tends to serve mostly Vegan food, but some dishes do include free range eggs and organic cheese can also be added if desired. Our group included one long time vegetarian, two newby vegetarians who TRY to eat vegan, and one meat eater.
The ambiance of the place is great. Very "crunchy", with local art on the walls, and the servers all look like the live the natural lifestyle. Everything on the menu looks yummy, with lots of fresh options, different daily specials, soups and all sauces and dressings are homemade. I chose a tempeh buffalo sandwhich and vegan mac and "cheese". We all got sodas with natural and organic ingredients. Those were great too. The organic green tea root beer is recommended!


The food was awesome. We really enjoyed it. The long time vegetarian in the group was so happy to have a menu full of options to choose from instead of the usual one or two veggie options on a typical menu. Even our meat eater said the veggie burger was pretty good.

This is defitely a place to eat for anyone eating vegetarian or vegan in Nashville.

This week in verdant living...

So I just ate a really good meal. I cooked it last night, then took leftovers for lunch, and was still craving it by the time I got home. And I cooked it myself, amazingly!

I made a dish called Moujadra, which is a Lebanese dish. I found it on i was a kaleidoscope, a great blogspot blog I recently found. There is a lot of good recommendations for food on this blog, so check it out.

With it I also made Squash and Onions, a recipe found in The Kind Diet, by Alicia Silverstone. It was so easy. I sauteed a couple onions in olive oil, cut up a butternut squash and threw that in with some oregano after a few minutes. After sauteing both for a couple minutes I added about 1/2 cup of water and covered it. Then I let is steam for about 20 minutes. The squash was soft and the onions gave it great flavor. MMMM.

So here is what my friend Rebekah made for dinner tonight. Looks good, huh? It is called Gingered Green Beans with Hidjiki. It is also a Kind Diet recipe. This photo is used without permission, so I hope she does not mind!

Another vegetarian exploration of the week was out annual trip to Siam cafe for Valentines dinner. It is where we ate the night of our first date as well as the Valentines day 9 years ago when we got engaged. So it is a tradition. But this is my first time going in with the mindset of eating vegetarian. But it was great because I could have any dish I wanted and they would substitute the meat with veggies and tofu. So I had my normal favorite, red curry, and it was delish!!

Vegetarian International

This week we got to go to a Vegetarian resturant. Both Vegetarian and Indian. And it was delicious!
We went to Woodlands Indian Resturant on West End Ave in Nashville. And it was great! Here is a picture of the beautiful food.

WE enjoyed a great night there with other vegetarian friends and vegetarian "flirts" and I think by the end of the night the servers thought we were a bit weird. But we had a great time. It is funny that I always forget that we have this great vegetarian resource in the Indian community. Imagine ME forgetting that! So it was great to re-discover a menu that is wide open to me as I eat this new way. Of course not everything there was Vegan, but much of it was, which was great.

And while I am talking food again, I thought I would add a picture of MY Rustic pasta that I made tonight. The other picture of this dish was not credited to me and some people doubted that I REALLY made it. So this is for those doubters! ;)

Castille soap...ever used it?

So I am trying lots of new things so far this year, and one I have tried is Castille soap. It is billed as a natural soap with tons of uses and that is not harmful to the environment. Apparently you can bathe in a pristine stream using it and not pollute the area...because it is made of olive oil and other oils.

So does it work? That is a question. Well, so far I have used it for a few things. I used it as a body wash. That worked fine. The kind I got had a nice peppermint smell. Very refreshing. It did leave my skin a little dry, but with a touch of lotion it was fine.
I then used it as a shampoo. Ew. No go. my hair became wiry and thick and weird. BUT I did try another natural method that worked better...Baking soda. Straight on the hair while I was in the shower. I rubbed it in and then conditioned. Seemed OK. My hair feels clean and light.

This article raves about Castille soap, but I am a bit stumped by it. That is, I am not sure how to use it in the laundry or dishwasher, or as a cleaner...but I am trying. I put a bit of it with water and vinegar to make a spray cleaner. Worked OK, I guess, but one can't seem germs dying, so I hope it is working!!

Ever used this soap? I'd love to know what you think...