Tag Archives: autobiographical

Heartwings Love Notes 2019: Soup to Warm You Up

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Heartwings says, “Warm up on cold days with good, nourishing soup.”

It’s definitely soup weather, and while there are many recipes floating around, I thought I’d share some ideas and suggestions of my own. When I want something hearty to serve Stephen and me for several meals, I check my pantry shelves for lentils, split peas, or mung beans. Any will do in this recipe. Measurements are not fixed in stone and really depend on your taste.

The starting lineup is applicable to any good soup recipe and is the beginning of most of mine: Have onion, celery, and (optional) garlic, together with butter and olive oil for sauteing. Chop onion and celery to make approximately ½ to 1 cup each. 2 Tbs chopped garlic will be enough for good flavor.

I use celery labeled organic celery hearts. I prefer sweet onions for their tear free chopping and milder taste. Try using scissors to cut the celery stalks. Sauté these two for around 10 minutes in around 2 tbs each of butter and olive oil. Add chopped garlic toward the end, when onion and celery are beginning to look transparent.

Have rest of ingredients on hand: 1 tsp dried thyme leaves, 1 or 2 bay leaves, ½ tsp dried savory leaves, I tsp ground garlic or ½ if using fresh–see above. Salt and pepper to taste. If you have other herbs you like, feel free to use them, or none.

Have ½ to 1-quart rich beef or chicken broth, 2 to 4 cups water, 1 cup lentils, mung beans or other dried legumes as desired.

Add liquid and legumes to sautéed vegetables: ½ box broth to 2 cups water, double for 1 cup dry ingredients– ½ cups to 1 cup lentils or other legumes. Bring to a boil and return to simmer for upwards of one hour or more. This keeps well and is better the day after making, it when flavors have a chance to develop.

The same base, perhaps minus the fresh garlic, works well for a good chicken soup. I use the boxed bone broth unless I have some I made from the bones of a recent chicken dinner, boiled up with half an onion and a stalk of celery for flavor. The vegetables for a tasty chicken soup can include more celery and some carrots, if you like. You might substitute dried or fresh rosemary for the savory. If you wish, you can add rice or pasta once you sauté the onion and celery.  If you are using cooked or canned chicken you need to cook the vegetables and rice or pasta in the broth but add the cooked chicken only at the end just to heat it up nicely. Snipped fresh parsley can be added then too. In addition, one or two cups sauteed mushrooms will enrich any of these soups, as will chopped carrots.

I often cook and store rice in the ‘fridge to have handy, either to add to soup or to heat up for a meal.

May you enjoy making soup as well as eating it.

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS If you have comments, suggestions, or recipes to share, please write to me at tashahal@gmail.com. It is my great delight to hear from readers. You can sign up to receive my blog weekly at http://tashasperspective.com.

Heartwings Love Notes 2018 Four Seasons of Beaut

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Heartwings says, “Take the time to look around you, especially when you are in nature.”

From the age of seven or eight onward, I often accompanied my father, a horticulturist as well as an arborist, when he visited clients. To this day my eye is drawn to the needs of trees as I pass them or visit with their owners. I have a great regard for the beauty of trees in every season.

Trees have always been special to me. I spent many days climbing and perched in them, reading or drawing. One of my greatest delights as a child was to sit in the big Beech tree toward the middle of my great aunt’s estate where I grew up, to read. I was a voracious reader and devoured books, especially tales of adventure. One of my very favorites was The Swiss Family Robinson, about a shipwrecked family that built and lived in a tree house.

I was fortunate in growing up surrounded by nature. The property where we lived was first developed by my great grandfather, an amateur horticulturist with a great interest in flowers and trees. In his large garden he grew a variety of vegetables, in other, smaller ones, flowers.

My father and mother gardened as well. My practical mother grew vegetables, my romantic father grew roses and many other kinds of flowering bulbs and annuals. My love of nature grew as I did. I wrote poetry about it at an early age. Sometimes I created little booklets for my mother. Happily for me, she saved them and gave them back some thirty years later.

Because I was an only child until I was eight and a half, and we had no close neighbors with children near my age, I spent much of my time alone. I didn’t really mind this; I made my own fun by playing out imaginary scenarios based on my reading. The property we lived on was large, and I could wander it safely. Now, some eighty years later, though still in the same state, I live far from where I grew up. Yet the nature of my childhood still takes my eye and inspires me.

Driving the roads where I live, I am delighted in every season by the trees and the gardens I pass. The loveliness of the spring, summer and fall in New England is equaled by the graceful bare branches of trees in winter, stretched across the sky.

 Beauty is where we find it, and if we are of a mind to seek it, it is everywhere. The wildflowers in their season that spring up by the side of the road are wonderful to see, as are the bright dandelions that grow in various cracks and crevices as well as on lawns where they are allowed. Drops of dew or raindrops that linger in spiderwebs or stretches of weed patches catch the light and glisten where that marvelous artist, nature, puts them. When I take the time to look, in every season there is always something to be seen, and I am ever grateful.

May you find beauty each day, and be grateful for what you find.

 Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS If you have stories or experiences to share, or comments or questions for me, I’d be so happy to read them. It is a joy to hear from readers. Thank you for reading and know that  I appreciate you.

Heartwings Love Notes: The Season of Light

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Heartwings says, “The light is always there, even if it is not visible just then.”

When I was little my mother put real candles on our tree. She had brought the holders with her from Germany, where she had grown up. My great aunt Alice, who was our landlady was somewhat nervous about having live flames on the tree, so we always had a bucket of water and a mop—the old-fashioned string kind, waiting by the tree, just in case something went awry. Nothing ever did.

On Christmas eve day, my mother and I would decorate each bough of the live tree with the silvery metallic strands of tinsel she saved from year to year. Decorative glass balls were at the bottom, smaller ones up higher. As I grew older, I was proud to graduate from hanging decorations in the back; I was finally told I could help hang the strands and ornaments in the front. My mother was an artist and she was very particular about how the tree looked.

The silvery strands we hung one by one along each branch shimmered in the light of the candles and made an awesome sight. Later when my first husband, then a college student, and I celebrated our first Christmas, we couldn’t afford to buy lights but I hung the tinsel on the branches of our table tree and set it by the window. When the sunlight struck the silvery strands, it was almost as beautiful as the trees of my childhood.

Christmas, while traditionally being about the birth of a child, is just as much about light. In the midst of the darkest days of the year in the Northern hemisphere, the first lengthening of the daylight hours begins. All over the world this time is celebrated with all kinds of celebrations featuring gifts and light.

The celebration of the Jewish Hanukah season is about a miracle involving light, as are other light celebrations of December. These include the shepherds who followed the star to the holy stable, the visit of the three kings who did the same, a day sacred to Santa Lucia replete with candles, a Buddhist celebration of the enlightenment of the Buddha, a day sacred to Zoroaster when worshipers visit a fire temple, and others.

Light as a theme is featured throughout the holidays, including the burning of the Yule log, always to include a piece of the year’s previous one, showing the continuation of the cycle of life. To celebrate at the darkest time of the year seems appropriate. What better way to bring light into the world than to celebrate it with music, gifts and feasting? We honor the return of the sun in these ways, affirming in out hearts that no matter how dark and cold it may be, we know the light burns steadily on. At Christmas I remember always my childhood tree, shimmering, its candles burning on Christmas eve, as my mother played Silent Night on her violin.

May your Christmas memories shimmer brightly and your heart feel happy in their light.

Blessings, Best Regards, and Merry be, Tasha Halpert

PS If you have any Christmas memories to share, I would love to hear them. Thank you, Dear Readers, for your comments, and Happy Christmas to all.

Heartwings Love Notes 2015 Giving at the Holidays

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Heartwings says, “Giving needs to be enjoyable for the giver as well as for the recipient.”

Stephen and I were discussing what to give friends and family for Christmas.  We have a list, as always, and in previous years, we have accumulated gifts throughout the year and mailed them or given them away at the holidays. However, there no longer seem to be the choices as in the past. Covid dried up the yard sales where we used to find fun things. Lately, being less mobile, with less time, shopping has not always been an option.

Furthermore, one family member told us she didn’t want any more things. It seemed she and her husband were eliminating, not adding. More recently, we have ordered food gifts from a catalogue that carries a variety of packages of meats, sweets, and cheeses. Some we used to send to were on special diets, or didn’t eat some of the things they used to eat.

I thought about the plethora of catalogues piled on the sofa and sighed. With limited energy and restricted motion there would be no fun going to a mall or even a department store. It was getting late for online shopping especially if we needed to be wrapping and mailing anything to relatives far away. Christmas giving is supposed to be fun. It wasn’t feeling that way.

Then I thought about how nice it was to be able to chose something, using a gift certificate. The answer to my dilemma appeared in flashing lights. Exactly! The perfect solution: gift cards for purchases on Amazon. I turned to Stephen and shared my idea and he agreed. Problem solved. People get to choose what they would like and fortuitously, no postage need be paid by either giver or recipient. It was a win- win situation.

My grandmother always gave my parents some cash, brand new crisp bills from the bank, together with a carton of cigarettes. This was very welcome. As an old friend used to say, “cash makes no enemies.” My father told me that after my grandmother passed on, and he was going through her things, in her bottom bureau drawer he found every gift he had carefully chosen for her re wrapped, brand new and unused. He said it made him feel sad. I don’t blame him.

Her sister, my Great Aunt Alice, used to give strange, even weird gifts that no one cared for and usually could not return because their point of origin was unknown. I do remember one such gift I received from her which was a wood burning set. I had no idea what use to put it to, and for years it gathered dust on the top shelf of my closet.

Each Christmas my dad wrapped the gifts he gave to the gardeners who took care of the estates where he was hired to do tree work. Some got cartons of cigarettes, others ties, and a few got liquor. He wrapped each gift carefully and delivered them himself. It is fun to recall these special holiday memories.

May you enjoy your special holiday memories and share them.”

Blessings and best regards at the holidays and always,

Tasha Halpert

Heartwings Love Notes 2014 Catalogues Abound Now

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Heartwings says, “What to buy for gifts depends upon many factors.”

Every day more catalogues arrive in our small, personal mailbox. Once I found a bill squashed in the bottom of it because the mailbox had been so stuffed. How did the senders get our names? This is one mystery I know not how to solve. I used to call or email and ask to be removed from their list. The excess catalogues seemed to me to be a great waste of paper and postage. I’d even asked at the post office about getting rid of them, but their job is to deliver, not to hold back. Since I have no solution, I just keep discarding all but the few I welcome.

I do keep a small number that we order from. There is a food catalogue that give gifts from each year. They are reasonable and don’t suggest we buy pears that are 2 or 3 dollars each. Tasty I am sure but rather expensive for something that they don’t use fancy ingredients to manufacture. Some of our favorites offer money off if you order before a specific date. This is handy and merciful, especially if one remembers to order before the due date.

When I was ten or twelve, I made the first order I can recall from a catalogue. As I remember, it was a smallish black and white one, with things I thought might please my parents. I bought them a set of ashtrays that featured a heart, a diamond, a spade, and a club on each and were shaped to fit on the corners of a bridge table. How proud and how grown up I felt to have bought them a special present from a catalogue.

My parents and their friends all smoked cigarettes, didn’t everybody? I believe tobacco was different then, however I can’t prove it. My great aunt always had a box of cigarette on her coffee table and most every adult lit up after dinner. That was then, when doctors recommended a certain brand for whatever reason I no longer remember. No one smoked constantly, it was a simple pleasure to be indulged from time to time, not a need to be satisfied. I suspect you won’t find any ashtrays in catalogues these days.

The items in some are almost irresistible, until I remember that my friends do not have any more space for new, ornamental objects than I do. I remember a long time ago reading a quote from someone requesting only gifts she could “Eat, use up, or wear.” Maybe that’s why I often end up with lovely soap, much of which I can’t use, unfortunately, due to the oils I am allergic to. I am also loaded with fancy teas. And nice as they are, I don’t need any more knit hats, either.

May you enjoy choosing from catalogues as you prepare to give your presents,

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS If you have thoughts and/or suggestions to share, I’d be so glad to receive them. For more Love Notes, check my blog at http://tashasperspective.com and click on Pujakins. You can sign up there to receive them weekly as well.

Heartwings Love Notes 2013 Leftovers Can Be Useful

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Heartwings says, “‘Waste not, want not,’ is a good rule to live by.”

I had to throw way some leftovers recently, something I dislike doing. However, my current refrigerator is somewhat low to the ground, and they had vanished into its depths. I once had the freezer part on the bottom. This made it so much easier to deal with leftovers. They seem to land on my current refrigerator’s bottom shelf by default.

This may be because the other shelves in the fridge are already filled with our many jars of condiments, sauces, dressings, and of course food intended for meals. This makes it imperative to keep an eye on what’s down there. I try hard, though apparently not hard enough as I recently discovered.

In search of the remains of a turkey dinner I hoped to serve in another form I discovered two ancient (more than several weeks old) boxes of restaurant leftovers that I didn’t feel were safe to consume. Often, I am happy to use up older leftovers if I am going to cook them for a while before we eat them. I’m very careful that way. If I can help it however, I don’t like to waste food. Unfortunately, these contents of these two containers were really ancient.

Usually, I don’t leave my leftovers in the restaurant boxes, either. The exception would be if they were tightly sealed in strong plastic. Even so, I can keep track by remembering when we went to the restaurant they were from. Prices have gone up, so we don’t eat out as often as we used to. All that aside, the holidays often produce left over food; sometimes it’s difficult to know what to do with it. I know many use microwaves to reheat. I don’t like to. I’d rather be creative.

Here are a few suggestions to use instead of a microwave, that add nutrition and extra flavor: Omelets are tastier when you include bits of meat and vegetables. Add grated cheese for extra zest, or not as you choose. Herbs like thyme and ground garlic are also good to perk up flavor. Home fried potatoes are happy to mix with these ingredients.

Try making patties with leftover mashed potato; add herbs and/or cheese. Let top and bottom brown for great taste. Before heating leftover pasta or rice dishes, add water instead of olive oil, coconut oil or butter to frying pan and let it come to a boil. Then add ingredients and reduce heat. There will be less calories too.  Add with it any additional cooked vegetables on hand. This is a great way to use your small quantities of anything and thrifty too.

You may wish to work with compatible dishes from individual meals so they combine better. That makes for simpler, easier leftover dishes. I am always happy to have items I can combine in my fridge for fast, tasty meals. Adding chopped onions sauteed in butter, perks up flavor every time. Here’s a secret: Chop sweet onions and you might find you don’t suffer from onion tears.

May you find creative ways to use your leftovers.

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS If you have creative recipes for leftovers to share, please do. I am always happy to learn and to discover new recipes. Comments, questions, and suggestions are always welcome. Write me at tashahal@gmail.com, and for more Love Notes, visit my blog and/or sign up at http://tashasperspective.com.

Heartwings Love Notes 2011: Simple Joys

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Heartwings Love Notes 2011 Simple Joys

Heartwings says, “When gratitude fills the heart, joy blossoms around it.” 

Even if I didn’t have a calendar, I’d know it was going to be Thanksgiving. The grocery store circulars are filled with “Thanksgiving Specials” and holiday foods. There are all kinds of turkey specials and images of what Ben Franklin wanted for the national bird as opposed to the eagle, proliferate throughout the internet. Children are drawing turkeys, recipes for how to cook them, and other related items such as stuffing ingredients are plentiful.

Yet I feel sure we also need to be thankful not just once a year, but daily. I believe Oprah made the “attitude of gratitude” popular, and it is truly the basis for a life filled with rewards. I’ve told this story before but it bears repeating: Many years ago—over fifty now, I was on the phone with a wise woman friend, complaining about my lot. In a firm, but kind voice she told me I had much to be grateful for, to focus on that, and gave me a simple prayer to say at least three times a day. “Beloved Lord, I do greatly thank thee for the abundance that is mine.”

Because I respected her and her advice, I did as she suggested. In the months and now the many years since I began doing that, practically all my wishes have come true. My life changed dramatically for the better, and I have continued to be grateful. My focus on gratitude transformed into an attitude. I even learned to be grateful for wishes that did not come true, or aspects of my life that seemed dismaying. Seeking out the good to come out of any seeming difficulty has often proved to be a saving grace.

It is easy, especially when beginning the attitude of gratitude practice, to be grateful for the big things—a happy life, a healthy family, an abundance of good fortune. However, there is a real benefit to remembering to be grateful for what might otherwise be taken for granted: the simple joys of life. Hot showers, for instance, or a full refrigerator. My dear son and his beloved were able to make a rare visit on their way elsewhere, and how wonderful that was. However, sitting on the couch with my Stephen, just holding hands and feeling loved is a great blessing as well.

Being able to write my columns and send them out is another simple joy as well as a privilege, I very much appreciate. Friends and family calling, seeing loved ones regularly, a good night’s sleep, the list can go on endlessly, are all joyful experiences to be acknowledged. My attitude of gratitude has become almost an automatic response I make daily as the occasions arise. I believe it helps to do this, for I have read and been told many times, whatever we focus on is what we will get more of. Thanksgiving is a good reminder to all, to be grateful, and so I am definitely thankful for that as well.

May you find much to be grateful for as you celebrate the holiday.

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS As you think about and practice gratitude, share what you are grateful for, I would be so happy to know, dear readers. Please know how grateful I am for every reader who enjoys my words and how I appreciate any and all comments.

Heartwings Love Notes 2010:Cloudy Days Can Be Helpful

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Heartwings says, “Weathering the days is an art to be practiced,”

Do you sigh and or feel disappointed when you raise the shades in the morning and see clouds? Do you wish for sunshine instead? It’s normal for many to do so. However, it is also possible to see the clouds as a blessing. Were the bright sun to shine down relentlessly, it would soon dry up the world we live in and we would be begging for the relief of cloudy days. Even a desert environment experiences clouds and occasional rain.

I remember reading a tale years ago where someone loved Sundays because he didn’t have to work then. He wished for a month of Sundays and soon became tired of doing nothing. Variety is the spice of life and without it, life becomes monotonous, even tedious. Cloudy days can give us an opportunity to pause and think again, to be able to rest from some tasks and pursue others.

These days are like opportunities to pause and think about whether whatever direction we are headed in is correct. I had an experience once that convinced me of the value of pausing when I didn’t know what to do.

As luck would have it, I was in New York City after a performance of a sacred drama in a church. I needed to get back home and wasn’t sure how to proceed, as the arrangements I originally made had fallen through. I was at the church where the group I was with had performed. Over the next hour or so I observed colorfully dressed people of all nationalities climb the steps where I lingered. I truly did not know what to do next, so I just waited there, allowing the time to pass without deep concern but with confidence.

The experience was not unlike having a cloudy day when sunshine had been expected. After a time, I heard someone say “Hello,” and turned to look. It was a woman who had, like me, taken part in the performance. I shared my predicament with her.  Fortunately, she told me she would be headed in my direction and said she would be happy to give me a ride. She was delighted when I offered to pay for part of her gas. We had a pleasant ride and she dropped me off at a train station near my home town so I could complete my journey.

The value of waiting quietly, without expectation, when there is no clear path ahead has been proven to me over and over. When I am patient, when I am willing to trust that a good solution will emerge for me, I am rewarded with that. When I have tried to take the wheel myself, and forge ahead in some direction I want to go, without inner guidance, I usually if not always have been sorry afterward. Trusting in the correctness of one’s direction is a major opportunity to follow the most opportune way to proceed. Experience also helps.

May you have the patience to wait for the right guidance to proceed.

Blessings and Best Regards, Tasha Halpert

PS Do you, dear reader, have a story to tell or an experience to share? Comments are always so welcome. Please make my day and write to me at my email address: tashahal@gmail.com, or if you like sign up to receive my blog weekly at https://tashasperspective.com/pujakins.  

Heartwings Love Note 2010: Celebrating

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Heartwings Love Notes 2010 Celebrating

Heartwings says, “Honoring an occasion makes it memorable and heartwarming.”

My birthday each year is always an occasion for celebration. There is almost always a party on or close to the day itself. In the past, when people asked my age, I would tell people I was ageless, but when I celebrated my eighty fifth year, I decided to state my age, and I am no longer shy about the information. My mother used to say, “You should be proud of your age.” I decided she was right. Now I am turning eighty-eight; I quote her again as she used to say, “How did I get to be this old?”

Remembering other celebrations, I am reminded of my eighth-grade graduation party. My parents held it at Wingarsheek beach, where my great aunt Alice had a cottage. They devised a treasure hunt and attendees had to seek out various clues with places to find the treasure. My memory does not include what it was, but it does hold an image of my very pregnant mom trudging around, helping the participants. The older of my two younger brothers was born soon after. The party might have helped facilitate that.

Most people enjoy celebrating and almost any occasion to do so will do. My father would often host a party for just about any reason, and my mother was good enough to be a gracious hostess. That meant supplying simple hors d’oervres, because the guests would all usually go out to dinner afterward. We used to do potlucks for our parties. Stephen has always enjoyed celebrating; our occasions used to include Friday the thirteenth gatherings we called the triskadecaphilia or lovers of the number thirteen society. We lived at number thirteen on our street, so it was quite appropriate. 

To celebrate is not only to observe but also to commemorate or to proclaim. In days long ago, celebrations were held to mark important times of the year. Harvest festivals, for instance marked the growing seasons, and our Halloween was the last of them, as it closed out the end of the gathering. They lasted from the beginning of August through the Equinox to November first. The act of celebration is an opportunity to proclaim or mark special days. Easter, May Day, Valentine’s Day, Mothers’ Day, Christmas and so on are all opportunities to make merry, and to turn a page with joy.

Regardless of the individual reasons to celebrate, the main overall reason is to highlight the importance of the time. In the days before clocks and calendars, celebrations were an opportunity to commemorate the season and emphasize the time. Later on, they became not only that but also opportunities for family and friends to get together, exchange news, introduce new members of the family, and enjoy one another’s company. My eighty-fifth was on zoom, a gathering of friends from all over the country. This one will be quieter, but no matter, it will be celebrated with just as much gusto and good fun.   

May your celebrations be joyous and memorable,

Blessings and best Regards, Tasha Halpert

PS How do you celebrate important occasions? Write and tell me, I so enjoy hearing from readers.  You can reach me at tashahal@gmail.com. For more Love Notes or better yet, to sign up to receive them weekly, visit my blog http://tashasperspective.com and click on Pujakins. Find me on Facebook too.

Beauty Is Where You Find It

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Heartwings says, “Open your eyes to see without judgement, and find beauty.”

Surrounded by the beauty of fall, it is easy to get jaded, to feel anything else is hardly worth noticing. However, all too soon the branches will be bare. There will be a few dry brown leaves clinging to the Oak tree branches and lots more of the once colorful foliage beginning to mat on the ground under foot. Shivery weather makes us hurry along then, and it takes an effort to look around us as we go from one place to the next. Our minds can be preoccupied with what we ought to be doing next, along with many other things.

But wait, there’s more that we may be missing. If we see color as the sole beautiful aspect of the trees, we need to look again. Check out the graceful loveliness of the tree branches now seen for themselves against the sky. Gaze upon the shapes of the branches revealed now, naked and proud, for all to see. The true individuality of the bare branches presents a beauty that is very special, and only if we look for it will we be able to appreciate it.

I try to see beauty wherever I look. It’s a kind of game I play with myself, and when I spot that special, perhaps unusual beauty, I take a mental photograph for my little interior album. Weeds, for instance often make wonderful subjects. Dried stalks make interesting shadows on the snow. Random green sprouts, and even occasional flowers that brave the cracks between the curb and the street can present a wonderful example of fortitude with a loveliness all its own.

It is a joy to notice such things. If our minds are preoccupied with thoughts, worries, dismay from the past, or concerns for the future, we won’t see much of anything except where our steps or wheels are taking us. We need to focus on the world around us, focus to look out of our eyes at what is there to see. I recognize that for my part, my years of meditation practice have helped me to be able to do that. I was once far too inundated with thoughts that revolved around unnecessary mental stress to allow me to see clearly whatever beauty was there to be seen.

I remember years ago remarking about the beauty of spring to someone I was speaking with at a party. She replied with a sigh that she hadn’t noticed. She went on to say she’d been preoccupied with some recent stress or other and hadn’t been paying attention. I felt sorry for her. Yes, there is much happening in the world that is tragic, yet there is nothing we can do about it. However, I believe we can at least add our appreciation and gratitude for what is lovely and good. It might help in some small way. Beauty is there to be seen, if only we have the eyes to see it.

May you be able to open your eyes and see clearly whatever beauty shines.

Blessings and best regards, Tasha Halpert

PS If you have visions or ideas to share, please write to me at tashahal@gmail.com, or simply reply where you read me. I enjoy hearing from readers so much.