Tatcha~The Silk Peony Eye Cream

 

I love cosmetics. Discovering skincare products that solve the problems I’ve experienced as a woman over 60 are my passion. Yes, I am vain. I have no desire to be overly natural & look my age.  It looking for surgical intervention, but I will seek out alternatives that offer solutions to dry, sensitive, aging skin.

Every time I think I’ve stumbled upon an eye cream that doesn’t burn, yet provides some correction for fine lines around my eyes, dryness, plumping or travel weariness, I’m ultimately disappointed. But after my most recent experience with redness, sensitivity, rosacea, allergic reactions, itching, burning, and horror at my blotchy face ( was it work related stress or the tomato vines🤔) I decided to try another skincare regimen for sensitive skin, this time by Tatcha. 

Wow! My face cleared up within two days! My skin looks clear and luminous. But of paramount importance, the Silk Peony Eye  Cream soaks into the delicate skin around my eyes and doesn’t burn! It doesn’t burn my eyelids!!!!  It doesn’t cause puffiness. It doesn’t burn underneath my eyes. It just feels....amazingly moisturizing. 

I’ve experimented with untold numbers of skincare products in the last few years, but I can state categorically that this is a winner. Try a travel sample. You will be sold! 

https://www.tatcha.com/product/SILK-PEONY-EYE.html

Embrace Gratitude Instead of Anger

 

One of the greatest lessons I learned during my years in Al-Anon is to cultivate an attitude of gratitude. It is my belief that too many people today forget to celebrate their blessings. In one of my earliest meeting at a church in Hong Kong, my group advocated for cultivating an attitude of gratitude to reset the focus from what we lack to what we already have. 

My first Al Anon home group suggested that I make a gratitude list to remind myself that I am blessed....even when it seems there is little to no hope.

I am grateful today for the following in no particular order of importance: 

1) my family, particularly having my dad to cherish

2) my husband

3) my job

4) a roof over my head

5) transportation 

6) food

7) wine

8) indoor plumbing

8) heat

10) air conditioning 

11) a grocery store

12) refrigerators 

13) electricity 

14) water

15) Internet

16) clothing

17) gasoline, propane, 

18) sight

19) hearing

20) taste

21) smell

22) mobility

23) nature

24) music

25) books

26) telephones 

27) roads

28) our cats

29) beauty

30) modern medicine 

31) libraries 

32) flowers

33) memories

34) beaches

35) written language 

These are just a few of the myriad things for which I feel gratitude. Make your own list. Review it often. Thank your higher power for what you have. Let go of resentments. Embrace positive thoughts. Breathe deeply while looking at a sunrise or sunset and celebrate the beauty that surrounds us.

Letting Go Of Negativity

During my acupuncture appointment this afternoon, I discussed with my practitioner how the negativity on social media, in the news, at work, from acquaintances, from family members, and in the atmosphere has knocked me off kilter. It isn’t just Covid, isolation, social distancing, the election or the riots (aka “ peaceful protests”) it is the hate, polarization, political fighting, and inability of people who live in the most prosperous, free, egalitarian nation on earth to consider the art of compromise. I am continually dumbfounded that intelligent people with opposing viewpoints can’t have a rational discussion. 

Consequently, I’ve stopped listening to radio, watching news, engaging with dissenters, succumbing to the taunts on social media. We talked with some folks this weekend at an event at Old  Bedford Village that described plunging blood pressure after deleting Facebook. 

When will people appreciate that the media, politicians and businesses profit from polarization? We should instead focus on what we have in common instead of our differences? We should count our blessings instead of what we lack. We should send positive energy to the Universe. We should celebrate that the Declaration of Independence argued that we have the right to life, liberty and the ‘pursuit’ of happiness. ( not actual happiness, but the pursuit). 

Thank your higher power for the little things. Gratitude brings abundance. Giving brings abundance. Kindness begets kindness. Letting go of resentment brings peace & serenity. 

Friendship and family harmony should not be contingent upon political views. Accept we will not all agree on everything. Listen. Respect the views of others. Resist denigrating others for having a different opinion. Recall the wisdom of the past: do not judge another until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes. 

9/11 ~ 19 Years Ago Today

 I’m teary eyed as I write this. My memories of that day 19 years ago are still vivid. I was sitting at my desk, a claim supervisor for an insurer, looking out the window at the Mall in Columbia, Maryland. One of my coworkers was on the phone with a friend who was a secret service agent at the White House. She slammed down the phone & said a plane had struck the World Trade Center. We all gathered together in the lunch room watching an old vacuum tube TV that could only broadcast one channel. We watched horrified as a second plane flew into the second tower. It was surreal. Next was the Pentagon, that massive complex on the Potomac that is the heart, soul and brain trust of our military. By then we knew there was a 4th plane. Everyone speculated the target....Fort Detrick? The a White House? The Capitol building? Fort Meade? We watched the towers collapse with the roar of debris tumbling on everybody in the vicinity. The site looked like a dystopian Armageddon. The world vowed we would never forget. We would never forget the firefighters and police officers who ran into the burning building to rescue people of every race, creed, color, sex or national origin. Many that were not killed when the towers fell have died of illnesses related to exposure to toxic chemicals. I will not forget the heroes on Flight 93 that died trying to stop the terrorists that highjacked the plane from hitting their unknown target. I recall walking along sidewalks in Westchester County a few weeks later as my friend identical homes where someone had died in the towers. 

It is painful to recall the tragedy of that day and the weeks that followed and consider the hate, discord, protests by those to young or too uneducated to know what happened. Terrorists attacked  the symbols of our freedom, our strength, our center of commerce, our safety, the fruits of capitalism, our glory architecture, site where countless immigrants came ashore to start new lives.

9/11. If for no other reason, every patriotic American  should rise up, lead the throngs of we everyday citizens who still mourn the day of our lost innocence, tell those who hate people  they consider ‘privileged’ to watch very video, see the footage of people jumping to their deaths to avoid death by fire, listen to every phone call made to loved ones, read the names of every public servant and victim, look at their pictures, consider the volunteers, and then tell us a with a straight face that only certain lives matter.  

I will never forget. And I do not accept that denigrating our flag is an acceptable protest. This flag, the symbol of our republic, helped us through the horror. If you cannot honor the symbol of the free world, LEAVE🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸