Welcome to 2024: the year of the blog. Lol. Check in monthly as I share books, movies, and pithy TCM lifestyle tips.
Reading:
For adults: Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin. Emotionally charged in an “in-your-20s” kind of way, painful; set in Taiwan in the late 80s. I’ve been saying that this book is my Normal People.
For 4 year olds: All Around Bustletown by Rotraut Susanne Berner. My son and I are equally delighted by this series of books which follow the same cast of characters through a small German town over the course of a year. We are currently reading All Around Bustletown: Spring, of course.
For toddlers: Oh No, George! by Chris Haughton. Is your toddler mischievous but well-intentioned? In love with dogs and drama? This is the book for you.
Watching:
Suzhou River dir. Lou Ye. This movie is incredibly stylish and fun to watch. Everyone is beautiful, the film is beautiful, and the plot is engrossing. As a bonus, it’s set in a decaying part of Shanghai in the late 90s so watching it truly feels like time traveling.
TCM Time:
Whether you follow the Chinese qi node calendar, or the Western calendar, It’s Spring! We can all see that the days are getting longer and the weather is getting notably warmer.
The weather in spring is changeable and increasingly warm. It’s often accompanied (especially if you have children) in an increase of “wind-heat” diseases which are characterized by sore throat, cough, runny nose, watery eyes, thirst and maybe fever. Three tips to avoid getting sick:
- Get enough sleep
- Stay warm and layered. Because the weather is changeable in the Spring, in TCM one should slow to take off warmer clothes and always have layers handy. In addition, it’s important to wear a scarf during windy weather. The thinking behind this is that if you stay warm you won’t be expending unnecessary energy and will have more reserves to fight off illnesses.
- Use peppermint oil in your essential oil diffuser. Peppermint has two functions in TCM: 1) to ward off wind-heat diseases 2) to reduce stress, particularly in the Spring time. It’s a win-win anyway you look at it. Unless you hate peppermint, then send me an email.