Things I liked in November

*a non-comprehensive list

Dear Kula Diaries friends,

Happy (end of) November (first of December) to all of you! I hope that you’ve been able to find pockets of peace over the past few weeks — in whatever way feels good to you. As we head into the holiday season (which — by the way — seems to come more and more quickly every single year!), it’s easy to get swept away in that feeling of busy-ness and urgency. It’s easy to convince ourselves that we don’t have ‘time’ for the things that are important to our sense of well-being — things like meditation, gratitude, movement or dance. But, I’ve found that it is exactly in times when things feel more chaotic that those practices and habits are even more important. I hope that you can all use this time — and all times — to connect with the peace and love that exists within you.

I’ve been having fun each month compiling a list of things that I’m enjoying, and I hope you like this too. Some of these things are actually things … but not all of them. I’d love to hear some of the things that you are enjoying as well, so feel free to share them in the comments.

Podcast: Midnight Burger

After listening to Sorry about the Murder last month (another amazing podcast), my podcast algorithm took me to a corner of the universe where a mysterious, time-travelling diner exists… and it’s pretty much one of the best things that has happened all year.

Midnight Burger is a podcast that was born during COVID when some very talented screenwriters were bored and terrified. They were looking for something to do… and that’s when the idea for Midnight Burger came to them. This podcast is an audio drama about the adventures of a time-travelling diner … and I cannot possibly begin to describe the joy that this podcast has brought into my life. It is quirky… witty… surprising… engaging… suspenseful… and hilarious. It is, without a doubt, the best podcast I’ve ever listened to in my life (and I’ve listened to a lot of podcasts). The characters are brilliant and the storytelling and acting is fantastic. I love love love this podcast. Aaron and I look forward to driving to and from the Kula HQ every single day because it is such a treat to listen to this podcast. In fact, I love it so much that I made custom Midnight Burger Kula Cloths and sent them to the only address that I could find on their website. I genuinely don’t even know if they received them, but I simply had to send them something to appreciate the art that they have created.

If you listen to it, let me know what you think — I hope you love it as much as I do!

Jasper the Feral Cat: An update

I’ve been providing monthly updates on our ‘adventures in taming a feral cat’. Jasper is a true feral cat… not just ‘untamed’. In the past, I thought that it was 100% impossible to domesticate a feral cat, but what we are discovering is that it’s possible… but also a huge commitment and a very slow process.

Jasper is getting more and more comfortable with us being around him. For the first month, he was mostly crouched in a more ‘defensive’ posture when we were in the room. Now, he’s able to visibly relax when we are near him.

Jasper and Aaron have developed a unique relationship through this process, and Jasper now regularly purrs and pushes into Aaron’s hand when he is being pet — much like a ‘normal’ cat. He still hisses and smacks us a little bit (me more than Aaron… he definitely has favorites!).

A few big milestones have happened over the past month:

• we caught a video of Jasper playing with a toy in his bedroom in the middle of the night.

• Jasper hopped down out of his crate while Aaron was in the room with two of our other cats… Jasper walked from his crate over to his food, and seemed OK being out of his crate, even though he wasn’t alone!

• Jasper walked out of his bedroom and into the ‘rest’ of our house… which ended up in a stalemate where he hid in our guest bathroom all day, and we had to figure out how to get him back in his bedroom.

Here’s a short clip of Jasper actually playing in his massive guest bedroom lol. Please excuse the strange arrangement of this room — the cardboard pieces around the bed are to prevent him from hiding and the chair is in a creepy spot because it blocks the camera if we leave it at the desk. The towel on the floor has catnip on it.

We spend a lot of time with Jasper… not necessarily doing anything with him, but rather, just being in the room with him. We eat our breakfast in our guest room… we watch movies on my computer on our guest bed… and, in general, we try to be in the room as much as possible so that he can just be accustomed to our presence. Our cats are also free to move in and out of the room with him — and Cinder and Esa seem to have accepted him, and they seem curious about his presence. Niko still hisses in his general direction at times, but he’s slowly coming around to the idea of the new cat.

Overall, it’s been such a fun experience to watch Jasper’s personality start to show. When he first arrived he was a ‘shell’ of a cat — his entire existence depended on survival, so there was no room for pleasure or play — but, very slowly, we are starting to see that there is a little personality beginning to form. It’ll probably still be many months before he is entirely out of his shell, but it’s exciting to see snippets of hope.

Playing music with Aaron (again)

Aaron and I had the chance to perform music at Captain Joe’s birthday party two weeks ago, and it reminded me of something that should have been very obvious to me: I need to play my violin more. I had so much fun playing music with Aaron, and I was so proud to be able to perform with my husband in front of a large audience. While we were on Vashon, we stayed at our favorite spot, a collection of tiny homes called The Lodges, and we recorded a few songs together (also: how cool is the chair in the room?!) for fun.

Last year at this time, I shared a story about playing my violin at an adult day care center during the holidays, and how much that experience meant to me. Just before COVID, Aaron and I had started performing at various assisted living centers, but we stopped (because everything stopped). Over the next few weeks, I’m going to have the amazing opportunity to perform at REI Seattle with Rose for two different book signing events with our friend Kevin Grange (author of Grizzly Confidential)… and then, REI asked us to perform for holiday shoppers on December 21st! I’m also in the process of reaching out to retirement communities and assisted living facilities to find out if there might be opportunities for Aaron and I to share our music with their residents. I’ve realized that it is very important for me to add more non-Kula-related service work into my life, and I’m looking forward to being able to share music with Aaron and with others.

Meditation: Feel Immense Gratitude for Being Alive

I’ve shared this meditation already, but it’s worth sharing again, because I genuinely hope that everybody who reads this takes 9 minutes and 41 seconds out of their day to really appreciate what it means to be a human being in this universe:

Find some time to sit alone — maybe even outside — put in a pair of earbuds and just absorb everything that this meditation has to offer. I’ve shared this with my Kula Cloth newsletter folks as well, and it has brought me great joy to read the notes from folks who have used it and have tapped into a feeling of gratitude for life itself.

My entire spiritual journey started with a recognition and gratitude for the gift of my life, and what it means to be a living, breathing, heart-beating human in an infinitely expanding universe. The impossibility of our existence is an easy thing to overlook when we find ourselves caught up in the ‘day to day’ responsibilities of life. It’s easy to gloss over the miracle in a world that often does everything that it can to tell you that you need something else in order to be better. This meditation will remind you that your existence is a precious gift. Take the feeling that you cultivate during these minutes, and see if it changes the lens through which you view the world.

Short film: The Turnaround

I’ve been on a little bit of a ‘kick’ of watching films about sports, and I recently watched a short documentary on Netflix called The Turnaround. This documentary follows a Phillies fan who tries to encourage Philadelphia fans to give a standing ovation to a player who is struggling (and receiving ‘boos’ from angry fans).

I lived outside of Philadelphia for about 14 years, and my high school boyfriend’s dad had tickets to the Phillies’ game through the company that he worked for, so I used to go to Phillies games all the time. While I don’t actively watch much baseball now… I have a lot of great memories of going to baseball games as a kid, and this short film was surprisingly touching and heartwarming. If you decide that you are inspired by films about baseball, another Netflix Documentary, The Comeback, was also really good — it’s about the Red Sox and the Curse of the Bambino.

Since I’m mentioning a few Netflix films, I’ll also issue a cautionary warning… that you should absolutely not watch ‘It’s What’s Inside’. I attempted to watch that film, and I can’t ever get those minutes of my life back. It’s really that horrible.

My favorite sweet potato recipe in the entire world - Walter’s Mother’s Sweet Potato Souffle

This recipe was given to me by my mom (and she inherited it from a neighbor). Below, I’m sharing a photograph of the original recipe that my mom has been using for most of my life. It is a sweet potato souffle unlike any other that you will ever try. It is NOT the sickening sweet potato dish with marshmallows. It is a grown up sweet potato delight that will knock your socks off.

To cook the sweet potatoes, wash them and then pierce the skin with a fork and then place them on a lined baking sheet in the oven at 450 degrees for about an hour. The potatoes will be deeply caramelized and the skin will peel off very easily.

Note: I use about 1/2 of the amount of sugar recommended in the recipe and I use all purpose flour if I don't have self-rising flour and it works just fine! It does not need to be a holiday to make this - just try it and let me know what you think - you may never recover.

I’ve never made this dish and not had somebody beg me for the recipe — it’s that good!

A few events I’m excited about:

We have some pretty remarkable free events coming up in the PNW… and I know that some of you live in this area, so I’m going to share them here with the hopes that you will join us and say hello! Click on the image for each event and it will take you to the page so that you can RSVP!

Also…. just because I can’t not share the Dance Experiment… please come dance with me!! You won’t regret it, I promise:

Finally, just a little poem

I shared this with my pee pod group, but it felt like it needed to be here too…

Friends, thank you so much for being here! I’d love for you to share some things that you enjoyed this month in the comments — anything goes!

I hope that you had a beautiful weekend and I hope that you have a beautiful start to the month of December. I appreciate all of you so much — I’m wishing you ease, peace and joy in your day.