Are you ready for skin kissy weather?

Fluttering butterfly chrysalis thoughts of spring begin to softly awaken thoughts, paying attention to how it is going to work when mercury rises and clothes need to be, shall we say a bit less shielding than winter coverings. That was a nice way to say yikes!, it’s time to put on shorts and tank tops. Forget about the bikini, although I did sport a bikini one summer when I was 17 and went to Lake Shasta with only my girlfriends and not my family. We were very into making string bikinis at the time. I had to stop eating to get into it, for quite sometime actually. Then it got a bit weird so I figured I would be my curvy self eat healthy stuff to prevent myself from delving even deeper into a pretty salacious disease, ending my bikini experience. We were on our own for about the first time in our lives on a long drive from the Bay Area to Shasta for a week and starting to feel our wild teenager allure around guys our age and then some. It is a pretty clarifying moment when you realize initially what your effect is on the male population as a long haired, long legged 5’ 10’ 140 pound 17 year old sporting a bikini or a halter top and shorts or any type of clothing that shows skin. Throw in being able to bait a hook, set up a tent and ride a dirt bike while gourmet camp cooking and sparks start to fly creating a situation where you never will have to buy your own alcohol again.

My sisters however got my mom’s genes and still wear bikinis in their later years and look great but I digress. I frankly get a little freaked out about the whole thing and am torn because I love spring temperatures, kissing my warming skin, encouraging many smiles and sighs, but it is always interesting when the inevitable clothes shedding starts.

My mom was really ill with a kidney infection and is home now but we are watching what she eats to get her health back. My sister Kathi told me about a diuretic soup to make for her to help shed this amazing amount of water she retained making her legs so big she could hardly lift them. Dandelion greens, chard, celery, parsley, all things green. She told me make it into a broth but I made it by chopping all the greens up and simmering in water to by cover by about 3 inches. After about a 30 minute simmer it is pretty thick with the greens but it really works like a charm for a nice, healthy toxin cleanse from the body without getting into any of the scary concoctions at the health food store. It worked for her to help get rid of all that water. I myself have been drinking stinging nettle tea and broth. It is awesome, meaty and sweet at the same time being the sort of food that you can feel delivering sunshine into your veins as you drink it.

It really boils down to cut out sugar and the second dinner now doesn’t it? I have the exercise thing down, how could you not around here? We have the best hiking. You can get in a nice one or 2 or even 3 hour hike and still get all your stuff done for the day that you need to. We love Briones and know every trail. Mt. Diablo is a different animal altogether. In the winter and spring it is really a lot colder and a bit wilder than Briones but in the summer it is too blazing for me and I tend to skip it until the days get a bit shorter and the birds try to figure out where they are going before they remember that they live in the Bay Area and don’t have to go anywhere. We need to explore Mt. Tam way more than we have but it takes an hour to drive over there so on the back burner it patiently waits. Redwood Regional is great and not quite as far a drive. We like to go in on the Canyon side and walk over to the San Lorenzo res ending up in Oakland. This is perfect weather for hiking and the trails are in perfect shape without too much mud but not slippery and sketchy either.

Just thinking about those skorts hanging in my closet, every once in awhile almost taking one off the hanger to see if it will button but then I chicken out ,allowing my blood pressure to calm down before thinking about trying again. Maybe if I can self tan enough I will work up the nerve. Nothing like bright white flab to make you back out of the closet quietly and deftly before the bomb drops.