Did you know that lionfish are delicious to eat?
​Neither did I - but apparently the taste is similar to snapper or grouper. Here are some recipes to get you started. No lionfish surprise on the list, but plenty of other tasty-sounding ideas. Ever been to a lionfish derby? This is a one-day event to collect - and remove - as many lionfish as possible. 

You might not even know what a lionfish is, let alone why the strategy of collect, remove, and consume. Lionfish are invasive. Of Indo-Pacific origins, they are the first non-native marine fish to become established in the Atlantic, and are a significant threat to marine ecosystems, according to the company Waterlust. And Waterlust’s Invasive Lionfish Leggings are the reason I am now in the lionfish-know.

When I was visiting Captiva recently with my family, we had a milestone day of adventure (read about it here) with Captain Jenni of Flipside Charters. I noticed that Captain Jenni had on super cool leggings in which she could hop in and out of the water - swim leggings. I checked out the link on her website for Waterlust, the company that makes the leggings, and a whole new world opened up for me. Partly because Waterlust is a force for positive in our world, and partly because I purchased my first pair of leggings, and they are the best leggings I’ve ever worn.

These leggings are amazing. Though I have not yet hit the water in them (they are swim leggings after all), I did live in them for the entire first weekend after picking them up from the PO. You can lounge, run, walk, hike, cook, do yoga, teach Essentrics and pretty much anything else your day entails - these leggings are up to the task.

The material is thick enough to be structurally sound (flattering), but flexible enough that you can move fluidly. 10% of the profits from the purchase of lionfish items support Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF - same place you can learn about the lionfish derbies.) These donations support their programs for research, early detection and ongoing plans for lionfish mitigation. 

You can view all the great-looking gear Waterlust offers (sunsuits, shorts, tanks, etc.) on their website. Different fabric designs highlight the different causes to which that particular item donates the 10%. 

Here are a few other reasons this company is doing it right:

• The clothing is made from recycled materials (eg., leggings are 88% RPET - Recycled Polyester made from post-consumer plastic bottles)
• Fabrics are UPF 50 sun protection
• The models on the Waterlust website are the researchers and scientists who do this work. 
• Items are shipped in responsibly-sized recycled packaging 
• After purchase a series of upbeat, educational emails are delivered to your in-box
• All of this for a very reasonable price. 

I’m excited to know about and support Waterlust and their quality products that benefit and educate. It is fitting that I learned about them from Captain Jenni, a Master Naturalist, whose work is educating people like my family and I, bringing awareness to conservation efforts for the plant and animal life on land and in water.

​Dark slate water and soft silver clouds tinged in varied hues of greens and blues greet us as we step onto the dock. My mom, dad, daughter and I are headed out for a day of discovery with Captain Jenni of Flipside Eco Charters. Leaving from the marina on Captiva Island, Florida, we’ll  explore Pine Island Sound. The sound lies between Pine Island and the barrier islands of Sanibel, Captiva, North Captiva and Cayo Costa. These barrier islands separate the sound from the Gulf of Mexico.

My dad had been dreaming up this idea for months, a foray into the open blue with his favorite three-generation gals. It is a bonus to have our captain be another strong, capable woman. 

Captain Jenni welcomes us aboard with a warm smile and twinkling eyes. Popping our shoes into a waiting bucket, we settle in comfortably at the bow, and tend to our first order of business: manatee spotting. Rumor had it a mother and daughter manatee were hanging around the docks, but unfortunately we don’t see them. We do learn from Captain Jenni, however, that manatees can weigh between 800 and 1200 pounds, and their closest relative is the elephant. 

Motoring up the sound, we learn about mangroves which make up many of the little islands in this area. The mangrove seed can survive for two years. When it finds the perfect spot in the oyster beds, it puts down roots. As the mangrove grows upward, the roots grow downward towards the water, and the oysters cluster on the dangling roots at water level like giant charcoal-brown grapes. Together the mangroves and oyster beds form islands that provide vital habitat and shelter. The oysters are also efficient water filters - cleansing as much as 80% of the water in this area.

The boat slows, and Captain Jenni noses us gently onto a sandbar, right in the middle of the sound! We jump out, mucking about carefully in the ankle-deep water and discover anemones, starfish, and tiny sea urchins. Captain Jenni points out little tubes poking up from the sandy floor. These are the siphons of the clams hidden below; the siphons are the way bivalves take in and expel the water. 

The sun gleams in a cerulean sky as we step foot onto Cayo Costa (“Key by the Coast”) for some shelling and wandering. The tip of the island is home to a grove of dead trees which form interesting sculptures. Charlotte finds a sea urchin that has suckered large shells all around its body as camouflage - the urchin looks like it is covered in radar dishes. She also finds some sea sponges and explains to my parents and I how they work. Captain Jenni has gathered and created a lovely tableau for us when we return to the boat: a shiny orange rock that is actually a calcified tube worm mass, a seashell medley including tulips, jingles, and a shark’s eye, and a lovely sea oat branch. 

By now we are all hungry. Cabbage Key is the place for lunch out here - only accessible by boat. The key gets its name from the Cabbage Palm. The palm is named for its edible heart (you guessed it, it tastes like cabbage) that can be eaten raw or cooked. This delectable dish is known as swamp cabbage. 

Sadly, the restaurant is fresh out of swamp cabbage, so we make do with a mouth-watering meal of grilled tripletail fish on a bed of yellow rice and black beans. We scrape our plates clean. This restaurant in the “Old House” focuses on reduce/reuse/recycle whenever possible, as all waste needs to be removed from Cabbage Key by boat. The main room is covered - walls and ceiling - with dollar bills that patrons brand with a marker and tape up with masking tape. The bills are taped in layers to each other, and some are taped in chains that hang down to snag the hair of anyone walking beneath. The restaurant donates over $10,000 to charity annually - all from taped-up dollar bills that fall.

This custom of taping the dollar to the wall of the bar originated with the fisherfolk. When they stopped in at the bar after a long day at sea and a good catch, they’d tape up the bill for the inevitable time when their catch would not be so good. That way they could still buy a beer on the lousy days.

After lunch we head to Useppa Island, home to the Pink Promenade, which was originally made of shells and pink sand in 1903. This path wanders through lush tropical flora including orchid trees with fragrant magenta-and-white blooms, a show-stopping century-old banyan tree, and strangler figs, to name just a few. We also encounter gopher tortoises, large and small. They tend to be on the move, and like to eat hibiscus flowers. Well, most of them. One tortoise turns its nose up at my hibiscus and tromps the flower into the dirt in its rush to get on with its day. These tortoises dig large burrows that serve as habitat for at least 300 other species, including gopher frogs, indigo snakes, and burrowing owls. 

On the way back to our starting point at Captiva, we motor by the historic fish houses of Captiva Rocks - colorful square and rectangular buildings sitting on pilings in the middle of the sound. Also known as ice houses, they were built starting in the late 1800’s as ice storage, and to provide living quarters for fishermen and their families. These iconic structures have been the subject of some controversy - in the 1980’s the state started burning the houses as they were deemed to be interfering with travel on the sound. Some were saved by placing them on the National Register of Historic Places. These resilient fish houses withstood Hurricane Ian in September 2022. 

There are several brown pelicans awaiting us as we pull up to the dock at the marina. Our hair is wind-tossed and briny, our skin warm from the sunshine, our grins tired and happy. My senses feel saturated in contentment.

A couple of the pelicans swim close enough that we can see the downy yellow fuzz on their heads, like the last wisps of hair adorning an otherwise bald pate. They are expecting food, and getting none they simply fix us with their side-eye stares, ready to dart and grab if we produce some hors d'oeuvres after all. I wonder if their observant gazes pick up on what an inspiring and extraordinary adventure we’d just had. Probably not. For them, it is just another day.

Colorado is known for its many sunny days. According to a Google search, Colorado boasts 300 sunshiny days to Florida’s 230, even though Florida nabbed the Sunshine State title. 
Especially noticeable after a cloudy day (or hour), the way we feel after some time in the sun speaks for itself. Usually we feel energized, our outlook is brighter, and we’re in a pretty good mood. Read on to learn more about the sun’s benefits.

Not just about the D
When our skin is exposed to direct sunlight our body sets about producing vitamin D. Supplementation with vitamin D has become a common strategy in recent decades, with concern about too much sun exposure causing skin cancer.

But sunlight does more than just help us produce vitamin D. For example, sunshine helps set our circadian rhythms, regulating serotonin and melatonin levels, so that we sleep better at night. Interestingly, sunlight that enters our eyes affects areas in the retina which trigger the release of serotonin, the “feel-good” hormone. Some people experience SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) with the shorter winter days (less chance for the sunlight to help create serotonin), and light therapy can help. Healthline article on the Benefits of Sunlight.

Sun exposure may have other important health benefits. In this Karger Journal Review, authors found a correlation between increased sun exposure and decreased blood pressure and cardiovascular mortality, independent of vitamin D. 

Sunlight can even lessen pain! This Medical News Today article explains that UVB rays cause the skin to produce beta-endorphins. Here are a few of the beta-endorphin benefits: reduce pain and depression, help wounds heal, increase alertness, and improve mood. 

Moderation in all things
Lest we get the bright idea to run around outside all day without protection, the article also gives a suggested time limit of 15 minutes in the sunshine before coating yourself with sunscreen. 


Originally published August 11, 2022

“No matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.”
Carol Dweck, Author of Mindset, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University

My daughter was in the third grade when her stellar math teacher recommended Carol Dweck’s book Mindset to me. It was the first time I was introduced to the concept of growth mindset and fixed mindset. A growth mindset takes on life’s challenges with the approach of applying effort in order to improve or develop new skills. With a growth mindset, a failure is an opportunity to learn and do better next time, an inevitable step along the way to mastering new skills. A fixed mindset tends to stick to an all-or-nothing approach - the attitude that they were born good or bad at something. (“I never was any good at math.”) Fixed mindsets address challenges with blame on something outside of themselves, and failure is to be avoided rather than accepted as a part of the learning process. 

Dweck’s book addresses how mindset plays out in many areas of life: athletics, business, parenting, and education. Two athletic examples she uses that nicely illustrate her concept are John McEnroe (fixed mindset) and Michael Jordan (growth mindset). 

McEnroe, though a talented tennis player, is well-remembered for his temper tantrums on-court. He blamed everything around him for any mistakes or failures, rather than take accountability to learn and do better. 

Michael Jordan speaks for himself: “I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Michael Jordan made a choice to learn from his mistakes. He was willing to work and work again to become better - to become a champion. 

Much of the research Dweck discusses in her talk (also linked below under Learn More) focuses on children and education. She describes the concept of “not yet,” which focuses on the ability to continually learn and develop skills. “Not yet” leaves the door of possibility open; more than that it gives power to the learner to continue to move forward and improve rather than being defined at one point in time, by one success or failure. One compelling result she shares of using growth mindset in schools: a Stanford professor went back to her Native American reservation in Washington and within 12-18 months of utilizing growth mindset, the kindergartners and first-graders were at the top of the district in reading and reading-readiness. This district included affluent Seattle kids. As Dweck puts it, “the reservation kids outdid the Microsoft kids.”

And, just as we can develop our brain (new neural pathways) at any age, we can choose a growth mindset at any age. In other words, you are never too old to learn a new skill. Although new neural pathways may be easier to develop with a young brain, they can certainly, with practice, be developed in older brains. Here are some ideas for encouraging your growth mindset (from this helpful article, also linked below under Learn More):

• Challenge yourself by learning something new - a language, a dance, the words to a song.
• Accept that learning is a process - and focus on the process rather than getting to some end-point.
• Seek out feedback, someone else’s perspective, in order to learn more.
• Create self-awareness - like developing mindfulness through meditation or journaling.

Learn More
Check out Carol Dweck’s talk about Developing a Growth Mindset
Informative and actionable article about Developing a Growth Mindset As An Older Adult


​Originally published Sept 15 2022

The evening is warm for winter - 35’ Fahrenheit. Fish Creek is to my right, and its burble is soothing in the dusk. The packed trail is easy to follow, and the soft snow to either side holds the tell-tale tracks of today’s frolicking dogs. 

The steady but not too-long climb to the ridge is welcome, it feels good to move briskly. I can tell it’s been a few weeks by the way my lungs are working. Partway up, a thick, low-hanging bough reaches across the trail as if to bar the way. Stepping to the side I post-hole and that seems a good time to turn on my headlamp, though I keep it at the dimmest setting. 

Cresting the ridge would be obvious even with my eyes closed - the trail levels out and the breeze picks up to a light wind. The wind fills my ears and does a quick sweep, effectively clearing out my head. It also brings a scent, a tinge of pine but more an earthy smell of my surroundings, which is strange because the landscape is covered in snow. It feels both comforting and exhilarating. 

The stars show in the midnight blue overhead, reminding me of the first time I ever slept under them. One night on a fourth-grade field trip to Death Valley, a couple friends and I moved out of our tent and lay staring into the sky, a sky that became more star-filled the longer we gazed. It was my first experience of the unfathomability of our universe. More than awe, it was the beauty that stood out to me, and the way that beauty seemed to multiply as more and more stars made themselves known.

Heading back down I wonder who might be looking at me from the trees and shrubs. Mountain lion? Fox? I’ve seen evidence of elk on other trails, but they don’t seem to have much interest in this one. It is full dark and some cloud cover has moved in. The wind is intermittent, and rattles the leaf corpses, dead for months, still clinging to skeletal branches. 

At the creek I take in the sound of the water once more. Such a luxury to hear flowing water under all that snow in the middle of winter. This water that flows every day, at all hours, year-round. 

I am reluctant to end my time here though I’m approaching the trailhead parking. It is time to head home. I’m lucky that I can come here again. I am lucky that though I’m leaving this place, I can still smell, faintly, the earth-scented wind, and hear, just barely, the gentle flow of the creek, and see, in my mind’s eye, the blue-white stars in the sky.