sanaesuzuki |

30 Years Ago Today

Once in a while, there is no significant reason, but I feel not up in a lifting mood. I am sure I am not the only one to have these kinds of days.

I have been unable to get up in the morning as usual.
I could hear my husband Eric in the kitchen.
I smelled he was making my morning remedy tea, breakfast, and feeding cats and dogs family.

I was figuring out why I have not been able to get up.
Is it because I am affected by May Gray (darkens the coastal skies of sunny southern California with a marine stratus layer)?
Am I just tired because of aging? – I turned 66 last month.
Am I feeling scared that stage IV lymphoma that I had four years ago might come back?
Am I doing more than my limit, and I did not rest enough?
I think all these reasons are correct.
Eric came to bed and kissed me before he left for his work.

The house was quiet after Eric left, and all my dogs and cats’ family was around me. I talked to them a little bit, and they encouraged me.
I focused on getting up, making my morning routine, drunk remedy drink, body scrubbed with liquid leaves, meditation, and ate breakfast.
I went out my morning walk with my dogs.
I noticed the cool air and smelled jasmines blooming neighbors’ sidewalks.
I could hear a car stopped behind me quietly.
I looked back and saw Eric’s smile.
I was not expecting him to be home this morning, so I was surprised, and the dogs were excited.
I decided to ride back home in his car because Kai, one of the dogs, was ready to jump in. I asked him, “where are you going?” he said, “home.”

When we got home, he asked me, “Do you know what today? May 13th? “
I did not know what to say because his birthday is May 15th and May 17th was the day I received a diagnosis, only weeks to live four years ago. My focus was on these two dates recently.

He told me that his mom called him this morning and remind him what today is for us. He gave me blight sunflowers and said to me, “30 years ago today we met!”
That’s right.
We met two days before Eric’s birthday in 1991 in Mexico, where he worked at a resort hotel as an executive chef, and I was a guest.

I usually remember this date, but this year, I looked at May Gray every morning and forgot about it.

I am very grateful to have Eric’s mother reminded him, and for him to got cheerful sunflowers for me and took time to come home to tell me 30 years ago today, we met!

I am happy to have met Eric 30 years ago today, which changed my whole life.
His existence in my life has been helping me to live and want to live more.

I wrote today as gratitude to Eric’s kindness and Eric’s mother, Louise’s love.

Note: The photo is the day we met on the first day with the sunflowers that Eric brought for me this morning.

Love,
Sanae 💖

Liver Healing Remedy Drink

Spring is here.

Chinese medicine and macrobiotic practice that spring associated with the Liver organ. (One of my books, “Love, Sanae” has a list of five transformations of each seasons’ organs, foods, emotions, and temperaments, etc.)

I was diagnosed Only Weeks to Live with stage IV Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma of the Liver almost four years ago.

I just went to see my oncologist, Dr. Mead at UCLA hospital in Santa Monica. She told me that lymphoma has a recurrence record after 3~5 years of treatments so I have passed the first step and she was very pleased.

Photo: with my oncologist Dr. Mead (too bad that you can’t see our big smile because of wearing the mask).

This lymphoma was my second cancer (the first one was ovarian cancer). I was very sick and weak this time and felt that I might die. I was over 60 years old so even though I did not want to take chemotherapy, but the holistic approach was not catching up with cancer. I wanted to live so I decided to take chemo treatments with my macrobiotic practice. It was one of the hardest things I had experienced. (My blog “Chemo Sucks!“)

Dr. Mead does not know what is holistic approach nor macrobiotics practice, but she has seen what I applied to help my conditions when I was taking chemotherapies and through now with healing remedy drinks, macrobiotic plant-based foods, holistic modalities, meditation, etc., and she trusts me that I have been taking care of myself.

I would like to start sharing more about what I have been doing to help my conditions.

The first one is my morning ritual remedy drink.

I have experienced that this remedy is helping me even with side effects from chemotherapy too.

I really hope you try taking this remedy for yourself.

Liver Healing Remedy Drink

It is best to drink one cup in the morning before you drink or eat something. After you drink this remedy, 30~60 minutes later, you can eat breakfast or drink something else.

4 cups spring water.

1 tablespoon organic dried burdock root

1 tablespoon organic dried dandelion root

1 tablespoon organic dried nettle leaves or organic dandelion leaves

1. Add all the roots first in the water and bring the water to boil and when it boils, turn the heat to lower, then add nettle or dandelion leaves to simmer for 15~20 minutes.

Photo: add roots ingredients first.

Photo: Bring the roots ingredients to boil.

Photo: Add leaves to simmer.

2. Strain the tea and drink one cup at a time/day and cool the rest of the tea to storage in the refrigerator and heat one cup at a time to drink.

3. I recommend drinking this without sweetener, but if you must, then I would recommend one teaspoon of brown rice syrup, a half teaspoon of maple syrup, or beet sugar. No honey, brown sugar, white sugar, palm sugar, or cane sugar.

If you are going to use a teabag, then use one teabag of each ingredient with 2 cups of spring water.

I make mine with also red clover and horsetail to support bone health since I broke my bone after chemotherapy while I was hiking with my dogs. You add 1 tablespoon of each ingredient and add one more cup of spring water. You add them with nettle or dandelion after boiled roots.

All the ingredients can be purchase at Natural Food Market that carry dried herbs near you. I usually get mine from Co-opportunity Market (this website is near me in Santa Monica and Culver City in California, but if you have Co-opportunity Market then I think you can buy there too ) and Online herb stores: Mountain Rose Herbs and StarWest Botanical

Below is itemize what all these ingredients help.

Burdock root – Antioxidants, which remove toxins from the blood, may inhibit some types of cancer.

Dandelion root – Potent antioxidants. help fight inflammation. aid blood sugar control. help reduce cholesterol. may lower blood pressure. promote a healthy liver. aid weight loss.

Nettle leaves – Reduce inflammation, hay fever symptoms, blood pressure, and blood sugar levels.

Dandelion leaves – Antioxidants, reduce inflammation, reducing cancer risk, boosting the immune system.

Red clover – Osteoporosis, arthritis, hot flashes, skin and hair disorders.

Horsetail – Supports bone health, acts as a natural diuretic, promotes wound healing and nail health, promotes hair growth.

The liver is one of the organs that really important to support your health. It is always working to regulate most chemical levels in our body blood and excretes a product called bile. This helps carry away waste products from the liver. All the blood leaving the stomach and intestines passes through the liver.

Anybody who has taken any medication, not eating balanced food, oily food, drink alcohol, sugary juice, living in cities, and experience frustration so on…means everybody, right?

You can check online easily about how to take care of your liver, etc, but here are what I read so I want to share them with you.

The primary functions of the liver are:

Bile production and excretion.
Excretion of bilirubin, cholesterol, hormones, and drugs.
Metabolism of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.
Enzyme activation.
Storage of glycogen, vitamins, and minerals.
Synthesis of plasma proteins, such as albumin, and clotting factors.

The symptoms of poor liver function?

Symptoms

Skin and eyes that appear yellowish (jaundice)
Abdominal pain and swelling.
Swelling in the legs and ankles.
Itchy skin.
Dark urine color.
Pale stool color.
Chronic fatigue.
Nausea or vomiting.

I really think that you do not need to wait for till showing any symptoms. Once a liver is showing symptoms, it will take a long time to heal so the key is to proactive and support the liver. In my case, I did not have any symptoms and I was very sick with lymphoma.

Here are 13 tried and true ways to achieve liver wellness

Maintain a healthy weight. …
Eat a balanced diet. …
Exercise regularly. …
Avoid toxins. …
Use alcohol responsibly. …
Avoid the use of illicit drugs. …
Avoid contaminated needles. …
Get medical care if you’re exposed to blood.
This is my liver wellness…enjoy your life and take a rest!

I believe that taking care of your liver saves your health and life.

Have a supportive liver healing remedy drink!

Love,

Sanae❤️

Language of Flowers 2 Mimosa

I have been interested meaning of flowers (plants & trees) since I was a child. I talked to them as I grow some of them and I was so connected with them. I was so fascinated when I found out that there was the language of Flowers and I could learn what each flower meant. I read many books and sent flowers as gifts according to the language of flowers since I was in high school.

I picked Mimosa (Acacia dealbata) as my second *Language of Flowers because it is a February flower in Japan. Although it is not February anymore, I am sorry!

I wanted to write about Mimosa in February, but sometimes things do not go as I plan. My website was down and it took a while for me to bring it back. Then more things happened and I was not able to focus to post it till now.

* If you do not know what is Language of Flowers then please read what I wrote on Language of Flowers 1: https://sanaesuzuki.com/2021/01/31/language-of-flowers-1-japaese-ume-plum/

Mimosa is one of my favorite flowers in early spring. The blight yellow color warms my eyes and heart. The mimosa flowers absolutely shine and naturally represent the sun.

As I checked Language of flowers on https://hananokotoba.com/hanakotoba-ichiran/

Mimosa showed the Language of flowers in Japan,

「secret love 秘密の恋」, and 「friendship 友情」

and in the West,

「(the nature of) secret love」,「sign of joy」「sensitivity 感受性、思いやり」and「safety」

They are similar, but not exactly the same.

The mimosa flower is a genus of roughly 400 different shrubs and herbs. The name is derived from the Greek “mimos,” which means an “actor” or “mime,” while the suffix means “resembling.” This is likely because the leaves are said to mimic conscious life.

Sauce from https://florgeous.com/mimosa-flower-meaning/

It also says: She is my only love. Likewise, she is the flower of reunification. Symbol of gold and sun, mimosa is also the image of the triumphant life because of the hardness of the wood and the victory over the forces of evil.

Sauce from https://www.italyrivieralps.com/

I think this could be a unique Valentine flower gift with a note of the meaning of Mimosa Flower Languages, which is very romantic. Whoever receiving the flower understand your profound importance why you choose Mimosa flowers instead of red rose to her or him.

Love,

Sanae❤️

Raising Healthy Happy Puppies Part 3

Nalu and Kai’s puppies enjoyed their weaning food, and the weaning stage went very successfully. As they ate weaning food, I could see they grew much more and started to show their dognality (personality) a lot.

If you missed Raising Healthy Happy Puppies Part 1 and Part 2 here are the links:

Raising Healthy Happy Puppies Part 1

Raising Healthy Happy Puppies Part 2

They played with each other, also with Nalu mama and Kai papa and continue played with Eric (my husband) and me very often. They had fun with many different toys and cat’s tunnel.

They became more active, so Nalu mama’s job is mostly done feeding and cleaning. My turn to take care of puppies has come into the spotlight. I needed to spend more time cleaning them up, feeding homemade puppy food, play and take care of them carefully with love.
As much as I spent my time and committed to puppies, I felt that this was essential work and my favorite time.

I think Eric had so much fun in their whelping box and play-pen.

Photo: Eric and puppies playing in the whelping box.

Photo: Eric and puppies playing in the pen.

This is a sample schedule that I and Eric did for puppies every day.

I did not write here, but we sang, danced and slept together also.

6 am: When puppies got up, they did poo and pee right away, so I cleaned up them and whelping box. Hugged each puppy and told “good morning” and “I love you so much!” and played with them, and they also played with each other while I was preparing homemade food for them. Fed them and made sure they had enough food. If they were not eating enough, they were just licking and wandering around. If they ate enough, they did poo and pee again (of course, I had to clean up again), and they played and fell asleep again.

Meantime, of course, I had to take care of their parents, Nalu, Kai and two aunties and one uncle with their homemade food and took them out to the yard. Also, fed cats’ family and cleaned their litters.

This whole thing took about 2 hours.

8 am: Ate my breakfast and rest a little bit and take care of other things.

9 am: Set up the play-pen in the living room or if the weather was suitable then set up the play-pan outside.

10 am Puppies got up, cleaned up again, moved puppies to the play pan, gave snack and played again.

This time, when I cleaned their body (fur), I rub/massaged with an organic cloth (cotton or hemp), dip in a loquat leaves warm water. They loved this body(fur) rub a lot. Loquat leaves are very medicinal. Read my blog ” Loquat Leaves Body Acrub/Rub”

Loquat Leaves Body Scrub/Rub

Photo: Lani is receiving Loquat leaves rub and animal reiki.

I comb them also then massaged their paw as they need and they fell asleep. I took some of the dogs out for a walk.

12:30 am: When lunchtime came, they got up so I cleaned up again and fed lunch and cleaned up another time and played and slept. Then I ate my lunch. Take other dogs out for a walk.

3 pm: As they were getting up, I cleaned up again, gave snack and played also, and I gave Animal Reiki this time, and they went back to sleep right away.

5 pm: They got up, I cleaned up, fed dinner, and played again and they just stayed around me in the living room and played each other while I was preparing my dinner or watched Netflix or news or Japanese show.

7 pm: Ate my dinner and checked puppies how they were doing.

9 pm: They got up, I cleaned up and played and moved them to whelping box to sleep.

Additionally, they love to play and talk with us.

They also really enjoyed holistic modalities (animal massage, animal reiki, etc.) and gentle touch.

It is so privileged for me to be their human mom and to take care of them and choose what good for them.

I wish I could keep them all, but physically I can’t take care of all of them as they grow bigger, so one of the necessary commitments for me to do is finding a trusted people to be their guardians.

I have met wonderful people through this process, and also some of my friends, students, and clients became my dog family.

Once in a while, some people would say what I want to hear, and they did not keep their words to raise puppies holistically or mindfully or blame me when something happened. So finding suitable guardians are not easy and have created my heartache and sadness. But I believe they came into my life to teach something, and wherever they go, they would teach everyone there too.

No matter where these puppies have gone to live in a new home, I continue to communicate with them and send metta to them because they are my dog’s grandchildren.

The puppies are leaving home usually around 8 weeks old. I need to get ready for puppies to leave home completed the weaning stage, giving the first puppy vaccination a few days before they leave home, and deworm them the next day.

Conventional veterinarians would give the first puppy vaccination 6 weeks or sometimes even younger, but we wait till close to 8 weeks and also giving them only necessary vaccinations, which Distemper-parve only/puppy DPV and deworming separating date.

Unfortunately, most conventional veterinarians give maximum vaccinations of 5 combinations at once and give deworm on the same day which is very harsh for puppies. I thought that I had to give all these 5 combination vaccinations, but it is not true. I found out the truth after I met a holistic veterinarian and studied myself about vaccinations.

I appreciate holistic veterinarian doctor Sally Lane who wrote Healthy Happy Pooch book forward to have taught me so much about vaccinations and other holistic approaches.

Here are photos of puppies getting check up to be ready for their first vaccination by holistic veterinarian doctor Sally Lane before they left the home. The number of puppies are the order of birth.

Photo: puppy #1 blue – Cheddar

Photo: Puppy #2 orange – Umi Banana

Photo: Puppy #3 brown – Wylie

Photo: Puppy #4 pink – Lulu

Photo: Puppy #5 green – Vasco

Photo: Puppy #6 sky blue – Lani

Getting vaccination from a holistic veterinarian doctor is important so you are not giving them vaccination at too young age and only unnecessary vaccination it means give only necessary vaccination to puppies and not maximum vaccination and no mercury and unhealthy preservative vaccinations. The better and safer vaccines have limited antigens.

Photo: Eric and Lani

Love,

Sanae ❤️

Language of flowers 1 Japanese Ume Plum

Have you heard Language of flowers?

If you never heard of it, you are not alone.

It is known as “Hana Kotoba” in Japan, the direct translation is “flower word”.
I never heard anybody talk Hana Kotoba in English so I had to check and it shows Language of flowers and Wikipedia said Floriography (language of flowers) is a means of cryptological communication through the use or arrangement of flowers.　https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_of_flowers

Meaning has been attributed to flowers for thousands of years, and some form of floriography has been practiced in traditional cultures throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa.

I heard “Hana Kotoba” when I was around 8 years old when I started to have interested grown my own flowers. I was curious that each flower has meaning and I have thought of it whenever I grow flowers and plants and felt connections with them.
As I grew up I have started to use Language of flowers meaning when I send flowers to family, friends or people and let them know why I chose this flower for them. I believe that people who received flowers appreciate more than just receiving the flowers and I feel joy using Language of flowers too.

It is wonderful for me to share Language of flowers with you!

My first language of flowers that I picked is Japanese Ume Plum Flower.

I chose it because it is also a January flower in Japan (now I looked at the date and it is the end of January, but I made it！).

As I checked Language of flowers on https://hananokotoba.com/hanakotoba-ichiran/

Japanese Ume Plum Flower showed Language of flowers in Japan,

「nobility」, 「faithfulness」, and 「patience」

and in the West,

「Keep your promise」,「fidelity」and「beauty and longevity」

I did not realize there were different meanings, but I thought that is understanding too.

Photo: Red Plum Flowers

My father had a Japanese Ume tree in the garden which was just a flowering ume tree so no plums and it was a beautiful reddish color.

The one I shared here is the Japanese Ume Plum Flower that produces plums.
You might hear that Japanese Ume pickles (Umeboshi).
It is a medicinal and traditional pickle of salty and sour in Japan.

Photo: Nankou Ume Plum flowers in 2021

I have been making my own Japanese Ume plum pickles every year with organic California Ume plums. Last year I made famous Japanese “Nankou” Ume Plum pickles, Enzyme juice, Jam, and Sauce.
My friend, Kazuko used to make her Umeboshi plum of organic Northern California so I also offer aged Umeboshi plums that she made and my Umeboshi plums if you are interested.

California Aged Organic Umeboshi Plums (1 lb/16oz)

If you know how to use/eat Umeboshi plums then they will help for longevity just like one of Language of flowers meanings so whoever made this language of flowers meaning knew that Japanese Ume plum can be medicinal.

This year I am trying to grow my Japanese Ume plum tree so I hope to see the flowers someday in January.

Photo: Nankou Ume Plum flowers white

Love,
Sanae ❤️

New Year Sunrise and Sunset Wish

I was born and raised in Japan, but I have been living in the U.S. for many years.

I feel fortunate to keep some of the Japanese traditions, especially I have been keeping “Hatsuhinode” Japanese tradition for many years here in America.

“Hatsuhinode” is viewing the first sunrise of the New Year.

According to both Shinto belief and Buddhist tradition, “Toshigami”—the god of the new year, harvests, and the spirits of ancestors—arrives when the sun rises on New Year’s Day. If you stand outside and make a wish during the sunrise, you will be blessed by Toshigami and your wish will come true during the year to come.

I have two dreams of “Hatsuhinode”. One is to view the New Year sunrise from Mt. Ryugatake to see “Diamond Fuji” and the other one is to climb up to Mt. Fuji to view the New Year sunrise.

Photo: Diamond Fuji sunrise from Mt. Ryugatake (source from Gaijinpot.com)

Photo: New Year sunrise from Mt. Fuji (source from bing.gifposter.com)

Because I have had physical challenges both mechanical parts and internal organs past 27 years so these are probably just dreams, but I enjoyed viewing “Hatsuhinode” from Santa Monica mountain every year with my husband, Eric, and the dogs’ family. I remembered that I even went to see New Year sunrise when I was in a wheelchair so I will continue to view it for a long time.

My New Year sunrise routine is no matter what time I go to bed at new years’ even night, I get up about 5 am and leave home around 5:30 am.
New Year’s sunrise time is usually just before 7 am, but every new year’s morning has different weather.
I remember one new year it was so foggy and could not see anything, but just before new year’s sunrise came up it got cleared up.
It was the mysterious new year’s sunrises I ever saw.

I love to be on the hill when it is still dark and the sky is indigo blue and slowly reddish-orange light is oose out.
I believe this is the quietest moment of the year and I am able to feel the silence before the god of the new year coming.

I have experienced unconsciously the peaceful joy of tears wet my cheek which is very precious.

This year of 2021, it was very windy.
When I hiked up the mountain wind blow so strong I was almost blown away.
The wind blew off and bought New Year’s sunrise clear and blighter.

Photo: Before sunrise

Photo: Clear and blighter sunrise…can you see downtown, Los Angeles?

Photo: New Year’s Sunrise gives us big smiles every year!

Photo: Lani’s first New Year’s sunrise

Photo: Eric and Lani (4 months) Lumi (10 years old) and Kai (2 years old)

Since 2020 was a very upheaval and challenging year of Corona Covid-19 various pandemic for the whole world.

It was a sad and difficult time.

Because of stage IV lymphoma cancer that I had three years and a half ago, I have been taking care of myself carefully. I started “a new me” life and have been practicing social distance before the pandemic came, so I am kind of used to it, but of course, I feel lonely to not see a few frineds that I was seeing and spend time going out for lunch and dinner.

My husband, Eric and I do our best to be kind to each other more than ever and practice self-empathy.

We found out some of our friends got Covid-19 various after Thanksgiving and flighting right now so my wish for this 2021 New Year sunrise…

“Wishing us and everyone in the world a safe, healthy, peaceful, and healing new year!
And full recovery for people in the world including our friends to heal soon.”

There is no Japanese tradition to go to New Year sunset and make a wish, but I thought making another wish or more wish with gorgeous New Year sunset might give us a more excellent spirit start so we also went to see the New Year sunset at Santa Monica beach.

Photo: Santa Monica beach New Year’s sunset was gorgeous!

Photo: Eric and Nalu with New Year’s sunset

Photo: Me and Lani with New Year’s sunset

We watched sunrise and sunset on New Year’s day; we appreciate “Sun” so much. Sun’s hard work for us, earth, and nature.
No matter what, the sunrise shows blight light, which I feel hope and strength, and the sunset promises us faith and trust for the next day.
Sun is truly god for us!

Sunrise, Sunset!

Do you know the musical “The Fiddler on the Roof”?

There is a song called “Sunrise, Sunset”. Do you know?

I love this song; here are some lyrics…

Sunrise, sunset

Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly flow the days
Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers
Blossoming even as they gaze

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

Life is sunrise and sunset like yin and yang and like light and shadow, everything changes, keep changing, and nothing stays the same.
Nature always teaching us, humans.
Let’s notice the blight side over dark shadow and enjoy this moment!

Love,

Sanae ❤️