We continue to look for lovely little getaways close to home that we are calling Sanity Staycations (read about our first Sanity Staycation here). A way to travel when we can’t really travel, due to this inconvenient little virus. On our latest Sanity Staycation we found a Tree House Hideaway in Washington State. Only a couple of hours from home.
Our little nest
I’ve known about Tree House Point for years…but it has never made it into our destination bucket, until now. Boy am I glad we went. Secluded, unique, comfortable and beautiful – living in a tree is incredible – such a surprise. I can’t wait to go back. A tree house hideaway in Washington State tops just about anywhere we have stayed…and that’s saying a lot.
The old growth spruce that started it all
Beginning in 2004 when Pete and Judy Nelson first bought this magnificent forested property on the Raging River just 30 minutes from Seattle, Tree House Point now welcomes visitors from around the world for overnight stays, weddings, retreats and more.
The very first tree house built, Temple of the Blue Moon, (see title image) happens to be the one we stayed in. Apparently the magnificent old growth spruce that supports this tree house was the inspiration for Pete and his crew at Nelson Tree House and Supply. And well, after the completion of Temple of the Blue Moon in 2007, Pete just kept building and today six tree houses (with a seventh on the way) make up this exceptional hidden retreat.
Temple of the Blue Moon interior
Our Sanity Staycation included more than just hanging out in trees…we went waterfall chasing too. During our visit we hiked in to see Franklin Falls and Twin Falls. Both these falls are a short and easy hike, less than 30 minutes from the tree house. Each hike offers beautiful scenery with minimal elevation gain, and very close to Interstate 90. But beware, because of their easy access they can be very crowded on a summer weekend. Try to visit midweek.
Franklin Falls
We also visited Snoqualmie Falls and had a spectacular meal overlooking the falls at the world famous Salish Lodge. We have eaten here before and once again were not disappointed. My scallops were sublime and Arne’s pork chop was as tender as butter. Salish offers valet parking for guests, a wonderful list of Washington wines and first class customer service.
Snoqualmie Falls
Scallops at Salish Lodge
Tree House Point room rates vary by season but sleeping in the trees will run close to $400 per night. Usually two night minimum is requested, however, if there is an opening in the calendar for one night you can book. That is what we did, and how we were able to reserve on fairly short notice. And by the way, it was worth every penny.
Breakfast at Tree House Point
It’s a special experience, includes a delicious breakfast and the customer service was top notch. If you can, try to visit. I have to agree with the folks at Tree House Point…everyone should “be in a tree”. They make it easy here.
I’ll be sharing more about waterfalls in a blog soon.
A year end review of reading. I did it. I set a goal last July to read 75 books in a year. And I did it, I read 83 books. Nearly all these books I read on Kindle while we were traveling. A couple were on Audible and a few were good old fashioned paperbacks. I enjoy books in all three applications.
Since the start of the pandemic, I’ve found it a bit difficult to stay focused on a book. My mind wanders a lot. But I still was able to meet my goal, and I also wrote one book review blog a week over the past year.
I don’t think I’ll set a goal for next year. I’m just gonna read for the love of reading. We can see a year from now how that turned out.
Reading Wednesday
I love that our Reading Wednesday feature on this blog is one of the most popular things about My Fab Fifties Life. If I can inspire you to get lost in a book, my job is done here. And hopefully a year end review of reading can do just that.
Although I gave five stars to many of the books I read, below is a list of my most favorite of the 83. In fact in the list below are five that I can say are some of the best books I have ever read…and that is saying a lot.
For a year end review of reading I’ve put those five at the top, and then below that the rest are listed randomly. I hope you can find a favorite of your own amongst this list and I thank you for your continuing support of Reading Wednesday and My Fab Fifties Life.
The Immoralists by Chloe Benjamen – if you were told when you were a child the exact day you would die, how might it affect everything about your life? So is the question Benjamen explores in the brilliant and unique novel The Immoralists. I loved this story.
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn – Just after the end of WWII a young, unmarried and pregnant Charlie goes in search of her missing cousin in Europe. Her search will lead her to horror stories of the war and eventually to her true family and friends. I loved this book.
11/22/63 by Stephen King – I never read Stephen King so I was shocked to find that this story became one of my favorite reads ever. Not just about the assassination of JFK on 11/22/63, but an unequaled time travel book about the choices we might consider if we could go back and change history – would we do it and what would the consequences be. I loved this book.
The Testaments – by Margaret Atwood – Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale continues to rank as one of my favorite books of all time, even after 30 years. So it was with both excitement and trepidation that I waited for the release of the sequel (finally). It was worth the wait. Every bit as compelling and incomparable, even pulling in some subtle nods to the politics of the USA in 2020. I loved this book.
The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd – Kidd’s bold re-telling of the story of Jesus once again shows her chutzpa as a writer, her creative ability and incomparable talent to take the reader on a well-worn journey with an absolutely fascinating new twist. I love Kidd’s work and The Book of Longings did not dissapoint. I loved this book.
It was hard for me to only choose five for the list above. Because there were so many good ones this year. Here are 14 more of the very best from the 83 books I finished this year.
As women in our middle years we sometimes lose direction. Things that were familiar like kids at home, careers and busy family lives may have slowed or even disappeared. Maybe your marital status has changed too. We too often hear that midlife and then retirement is a time of loneliness, invisibility and stress for many women. A time when some women seem without a purpose. So today I am encouraging you to rethink it all. It’s time to join me in Re-wirement – Finding Your Midlife Passion.
Mindfulness
I’ve been really focused on mindfulness for several months, and finding this focus has centered me in many areas of my life. I’m half-way through a 12-week online course from Yale University called The Science of Well-Being. In this class, and also in the Noom program I have been focused on, we talk a great deal about mindfulness and how it pertains to our overall well-being. I’ve also found myself during the pandemic reading lots of mindfulness books including one I just finished called The Four Agreements, and one I am currently reading and loving called Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.
Gilbert encourages a creative path towards an amplified life – a life driven by curiosity, courage, and peace. Not a life of fear. Because fear disables our ability to move forward. Realizing you are brave in midlife is how you can finally take that step towards your passion! Exactly what we are talking about here today.
None of this is about hocus-pocus or Dharma or religion or voodoo or cosmic forces…but it is about transcendence and our ability to move forward towards what your vision of ultimate happiness is and those things that are standing in your way to get there.
This is me at 60 and Loving it.
The Science of Well-Being course introduced me to the term “re-wirement”. It’s not a term just for people in middle-age. Or just for women. It’s a way to look at our lives and find the causes of our unhappiness, stress and anxiety and then work to re-wire.
Re-Wirement
Re-wirement – Finding Your MidLife Passion began for me about a year before I retired. I was lucky to retire at 53, but considering I had been working since I was 14 – I was ready to re-wire. I put my courage hat on and went looking for a life where I could focus on inner peace and outer well-being. I found it with the help of my darling husband. I found it by re-wiring our lives, letting go of both people and things that bogged me down or were not in sync with my vision, and focusing on our dreams. In the years since I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been asked how I re-invented myself. My answer is always the same – I did not. All I did was peel away the protective layers I had built around me, and found underneath my authentic self. By the way, she’s awesome at 60.
Everyone can re-wire. It costs nothing, other than focus and commitment. Today I introduce you to four women who have done it. Four amazing women of different ages, different backgrounds, different strengths and different aspirations. Four fabulous women who stepped out of their comfort zone, grabbed hold of their dreams and didn’t let go. In doing so each found their midlife passion.
Ann Hedreen, 63
What was your previous career? After college, I worked in publishing for a year and a half, but realized I longed to write my own words, not edit other people’s. I finally landed a cub reporter job in Chicago, for the City News Bureau, a local wire service, and then for UPI. When I returned to Seattle at 25, I started in local TV news as a news writer, and went on to be a producer. After five years (followed by a wonderful sabbatical year of shoestring travel around the world with my new husband, Rustin) I got a job doing PR for the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). When I wasn’t writing press releases, SAM asked Rus (who is a cinematographer and editor) and me to produce several videos, which we worked on when he wasn’t busy doing freelance gigs for network news. The good news was that video production was now more affordable for nonprofits, because we could edit at home. Technology made it possible for us to make a big leap and we focused on making short films for non-profit clients.
We also made longer documentaries of our own choosing. It was one of those documentaries—Quick Brown Fox: an Alzheimer’s Story—inspired by my mom’s young-onset Alzheimer’s disease—that finally led me to take my own personal writing seriously. At 53, I earned an MFA in creative writing. My thesis project became my first published book: Her Beautiful Brain, a memoir about what it was like to become a mom just as my own beautiful, brainy mom was losing her mind to Alzheimer’s disease.
Ann Hedreen
What is your current career? Rus and I continue to make films for nonprofits and I also write and teach memoir writing. I have finished a second memoir, for which I’m now trying to find a publisher, and I’m starting research on a third book. I also enjoy writing shorter articles, blog posts, and essays.
How old were you when you changed careers? I left TV News at 31, and White Noise Productions became our full-time gig when I was about 43. I began my MFA program at 51: that was another big turning point.
Was there a moment, an inspiration, an epiphany when you knew you wanted to pursue something different? When I was 50, my daughter went off to college and shortly thereafter, I suddenly had to have surgery (a benign tumor), which meant I found myself on this island of extreme quiet for the first time in many, many years. I started writing: about my childhood, about my mom, about my Finnish great-grandmother. And the more I wrote, that fall, the more deeply I knew that I wanted it to become an important part of my life. I’d written copiously as a child, but when I was a broadcast journalist in my twenties, I just sort of stopped doing personal creative writing, although I always kept a journal. I also wrote an (unpublished) novel in my 30s, when my children were young. But at fifty, it suddenly felt essential to rediscover, and to honor, my inner writer-self. Like she’d been waiting patiently for me all along, and she’d just that minute run out of patience.
As a woman in midlife how do you feel about your life goals today? Writing will always be important to me. I wish the part about getting published was easier! But teaching has also become very meaningful. I love seeing the light bulbs go off. I’ll continue to do both. The filmmaking work may begin to taper, though we enjoy it and are grateful to have it.
What do you feel is your greatest achievement or what are you most proud of in your life? I really think the hardest thing I ever did was go from public high school in Seattle, WA to Wellesley College in Massachusetts at 17. I had never traveled. I was so homesick. But I had a full grant/loan/work package-deal scholarship, and the fact that Wellesley believed in me enough to fund my education was—huge.
What advice would you give to your twenty year old self? Don’t put those notebooks away! Write!
Where do you see yourself in ten years? I want to continue doing what I’m doing now: writing, teaching, occasionally film-making with Rus, and also hiking, backpacking, traveling (oh I do miss travel during this pandemic!). Who knows? Maybe I’ll have grandkids by then. Which I look forward to!
Any additional advice to the greying goddesses of the world who might feel trapped in a career, marriage or situation that would help them rewire? If you don’t keep a journal, there’s no time like the present to start. Don’t feel like you have to write every day. Be messy, be casual, but the point is to pay attention to your own life. To take it seriously. And to ask yourself, and the world, a lot of questions. If you are feeling trapped, writing can be so helpful in working out how to get un-trapped. I think of writing as “thinking on the page.”
What was your previous career? Broadcast Journalist What is your current career? Health and Wellness Educator and Communications Pro
How old were you when you changed careers? 38 or 39
Was there a moment, an inspiration, an epiphany when you knew you wanted to pursue something different?
9/11
Around 2005, when I had been practicing yoga regularly for about five years and was without pain and able to manage my stress decently for the first time I could remember. It was about that time I realized what I had been inflicting upon my own body, through lifestyle choices. I needed to make a change to realize the life I wanted to live, which was more personal time, time for my family, and freedom to actual live the way I wanted to.
My healing journey was a revelation that people could be so much more in charge of their own health and wellness, and therefore their own lives than they probably think. That’s why I wrote Happy-Go-Yoga.
Christine Chen
As a woman in midlife how do you feel about your life goals today? I don’t really have goals, per se. I have things I aspire to do and explore. There is a difference between mentally gripping an outcome and mindfully laying a foundation for your own life vision. I just try to live well, be well, support the people in my life and let the rest take care of itself. Something always guides me to where I need to be.
What do you feel is your greatest achievement or what are you most proud of in your life?
Becoming more self-aware and aligned with my purpose. Everything else that the general population would consider an “achievement” is just a manifestation of that.
What advice would you give to your twenty year old self?
Invest in knowing who you are and how to best use your energy.
Don’t waste time on superficial drama and disregard those who try to pull you in.
Be yourself.
Don’t be an asshole.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Healthy. Enjoying life. Everything else is a manifestation of that.
Any additional advice to the greying goddesses of the world who might feel trapped in a career, marriage or situation that would help them rewire?
A well-lived life is probably what we’re reflecting upon now. Has it been one? Is it too late to have one? Ayurveda, yoga’s 5000-year old sister science, encapsulates a variety of systems. Philosophically, it includes four distinct stages in life (but all are at play and influential to whatever stage you’re in). When these are in balance, it’s said we live well.
At approximately age 50, we enter the KAMA stage in life, which follows a long period of establishing the use of our energy in alignment with our purpose and arranging material stability (life essentials) so that we can spend energy being productive. In this stage, the question we can ask ourselves is how are we allowing pleasure and pleasurable living? Are we doing the things we’ve always wanted to do? Can we make space to explore the creative side of ourselves that has been less prioritized in our earlier years of responsibility? To make space for this, we must practice letting some things go to make space for our own pleasure. At this stage, we can embrace this as not selfish, but self-care. Some conventional philosophies may refer to this as a “bucket list,” which isn’t entirely accurate. This stage of life is less about checking off boxes (places and experiences) and more about the general way of living. How do you allow yourself to give to yourself with love?
What was your previous career? Program Director and outdoor guide for a kayak company What is your current career? Spring Courtright Home Organizer How old were you when you changed careers? 37
Was there a moment, an inspiration, an epiphany when you knew you wanted to pursue something different? I came home after a long day of work and was laying, exhausted, with my boyfriend (now husband) in a hammock. When he asked how things were and I started crying out of sheer exhaustion, he said, “I know you love your work, but this doesn’t seem sustainable,” and I knew he was right. (And I knew he was a keeper!)
Spring Courtright
As a woman in midlife how do you feel about your life goals today? Amazing! I’m so excited for the rest of my life!
What do you feel is your greatest achievement or what are you most proud of in your life? I think one of my greatest achievements is finding happiness on the other side of depression that gripped me hard as a youth. One of the things I’m most proud of is the Outdoor Adventure Camp I created with an environmental education grant and a dream, and it’s still happily running 15 years later. Countless youth have fallen in love with outdoor adventures as a way to connect with the natural world, get exercise, relieve stress and safely do things like kayak, stand-up paddleboard, mt bike, rock climb. And they learned about the natural world around them through stealth education.
What advice would you give to your twenty year old self? Don’t worry, you’re going to be ok. And say no to that cute, charming guy you’ll meet at your high school reunion. Please.
Where do you see yourself in ten years? Raising chickens and goats and a giant edible garden with my hubby and friends living nearby so we can travel and still have a happy garden
Any additional advice to the greying goddesses of the world who might feel trapped in a career, marriage or situation that would help them rewire? If you’re thinking of going-doing-leaving-trying…do it now. Don’t wait. Fear may seem like a wall, but if you take a deep breath, walk up to it and give it a push, it often turns into a thin piece of fabric that you can push aside and find beauty you never imagined on the other side. Be brave.
What is your current career? We just bought a restaurant and followed a lifelong dream.(See Morso Bistro here)
How old were you when you changed careers? 46
Was there a moment, an inspiration, an epiphany when you knew you wanted to pursue something different?
I have always known I wanted a restaurant I guess, but never acted on it. It has always bounced around in my head. There is always that question floating around… “What would you do if you couldn’t fail?’ Owning a restaurant was always my answer.
As a woman in midlife how do you feel about your life goals today?
Well…. Covid happened! I can honestly say that this has been one of the most challenging times of my life. The amount of thought and time I have put into processing how a restaurant survives Covid has made me stronger and more tenacious than ever. I feel good about my goals, the struggle has made me realize that I’m a pretty strong person.
Trisha Hosea Huff
What do you feel is your greatest achievement or what are you most proud of in your life?
My marriage. My husband and I have a beautiful love story and an incredible friendship. He is my biggest fan, and believes that I am capable of almost anything, (I’m happy to let him think that!) I’m proud of the honesty, support, communication and absolute love we have built our marriage on. Every day I wake up and choose him.
What advice would you give to your twenty year old self?
Travel more, simplify your life, cherish your friends because you never know when they will be gone, always love yourself first and tell your parents how much you love and cherish them.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Sitting at our lake place, drinking a gin and tonic with my husband and reminiscing about the “Covid days”.
Any additional advice to the greying goddesses of the world who might feel trapped in a career, marriage or situation that would help them rewire?
Be quiet, get still…. You already know the answers in your heart. Then act, but buckle up it’s not easy but worth every minute of living your life full and true.
We each have a different journey, through out our life and in our midlife years. Don’t fear the aging process. Instead strive for a healthy, courageous vision and look to re-wirement – finding your midlife passion. Focus on your aspirations, your intentions and your happiness through mindfulness and intent. Deep in the vault of our hearts, there usually is a passion waiting to be unlocked. I’d love to hear from you if you need encouragement.
This is a good story if you are looking for a suspenseful novel in the vein of Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train. But don’t expect any Pulitzer Prize winning story telling. But I liked it.
Coben shares with the reader the All American Family, Adam and Corinne Price. Living the dream in an upwardly mobile New Jersey suburb with their two lacrosse playing sons. The perfect life. So it seemed.
Until the day the “Stranger” appears to give Adam Price a chilling piece of information about his wife. A moment that will change everything about the All American Family and the perfect life, not just for Adam but an entire community.
Coben’s novel is intense and interesting, although not always believable and like so many novels of this genre, is filled with a few too many coincidences for my liking. Coincidences that keep the plot moving forward but take away from a reality based story.
But like I said, if you want to fall into a book that keeps you turning the pages, The Stranger is for you.
Our summer of healthy eating continues and we have been swimming in delicious wild caught fish from Alaska, thanks to our monthly membership with Wild Alaskan Company. And today I am sharing with a few of my favorite wild caught Alaska white fish recipes
Meanwhile, salmon isn’t the only fish in the sea, and in fact I often prefer a firm white fish when in a restaurant or cooking at home. I am a big fan of halibut, and we order cod in restaurants around the world. Cod has many different names depending where you are including haddock, plaice, scrod, pollock and Gadus. Gadus is the actual name of the genus of this fish.
Recently I discovered that one of my favorite fish, Black Cod, is not cod at all. Black Cod is actually Sable Fish, sometimes called Butterfish.
Confused? Well rest assured these fish, no matter what they are called, can all be delicious as long as you are buying and serving wild caught and not farmed. There is also a difference in taste between Atlantic Cod and Pacific Cod (in my opinion), another reason I am such a fan of fish from Alaska.
Get Your $15 Off Today and Free Recipes Too
As I have enjoyed my monthly delivery from Wild Alaskan Company I have been experimenting with white fish and have five wild caught Alaska white fish recipes to share with you today. I continue my experimenting in my kitchen, so I hope to have more recipes (both white fish and salmon) in the months ahead.
And then start cooking with the wild caught Alaska white fish recipe’s below.
Air Fryer Cod
Air Fryer Cod
Serves Two
Two 6 oz Cod fillets
Two Tablespoons Panko, mixed with salt, pepper, garlic powder and a pinch of red chili flakes
After thawing your cod fillets dry them really well with a paper towell and then let them sit out and air dry a bit more. Mix your breading ingredients together and toss the fillets in the panko mix. Preheat your air fryer for about 5 minutes to 375 degrees. Place your fillets in your air fryer basket and cook for ten minutes, turn over and cook another 6-8 minutes until done.
Easy, healthy, delicious.
Cod Tacos
Fish Tacos
Serves Two
Two 6 oz Cod fillets
I used Air Fryer Cod (above) for our tacos, but you could also fry the breaded cod fillets in oil on the stove top until crispy.
Break the cod apart and make street taco size tacos using four inch round flour or corn tortillas. Offer homemade coleslaw, guacamole, chopped tomatoes, shredded cheese and salsa for a make your own taco feast.
Butter Cod or Halibut
Butter Cod
Serves Two
You can use either halibut or cod for this recipe. Thaw two 6 oz pieces of your choice
In cast iron skillet (or other skillet that is ovenproof), brown 4 oz of butter. Place fillets in butter and fry two minutes on each side. Remove from heat and spoon brown butter over fillets, then add juice of one lemon.
Put in pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes to finish. Spoon sauce over fish once during cooking.
Baked or BBQ Orange Halibut
Orange Halibut
Servess Two
Two 6oz Halibut Fillets
2 Tablespoons butter
Zest of one orange
1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
Place Halibut on foil. Smear one tablespoon of butter on each fillet. Sprinkle orange zest on each fillet. Salt and pepper to taste.
Place on cookie sheet for oven (375 preheated) or roll-up side of foil for BBQ leaving top open. Pour half cup of OJ over fillets. Bake or BBQ till flaky.
Miso Glazed Sable Fish
Miso Glazed Sable Fish
This is possibly my favorite recipe of all time. I had a dish similar to this in a restaurant years ago, and it took me a long time to find a recipe that works. This one definitely works. Sable Fish is da bomb.
Serves 6
Six Sable Fish fillets thawed
Marinade: 1/3 cup white miso (usually in the refridgerated specialty foods section of your market)
1/3 sake
1/3 rice vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
Heat the marinade ingredients on the stove top until sugar melts, about five minutes. Let cool. Hold out about a half cup of marinade and pour the rest into a gallon size freezer bag and add your fish fillets. Place in fridge for at least 24 hours and up to 48 hours turning bag occasionally.
Grease a cookie sheet really well and place your fillets on the cookie sheet. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake fish for about 10 minutes. Switch the oven to broil and finish the fish under the broiler another 2-3 minutes. Watch it closely.
Meanwhile in microwave reheat the marinade you held aside.
To serve the Sable Fish place a little bit of the marinade on top, sprinkle with fresh, chopped green onions.
Delicious and beautiful served with black rice and stir fried bok choy.
Chinese Halibut with Noodles
This is a recipe I created based on a dish I had when I was in China. I don’t think the fish I was eating in China was Halibut, but I enjoyed the dish so much I came home and came up with this recipe. Chinese Halibut with Noodles was presented on my YouTube channel as part of our weekly Tasty Tuesday series. See it here. We invite you to follow us on YouTube.
Another fascinating novel by the incomparable Pearl S. Buck Buck – an amazing women well ahead of her time – writes about another remarkable women, Tzu Hsi, one of China’s greatest leaders.
Buck’s ability to bring her readers into a bygone era is astonishing, and one of the things I love the most about her writing talent. The Good Earth by Buck remains one of my favorite reads of all time, and won Buck a Noble Prize.
Much has been written about Tzu Hsi, a modest concubine who rose to power in the Qing Dynasty and became China’s last empress. But this novel takes Tzu Hsi life and dissects all of the amazing details of her beauty, cunning, and brilliant leadership during a time of extreme national turmoil and change.
If you loved the film The Last Emperor by Director Bernardo Bertolucci, Buck’s work in The Imperial Woman educates the reader of the period just prior to The Last Emperor, the politics and intrigue, tradition and power that had been Chinese life for thousands of years, until the fall of the Empire in 1912. Tzu Hsi died in 1908.
Fascinating and beautifully written. Powerful and complete, you will come away with respect and awe for one of the world’s least known female leaders.
*****Five stars for The Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck.
What is a Tasty Tuesday Travel Tour? If you love travel like I do, you are probably feeling a little tense right now. When can we go? Where will be able to go? And when? And where? AND WHEN?
Okay, take a deep breath. We all need to stay safe. I’m doing a few “staycations” around my region, and trying to be patient and wait.
One thing I have started as a way to help me get through this lull in travel is my new series on YouTube called Tasty Tuesday. Each week I’m presenting a new and delicious dish I’ve learned to make on my travels. You can join me every Tuesday and travel around the world with me through food. It’s a Tasty Tuesday Travel Tour! And it’s free!
Follow me on YouTube and let’s travel through our taste buds!!! Here is a link to this week’s TASTY TUESDAY.
Thanks for all your love and support. Be safe my friends and enjoy TASTY TUESDAY TRAVEL TOUR!!
