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30

Apr

Healthy Recipes for Your Body and Spirit

by Meredith Mullins on April 30, 2018

A spinach and polenta gratin, one of the healthy recipes from Chef Hubert Hohler, showing a cultural encounter with healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

A tribute to healthy eating: Spinach and polenta gratin

A Cultural Encounter with Healthy Eating

Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are—Brillat-Savarin

Our eating habits and cooking strategies often reveal something about us.

Since I find this revelation to be true for myself, I’m sharing a story about inspiration . . . and how eating and cooking patterns can be influenced after experiencing life-changing OIC moments.

Green wild herb soup with flowers, a soup for healthy eating showing a cultural encounter with healthy recipes. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Wild herb soup—made with nettle, dandelion, and wild garlic
© Meredith Mullins

A Fasting Tale

Full disclosure. I am not a cook. I am also not a particularly healthy eater, which I conveniently blame on genetics. However, twice a year I go to the Buchinger-Wilhelmi clinic in Germany for a cleansing fast. (See OIC story.)

I come away with much more than a new lightness of being (physical, mental, and spiritual), a rested digestive tract, and the joy of fasting euphoria (although those treasures alone would be worth the trip). I see my visit as a cultural encounter with good health—in the moment and for the future.

A range of vegetarian healthy recipes, showing the cultural encounter with healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

A variety of choices for healthy eating
© Meredith Mullins

I am inspired to continue the program of healthy eating and to actually take the giant step of preparing some of the recipes that I have been shown. I also look forward to practicing some of the tips introduced in the demonstrations and lectures.

Salad with sprouts and apples, a healthy recipe from Chef Hubert Hohler at Buchinger-Wilhelmi clinic in Germany, showing a cultural encounter with healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Sprout and apple salad—so fresh, so easy
© Meredith Mullins

First-Time Memories

I pause here to mention that the first time I came to the clinic, I was not especially embracing the idea of fasting. I updated my will before I made the journey and said goodbye to friends and family as if it were the last time I would see them. I was not convinced I would survive.

I had never fasted before, and had visions of hunger, heartburn, and hallucinations. As it turned out, I was pleasantly surprised.

Vegetable soup from chef Hubert Hohler at the Buchinger-Wilhelmi fasting clinic in Germany, a healthy recipe for fasting, showing a cultural encounter with healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Garden vegetable soup for a fasting dinner (you come to love it!)
© Meredith Mullins

It seems I was a natural. No hunger. No heartburn. And only a few hallucinations on the famous Day 5 of the fast (where they say one often begins to feel the fasting high).

At the clinic, it’s not just about what you are eating (or not eating). It’s about a total reset of your body so that healthy eating becomes a natural rhythm once you return to the outside world.

Chef Hubert Hoholer of Buchinger-Wilhelmi Clinic in Germany, a chef sharing healthy recipes for a cultural encounter with healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Chef Hubert Hohler explains the reason for minimizing oil in cooking.
© Meredith Mullins

A Spirit Guide with Heart

A large part of that healthy food experience comes from the heart of Chef Hubert Hohler. He has been with the clinic for 25 years and brings passion, exacting standards, and joy to his job.

He also is an expert in plant-based cooking with pure organic materials, and shares his knowledge with clinic guests via twice weekly cooking demonstrations.

Pan with zucchini and rosemary, a healthy recipe from chef Hubert Hohler of the Buchinger-Wilhelmi clinic in Germany, showing a cultural encounter with healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Chef Hohler’s advice: Sauté with no oil. Just herbs and the natural liquid of the vegetable.
© Meredith Mullins

Chef Hohler is a good role model for clinic guests. He understands the fasting process, as he has fasted every year for the past 30 years. And, most of all, he loves to cook.

He is dedicated to creating delicious healthy organic food—the tasty broths for fasting and the vegetarian meals to lead in and out of the fast or for people who prefer just a low calorie healthy program.

chef Hubert Hohler at the Buchinger-Wilhelmi clinic in Germany, showing a cultural encounter with healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Making fennel sauce or soup—you can decide after the basic preparation.
© Meredith Mullins

He visits other cultures and brings the best of those worlds to his recipes. He experiments constantly, all with a goal of increasing the health value of the food. And he knows that certain recipes, the ones that long-time guests look forward to, should remain as is. It is not necessary to make them “new.”

Soufflé with vegetables, one of the healthy recipes from Chef Hubert Hohler at the Buchinger-Wilhelmi clinic in Germany, showing a cultural encounter with healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

A favorite: the easy-to-make quinoa or cottage cheese soufflé
© Meredith Mullins

Five Basic Tips for Healthy Eating

Here are five tips I’ve learned at Buchinger-Wilhelmi from Chef Hohler (with a reminder that I’m not a cook, so I have much to learn.) I am happy to report that these have now become a part of my everyday healthy-eating processes.

  1. Control oil (quantity and quality). Sauté vegetables without oil, as the natural liquid in the vegetables is sufficient. Add a touch of oil to your dish at the end to give taste. Make use of a variety of quality oils. For example, use almond oil to sweeten a bitter taste or walnut oil to add astringency to something sweet.
  2. Use natural sweeteners rather than sugar. Ripe fruit serves as a sweetener (bananas, apples, apple juice).
  3. Create salad dressings using blended vegetables (avocado, carrots, tomatoes) to minimize fat and calories. (Try the avocado vinaigrette in the free recipes below.)
Salad with avocado vinaigrette dressing, a healthy recipe from Chef Hubert Hohler, showing a cultural encounter with healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

The avocado vinaigrette dressing with a touch of tomato to change the taste and color
© Meredith Mullins

4. For soup or sauce, start with the basics: onion, potato, and a vegetable. The only difference between soup and sauce is the amount of liquid in relation to the vegetables and the fact that a soup must stand on its own, while a sauce accompanies something to complement it.

5. Use fresh herbs for seasoning rather than salt. As you think about seasoning, taste to see what you’re missing on your tongue’s taste buds (sweet, salt, bitter, sour). In other words, don’t just add salt. Be more creative. Think about what herb or spice can add the missing taste.

OIC invites you to download the special free recipes below for practical ways to use these tips.

A bouquet of wild herbs and flowers to be used in healthy recipes for a cultural encounter in healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Everything in this bouquet can be used in cooking.
© Meredith Mullins

Beyond Tips and Recipes

In addition to the tips from Chef Hohler, his spirit of cooking organically is everpresent. He is careful about all the products he uses. He knows the producers and what processes they use. And he relies on seasonal products to ensure the freshest of ingredients.

From his time as a teenager helping to harvest his family’s asparagus crop, he has learned to appreciate the work behind products.

White asparagus in a pot, one of the healthy recipes of Chef Hubert Hohler of the Buchinger-Wilhelmi clinic in Germany, showing a cultural encounter with healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Even though Chef Hohler had to wake up at 5 am to harvest his family’s white asparagus,
he still loves to cook with it.
© Meredith Mullins

He looks for producers who really care about what they’re doing. If something is grown with love, he feels that the love will be noticed. And, then, when the kitchen also prepares the food with love, he believes that combination is a real treasure for those who are eating.

Chef Hubert Hohler at the Buchinger-Wilhelmi clinic in Germany demonstrating healthy recipes for a cultural encounter with healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

A cooking demonstration that tempts all the senses.
© Meredith Mullins

A Change in Everyday Rhythms

Yes, it may be difficult to watch a cooking demonstration when fasting. After all, those wonderfully fresh vegetables and fruits seem very different from the broth for dinner. And the smells from the demo seem to touch all the senses in a cruelly heightened way.

Piece of lavender cake from the healthy recipes of chef Hubert Hohler at the Buchinger-Wilhelmi clinic in Germany, showing a cultural encounter with healthy eating. (Image © Meredith Mullins.)

Yes, desserts are allowed after the fast, so try this lavender cake with a pear topping
© Meredith Mullins

But what this theatre of food preparation is actually doing is providing a look into the future. This is what I’ll be doing when I leave Buchinger-Wilhelmi (albeit not in quite as nice a kitchen).

The sights and sounds and smells have found a way to some deeper place. This cultural encounter with healthy eating will now be a part of my everyday rhythm.

Ready for some easy-to-make, delicious, healthy food?  OIC offers this free download of favorite recipes for healthy eating from Chef Hubert Hohler. 

 

Thank you to the Buchinger-Wilhelmi Clinic for this inspiration for healthy eating.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

 

 

Cultural Encounters/Germany

24

Apr

The Dogs on the Bus

by Joyce McGreevy on April 24, 2018

Meg Vogt, creative thinker and owner of Dogs Rule! welcomes canines on her dog bus in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Dog’s Rule! is a (p)awesome bus service based in Sullivan’s Gulch, Portland, Oregon.
© Joyce McGreevy

Creative Thinking for Canines
in Portland, Oregon

Driving with a 12-pack isn’t usually the smartest idea. But when the “12-pack” is a dozen adorable dogs, it’s genius.

Meet creative thinker Meg Vogt, affectionately known as the Dog Bus Lady of Sullivan’s Gulch. When Meg launched Dogs Rule, a bus service for dogs in Portland, Oregon, the locals really got on board.

Creative thinker Meg Vogt and dogs on the bus pose for a “pack portrait” in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Ryan LaBriere)

The dogs on the bus go woof-woof-woof all around the town—en route to leash-free parks.
© Ryan LaBriere @LabrierePhoto

Dogged Devotion

Throughout her life, Meg has solved canine challenges that would overwhelm most people.

Consider Mr. Diego.

Viciously attacked as a puppy, Mr. Diego was soon making his mark on the world—specifically on its inhabitants. But Meg, who was then a dog walker, spent years working through his issues, gradually enabling him to socialize peaceably.

Mr. Diego the white Scottie went from troubled pup to poster dog thanks to Meg Vogt’s creative thinking. (Image © Meg Vogt)

By 2015, Mr. Diego had become the poster pooch for the local humane society. 
© Meg Vogt

Chelsea, a retired police dog, had degenerative myelopathy. Every morning, said Meg, she’d “ease the dog’s rear end into a special wheelchair and drive to a park where Chelsea could chase after squirrels.”

“We totally bonded. Still, I told myself that when Mr. Diego and Chelsea passed, I would move on to a real job. But there was no way. I had all these soul connections with dogs.”

After a series of remarkable careers—paginator at USA Today, audio engineer, video producer, camp counselor, radio show host, and concierge, Meg had found her real job.

Creative thinker Meg Vogt, Max the poodle, and Grendel the Irish wolfhound howl for fun on the dog bus in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Meg, Max, and Grendel practice howlistic therapy.
© Joyce McGreevy

How Much Is That School Bus in the Window?

In 2008, Meg bought an old school bus and figured out how to operate it on the drive home. She parked it beside the house that she shares with her very supportive wife, Deb (“Not a Dog Person”) Bridges. Then she invited the neighborhood over.

Families, children, and other creative thinkers paint the Dog Bus in Sullivan’s Gulch, Portland, Oregon. (Image © Meg Vogt)

Sullivan’s Gulch neighbors gather for a paint-and-pizza party.
© Meg Vogt

The dog bus was born. And wow, did it ever bus a move. Who let the dogs out? Oh, I see: In Portland, Oregon this is not a rhetorical question.

Blue Rover, Blue Rover

Recently, I joined Meg on her rounds. Our destination?  Thousand Acres—open land, berry bushes, and a delta. It’s off-leash paradise.

Because her passengers lack opposable thumbs, Meg uses house keys that clients entrust to her. Eagerly anticipating their day out, the dogs trot to the bus door, race up the steps, and take their usual seats.

Dogs of several kinds board the dog bus, a product of Meg Vogt’s creative thinking in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Why chase your tail when you can catch a bus?
© Joyce McGreevy

It’s Spring Break. Several dogs are on vacation, taking their humans with them, so we’re down to a six-pack and a bonus pup.  Our seven riders range from petite Moe to a pony-sized Irish wolfhound named Grendel. (Which technically makes Grendel a Beowulf-hound.)

Now add Meg’s “god dog” Piper the Scottie, Ida the yellow Lab, Max the French poodle, Porter the black Lab, and Finn the fantastic medley. It could be a recipe for chaos. Instead, it’s like the best buddy movie ever.

Grendel leans his massive head out the window, breezing. Moe snuggles. Porter seems pensive, as if composing a bestselling bark-all. Max, Ida, and Piper look out the windows. Finn reclines but casts a supervisory look over the pack.

Several dogs gaze out the windows of the dog bus, a product of Meg Vogt’s creative thinking in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

The dogs are poised for that first sight of green fields.
© Joyce McGreevy

Go, Dog, Go!

The dogs somehow contain themselves as Meg parks. Once out the door, they run merrily down the path, splitting off occasionally to run in broad, looping arcs.

Meg Vogt and dogs enjoy a run at a leash-free dog park in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Best dog run ever!
© Joyce McGreevy

There is no happiness like that of dogs roaming free.

“Ida Idaho” spots a puddle and knows just what to do.

Dogs enjoy a puddle at a leash-free dog park in Portland, Oregon, thanks to creative thinker Meg Vogt and her dog bus. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Dive in!
© Joyce McGreevy

Dogs frolic at a leash-free dog park in Portland, Oregon, thanks to creative thinker Meg Vogt and her dog bus. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Max and Grendel show off for the pup-arazzi.
© Joyce McGreevy

Porter, the quiet one, turns daring explorer, scouting the perimeter.  Piper and Moe hold court with adoring fans.

Finn wades into the water. There is no branch so big, no stick tossed so far, that he cannot retrieve it.

A dog carrying a branch frolics at a leash-free dog park in Portland, Oregon, thanks to creative thinker Meg Vogt and her dog bus. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Finn branches out.
© Joyce McGreevy

The Leader of the Pack

When it’s time to go, how do you gather a pack of dogs from 1400 acres? The secret is to be Meg Vogt. At her call, all seven come running. Together, they lope along as one big family and board the bus.

Creative thinker Meg Vogt and her dogs stroll through a leash-free dog park in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Anyone who thinks the dog bus is a trendy business is barking up the wrong tree.
The only high end in this labor of love is Grendel’s.
© Joyce McGreevy

To be tuckered out after a day of fun is the best kind of tired in the world. While the dogs rest, Meg shares her story.

Incredible Journey

“I was that white kid on the Rez,” she says.  “It was a beautiful experience, growing up in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin.”

Most nights, Meg would take her bedding out to the screened-in porch. There she’d sleep with her dog Carly, whom her mom had rescued as a puppy.

“It was sweet waking up to the sound of an Evinrude motor on the lake. I’d get in the canoe with Carly in front. Then I’d take off across the lake, go hiking in the National Forest. That was my childhood.”

Lassie (and Buddies), Come Home

One by one, the dogs are returned home. I feel like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, sad to bid farewell to my new friends.

Neighbors and dog visit with creative thinker Meg Vogt on a porch in Sullivan Gulch, Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Max loves Meg’s dog bus so much, he watches from a balcony for its arrival.
© Joyce McGreevy

It’s the community, says Meg, who helps keep her bus running. When the dog bus needed a new transmission, folks pitched in. “Sullivan’s Gulch is a good community that way. We all take care of each other.”

Meg Vogt and Štĕpán Šimek are creative thinkers and Sullivan Gulch neighbors in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Meg chats with Sullivan’s Gulch neighbor Štĕpán Šimek . . .  
© Joyce McGreevy

A passerby, Monique, chats with Meg Vogt, whose creative thinking led to the dog bus in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

. . . and a delighted passerby named Monique. 
© Joyce McGreevy

Dog Tales and Winding Trails

Now Meg hopes to fund a multi-purpose space for dogs and humans called Rawhide Ranch. So she’s writing books. There’s no shortage of material:

Her richly lived life has doglegged around the world. (Although we’ve only just met, Meg and I discover that our paths had crossed years earlier. We’d both been volunteer radio hosts at KAZU in Pacific Grove, California.)

There’s true love conquering all as Meg’s wife faced down metastatic colon cancer. Deb played soccer between rounds of chemo and went from having a 6% chance of survival to becoming a world-class race walker.

A little dog named Moe rides the dog bus, a product of Meg Vogt’s creative thinking in Portland, Oregon. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

When Moe lost a twin, the pack cheered him up.
© Joyce McGreevy

Then there are Meg’s “myku,” her version of haiku. Doggerel? Hardly! But the dogs clearly are muses:

        Shut down your keyboard.

        Come! Take in the morning light.

        Can you smell the rain?

Creative thinking at its off-leash best.

 

 

That night, I make a wish on the Dog Star: May Meg’s dog tales and other writing find a loving home. And may the dog bus and the dog pack always roam free.

A license plate from the dog bus in Portland, Oregon reflects Meg Vogt’s creative thinking. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Long may their tails wag!
© Joyce McGreevy

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

 

Clever Ideas/Making a Difference/Nature Discovery/USA

16

Apr

Glass Floats? Finders Keepers!

by Joyce McGreevy on April 16, 2018

A glass float made for Finders Keepers in Lincoln City reflects a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Several times a year glass floats like these are hidden along Lincoln City’s shoreline.
© Joyce McGreevy

A Cultural Tradition on the Oregon Coast

No one sees them, but dozens of Float Fairies roam this seven-mile stretch of the Oregon coast. Several mornings a year these anonymous volunteers stroll the shores of Lincoln City, carefully placing glass treasures among driftwood and seagrass. Soon, the Float Fairies blend in with us mere mortals who have come in search of these treasures.

Finders Keepers, a popular treasure hunt for handcrafted glass floats, originated in Lincoln City. Now in its 19th year and inspiring imitators, the event grew out of a cultural tradition.

A poster for Finders Keepers in Lincoln City reflects a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Finders Keepers runs from mid-October to Memorial Day.
Treasures may include glass sand dollars, shells, and sea stars.
© Joyce McGreevy

Today, visitors come from all over, seeking their own brilliantly-colored, signed, and numbered glass floats.

Treasure Hunting

I, too, have come in search of treasure: treasured time with sisters. Having three sisters in Oregon, I’ve made my way from high-desert Bend to seaside Newport, then up the rugged coast to Lincoln City, where Carolyn lives.

Artist Carolyn McGreevy of Lincoln City celebrates Finders Keepers, a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

“I love the coast life,” says Carolyn McGreevy at Lincoln City Public Library.
© Joyce McGreevy

A photographer of sea, sky, and stone, Carolyn charts the course of our glass float treasure hunt.

An ocean view from Lincoln City inspires seekers of glass floats at Finders Keepers, a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Carolyn McGreevy)

The world my sister sees. (Sunset at Lincoln City, Oregon)
© Carolyn McGreevy

First stop, North Lincoln County Historical Museum. There the Watson-Simpson Collection awaits us, resplendent as crown jewels.

Glass floats at North Lincoln County Historical Museum reflect a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

The variety of sizes, colors, and provenance of glass floats is stunning.
© Joyce McGreevy

At first, fishermen crafted their floats from whatever glass was available to them—usually, recycled beverage bottles. Something about the sea stirs a terrible thirst, it seems.

Then, glass-making companies sprang up in Japan, Norway, Russia, and the U.S. Thousands of glassblowers found jobs making floats by hand. Circa 1890s-1930s, these floats are among the most ornate and coveted collectibles.

An 1877 S.H. Davis & Co. glass float in Lincoln City reflects a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Patented in 1877, this is among the rarest of glass floats.
© Joyce McGreevy

A Fragile Industry

Later, companies switched to using industrial molds and machinery to mass-produce “improved” floats—cheaper, more uniform, less colorful. Eventually, companies phased out glass altogether.

Over time, the world’s fishing vessels began using plastic, aluminum, even Styrofoam floats. For generations of beachcombers, coveted glass floats became all the rarer—except in Lincoln City.

That’s where artist Jennifer Sears had a brilliant idea for celebrating the Millennium: commission local artists to create glass floats, each distinctive, then place them in the open for anyone to find.

People enjoy the beach in Lincoln City where Finders Keepers is a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Finders keepers, yes—losers weepers, no! Not with miles of Oregon coast to enjoy.
© Joyce McGreevy

Playing with Fire

Soon we’ll play Finders Keepers. But first, says Carolyn, let’s see how glassblowing happens. We make our way to Lincoln City Glass Center.

There we watch as artisans gather molten glass, scooping it like honey from crucibles heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Glassblowers Daniel Hogan, Steve Hagan, and Jolene Boyce at Lincoln City Glass Center make glass floats, continuing a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Daniel Hogan and Steve Hagan face the heat. Wearing thick mitts, Jolene Boyce deftly flips a glass bowl.
© Joyce McGreevy

They roll the glowing mass across a marver, a special metal table, to distribute heat evenly. Then, as if adding sprinkles to ice cream, they dip the molten lump in crushed glass to add layers of color. At various points, the glass is returned to the crucible to keep it hot and malleable.

Glass floats and glassmaking tools at Lincoln City Glass Center reflect a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

From crucible to kiln, glassmakers use an array of skills and tools to craft glass floats.
© Joyce McGreevy

As for the glassblowing, the artisans carry this out as nonchalantly as if they were chewing bubblegum, not working with bone-searing liquid fire.

A mobile made of glass floats at Lincoln City Glass Center reflect a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Carolyn McGreevy)

Fire-born, sea-inspired, a glass mobile inspires visitors to Lincoln City Glass Center. 
© Carolyn McGreevy

Sailing, Sailing

All week, Carolyn and I tailor our adventures to the changeable coastal weather. On  bright days, we look at tide pools, fishing boats, and bright pebbles.

Agates and other pebbles from Lincoln City beach shine like glass floats, part of a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Carolyn McGreevy)

Agates and other colorful stones cover Oregon beaches.
© Carolyn McGreevy

On blustery days, we head for Captain OverKeel Cabin and batten down the hatches. Its interior resembles an ancient sailing ship. There’s no cable TV, no wifi, just the magic of forgetting what century this is.

Captain OverKeel Cabin reflects vintage charm in Lincoln City, Oregon where beach-combing for glass floats is a cultural tradition. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

On a “dark and stormy night,” this snug vessel drifts safely toward dreamland.
© Joyce McGreevy

Up and at ‘em

Nobody sleeps in on Finders Keepers days. By Saturday, the Float Fairies have placed 300 treasures all over the beach. Locals and visitors will soon be out in droves.

To help us on our quest, we seek out local expert Eric Johnson. As public relations coordinator for Lincoln City, Eric is first to see the glass floats as they arrive from artists’ studios all over Lincoln County.

PR coordinator Eric Johnson of Lincoln City talks about Finders Keepers, a glass float treasure hunt that’s a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Raised in Astoria, working in Cannon Beach and now Lincoln City,
Eric Johnson is truly a coastal citizen .  
© Joyce McGreevy

Does he have tips for spotting glass floats in the wild?

The secret, says Johnson, is not to look too hard. You’re more likely to discover a float the less fixated you are. And stay safe. Floats are never placed in risky-to-access areas. Just get out there and enjoy the day.

Oh, I see:  Instead of treasure-hunting to the point of frustration, simply notice the beauty all around you. Good life advice, too.

A glass float hidden on the Lincoln City beach reflects a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Can you spot a glass float on this stretch of coastline?
© Joyce McGreevy

A handmade glass float placed on the Lincoln City beach for Finders Keepers reflects a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Eureka!
© Joyce McGreevy

Finding Bliss

After combing the beach, antiquing in town, and sipping coffee by the fire, the prospect of a Lincoln City sunset draws Carolyn and me outdoors again.

And just like that, we find it—a gorgeous glass float!

A Finders Keepers glass float in Lincoln City reflects a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Finders register their glass floats and post photos to Lincoln City’s Instagram.
© Joyce McGreevy

It’s in the hands of Todd Terrell, who marvels over its beauty with partner Rose Bliss. Their delight is what caught our attention.

Amber Bliss and Todd Terrell celebrate finding a glass float at Lincoln City Finders Keepers, a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Oregonians Rose Bliss and Todd Terrell celebrate Finders Keepers.
© Joyce McGreevy

For one companionable moment, we share in the joy, happy as nine-year-old kids. That’s all it is—a moment, created by years of cultural tradition on the Oregon coast.

A lovely moment to share with your sis. If that isn’t finding treasure, what is?

Glass art in the pavement of a Lincoln City street reflects a cultural tradition of the Oregon coast. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Glass art graces sidewalks in Lincoln City.
© Joyce McGreevy

When will Lincoln City drop more glass floats? Find out here. 

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

 

Clever Ideas/Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Nature Discovery/USA

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