Walking & Blooming in the Longest-Shortest Month
Hi Everybody!
As I walked the beach this morning, “February” by Joan Baez was playing in my head:
The everyday turned solitary
So we came to February
I think we all turn inward in February, at least a little bit. It’s a great time to hibernate, to block out the world, to curl up with a good book, to think about what we want our lives to be, to take a nice long walk.
Lately I’ve been walking with Noreen, Tess and Rosie, since I’m working on the book to follow The Wildwater Walking Club and The Wildwater Walking Club: Back on Track. Walking with fictional characters is a lot like walking with imaginary friends, just less embarrassing as an adult. It’s so much fun to plan their next adventure.
HIIT
Writing a new book about the Wildwater women has also been a great excuse to add an HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout to my daily routine. HIIT has been around forever, although possibly not quite as long as this book I saw on a table outside a bookstore recently. (I used to own that book—and the leotard!)
Anyway, back to HIIT, it’s a hot new thing again, since study after study has shown that intervals can give you the biggest health improvement in the shortest time.
Essentially, in HIIT you alternate quick bursts of high intensity with longer periods of lower intensity. So what I do is this: I walk the beach at a normal pace until I warm up, then I walk/jog as fast as I can, pumping my arms, for 20 seconds. (I do a quick count to 40 to get my 20 seconds in—close enough!). Then I walk at a regular pace for roughly 40 seconds. (About how long it takes for my heartbeat to slow to normal.) I do 8 sets of the whole thing—20 seconds hard, 40 seconds recovery. It’s amazing that in only 8 minutes, I’m sweating! So then I just enjoy the rest of the walk at my regular pace.
Just in case you’re looking for a new/old twist to add to your walking routine. You can also do HIIT on a treadmill or elliptical or standing in front of the TV—although the scenery isn’t as pretty!
RECIPE
I’ve also been trying to get more plant based whole food into my diet these days. I love the idea of overnight oats, because there’s no cooking. When you wake up in the morning, all you have to do is pop some in the microwave and you’re ready to go. So delicious, and it totally sticks to your ribs. My husband Jake calls it porridge, which always cracks me up and somehow makes it sound even more filling.
Overnight Pumpkin Porridge
I can pumpkin puree
2 cups unsweetened non-dairy milk
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 package snack-size raisins
4 pitted dates, chopped
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Mix it all together in a glass bowl. Cover and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Microwave individual servings until warm in the morning.
Note: I use almond milk and this pumpkin puree. Sometimes I sprinkle on walnuts and/or ground flax seed right before I eat it.
VALENTINE’S DAY GIVEAWAY!
A huge thank you to Weasley for posing for this great picture, and to Dawn T. for taking it. (If you have a fun photo of one of my books, with or without furbabies, I hope you’ll email it to me at Claire@ClaireCook.com.)
Here’s a little bit about Must Love Dogs: Hearts & Barks:
In the charming beach town of Marshbury, Valentine’s Day is in the air. But preschool teacher Sarah is feeling more relationship-challenged than ever. She just wants to survive February, the longest-shortest month of the year. John wants to elope, but it’s not exactly easy to find someone to watch their ever-growing four-legged pack, which now consists of two dogs and five cats.
Teacher assistant and housemate Polly’s baby bump is growing, too, and it’s a constant reminder to Sarah that everybody else and their goat seem to be able to get pregnant like it’s no big deal at all. Cupid’s arrows are misfiring everywhere, and even Sarah’s bossy big sister Carol’s marriage could be heading for trouble. And Bayberry Preschool has declared a moratorium on Valentine’s Day candy, so who’s leaving those conversation hearts taped to the classroom door?
So let’s do a Valentine’s Day Giveaway! Since it’s February, we’ll make it easy. All you have to do to enter is to be on this newsletter list. (If somebody forwarded this newsletter to you, go to https://ClaireCook.com/newsletter fast to sign up.)
Three lucky newsletter subscribers will receive signed and personalized copies of Must Love Dogs: Hearts & Barks. I’ll announce the winners right here on the blog at ClaireCook.com on Wednesday. Good luck, everybody!
If you want to just jump in and start reading Must Love Dogs: Hearts & Barks, here are the links to buy your copy:
Kindle: https://amzn.to/2zvGDqM
Paperback: https://amzn.to/2ZFuomb
Apple: https://apple.co/2OgWQb4
B&N: https://bit.ly/2Zu61wm
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2PuN9c5
GooglePlay: https://bit.ly/347X1Ma
If you haven’t started reading the Must Love Dogs series yet, here’s a link to the series page on my website to find out more: https://clairecook.com/must-love-dogs-series/
Some days you just need a nap in a sun puddle. (That’s Sunshine on the left, and his mom Pebbles on the right.)
Bloom!
I saw this lantana in bloom by the side of the road the other day and pulled over to take a picture. It made me remember this quote:
“The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.”—Gertrude S. Wister
So true. In a few months, there will be such an explosion of flowers, I might have driven right by them. But this time of year, these crazy-early pink and yellow blooms fill me with such joy. I hope they do you, too.
Talk to you soon!
xxxxxClaire
Claire Cook wrote her first novel in her minivan when she was 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of the adaptation of her second novel, Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 19 books as well as a sought-after reinvention speaker. Read excerpts and find out more at ClaireCook.com/read.
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