Tickle Your Senses

[Sherry Galeazzi]

Backpackingprovides added flexibility and frugality to vacations where normally you have to might book a hotel or AirBnB. But, if home happens to be with you, then you can literally be anywhere you want!

The pleasant sound of my footsteps softly crunching along a woodland path made of leaves or gravel is something my ears could hear for hours on end. When you set out into the depths of an ancient forest or find yourself on the side of an ominous, foggy mountain, or relax near a huge rushing waterfall, your senses are immersed in a spectacle of sensation.

The sounds of the forest are inescapable and immersive. Early morning birds chirp and sing their songs. Mid-afternoon wind gusts cause a muted rustling of leaves. As you meander past a creek or stream, busy flowing water trickles through and around caught rocks and logs with playful splashes. Out on exposed terrain, the sound of the wind changes to a low, howling whistle, daring you to look over the edge. Tackling serious elevation alters your hearing with mild popping to equalize with every handful of meters gained or dropped. Even the trail has its own unique worn, soft thudding with each step you take.

With late afternoon, the wind dies down and sometimes the only thing heard is an eerie silence that seems to have its own sound. Night brings a different chorus of birds, creatures, and the crackling of a campfire as logs burn down to radiant, red embers. In the dark reaches away from the light of the fire, animals crunching through the brush heighten your hearing and activate your imagination.

The air is humid and damp in this stretch of forested, rocky terrain. Water drips off algae growing on a wall. Maneuvering through tight spots of towering boulders, your hands feel the coarse, cold surface of prehistoric rocks. Strategically placed chunks of solid earth dot the path in front of you acting as a bridge across a muddy stretch of thick, wet clay. As you hop from one stone to the next, one wobbles unexpectedly and your foot slides off only to be engulfed in the filthy muck. Protruding tree roots ahead on the trail are now very slippery to step on from the mud under your shoe.

Down the path a little farther, water thinly streams across large slabs of bedrock with hints of green algae. Very carefully, you shift weight onto your front foot and are shocked as it immediately slips across the slick surface. You react quickly and keep your footing, but are more careful and deliberate in your motions across the wet rock. Thankfully, you make it to dry gravel on the other side.

The altitude has gotten much higher now as you switchback across the steep, craggy landscape. The cold, piercing wind makes your eyes water as you round exposed corners. A large field of boulders with a spot of white on top is in view in the distance, but to reach it you have to cross a treacherous-looking vertical path of loose scree. You lean hard to the side to keep your weight close to the ground and concentrate as the path gives way and tumbles down beneath you as you scramble. Your heart is pounding, but you made it!

The scents of the forest are immediate and overwhelming. Fir trees abound and fill your lungs with the fresh, sweet scent of pine needles and Christmas. Pungent, almost pleasant odors fill the forest with decay of rotting wood. Blooming flowers swirl their pollen throughout the air and immerse your senses in hypnotizing ecstasy.

Is it any wonder why when some people who visit magical places like Yosemite National Park, that one of their first reactions is to have tears well up in their eyes? Overwhelm your senses with the wonder of nature and you will be rewarded with truly immersive, unforgettable magic.

Beautiful post. I love your smiley face cup. And the bird audio from Rocky Mountain is awesome. Even Groovy Cat totally perked up when heard it. Congratulations, you really managed to incorporate the senses into this post in an extremely palpable way. Very well done!

LinkedIn and 3rd parties use essential and non-essential cookies to provide, secure, analyze and improve our Services, and to show you relevant ads (including professional and job ads) on and off LinkedIn. Learn more in our Cookie Policy.

Here are some tips that do not involve buying, waiting in lines or having to call restaurant after restaurant to find a free table to reserve. Rather than striving for a night of a one-night-only gift, create meaningful memories to utilize in the future with your current or future relationships.

Sight: No new lingerie, no decorations, just your true self! Let yourself and/or your partner see the real you, fresh out of the shower, or just in your natural element. Natural does not mean messy or not groomed, it just means that you are yourself. Feel and show love for the body that makes your life on this planet possible. You might want to even take away sight all together with blindfolds, focus on everything else. In the absence of one sense, others will be heightened specially hearing. Try listening to sensational, erotic or thought provocative audios, with your significant other, share stories, fantasies, whispers of poems and more.

Taste: There is plenty to taste on Valentines Day! A partners lips is the one mostly promoted but how about a mindful experience with a choice of food or drink. Taste is closely related to our other senses specially sight and smell. Try to see how you can eat and feel through each of these senses and the involvement of mixture of them.

The smell of fresh herbs tickles the senses whether they are added to our food, blended to create fresh teas, experienced as aromatherapy, or dried and used as air fresheners. Herbs enhance all they touch. In our northern climate, we have long been able to enjoy herbs from our gardens every summer, then drying them for use in the winter. But what if we could extend our enjoyment of fresh herbs throughout the year?

Many types of herbs can be grown successfully in containers, making them more visible to us, particularly if they are planted for their beauty. Herbs are either annuals or perennials (a rare few are considered to be biennial). Annual herbs last one season and will then need to be reseeded. Examples of annual herbs include basil, cilantro/coriander, dill, German chamomile, summer savory, and parsley. Perennial herbs, however, grow year after year. Herbs that require well-drained growing media and tender herbs that need to be wintered indoors grow best in containers.

Most herbs require full sun (6-8 hours of sunlight each day) whether they are grown indoors or outdoors. In the heat of the summer, watering may need to be more frequent. Some herbs need to dry out between each watering, others like to keep a little moisture. BE SURE TO READ THE LABEL so you know the needs of the plants you are choosing. Herbs do not need much fertilizer as compared to other container plants but will benefit from periodic light fertilizing with a dilute fertilizer solution. Consider labeling your pots with their watering needs to make maintenance easy.

PINCH, PINCH, PINCH the plants to manage growth and to enjoy the flavor of the herb when it is at its best! Annual herbs can be harvested regularly, as long as you leave 4-6 inches of plant material. Perennials cannot be harvested as heavily, so remove no more than the top third of the plant or leafy tip growth. Leafy herbs should be harvested when the leaf quality is at its optimum.Have Some Fun Creating Your Herb Container!

For attractive and more versatile containers, mix annual herbs with annual flowers, or perennial herbs with perennial flowers. You can also use herbs in vegetable containers to add texture and fragrance. When mixing different herbs together to create beautiful arrangements make sure the plants are compatible regarding watering and light needs.

Tip: Container grown herbs can be grouped according how they are used. If you enjoy Italian cuisine consider combining basil, oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme in one to two containers. Group aromatic herbs such as sage, lavender, chamomile as they are not only for cooking, but also for medicinal or aromatherapy.

For tea lovers, a charming container garden filled with sweet and tasty herbs is a treat. You can enjoy the leaves and/or flowers of the herbs, combine herbs to make unique blends, or use select herbs to enhance the flavor of your favorite black, green, or white tea. Consider combining Crazy Sweet Stevia (for sweetening) with German Chamomile, Lemongrass, Spearmint, and Variegated Peppermint together in one pot. Start your Pot of Tea container in the spring. By early to mid-summer your plants will be ready to be snipped.

When you are ready to brew a cup of tea, harvest 2-3 tablespoons of fresh herbs for each cup of tea. If you have never tried Stevia, try adding just one or two fresh leaves for each cup of water. Boil the water, then pour it over the herbs in a teapot and place the cover on top. Let the tea steep for 5 to 10 minutes, then try a sip to see if you have captured the right flavor. Let the tea steep longer for a stronger flavor or go ahead and pour yourself a cup. Savor the taste of truly fresh tea from your garden!

Working out how television programmes could one day stimulate all our senses is an interesting question for researchers like myself, who are exploring the future of TV. But the bigger, more exciting challenge is how we can not only imitate what is happening on the screen, but also use smell, taste and touch in a way that's not a novelty and enhances the emotional experience of a show, just as a soundtrack does.

There's good reason to think about how the TV industry can innovate in this way. Despite the rise of online video, millions if not billions of people still watch traditional broadcast media through television sets. TV remains a powerful format for programme making and watching that follows specific restrictions and guidelines.

But more people are watching TV programmes online after their original broadcast, on other devices such as tablets and phones, are even using multiple screens to engage with more than one piece of content at once. Broadcasters need to create new ways of experiencing TV that capture the audience's full attention and immerse them in a multisensory world.

3a8082e126