These tangy Strawberry Yogourt Smoothie Pops bring back memories of the hot summer days of childhood back when they called me Fuzzball, as well as the summer of 2015 when frizz reigned again. We’re in the hot summer days of late June now, and this recipe is a great nod to Strawberry Month here at Urban Cottage Life.
Back in the Day …
Fuzzball. That’s what they called me for a time back in elementary school.
My mother did my hair for me in the morning, brushing it, then pulling the front back and securing it with a barrette. I remember how tight it felt — Mom never did anything by half measures — and I’m sure my eyebrows were a half inch above their normal position when I left for school. As the day went on, especially in the latter part of the school year when summer weather taunted us through the windows of the hot and stuffy classroom, my hair would start to escape its bonds. Before long, I’d have a halo of frizz. And since kids are masters at seizing on just the right nicknames to magnify quirks or embarrassing characteristics, Fuzzball I became.
Strawberry Yogourt Smoothie Pops & the Return of Fuzzball
Fast-forwarding to my fifties, that frizz is back. In fact, this is the frizziest my hair has ever been, like a dandelion on steroids going to seed. And you could say that my mother is behind this fuzzball renaissance.
Mom died last year in June, after being diagnosed with cancer ten months earlier. Afterwards my brother and I had two scant months to complete the daunting task of clearing out her house and disposing of our parents’ possessions. It was hard, hot work and I spent much of the summer away from my home and family. By the end of that long, difficult year I was physically and emotionally ground down. Exhausted. Raw.
And then it happened.
My hair started falling out. The long hair that had taken me years to grow. It entangled my fingers in the shower and clogged drains. Combs and brushes were filled with it. Blonde strands clung to my clothing, and the house looked like a shaggy Golden Retriever was in residence. My naturopath diagnosed my hair loss as stress related. With her help I was able to turn the situation around, and I’m thankful that the hair I lost is growing back.
Now that it’s summer again, and my hair is in a ponytail most of the time, I have frizz the likes of which I’ve never experienced before. All that new hair, thick in some places, is still short enough to stick up and out and sideways, and long enough to look outlandish. Sometimes I feel like an overgrown eight-year-old.
I don’t like the way it looks, but I like what it stands for: a return to normal life, acceptance and peace.
So this summer, when the weather is hot and muggy, you may find me sitting on the veranda of the urban cottage eating one of these tangy strawberry yogourt smoothie pops for relief from the heat. With my frozen treat dripping and my nimbus of hair glowing in the summer sun, I’ll be feeling like a kid again.
Fuzzball has returned.
- 2 cups small to medium whole strawberries
- 1 cup plain Greek yogourt
- juice of half a lime
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
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Place all the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Taste and adjust the sweetness level if needed. Pour the mixture into frozen treat moulds and freeze until set. (I filled a set of 6 popsicle moulds and had enough left over for a small smoothie to reward me for my efforts.)
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Enjoy on a hot day and feel like a kid again.
First Published 2015 07 22
Republished 2020 06 26
Marlene – I don’t remember your hair being any fuzzier than mine. With my Diabetes drugs, etc, my hair is now getting straighter – only where I don’t want it to be i.e. on top where I could use the height. If we didn’t have these little stressors, the big ones would be unbearable. Thanks for the recipe and stay cool (literally and figuratively) Nancy Anne
Your sentence “if we didn’t have these little stressors, the big ones would be unbearable” struck me as profound. Thank you for sharing that. Hair … how many of us want something different from what we have?! Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
glad your hair is on the mend and your yogurt pops sounds delicious…:3
I’m glad too, Suzanne. I have one more of those pops in the freezer, but I’m saving it for Little Miss E. Time to make another batch!
Those look delicious. Because of the cool temps our local strawberries are at least two weeks late. 🙁
On the other hand, my hair tends to be much less frizzy! 🙂
In recent years I’ve been spending a couple of weeks at a time at the lake, and by the end of that my hair is much ‘bigger.’ I don’t mind actually; it’s a new look for a while 😊
I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your mother and I can understand that in the aftermath your body reacted to the stress. My hair started falling out a few years ago and that made me very worried. It turned out to be because of an undiagnosed thyroid condition. I have dead-straight hair and when I was at school I always envied anyone with a little fuzz xx
Thank you, Charlie. I appreciate your kind words. When it comes to hair, so many of us wish we had something different than what we have, wouldn’t you agree? You know how stressful it can be when our hair starts falling out … I was worried I was going to have bare patches, although it just became thinner. Luckily for me the cause of mine was not an underlying health issue, but the reaction to a stressful period of life, and I was able to turn it around. I guess the good thing in your case is that your hair alerted you to a thyroid issue so you could address it. It’s so important to pay attention to what our bodies are trying to tell us!
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