Mint, Dog Parks & Weatherpeople | Calm Conversations to Quiet Your Mind

Looking for a sleep podcast to fall asleep fast, reduce anxiety, and quiet an overactive mind? This calming outdoor episode of The Insomnia Project is designed for insomnia relief, stress reduction, and gentle nighttime unwinding through slow, soothing conversation.
Marco Timpano and Nidhi Khanna record in the backyard, with soft ambient neighbourhood sounds creating a natural, low-stimulation atmosphere perfect for relaxation and bedtime listening. The conversation begins with mint—sampling different varieties and exploring their flavours—before gently drifting into discussions about dog parks and everyday outdoor experiences.
The episode also touches on weather forecasts and the qualities of a good weatherperson, adding familiar, everyday topics that help ground the listener in calm, simple thoughts. With unhurried pacing, soft-spoken storytelling, and ambient background noise, this relaxing podcast episode helps ease racing thoughts and promote restful sleep.
Whether you’re searching for a sleep podcast for insomnia, calming background noise while you work, or a gentle way to unwind at the end of the day, The Insomnia Project offers a comforting, reliable escape.

​Mint, Dog Parks & Weatherpeople
(Original aidate: June 1, 2016) 

Marco:  Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and Listen, as we have a conversation about the mundane, one thing we can promise is that our conversation will be less and fascinating so that you can feel free to just drift off. Thank you for joining us. We hope you will listen and sleep as well. Follow us on Twitter ListenAndSleep. I'm your host, Marco Timpano.

Nidhi:  And I'm, um, your co host, Nidhi Khanna.

Marco:  And Nidhi and I are recording this episode outside. So you might hear some birds chirping in the background.

Nidhi:  It's beautiful. Start of summer day, really. Evening. And so the sounds of the backyard are quite relaxing, actually.

Marco:  There you go. So. And you might hear the occasional car beep as well.

Nidhi:  This is true.

Marco:  Just enjoy it as a sort of metrodome of the episode you're about to listen to.


Marco Robbins says you can infuse different flavours of mint into your water

We are sitting here drinking water with mint in it. I have a strawberry mint in mine,

Nidhi:  and I have a ginger mint in mind. Marco. So until about five minutes ago, before I plucked the mint from your mint plant in your makeshift herb garden, I did not know that you could have different flavors of mint planted and then infuse them in your water. I mean, I've always infused my water with mint, but I never realized that you could have flavors of mint.

Marco:  Sure. I have a strawberry mint currently I'm drinking, and it's flavoring my water very nicely. I also have a ginger mint there, a mojito mint, traditional, uh, peppermint, and I believe I have a pineapple mint as well.

Nidhi:  I saw that for me, it was the choice between the pineapple mint and the ginger mint. I'm quite happy I went with the ginger mint.

Marco:  And is it flavoring your water?

Nidhi:  It is flavoring my water.

Marco:  So Nidhi mint, um, is an invasive species of plant, kind of like a weed. Did you know that?

Nidhi:  You know what? I had heard about that, that you have to be careful about planting mint because it will grow and grow and grow.

Marco:  So what we did, or what I did, I said to Amanda, I was like, I want to plant mint so we can just pluck it in our backyard and put it in our drinks, on our ice cream, in a mojito, you name it. And so I have a little planter that I planted several different varieties of mint in. And today I said to mint Nitty, I said, pick the mint you want and put it in your water, your drink, and, uh, let me know what you think. And then we started to talk about mint. And that's when I turned on the microphone.

Nidhi:  It's true. And, Marco, I have never seen mojito mint I didn't realize that there was a particular type of mint that one would use for mojito.

Marco:  Keep talking, because I'll grab you some so you can try it on there.

Nidhi:  Perfect. So I'm a big fan of the mojito. It's one of my favorite cocktails. I know that bartenders often do not enjoy making mojitos because of the amount

Marco:  of time, the labor that's involved.

>> Speaker F: Right?

Nidhi:  Yes. So you've plucked some mojito mint for me, and we'll, um, take a picture of this and put it on our Twitter.

Marco:  Sure. Take a little sniff and a bite and see what you think of.

Nidhi:  Smells different. Yes, you're right.

Marco:  I feel like it's a little bit less, um, intense than a peppermint, uh, or a spearmint. I think that. I think it might be a little bit less. Well, we won't take a picture of this because now we've just sort of mashed it up so we're sampling it. Yeah. It has a really nice, sort of subtle mint flavor. It's not as brash, let's say.

Nidhi:  Yes, you're right. So if you were having it, let's. Some rum and ice cubes and some soda. It would be enough that it would infuse the drink. But it. You're right. It's not like a spearmint or a peppermint that would overtake the drink completely.

Marco:  Right, right. And there. And there you have it. Um, you might hear the hum of my neighbor's, uh, air conditioner in the background. So it's a perfect day to have mojitos, I think. Well, at the end of this episode, I'll fire up some mojitos, and we'll actually use some of the mint.

Nidhi:  That would be great.

Marco:  Um, yeah, but mint is a sort of medicinal plant. It's been used that way for centuries. Great for digestion, often found in different sort of cough, uh, uh, syrups and, uh, candies and whatnot. Uh, certainly something that helps relax your tummy. If you've ever had a mint tea, mint chamomile together is also a great sort of tea, um, to help you. Help you fall asleep or at least get you relaxed.

Nidhi:  Marco, when I was a kid, we used to go to Baskin Robbins.

Marco:  Okay.

Nidhi:  The ice cream parlor.

Marco:  Sure.

Nidhi:  And my favorite Baskin Robbins flavor used to be mint chocolate chip.

Marco:  Oh, I love mint chocolate chip. Sure.

Nidhi:  There was something about this, their mint chocolate chip, though, that I just loved. And so now when I have mint chocolate chip ice cream, I still enjoy my mint chocolate Chip ice cream, regardless of whether or not it's from Baskin Robbins.

Marco:  Sure.

Nidhi:  I feel like if I don't have green ice cream, that there's something missing. So often what will happen now is that the ice cream will be white and there'll be mint flavor.

Marco:  Right, Right.

Nidhi:  But it's not green. Now you handed me the pineapple.

Marco:  That's right. I just plucked a little bit of the pineapple mint.

Nidhi:  Now, this smells. Just smelling it, I'm gonna sort of do like you would with a wine.

Marco:  Sure. I love it.

Nidhi:  Sniff it first.

Marco:  Mint. Mint. Talk with Nidhikana here, honey.


Nidhi has planted a mint garden, and so far it looks healthy

Um, pot. Um, one thing we can describe is that it has, like, a little bit of, uh, the outer leaf.

Nidhi:  It's, like, yellowish.

Marco:  It has a little bit sort of a yellowy tinge to it.

Nidhi:  I wonder how they made this.

Marco:  It's probably just breeding different, uh, strands of mint until they get a, uh, similar flavor to pineapple. So it's a bit of a subtle flavor.

Nidhi:  Yes, but you can definitely taste the pineapple component. So, um. But look at you with your cross breeding of plants knowledge.

Marco:  Listen, Nidhi, I just plant the mint, and I allow people to enjoy the fruits of my planting. The other thing about mint is that it needs to be, um, the soil needs to be wet or, like, it needs to have a moist soil. So you don't want your mint to dry out. So thus far, I've been watering it every night when it's been pretty dry. So. And you can see it looks very healthy. And you know what's funny, N is when I bought the mint, I had it in the bag for a while. So when I brought it home, it was all limp and kind of, like, didn't look good at all. I'm like, oh, no. I haven't even planted the mint. And it looks proven, like, it's not going to survive, but now it's like. Like the weed that it's supposed to be. Hopefully it'll flourish. Yeah.

Nidhi:  And so when did you plant your mint garden? Like, how many days?

Marco:  It was maybe. Maybe, uh, six days ago.

Nidhi:  Oh, wow.

Marco:  Yeah.

Marco:  Yeah.

Marco:  So, yeah, it's pretty impressive.

Nidhi:  I think we need to take a picture of the mint garden as a whole.

Marco:  Take a photo of the mint garden, and, uh, then you can see as it progresses, maybe later in the year, we'll. We'll take another one.


Marco says foot falls asleep because you've cut off circulation

Nidhi:  So, Marco, you could see that I was just moving my leg because my foot was asleep. Oh, now I hear that when your foot is asleep, because the blood is rushing downward.

Marco:  Uh, I think And I'm no doctor, and I'm no foot doctor and I'm certainly not a foot falling asleep doctor. But I believe it's because you've cut the circulation to that part of your body. So you know how your foot or sometimes your hand or arm will fall asleep. Oftentimes it's because you're sort of leaning on say your wrist or you, you're cross legged and somehow you've cut the circulation to that part of the body. And so when you remove the pressure, pressure that's cutting off the circulation. And all of a sudden there's a bit of a blood flow. You get that sort of pin and needles feeling. Is that what you're feeling right now?

Nidhi:  But now it's, it's going, it's subsiding.

Marco:  It's interesting, these sort of like reactions the body has to certain things, like the cutting off of, uh, circulation or like, I've never had my ears pierced. You've had your ears pierced and, uh, you know the sensation you get, I guess, when you do that.

Nidhi:  I guess so. I had never really thought about it. I had my ears pierced when I was a baby.

Marco:  Oh, when you were a baby. Oh, so you don't remember?

Nidhi:  I don't remember it. I don't remember it at all. But do you have tattoos?

Marco:  No, I don't have a tattoo.

Nidhi:  I don't have a tattoo either.

Marco:  I was talking to someone about tattoos and the different sort of styles of tattoos and what I like the sort of classic, sort of American classic tattoos or the sailor tattoos, uh, those kind of more sort of iconographic tattoos, not the sort of more modern day ones.

Nidhi:  No butterflies for you?

Marco:  I don't think I'd pick a butterfly, uh, because it has no particular significance to me. Uh, but that said, I think I just, I just prefer the tattoos that look more, let's say cartoony or classic tattoo Y versus like the very modern tattoos or the tribal tattoos. So, um, definitely, you know, if you're gonna get a tattoo, make sure you research who, who is the tattoo artist you want see their work and be clear.

Nidhi:  And if you're going to get something tattooed in a different language, make sure that you've translated it.

Marco:  Yeah, I've seen a lot of sort of like, you know, on Facebook they'll put up various tattoos that have been translated and the mistranslations of the tattoos and different sort of interesting fonts and writing styles.


Niddy was on the Sunday Evening news with his dog Xena

Now, Niddy, uh, you were on the news this week, weren't you?

Nidhi:  I was, Marco. I was on the Sunday Evening news with my dog.

Marco:  Actually, we've never mentioned your dog.

Nidhi:  No, we haven't.

Marco:  First shout out to Xena.

Nidhi:  Yes, Xena.

Marco:  What type of dog is she?

Nidhi:  She's a Boston terrier.

Marco:  Oh, very nice.

Nidhi:  She's definitely my warrior princess.

Marco:  Okay.

Nidhi:  Um, and I took her to a dog festival on Sunday.

Marco:  Great.

Nidhi:  Where there were thousands of dogs and it was a hot day.

Marco:  Right.

Nidhi:  And so it was a hot day. So she, um. So everywhere in this, uh, on the festival grounds they had water and they had a uh, little bit of cooling stations for the dogs. And they had this one mist station where they had a bunch of hoses and water was coming out of the hoses like mist. And so the dogs could just kind of go through the mist and cool down. And Xena, who refuses to even take a bath without throwing it. Dog tail tantrum.

Marco:  Right.

Nidhi:  Loved this mist.

Marco:  Well, I mean.

Nidhi:  And so she started to. She just sat down in the mist essentially. And there uh, happened to be a reporter there who loved it and just started filming her and then gave me a couple of sentences to say on air or I said a couple of sentences on air. Really. Um, and then that evening she was on the news and of course all my friends and family were so impressed that she was on the news. The fact that I was on the news. No, no comparison.

Marco:  Sure, sure. Um, it's amazing. I remember when we were watching some, oh, some kids program, I can't remember and. And my nephew's cat, they took a photo of the cat and they put it on a little train with all other photos of different animals that kids had and they brought. And the little toy train would go on the track and they would mention all the animals and we taped it and we were really excited to hear. Oh, I, uh, wish I remember the cat's name now. Like Snowy. Snowy's name being. It's. I know it's not Snowy. I'll get some grief for that. But uh. And on the tracks we have Snowy from Halifax. So it was quite. I don't know what it is. Sometimes you're more impressed by seeing your non talking friends on the television. What was the sentence you said?

Nidhi:  Oh, he asked me about, um, coming to Woofstock, which was the festival, and how hot it was outside. And so I think he was. Was the weather guy. Okay, well, so that makes sense now.

Marco:  Um, what do you look for in a weather person on air?

Nidhi:  Oh, that's a good question.

Marco:  A lot of weather people, you know, they can be very fun and frolicky and like good time Weather people. Or there's the more serious weather people.

Nidhi:  Do you mean the weather person or the meteorologist?

Marco:  You know, see, that's a really good question. I mean, most weather people. Aren't they meteorologists?

Nidhi:  I don't think so.

Marco:  Oh, wow.

Nidhi:  I think you have to go to school and study the science of the weather.

Marco:  Some weather people are a bit wacky and I'm not a big fan of that. I want my weather given to me straight.

Nidhi:  Oh, really?

Marco:  Just like my vodka. Just give it to me straight up. No, I just like. I just like to know the weather. I don't need a song and dance and I. And a festival of lights and you, uh, know, like a crazy sort of like look at me and my. The outfit, you know, that's not my thing. That's not my thing. Yeah,

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Nate likes straightforward weather statements. I like my weather just to be straightforward

Nidhi:  Um, so you would prefer a more serious weather statement?

Marco:  I think so. I want to know tomorrow. Tomorrow's gonna rain. The next day is gonna be sunny. Get out your galoshes. Whatever I need to know, give it to me in the weather. And don't give me like, it's not

Nidhi:  about, um, you know, this weekend you're gonna have splish splash fun.

Marco:  No, don't give me that. I'll determine my splish splash fun or my lack thereof.

Nidhi:  Uh, okay, fair enough.

Marco:  How about you, Nate?

Nidhi:  Um, I think I like. Yeah, no, you're right. I like my weather just to be straightforward. Um, sure. Because I just want to know what I should be picking to wear essentially that day. Um, I do enjoy sometimes the good news stories around weather.

Marco:  Yeah, that's fine. I like that.

Nidhi:  Like, you know, also I, I do enjoy like oddly enough, not enjoy the right word, but appreciate. Appreciate. Or I'm um, fascinated by like hurricanes or these weather systems that come in

Marco:  and are able to wreak havoc or.

Nidhi:  Yeah, like I'm fascinated. I think fascinated is the right word. Um, and so I will stick to the TV on those things too.

Marco:  Right.


Marco says Toronto is a very dog friendly city compared to Montreal

Now, your dog, do you take your dog Xena to dog parks, Marco?

Nidhi:  I do take her to dog parks, mostly because she doesn't walk otherwise.

Marco:  Okay.

Nidhi:  She's not a dog that's gonna walk on a leash.

Marco:  Right.

Nidhi:  So she likes to roam free.

Marco:  I see. And so what makes a good dog park? Like what do you look forward? Like what do you look for in a dog park? And what would be a dog park that you'd be like, I'm not coming back here.

Nidhi:  So for me in Toronto, uh, what I love about the dog, um, parks here is that they are really dog trails. So it's funny because a lot of people say Toronto isn't a very dog friendly city, but in comparison to Montreal, I find it a very dog friendly city.

Marco:  Okay.

Nidhi:  And find that there's these beautiful off leash trails that you can feel like you're going hiking or um.

Marco:  Right.

Nidhi:  Or that you are, um, kind of somewhere outside of Toronto.

Marco:  Okay.

Nidhi:  Um, and it's great because the dogs feel like they are going to, they're just in the country really. Um, versus your traditional dog park that has more of a fenced in scenario. Um, and where it's just sort of like a pen, like a playpen for dogs running free. So I like dog parks where there's something for the dog to do where you can go for a walk, um, rather than watching them kind of play fetch all together. Although I do enjoy the traditional dog park when it comes to allowing dogs to play together.

Marco:  Right.

Nidhi:  Because it gives them an opportunity to kind of have some playground fun.

Marco:  Um, I love seeing the different sized dogs in a dog park just frolicking and enjoying themselves and rolling around and chasing one another and chasing a ball and coming to and fro to their owner and just rolling in the dirt or jumping like you see dogs in such a happy sort of uh, state. Especially when they're, when they're interacting with both other people besides their, their owners or their masters, whichever you prefer. And um, other species of dogs. I just think it's one of the most charming sort of things that one can enjoy because I don't have a dog, but I certainly can appreciate seeing the dog. And we'll have to put a picture of Xena up ah.

Marco:  On our Twitter.

Marco:  And they're.

Marco:  They're on perfect cue. You can hear some dogs having fun.

Nidhi:  It's true. It's like new.


Would you ever want to get a dog? I think I would

We were talking about dogs.

Marco:  It's almost like, cue the dogs. And there they go.

Nidhi:  So you've never had a dog?

Marco:  Oh, my folks have had dogs, yeah. So we consider them our dogs.

Nidhi:  But, um, would you ever want to get one?

Marco:  I think I would. I just want to make sure that I have the time to spend with the dog that I'm not, uh, in like, you know, I want to make sure that if I should get a dog that I would be able to really love and take care of that dog and be able to take it for walks and I have the time for it. So at this point, no dog. But who knows what the future will hold with regards to that. I used to have a lot of fish. I used to have aquariums. Uh, uh, when I was younger, I think we discussed, uh, me wanting to be a fisherman and then a oceanographer. Uh, but I had my pet as a child was often fish.

Nidhi:  I remember you talking about this a couple of episodes ago.

Marco:  And there's quite a bit of upkeep when you have aquariums, Nidhi. I don't know if you're familiar, if you're aware of that.

Nidhi:  I'm not. No.

Marco:  You know, there's.

Nidhi:  Tell me more.

Marco:  There's like, you know, algae will start, um, to adhere to the side of the tank. And so you have to use different, um, methods to remove it. Um, there are like, different types of liquid you can put in the tank to help reduce algae or you. At one point I had a. Almost like a blade that would scrape the inside of the glass that would remove the algae. You can get different fish that like to feed off the algae. And then there's a pump and a filter filtration system that you can have with different types of, um, charcoal.


So what was the biggest mistake you ever made with the aquarium

Nidhi:  So what was the biggest mistake you ever made with the aquarium? Whether. Whether it was cleaning the aquarium and resulting in. In something or, um, buying the wrong type of algae. I don't know.

Marco:  Well, I never bought algae. I'd buy maybe some seaweed or whatnot. No, it's all right. Um, but I guess the biggest mistakes were ensuring that the species of fish you had in the tank were compatible.

Nidhi:  So they wouldn't eat each other.

Marco:  Exactly.

Marco:  So oftentimes I'd buy Fish and I would put them in the tank with other fish and then a couple days later one would, would be bitten and then eaten. Yeah, so that would happen sometimes and then. So that was never pleasant.

Nidhi:  No.

Marco:  Some, um, fish would jump. So when you're cleaning the tank, they would sort of jump their way out of the tank. So you'd be like, where's what? And then you see the fish on the floor and you'd have to scoop them back up and put them into the tank. So that was always a challenge. But, um, more often than not I was pretty educated with what to do with tanks. So I would ask the people in the stores or I would read up on it. And so I always had really lovely aquariums that had fish that really kind of thrived. And just watching like, in particular, I, I grew to really like angelfish and watching them because they're kind of slow movers and they have sort of an elegant sort of way about them and they sort of glide in the water and they're very majestic. Uh, as I got older versus, you know, the fun looking or brightly colored wacky fish that I would enjoy more as a kid. But they wouldn't last as long.

Nidhi:  Right.

Marco:  They were small and sometimes they get sucked into the filter too. So. Yeah, so no, I think, I think an aquarium is a very dangerous place for certain fish in particular. If, you know, seven year old. The master of your fate. Right.

Nidhi:  Well, so when you watched the movie Finding Nemo.

Marco:  Yes.

Nidhi:  Did you think, hey, was this like what my fish were like? Oh, you know, that aquarium?

Marco:  No. You know why I didn't think that? Because those were saltwater, um, fish.

Nidhi:  Oh.

Marco:  And so they're. To have a saltwater aquarium requires a great deal of knowledge, upkeep and it's, it's quite expensive. So I always had freshwater fish.

Nidhi:  Okay.

Marco:  And I've always dreamed of having a saltwater aquarium, but I was always discouraged. Every time I would be like, okay, I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it. I was discouraged by people saying, oh, you know, it's so expensive, expensive and it's so precarious and you have to be on it every day and whatnot. So I was always sort of frightened away from, from salt water aquariums and tanks. So I think the future will have me exploring that. I, I would want to be very careful that I'm not using or I'm not purchasing fish that are like, you know, endangered or precarious or not caught in the proper sort of way. And I would want to make sure that my. My tank was ecologically friendly and whatnot. And so there's all those things as well with regards to aquarium upkeep. But, you know, I love going to say a doctor or dentist's office, and they have those big aquariums. I know that there's a movie theater that has this huge aquarium with all these beautiful, beautiful fish. And just watching the different shrimp and whatnot bounce about. I could just.

Nidhi:  Of course, there's the Ripley's aquarium.

Marco:  I have yet to be there.

Nidhi:  You have gone knock on.

Marco:  They never responded to our sort of shout out to them. So until they do, I shall not.

Nidhi:  Okay.

Marco:  Venture in there in protest. In silent protest. No, I do want to go to the. I hear it's absolutely gorgeous.

Nidhi:  It is. But I can see, um, for some reason, I can see you with a large salt water aquarium behind you, and I can see you be some sort of Bond villain with it. I don't know why I associate saltwater aquariums with a villain or Bond villain.

Marco:  Well, for the longest time, like, you know, they would have sharks in these aquariums, and that's how they get rid of the bad guys. But, you know, it's funny because I have a real love, uh, for sharks in particular, because they're so, um, their plight is so precarious right now with the sort of thinning of sharks and whatnot. So I have a real love for sharks. You know, for the longest time, thanks to movies like Jaws, people were so afraid of sharks and afraid of getting into the water. But in actuality, you know, you. You're much more likely to be, like, hit by a car when you cross the street than bitten by a shark. And they really are important animals in the oceans, and they are beautiful to look at. They're really quite a stunning, beautiful, um, animal that really kind of glides and, and is the master of the ocean. And if we took more of a respectful sort of look at sharks, I think, and, you know, give them the respect that they deserve and the esteem that they deserve, I think, um, their plight would be much better. So I say try to change your perception on sharks if you're afraid of them and try to find your inner love for one of those majestic creatures like the shark.


This episode of Insomnia Project was recorded in my backyard in Toronto

Nidhi:  Well, and with that, Marco, we're going to wrap up this episode of the Insomnia Project.

Marco:  This is our first that we've recorded outside, so we hope you enjoyed the sounds of my neighborhood here.

Nidhi:  There was quite a tapestry of sound behind us, so there's quite an arc of sounds, but um, thank you all for listening, and we, as always, are, uh, happy to hear from you on Twitter. Isttenandsleep.

Marco:  As always. We're produced by drumcast Productions, and today's episode was recorded in my backyard in Toronto. SA m.