Weather is right for Just Being.July of 2016

Today, for some reason, time is sort of standing still.  There is nothing on my agenda to be done.  It seems all has already been done.  Those things that are left to be done are outside chores and in 90 degree weather, it's not possible.  I have been getting up at 7:00 am each morning and doing yard chores for a couple hours.  Then, it's get inside to AC!  The temperatures have been in the 90s for many days now.  I guess the global warming believers group is growing by leaps and bounds this summer since it appears to be hotter everywhere!  I suppose in part my discomfort is due to my elder years.  But whatever it is, I'm tired of the heat.
Fortunately, Frank and I are going to Vermont soon - August 5 we leave for a two-week trip.  Surely it will be cooler there?  At least by ten degrees.  In the meantime, I'll stick with doing a lot of nothing important and just be.

Return to Blogging - Tomatoes

It's been a while,  but blogging isn't something to do under pressure or necessarily regularly.  So, just this afternoon I am once again moved to write, after months of doing other things that seemed more relevant. Tomatoes are on my mind.  We have 5 tomato plants that are producing a true challenge  in an attempt to not waste a single one.  Tonight, it's scalloped tomatoes (from my 50-year-old BH&G cookbook).  Last night it was tomato salsa (recipe from the Internet) and both are real winners.  We are eating the salsa on our lunchtime ham and cheese sandwiches.  Tomorrow, I'm shooting for gazpacho.  Found MANY recipes on line once I remembered its name.  Had to start with "cold tomato soup."  It is true, there is something uplifting to be felt in growing, preparing, and eating veggies from one's own garden.  It is true, I do not like to cook.  But I am certainly enjoying this experimenting.  It is also true that I am not an experienced gardener.  May never again grow a tomato, but this time it is fun - regardless of the knowledge that each tomato has cost much more money, time, effort, thought, and all that kind of thing than those I buy at Food Lion.  But who cares about money?  Only those who don't have enough.  And I certainly have enough.  I guess the real question is "What is enough money?"

Family Reunion June 18, 2016

I just realized I said I would post here

The Yogatorium

information about the family reunion coming up June 18.  And, I haven't written a post since mid March!   I am still alive and well but managing to find more urgent things to do than writing posts.  For example, I am studying French and it is taking up all of my fun time - well, not all, but a lot.   My niece, Kate, is accompanying me to Provence for a two-week yoga trip!  We leave May 14 and return the 30th.  Fortunately, my partner, Frank, spent some time in Europe and is very helpful in my pronunciation difficulties.  Not that I'm any good at it, but at least he helps by conversing with me.  Of course, Google Translate is a key tool.  What a joy to be able to simply type in a word and get the French to look at and HEAR both on my MacPro and on my smart phone.

This note is really a plea to all the family who might see it - please send me names and email addresses of ALL your family members.  At the moment, I have most of my own family in a group email mailing, but only one or two from other families.  As you know, there are seven:  Annie Laurie, Harold, Helen, Lois, Louise, Margaret, and Voight.  I discovered a listing I did 14 years ago for the last reunion and realized there are many names of children and grandchildren which I could not possibly have come up with.  I'll be happy to make up a list for everyone but I'd like it to be as complete as possible.  Be sure to include those who have passed on and, dates, if possible.

And, of course, let me know whether or not you will be attending our celebration June 18.

"Beside the sea...."

WHEE!  I am sitting on the third floor of the Harbor Town Yacht Club in a lovely suite with its own balcony looking out over Calibogue Sound.  How fortunate I am to have a brother who lives right across the harbor and provides such wonderful hosting whenever I am here.  This weekend will be especially special since friends Harriet and Ed and their family are here on a winter break vacation from Albany, NY.  The temperature this morning is 69 - a beautiful day is beginning - even shorts weather!  Harriet and I have traveled together several times and our families have been friends for over fifty years.  What a joy!  Last evening Jim and Anne took me and Frank to the Quarter Deck here right beside the lighthouse.  I somehow or another had never eaten there before and, of course, the food was very good.  Like Atlanta, it is difficult to eat in any restaurant that doesn't serve very good food - a real treat for a Ninety Six resident!....but the most important benefit is the atmosphere, the energy of being "beside the sea."....As a child, my favorite poem began, "When I was down beside the sea, a wooden spade they gave to me, to dig the sandy shore."  I've forgotten the rest.

Yoga Benefits

I am beginning a new book: Threads of Yoga.  Thanks to my niece, Kate.  It is a whole new take on Patanjali's sutras.   Here are a few words that caught my attention - particularly the last few words:  "it does not lie."
The legacy of yoga has been resurrected in our time through the innate pleasure of our flesh.  The simplest techniques of breathing, spinal elongation, and joint fluidity have given countless flesh-alienated postmoderns a renewed sense of vitality, purpose, grounding, and connection........Through modern postural yoga we have remembered that our flesh innately wants to rejoice, connect, and serve--and that it does not lie.
In my experience, these words are fact - vitality, purpose, grounding, and connection.  Yes, these are benefits of practicing Hatha yoga, as we teach at The Yogatorium.

Valentine Rose

Still trying to learn how to use my upgraded laptop!   Here's a photo of Frank planting his Valentine's gift to me - a Mr. Lincoln tea rose bush!

South Texas Winter Break

Laguna Madre, South Texas

Finally I have my computer back and working - BUT still there are new learnings to take place with the upgrade.  So, I will resume my weekly trips to the Apple store in Greenville for tutoring.....The trip to South Padre Island was exactly what we needed.  Weather cooperated.  Friends were delightfully hospitable - true Texas welcomes everywhere we went.  The condo was very close to the beach, nicely decorated, and had a balcony which we were on much of the time simply enjoying the sunshine and the ocean and all that goes with those two.  Walks on the beach.  Meals out with friends that included home-cooked tacos, beans and rice by Linda; barbecue; lobster; and more.  The biggest surprise was Padre Island itself. Reminded me a bit of the Outer Banks of NC.  Long, narrow island with the spectacular Laguna Madre on the west side (photo) and the Gulf of Mexico on the east.  Bird watching was spectacular - particularly at the home ranch of Mira and Neal - beautiful peacocks, guineas, and several local birds whose names I don't recall, but the beautiful colors I do.  Of course, one leaves Texas with the feeling of wide open spaces everywhere you look both on land and water.

Fix your eyes not on the seen…

My morning reading in "Jesus Calling" was a thoughtful awakening:  Fix your eyes not on the seen but on the unseen.  I glanced up from my book and looked out over the Pond to see a quiet, total, stillness and "saw" the fish beneath the Pond surface.  A few seconds later the surface of the Pond became a total swirl of movement seen but also, the unseen wind,  where I fixed my eyes.  A small shift in my eyes over to the trees and more wind movement.  Today I will come back to this - fixing my eyes on the unseen.

A Cloudy Day Walk

Walking again for the first time in many months with absolutely no excuse except laziness.  I started by walking the labyrinth and then a short walk down the road and back.  Wished I'd taken a plastic bag - saw at least 6 beer cans on the side of the road in just a couple hundred yards.  Next walk I'll take a bag and my pick-up stick to get as much as I can without scrambling down in the wet ditches.  It is truly amazing to me that my neighbors are not thinking of Mother Earth or me when they dump their beer cans beside the road.  All I can do is justify it by assuming they don't want someone at home to know they have been drinking a beer…….How do we justify such inconsiderate acts?  Perhaps the only answer is charging fines but I daresay few ever receive fines…..Anyway, getting back to walking daily is my goal right now - at least as long as the weather is agreeable.  That means 50 degrees or above for me.  I'll share the glory of the cloudy day view from the other side of The Pond where lies the labyrinth.

Snow morning

Well, we've had our first snow.  It almost covered the ground but now, at 2 pm the sun is out!  Just the way I love our snows - although I wish it had been a bit deeper so that the whole area had been white.  Spending the day reading "Zealot"  in preparation for our spiritual growth group meeting the end of next month.  Frank and I will be leaving on February 4 for South Padre Island, TX and visits with several of his friends who live in the area.  The two weeks away will be a wonderful winter break for us.  If we are to have an ice storm, I hope it is while we are away!  Last year it was - we were in Costa Rica with Susan Bentley when the power outage occurred.  Fortunately Tobias was here and handled the buildings.  This year, we will rely on Eric, our new tenant in the Cabin.  He has offered to help and I'm sure we will find ways to take him up on that.

The Yogatorium Community

Wonders never cease.  Sarah left on the 10th, and here, seven days later….. I have a new tenant in the Cabin!  Eric is the son of one of my dear yoga students.   It is amazing to me what a beautiful community of people has developed over the past nine years.  It seems that all I have to do is express a desire and it comes to fruition through this yoga community of friends!   What can I say but thank you, thank you, thank you!  Thirteen thankyous! And, thanks be to the Universe….

Your Karma is Your Dharma

Just so you don't forget, I do sometimes actually read spiritual writings related to yoga.  Recently I've been working on expanding my understanding of karma and dharma with Ram Dass's Polishiing the Mirror.  Here's a poem he quoted from Tagore I find worth repeating:
I slept and dreamt that life was joy
I awoke and saw that life was service
I acted and behold, service was joy.
The title of this section is also worth repeating:   Your karma is your dharma.
Namaste.

Reconnecting

I'm sure by now many of you have decided I'm not ever gonna write again - but I am.  Today has been a really fun one winterizing the cottage.  Each year I put up clear plastic over the inside of all the windows with a double-sided tape and today was the beginning.  Got the living area and bathroom but no bedrooms yet - that's for tomorrow…….  The ducks seem to be visiting but not staying long each time.  Two or three days we didn't see them at all, but a short visit today.  The shotgun blasts apparently scared them off for a while at least.  Now when Frank walks outside and they see him, they take off….Reading a daily reading from a very inspirational book Joanne Burkett gave to me - Jesus Calling.  I recommend it for those of us who are trying to get a closer connection to Jesus….Also into Ram Dass's Polishing the Mirror, a good collection of some of his best ideas, in my opinion.  A very readable book.  Much more so than Be Here Now. ….In general, I'm thoroughly enjoying the calm of the winter months - at least for now - even enjoying managing to stay warm and relatively upbeat in spite of cloudy days… How can I complain when I had three lovely December days of sunning in the hammock for more than an hour!