Day 330 June 30, 2011

Jen and Tai

It's hard to remember your own early childhood.  I have one memory from my own early childhood of being at the breakfast table and staring at the plate of french toast before me.  My nanny reached over my shoulders and cut my bread up for me.  She was so quick and efficient.  She made it easy for me.  I was a bit slow and was lost in admiration for all that eggy looking bread, soft butter and maple syrup.  My nanny just wanted me to hurry up and eat.

I also remember loving to play outdoors, even in the winter.  I'd come home and peel off my snowsuit in the basement and be amazed to discover that the suit was completely drenched with water.  All that sledding and playing in the deep snow had soaked me right through.  I'd been oblivious to everything except how much fun I was having in the snow.

The innocent moments from our early childhood were filled with the joys of play.  What is your favourite childhood memory?

Day 329 June 29, 2011

Anne and Francine

In summer we seem to travel more.  Travelling can be lots of fun.  It can also make you appreciate your own home.

In my family there are four weddings this summer.  Four.  The first was in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The second is on an island in Maine.  The third is in Syracuse, NY.  The fourth is in Nova Scotia, and my youngest daughter is the bride.  There is also a family reunion this summer, just like every other year for the last 39 years.  This year it is in Vermont.   There is another family wedding in Washington, DC in March of next year.  At this point you probably are saying to yourself, wow that is one crazy family.

Okay, I agree.  We are just a little bit crazy, but it's a good kind of crazy.  What is your family like?

Day 328 June 28, 2011

Today was a gorgeous summer day.  It hit 83 degrees.  Finally.  That is what so many people in Nova Scotia say when we discuss a day like today.  We've paid our dues and feel so overdue for some summer weather.  It's been a very wet and gray spring.

That is in the past now.  Today is today.  Warm, sunny, still.  Farmers are baling hay as fast as possible and removing it from the fields in our neighborhood.  What's happening in your neighborhood today?

David and I spent the day in the city, finishing the move out of his large yoga studio; well, we're almost finished.  Maybe 15% left to move out and 80% more to do in the new space.  Busy busy bees.

Good luck to you all in your busy bee pursuits today.

Day 327 June 27, 2011

Today it turned beautifully sunny right around supper time.  The sun came out and so did the mosquitos.  I didn't miss the bugs on my morning walk with the dogs to the river.  It was too cool for them that early in the day.  Supper was special tonight because I shared it with a great friend.  Charlotte and I parked ourselves on chairs in the backyard and gazed out on the farmer's fields across the distance.  A riot of green greeted our gazes.

And how was your day today my friends?

Day 326 June 326, 2011

So what do you do the day after the last yoga classes are taught in a yoga studio?  Get up early the next day and start to move into the new to you studio, with the volunteer help of your yoga students.

Ten keen students volunteered to help David and I move a lot of the yoga props today, including two rope walls.  We dismantled shelving, folded blankets, packed artwork, removed curtains, emptied closets, and erected a new free standing wall in the new studio.  At one moment there was a yoga fleet of  vehicles loaded curbside packed to the gills.

It was a tiring and exciting day.  So much got done it was very rewarding.  A big thank you is what is needed after a day like today, a thank you to all the volunteers around the globe that help keep our planet going.

namaste.

Day 325 June 25, 2011

Forty days left to blog.  Daily.

A day.  A day in my life.  All those days do run together sometimes.  They blur.  But it helps when you have made a decision to do something every single day.  Something important.

I'm not saying it is easy every day to blog.  It certainly isn't.  There are days when it is lovely beyond compare to just write.  There are days when it helps me accept difficult parts of life.  Hopefully, there are days when I help someone else in some way.

That is one of the reasons, certainly, for why we are here on the planet, to help each other.  I'm sure of that.  And if we share our stories with each other, sometimes just to listen is helpful in itself.  Forget that you may not know what to really say to someone who is in need.  Just listen.  For I have learned over the years from being a teacher that the very act of listening to someone helps them.  That is how important our fellow humans are to us.  It soothes us just to tell our stories and be heard.  We share our experiences, so that we do not feel completely alone.  The support we give each other is much needed.

Share your story.  And listen.

Day 324 June 24, 2011

white sculpture clay tiles, glaze and stain

One of the best parts of my day today was working on a painting.  My yoga practice also felt so good.  I was glad to have the time to work on a few things I am trying to learn about sitting poses.  It's comfort of a different kind when you work on your yoga asanas.  It is food, but food for the soul instead of food for the mouth and tummy.

Speaking of food, my tiny rows in the garden are now sporting little seedlings.  They are maybe one inch tall.  So cute actually.  Now I hope I don't sound too crazy here, but somehow these vegetables I'm growing seem like friends to me.  I nourish them along.  I visit them pretty much daily, bring them food [soil amendments], offer them a drink [water] and I discourage troublesome neighbours from crowding them [weeds].  Then in a while, after they are full grown I'll bring them inside the house and they'll feed me instead of me going outside of the house and feeding them.  We have quite the relationship.

So how are you and your friends doing?  Let me know.

Day 323 June 23, 2011

Day 322 June 22, 2011

garlic buds

The way these garlic buds circle around themselves inspires me.  If you watched a garlic plant growing at this stage of its development with a time release camera this part of the plant would be doing a twirl.  How many other plants do you know that can twirl?  Well, okay, you cannot really see this twirl except in your mind's eye, but hey, that is what our minds are for, correct?  Imagining what we cannot see before us, imagining our lives in the future, imagining all kinds of stuff?

As I dive into the garden each day I realize I am meditating.  Caring for my tiny crops, yes, but also being silent and moving with great awareness.  Sounds like yoga, doesn't it?

Did I remember to tell you I made a plate dedicated to garlic buds, with a poem along the edge?

namaste.

Day 321 June 21, 2011

Soomin, Mrs. K., HJ

Special time in Halifax tonight, sharing a meal with a family I've known for many years.  I do have two wonderful daughters, but if I had sons, these young men are the kind of sons I'd want.  Sincere, polite, funny and hard working.  Soomin and HJ.  They are both off to study in the fall, one to the United States at Purdue and the other to London at the London College of Fashion.

What a great feeling to know such friends!  I wish you all the same pleasure of good friendship.

Namaste.

Day 320 June 20, 2011

Flying at dusk,  I  glance out the window in curiosity.  Everything appears so orderly from this height, cities, fields, forests, but after a long stretch of endless forest I see a meandering river of great length and pause to consider the rivers’ patterns.  Then I notice almost as an afterthought for it is so tiny and off to the side, there, right there amidst all that green forest, I see a human settlement and think, "Ah, we are so small."

Burtynsky, the current Canadian photography darling, shows us up close how our dirty jobs mark the planet but he misses the vastness of the Canadian raw earth spaces, the rough and soft flow of our untouched forests and the folly of our own importance compared to the planet's big pictures from this vantage point of the sky.  Photograph the rivers,  Burtynsky, I think, photograph their size and shapes and then compare what "we" have accomplished.  We wreck havoc you say? Thank god we are so small then and the earth is so large for our marks are quite small in comparison, that is at least here in Canada, my wild and beautiful home.

Day 319 June 19, 2011

I'm thinking of everyone who is travelling today.  There are days when it feels like all I do is travel.  But really, that is just one way to look at our entire experience here on the planet.  We are always on our way somewhere.

Happy travels to you all.

namaste.

Day 318 June 18, 2011

Garlic to the left of us.  Tomatoes to the right.  At this time of year if you are a gardener, you are knee deep in rotted manure and mulch, willingly.

It's the food that makes me such a crazed gardener.  I just love the taste of fresh produce.  Sugar snap peas are my very favourite.  They taste like green pea candy bars, they are so sweet.  Juicy, sweet and luscious.  Next favourite are the red, ripe sweet and salty tomatoes, still warm from the sun.

Speaking of sweet, now don't get me started on fresh fruit.  That is in a category all by itself.

Whether your garden is a potted geranium or a silk plant [with no watering needed], or a 7 acre spread of organically grown vegetables, or maybe your garden is a piece of art work that expresses your connection to the natural part of our gorgeous planet earth, happy gardening to you one and all!

Day 317 June 17, 2011

The Geometry of Light   by Alyson Shotz at Mass Moca 2010

Where will today take you?  It's Friday and for many this signals the end of the work week.  For years I worked in recreation in aquatic settings so at this point of the end of the week I knew I worked while others played.  Once I started to teach in the school system this all changed.  No more working on the beach during the summers or at the pool in the winter.

What is your work schedule like?  And remember that work isn't just work for which you receive a paycheck.  Work is making dinner, vacuuming, doing laundry and for some, yes, it is going out of the home to a workplace for a prescribed number of hours for which you are paid.

Work gives meaning and a sense of purpose to our lives, but work isn't our only purpose [I know sometimes it feels that way].  Our purpose is to find some personal joy and to share this joy with others.  At least that is what I think.  What do you think?

Day 316 June 16, 2011

stoneware footed vase

I'm hopping everywhere, as I managed to sprain or break part of my right foot today.  Hopping is harder than you'd think.  What was your day like?  Mine was pretty great until my foot started hurting like gangbusters.  Hope your day was superb.

Day 315 June 15, 2011

While my friend Denise in California writes about all the sunshine there I will now write about the nearly 24 hours straight of rainfall here in Falmouth, N.S.  A deluge.

So much for my freshly planted little seed beds and 300 onion sets.  Some of the onions are washed right out of the ground and for many hours today their bed was more like a lake than a bed.  I'll replant much of the seeded bed for the last time I looked a stream was running through it.

In yoga class tonight David lead us through gentle inversions which lifted all of our spirits.  Yeah for yoga.

namaste.

Day 314 June 14, 2011

rosa rugosa

We are in the middle of a few days of rain.  Before it started raining today I planted 300 onion sets that I'd forgotten to plant last month.  Even if we only have small onions, at least we'll have some small onions.

It is so cool and wet today it feels like fall and the grass is lush and very green.  The cows in the neighborhood are delirious with all this green grass in their pastures.

I'm a bit delirious myself.  All the growth.   I just love this time of year.  How about you?  What is your favourite time of year?

Day 313 June 13, 2011

basil

The weather forecast is for three days of wet grayness and some rain.  Yesterday I was on forced rest pretty much all day, but I was thinking of my carrot seeds out there in the garden and hoping they would germinate in the next few days.   Then I thought about the luscious little patch of dirt I'd prepared that was patiently waiting for me to seed it.

I had plans for that little patch.  So today I got on my winter socks, winter waterproof pants, an old raincoat and I spent a busy hour seeding that little patch.   There are now tiny rows of lettuce, beets, green beans, fennel, kale, rutabaga, pak choi, basil and broccoli and two half rows of carrots that are maybe 12 feet long.  I'm going small this summer in the garden, in the hopes that I can take better care of the garden than I usually do.  Then I came inside and rested for nearly an hour.  That hour in the garden felt like 4 hours, but it was a really wonderful 4 hours.

That gardening time was as wonderful as a long swim in the crystal clear ocean, as wonderful as the deepest savasana after a penetrating yoga asana class, as wonderful as a finished piece of art work that has been your focus for the last month.  When we say yes to ourselves we can feel it deeply resound within us.  Or the opposite, when we are in fear or discomfort about what we are doing, we know.  Our body never forgets the reality.  Do you know what I mean?  Have you experienced this?

namaste.

Day 312 June 12, 2011

stoneware plate

Sometimes we need to stop and let ourselves catch our breath.  I am the kind of person who loves to "do".  I am busy.  Lots of lists.  Projects galore.  How about you?  What kind of person are you?

Today my body let me know in no uncertain terms that it was pretty darn tired of all my "doing".  I listened.  Lots of time in bed, lots of water and lots of, "David, would you mind bringing me __________ ? [fill in the blank]"  Yes, I had a thick newspaper, piles of books and a laptop nearby, but I also spent time gazing out at the leaves, the lovely green leaves on the trees.  I rested.  I thought about what I had read and what I had watched on youtube.

Does this pattern of "doing" and a "forced rest" sound familiar to anyone?  Are there any other "doers" out there?  Somehow, I don't think I'm the only one.

The good news is, I listened.  My body is acting much nicer now too.

Day 311 June 11, 2011

Another day of mostly sunshine.  Finally.  You forget how much the weather affects you.  I must admit that by the middle of our week 4 or 5 of mainly cloudy skies and rain that ended about a week ago, I too was a bit depressed; however, that is all changed now.

Gardens are planted or are nearly planted, the memory of ice and snow is now so distant to seem like another lifetime.  Weeds are everywhere in my gardens and I'm so happy to see the colour green I don't care.

Happy spring and nearly summer to everyone :)

Day 310 June 10, 2011

Today was a glorious day with intermittent sunshine and cool breezes.  I planted a few more tomato plants and used the plants I started myself from seed.  The tiller worked like a charm.  The soil amendments are incorporated into the row and now all we need is some heat, sun and rain.  Vegetable gardening makes me deliriously happy.   I think it is all that sunshine and looking forward to yummy food.

Yoga practice today was like ringing a bell you loved to hear.  Wow, I just cannot believe my good fortune sometimes.  Tonight the sweat lodge ceremony helped to ground me thoroughly in this new season of greenness and light.  Happy almost summer!  Enjoy the long days and the rising temperatures.

Namaste.

Day 309 June 9, 2011

Comfort food.  Do you find yourself needing comfort food from time to time?  I do.  My comfort food often involves some dark chocolate.  Right now I've finally gotten over a spell of losing interest in cooking by breaking down and making a new recipe for Black Bean Brownies.  The brownies are in the oven as I write.

The recipe for these brownies is on Kris Carr's website today.  Kris is known for her down to earth, no holds barred approach to maintaining her own health.  She eats highly nutritious foods and drinks, including freshly made green drinks.  She is also an author and motivational speaker.  Check out her book, Crazy, Sexy Cancer Tips.  Kris has remade her life after learning she had a rare kind of stage 4 cancer.  Her approach to life now includes living to the fullest each moment.  Sounds like good advice, doesn't it?

Ah, life, you crazy, sexy walk in the park.  Hey everyone, welcome to the planet :)

Day 308 June 8, 2011

stoneware tiles, reduction fired

These tiles remind me of the dry, wintery colours of California.  Brown, tan, more brown.  At this time of year though California is bursting with produce that feeds much of North America.  I love California avocados and nuts and still remember seeing my first walnut tree in Guerneville, California.  We are currently enjoying at home luscious navel oranges grown in California.  I remember being astounded in a grocery store in California; it was summer and the green peppers for sale were truly gigantic and cost hardly anything.  Peak season.  Watsonville, California is the heart of artichoke country.  Once as I drove the coastal route, I passed fields and fields of huge craggy looking artichoke plants that soared towards the sky.

So interestingly enough, as Denise longs for the wide blue skies of the Bay of Fundy and its pure, moist air, I dream of the lush fields and achingly beautiful coastline of California.  The water is pulling both of us.  North America is a beautiful continent.  And for a country woman, like myself, I feel so very fortunate to have crossed its width many times and seen its breath-taking beauty.  Now of course, Chicago and Los Angeles had air quality issues that dampened my spirits and the Great Salt Lake Desert was so hot I basically passed out in the car from the heat; the drive across that desert was just too much for me.  But the Rocky Mountains, and Alberta, Clayoquot Sound in British Columbia, the Prairies, the St. Lawrence River through Quebec, Shediac beach in New Brunswick, and of course, the captivating rawness of Cape Breton Island, all these places to just name a few, are evidence of the natural beauty of this continent.

What is the lesson here?  Sometimes we long for what we miss.  We need to embrace the natural beauty that is all around us.

Day 307 June 7, 2011

Japanese silk kimono detail

Silk.  All right, I'll tell you.  Silk really is my favourite.  Yesterday I said that silk and cotton were my favourite fibres, but today I am going to be totally honest.  It's silk.  Silk is the one.  Perhaps I felt like I'd be too elitist if I proclaimed that silk was my favourite.  Today I realize that honesty is the only way to go.

Silk feels like no other fibre.  Silk chiffon is so smooth and so thin that it floats away like a cloud.  Raw silk is rough and heavy in feel but not too heavy to wear as a comfortable garment.  I wear silk long underwear in the winter and it is instrumental in keeping my little body warm and snug in our Canadian winters.  Silk can be preposterous in its splendour and sumptuousness.  Silk is wildly luxurious.  Silk holds colour like no other fabric.

For a while in my twenties when I lived in San Francisco, I made batiked silk scarves and batiked cotton clothing.  I just did a bit of research and learned that beyond being used for garments silk is also used for medical sutures and prosthetic arteries.  Okay, call me crazy but I want to thank all the silk worms that produce this amazing filament and of course thank the Chinese people who discovered how to use these silkworm filaments.  Hallelujah for silk.

Day 306 June 6, 2011

Indian silk scarf and cotton kurta with sequins

Colour  Texture  Pattern  Design  Weight  Fibre

Do you enjoy cloth as much as I do?  Silk and cotton are definitely my favourite fibres but wool is up there in the running too.  Natural fibers just take dye so brilliantly.  That's why I love them, because of their brilliance, but even undyed silk, cotton and wool are also gorgeous.  Do you agree?

Day 305 June 5, 2011

Denise and her baby raccoon

Today this raccoon story has a happy ending.  Denise has been challenged by an invasion of a mother raccoon in her house recently, between the walls.  There have been screaming babies, a hissing mother and then the turmoil of what to do!  Cages, baiting the live traps and wondering if it will work out all right for everyone involved, such concerns!  Well momma was caught two days ago and finally, finally the babies were so hungry they appeared too.  Today Denise, thanks to her helpful neighbour, has two live and hungry babies.  This baby looks happy to receive such tender loving care in Denise's arms.  I wish you all a happy ending to your story today too.

Day 304 June 4, 2011

Morrisville, NY

Some things we just cannot rush.  For example, our understanding of ourselves, that takes time.  It helps if we are patient with ourselves.  It helps to treat oneself with kindness, especially when we are tired or recovering from an illness.  Actually I can hardly think of a time when it isn't a good idea to treat oneself with kindness.

Today I am going to make a point of being kind to myself.  Will you consider trying this too?  See how it makes you feel.  Of course challenging oneself is also an act of kindness.  I'm not suggesting that being a couch potato is kindness.

If you have difficulty with this concept of being kind to yourself, just remember that some things we just cannot rush.

Day 303 June 3, 2011

 stoneware vase, reduction fired

Tonight I enjoyed a delicious Chinese meal with David and Denise after an evening session of yoga in Halifax.  We talked and talked about yoga as we savoured the flavourful dishes: shrimp stuffed eggplant in black bean sauce, stir fried rice with vegetables and shrimp, lemon chicken and braised bean curd in black bean sauce.  It was a delicious evening in many ways.

The vase that I show here tonight was inspired by Chinese ceramics.  I remember visiting a large collection of Chinese art in a San Francisco museum years ago and that visit inspired this vase.

Did something you experienced today inspire you?  I hope so.

namaste.

Day 302 June 2, 2011

acrylic paint on white sculpture clay

Sometimes we just need to shout, whether that be with words or colours or our sense of fashion.  We need to explode a bit with our take on life in a certain, exacting moment.  Sometimes pastel colours, or worse yet, the colour beige, just doesn't do it.  Or the olive brown, gray, green palette.  No way.  We need bright red.  We need loud.  We need vibrant.  Do you know what I mean?

Day 301 June 1, 2011

stoneware plate with stains and glazes

 
The image I post today is of a plate that is decorated with a design reminiscent of eyes.  Today one of my dogs nearly jumped on top of me as I sat at the computer; his front paws were suddenly on my shoulders  and he looked at me with great excitement and focus.  He wanted an apple and he certainly let me know; it was his eyes, his bright, happy eyes that stared at me and captivated my heart.

Were your eyes open today?  What did you see?