Happy Holidaze!

We are tree huggers and tree worshippers all. I am only beginning to learn about the Green Man. Here's to more of that in 2007!

More knitting, less reading

I have actually finished some kniting projects! They are both from knitalongs that have kept me going.

The scarf, Diamond Fantasy, modeled by Rebecca, is from Sivia Harding Knits. The yarn is Claudia hand painted merino wool in a fingering weight on size 5 (US) bamboo needles. It was SO SOFT to work with and I am sure that knitting my first lace project with a fingering weight was way easier than knitting with a lace weight. It also only took me a mere 8 months to complete it. I cast off on election day, November 7, giving me lots to celebrate!!!

With this project I learned about blocking. I found out it really wasn't too hard once I quit reading about it and tried it. And I did it without the fancy blocking wires that Knitpicks sells and I kept thinking I would purchase and try.

I also finished some socks from a Nancy Bush Knitting on the Road KAL. These were the July/ August socks that I finished at the end of October. They were done in a Mountain Colors, Mountain Goat, Sagebrush. It is a wool, mohair blend. I love these socks except they are thick and do not fit well with most of my shoes.

SO now on to some Christmas gifts: long-promised socks for my sister and a silk/mohair scarf for a friend. I am also knitting socks for John and I think he's resigned to receiving them after Christmas. Some day maybe I'll be a fast knitter.

Sam Dog: In Memoriam

Our dog Sam died two weeks ago. She would have been 15 this month. She lived a long and happy life. But I am still sad. I always joked that our dogs were part of our marriage contract. I wanted to have dogs (children too, but later) and I told John that after we were married I wanted a dog . So we were married in June 1991 and adopted Sam from the Humane Society in Tucson that December. So Sam had always been a part of our life together. Six months later Connie came along. She was a stray, probably from the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation. She and Sam were always together and she probably misses Sam even more than we do.

Sam was a mix of lab, spaniel and probably Australian shepherd. We always said she was 1/2 goof dog as well. Until the last year or so she loved to lick you, especially your face. Our friend Kelly who is pictured being licked by Sam would sometime take care of her and take her on walks when we were away.

We had a ceremony saying good-by to Sam which went something like this:
We decide to have the ceremony outside; it's dark. While John and I mourn inside, Rebecca says, 10 X, "I'm carrying the flashlight remember. Can I have the flashlight. Remember I'm carrying the flashlight."

Rebecca and Alex head outside with the flashlight. John, not yet recovered from bronchitis follows carrying Sam. Alex and Rebecca start arguing about who knows what. Rebecca is yelling. The light from the flashlight dances everywhere except along the dark path John needs to walk. Alex trips over a small trampoline and lays spawled on the ground screaming. John stands there holding our dead beloved dog, unable to see where to walk. Fortunately Alex recovers quickly.
We each hold a flower and say something we remember or will miss about Sam. Rebecca says to me, "Why are you crying Mama, you didn't cry when Nana died..." (I did)

Aren't kids great!? Sam would have loved it.

Summer on Skye

I have been away from this for a while. Summer flew by. One of the highlights for us was visiting Scotland. I have lots of family there and we visited the Isle of Skye where my grandfather was from. For me, it was the most beautiful, relaxing part of the trip. We travelled by train from Glasgow to Mallaig and took a ferry across the water to Skye.

We lucked out in that the weather was unusually warm and sunny. Of course I packed for cool rainy weather but I am not complaining!

I am including photos from Skye. The Cullins Mountains- said to be often hidden in the mist- is the second to last photo. (It's suppose to be the first photo, but.... there are many things I have still to learn about working this blog...)The Cullins are viewed from Elgol where we were preparing to get a boat to travel to Loch Coruisk. The next photo above the Cullins photo is the view just off the landing stage in Loch na Cuilce. The sea approach was awe inspiring- the mountains, sea birds, and seals! The bottom photo is Loch Coruisk with Alex and Rebecca enjoying a dip. The temparature was in the low 80's! The final photo (at the top) is a spectacular hike we took in Portree, the largest town further north in Skye along the east coast.

For Jessica

These are the delphiniums that Jessica sent to England for and started from seed four years ago. I planted them in the front of the house where I learned they need more SUN. I also learned that delphinium stems are hollow and break easily in wind and rain which we had a lot of this season.
They still bloomed big beautiful blooms, but with all the rain and wind and because I did not stake them high enough, the blooms broke. So I cut them and brought them inside.
Pictures never do nature justice. They are such a beautiful blue and purple color. The flower that is shown cut is over two feet tall. Alex, for the record is 5 foot 3 1/2inches.

Kid Braggin'

School and all its end of the year events is over. Here, for family and friends, are a few highlights of the kids ...

Rebecca took a year -long Creative Movement dance class with an amazing teacher, Ginny Martin. I have heard about Ginny Martin for years from friends and even strangers. I knew about Ginny Martin before Rebecca was born. So I have waited for many years to experience Ginny Martin dance classes. It was everything everyone promised. Ginny is affirming, kind, disciplined, creative. She designed and sewed beautiful wings and wrote a poem put to music for Rebecca's class. I enjoyed watching her class every week. (Okay, I also liked being able to sit for 45 minutes and knit.) Rebecca enjoyed the class; it was never an issue to go. However after her last class and before the final performance at The Egg in Albany Rebecca informed me that she would not be taking classes next year with Ginny Martin. I was sure she would change her mind after her performance. We went to the dress rehersal the day before the big event. It went really well. During the car ride home Rebecca says, "Remember how I said I didn't want to take dance next year?" "Yes, " I say, pausing and expecting her to tell me she has changed her mind. She says NOTHING. She meant it and wants to know if I remember. GASP and sigh, no more watching Ginny Martin. I don't say anything. It is her choice and kids have enough activities. I am not going to plead, beg or even ask. Okay, over the next few days and after the night of the performance I ask her if she has changed her mind. She hasn't; I tell her she can.

Alex finished his year discovering the sport of fencing. He joined as an afterschool activity and really enjoyed it. At the end of the session they had a tournament. Alex came in THIRD. He was so thrilled! As was I who watched fencing for the first time ever. He wore his medal or carried it in his pocket for the next week. He wants to continue fencing next year.

So summer is here schoolwise now and as of tomorrow, officially. We are off to the Old Songs Folk Festival this Friday for the weekend. It is a yearly event for us involving urban camping at the Altamont Fairgrounds and two days of traditional music and hanging out. My sister volunteered at the event for years and got us going to it. We even camped there with Rebecca when she was 7 weeks old. We are camping with good friends and I can't wait. We even have a new tent this year, a Kelty Green River six person tent. It just came today and tomorrow Alex and I will set it up for a test run.

living your yoga

"To practice is to pay attention to your whole life: your thoughts, your bodily sensations, and your speech and other actions. As you do you will discover that nothing is separate from anything else. Thoughts are the sensations of the mind just as sensations are the thoughts of the body. Each moment of your life is a moment of potential practice." Judith Lasater, Living Your Yoga


Recently I have been learning about elbows. I have tendonitis in my right elbow. So poses that I normally do, that I have loved and practiced for at least 15 years, are out, at least temporarily. And I am again reminded that yoga is not about the poses. The poses are maps. I need some different maps right now I guess. No Plank pose, no Chaturanga Dandasana, no Upward Facing Dog .

SIGH...

So the other night, I did a practice around poses I do not like that I could still do. It was very interesting and felt good. One pose was pigeon pose.

Walking is one of my favorite yoga practices that I can still do right now. Of course some days as I walk my mind wanders to my surroundings. That of course is the practice, to train your mind to focus over and over again.

I know I need my walking practice when I am starting to feel overwhelmed and like I have more things to do than I can possibly do. Sometimes, I suppose this becomes less a practice to invoke a meditative mind than an opportunity to step away from what I am doing. Just getting out of a thinking mode, getting my blood flowing, heart pumping and muscles moving, magic arises as an insight into a problem, or a realization of what I need to do next. I like simple magic, I guess. It's really magical when I am fed up with my children and feel unable to deal with whatever is going on with them. Walking probably makes me a better parent.

So the yoga part of all of this, for me, is that there are lots of ways to get out of our habitual mind and habitual patterns of thinking and to move into spaces where we are completely present to our lives and in a sense of equanimity with it all. Like Judith Lasater says, "every moment is a moment of potential practice."

HAPPY DAYS

Alex and Rebecca wishing their Grandpa a Happy Birthday and their Grandma a Happy Mother's Day.

knitting as meditation

I am a SLOW knitter. So when I read some of my favorite blogs, like Claudia's I think, "What the heck am I doing?" I have to remind myself it is about the process.

Although I have had a yoga practice for a while, I have always struggled with the meditation part of it. There is always something that I should be doing whether it's cleaning or working out a problem. In the yoga tradition I study, meditation arises from one-pointedness. That is, meditation arises from the practice of focusing on one thing, one object.

Once I got into knitting it occurred to me that I could not knit and think about anything else. Otherwise I would lose the pattern. I don't think I'll ever be the type to knit in front of the tv (which I don't watch any ways). For me, knitting is a process thing, and as I lose myself in the process I gain that practice of one -pointedness. It is an opportunity to SIT STILL and focus my mind. Okay, my hands do move, but that becomes a kind of rhythm.

So, I have no pictures of recently completed items to show. And I am definitely working on the yogic ideal of non-attachment, especially given the envy I feel when I look at all the projects knitting bloggers seem to complete in a week... I am participating in the KAL for Sivia Harding's Diamond Fantasy scarf. I am loving the lace. AND SOCKS. I love knitting socks and I am knitting a pair with Koigu KPPM for a Christmas present. Yes, I need to work that far ahead.

For me, my biggest knitting achievement was creating a corner to practice yoga and knit. (See photo above.) It's simple, but it's space in my room that's relatively uncluttered. That in itself is an accomplishment!! I put a batiked cloth on the bookshelf to cover some of the books. Since I have an issue with excessive curving my upper back, I wanted to sit on a meditation cushion to help remind me how to sit. Otherwise, I find myself sitting on my sofa drawing my shoulders forward as I knit. YUCK. And the space includes a wall so I can practice my favorite restorative pose; Legs Up the Wall.

On Yoga

"We use the practice of Yoga, not to correct or punish ourselves for who we are not, but to see who we actually are." -Donna Farhi

I've been practicing Yoga for 20 years now and teaching it for 12. While I am glad that it has become so popular, it helps with the bills, there is this little part of me that is awaiting this wave to pass, as everything does.

Yoga has become a marketing tool and in that way does the practice of Yoga little good. Marketing is meant to sell you something, to let you know that you are not okay as you are and that this thing, whatever it is, will help make you better. It is the antithesis of Yoga.

When I talk to people who are not familiar with Yoga I feel like I have to first explain what Yoga is not. It is not about being skinny and hyperflexible- like all the advertising would have us believe. It is not about being able to put you feet behind you head. It is not sitting in lotus pose and levitating. It is not about leaving your family and job to sit on a mountainside somewhere for the rest of your life (As appealing as that may sound some days).

All of those things might be a part of someone's yoga practice, but they are not in and of themselves Yoga. Yoga is about bringing balance, strength and flexibility to your life. It is about living a life where you feel more focused, energized and at peace. Where you rely not so much on what others around you tell you you should do or look like; you rely on your own inner wisdom.

Here's another notion that seems radical in this country: Yoga isn't really even about poses. And...You don't have to be flexible to practice Yoga! What we practice in this country, mostly, is Hatha Yoga. Hatha Yoga means understanding Yoga through the body. Yogis believe that the body is an extension of the mind. So we practice postures that work on strength, flexibility and balance so that we can have this in our minds. And with our minds we make decisions in our life from a place of strength, balance and flexibility. The changes to our physical body are secondary (wonderful as they are) and the measure of your practice is not how flexible, strong and balanced you are on the mat, but how flexible, strong and balanced you are in your life off the mat.

Other trees growing even faster

Alex, age 10, still loves his Legos. Rebecca, almost 5, what can I say??

Spring Inspirations

Here are close ups of the magnolia tree in our backyard and a picture of the tree.

Yipee!! My first photo POSTED and it only took 1 hour and a change over to a different internet browser. This blogging is really going to challenge my Luddite brain! It is thanks to my hubby, who suggested switching browsers, that I am no longer pulling my hair out. THIS is my current knit along project: Sivia Harding's Diamond Fantasy scarf in Claudia's handpainted merino fingering weight yarn, deep blue. Note the green ribbon- a lifeline - which I learned about from participating in this KAL. Now if I only knew how to link....

Okay, I'm ready

I have been putting off starting this because everything is not perfectly set up. I still haven't quite figured out how to put in links. I have a lot to say about yoga; my knitting is okay. But I think I know how to post pictures so I'll post my knitting in progress and spring pictures from here that inspire me.

Spring

It's spring. I'm turning 40 next month. Why not start a blog? It's like writing one big letter to my friends and family. The letter I can't seem to get to at Christmas time.

So while I should be preparing for a workshop I am teaching with a friend on Saturday, Creating and Nurturing a Yoga Practice at Home, I am instead playing here at the computer. I have a lot to learn. Like, how do you italicize words?

Next I'll try a photo