Spring Rain

Were having a good long soak here in the Northeast.  I'm glad, we need it that's for sure, but its hard to roll out of bed this Monday morning with the rain pouring outside and a snug dry bed lulling me back into dream land.  Last night I went to the airport to pick up the man.  Late flight, long delayed.  We didn't get back till the wee hours of the morning.  I'm the first one up this morning, everyone else in the house is still crashed.  I had the week off to organize and try to get some long overdue items off the check list.  I got a lot done, I have a lot left to do.  This time of year is always insanity, but this year there's more work than I have ever had.  Spring is a beautiful time to gather your self and regain strength and vitality for the coming warm months.  I'm looking forward to June and the end of this cycle, this chapter, but it he meantime I'm going to deliberately slow down and have some appreciation for the season.  Time to enjoy the beauty surrounding the change of season.

happy Monday everyone

Sprouting Up

The moment we moved I started planning a garden. The first thing I did was buy loads of bulbs. This was back in the fall. We immediately planted as many bulbs as we could stuff into the ground. The bulbs are doing nicely and by the end of the month I think we may actually have a lovely splash of color! In the meantime Winter came, harsh, unforgiving with much personal sorrow and defeat. Occasionally I would have few minutes to sit and day dream. My mind would drift to a summer garden. What would I grow in my own garden? Where would I plant the garden? How big should it be? How much sun did I need? How to keep the dogs out and on and on. The last time I had my own garden was decades ago. My best friend showed me how to do it and we got something up and running which was really nice. I remember getting a lot of red cayenne peppers, but not much else, or perhaps I don't remember anything else. This is not a lot to go on, but I made a mental note to add cayenne peppers to my garden, after all I once had success with them once and I like peppers. I finally selected half a dozen vegetables, two herbs and one fruit. I collected my seed packages, soil and decided to begin by planting indoors. I read that this was a good thing to do. So now my little starter seeds are little sprouts, which I eagerly examine each day. The promise of spring in full fruition and the beginning of something new. It feels wonderful.

First Day of Spring!

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.

Bern Williams

Daydreams

It would be nice to have a picnic, or go to the beach or maybe just curl up with a good book. All are a dream of the past or something for the future. Right now I just have to get through. I love and loath this time of year. I start rattling the tin cup on the metal bars .............


"The happiness of too many days is often destroyed by trying to accomplish too much in one day. We would do well to follow a common rule for our daily lives -

Do less and do it better. ”
Dale E. Turner

Fine Spring Day

"The world's favorite season is the spring.
All things seem possible in May."
Edwin Way Teale

Rain

Its storming. After a bit of glorious early spring sun, the rains have come in abundance. I'm grateful. Gazing out a window, mind wandering through green fields with loved ones and a frisbee when you have to stay inside with a sharpened pencil and complete what needs to be done is difficult on the mind in terms of focus and attention to detail. Much easier to complete work when the weather is more conducive to staying inside in a seated position. It's "that time of year" again. Make lists, cross things off the list, make more lists, loose the list, panic, make another list, find the list you already made, combine the two together for an even bigger list. Make a schedule, revise it daily, hope nothing unexpected comes up, three unexpected events land on your lap, try to make another schedule. And so it goes, on and on, at least for a little while. So I am taking my blessing where I can, and for now I'm just happy for the rain.

We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.
Jacques Cousteau

May 1, 2009

Happy May Day!

Musing

Virginia in Spring
Damn those roses—
They’re gossiping again,
Vain old ladies in their red hats!
Look at that ring of thorns—some necklace!
Their chatter fills the leaves of the pear tree,
Riling the mocking-bird,
Scolding the yucca,
Shaking down pear-blossoms.
Jack Peachum

Peace, Love and Yoga

I was in upstate New York for the weekend enjoying food, family and catching up on all the gossip. I knew that the area I was staying in was close to the Woodstock Music Festival and inquired just exactly where the event had actually gone down. This sparked some hilarious stories from folks who had been there. Really funny stories that maybe I'll tell another time.

I did not pilgrimage out to the legendary field of peace, love and music - I don't think you can anyway, its somebody's farm, and who wants a bullet in the ass for trespassing - but decided to look for bliss via a local yoga class. I found what I was looking for at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch in Woodbourne NY. This is a peaceful and beautiful compound set in the Catskills. Excited by my discovery, I was hoping I might get a class similar to the yoga I practiced in India. The class was quite similar minus the leaky roofs, unheated studios and equally freezing marble floors. I am happy to report Sivananda has warm studios, wood floors and lots of uplifting personalities. It was enjoyable and brought me back to India in a pleasant way. The instructor was very nice and the class had a nice flow. I felt he could have included precautions, but he did offer a few modifications and occasionally stated the health benefit from the pose. I came away resolved to add more breath to the students I teach as well as my own practice.

There will always be areas where I strongly disagree with a traditional hatha yoga class such as headstand in the first third of class. Actually I refuse to teach or have people practice headstand in my classes as I feel most do not have the upper extremity strength required and unknowingly press down on the crown of the head causing compression and over time damage to the upper cervical area. I also believe if a headstand is on offer in the sequence then there should be spotters in the class.

Although I have my disagreements I really enjoyed the class and came away taking a full breath and feeling at peace. The ashram has a good feeling and seemed a peaceful retreat for those looking to escape the urban jungle. For individuals living in New York City the ashram offers a bus ( for an extremely modest fee) that will pick you up on Friday, drive you to the ashram, and then deliver you back into Manhattan Sunday evening.

Hari Om and peace, love and happy Spring everyone!

A Prayer in Spring

You are perfect

Ram Tzu knows this -

You are perfect.

Your every defect is perfectly defined.

Your every blemish is perfectly placed.

Your every absurd actionis perfectly timed.

Only God could make Something this ridiculous Work.
Ram Tzu

St. Patrick's Day

If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he lucky?

~Stanislaw J. Lec

Have a good one- be safe.

In the Moment

A little Madness in the Spring
Is wholesome even for the King.

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

Friday's Feminist

Eastre, The Great Mother Goddess

The name "Easter" originated with the names of an ancient Goddess and God. The Venerable Bede, (672-735 CE ) a Christian scholar, first asserted in his book De Ratione Temporum that

Easter was named after Eostre (a.k.a. Eastre). She was the Great Mother Goddess of the Saxon people in Northern Europe. Similarly, the "Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility [was] known variously as Ostare, Ostara, Ostern, Eostra, Eostre, Eostur, Eastra, Eastur, Austron and Ausos." She is the Anglo-Saxon personification of the dawn. She is a fertility goddess and a friend to children, and she changed her pet bird into a rabbit to amuse them. Here are some customs my lady of the Spring likes you to enjoy:
Hot cross buns — At the feast of Eostre, an ox, was sacrificed, and its crossed horns became a symbol of the season carved into the bread. The word 'bun' derives from the Saxon word 'boun' meaning 'sacred ox'.
Easter lilies — It's believed that the lily, because of its shape, was associated with the reproductive organs, and therefore with fertility.
Easter candles — The pagans light bonfires to welcome the rebirth of the sun God.

Easter Bunny — The earthly symbol for the goddess Eastre, goddess of the dawn, is the rabbit, a symbol of new life.

Easter eggs — The egg has been a symbol of rebirth and fertility for many centuries. Long before Christianity was introduced, eggs were painted with bright colours to celebrate the sunlight of spring. There's ancient evidence of egg rolling and egg-tossing contests as well as egg gift-giving. In pagan times the egg was believed to have special powers. It was buried under the foundations of buildings to ward off evil, and brides stepped upon an egg before crossing the threshold of their new home. To be given an egg was to wish many children upon the recipient.
Decorating and colouring eggs was a popular custom in the middle ages, and throughout Europe different cultures have evolved their own styles and colours. In Greece, crimson-coloured eggs are exchanged, whereas in Eastern Europe and Russia silver and gold decorations are common, and Austrian eggs often have plant and fern design.

Oh joy, Spring is here! So shine shine, pretty baby be a freind of mine........