Steam and Time

Went to the pool this past Tuesday after a brief hiatus and one of the coaches of the youth team told me that he had been waiting five years for me to be one of their swim coaches and I politely told him that if I had more time and talent, I would do it.

I am, of course, flattered that anyone thinks that I swim decently...

The level of eye itchiness decreased gradually until about two days ago when the  itching stopped altogether, hallelujah...

Even though trees have been blooming and daffodils and crocuses have been pushing up through the earth, I was still surprised to see a fully yellow forsythia bush...

(Yoga) Gloria invited me to a vegan meal last Thursday and I felt truly spoiled. Everything was yummy and most of the recipes came out of Thug Kitchen 101. I decided to make the Turmeric and Sweet Potato Soup from that book today.

Squash, Book, Vegan Parmesan

Tahini Fudge

Turmeric and Sweet Potato Soup

In other news, I am exhausted. Yesterday I went to Zumba then ran many errands including picking up my bike and, later on, I went to visit my aunt for a spell.

Because I like to post things to social media, I took a photo by the bike shop's newly painted and eye-catching wall. Later on, I examined the picture.

I have more room in my clothes but haven't really dropped any weight according the scale but I thought Not bad... Although, a side view might have yielded a different response.

I wanted to go see Art in Bloom today but I totally ran out of steam and time.

In the words of Sharon Salzberg in Lesson 23 of the meditation challenge: May you be well. May you be peaceful.

Lesson 26: May you know physical happiness.

Goings-On, Part Deux

The day after my aunt collapsed, she looked better and threw me a smile. I can't even explain how ridiculously good that made me feel...

I've also been thinking about this tweet a lot.

A neighbor of mine died suddenly yesterday, not even 40. Today I learned a friend has cancer.  Please live life like you mean it.

— Robert Cohen (@kodacohen) January 25, 2017

Was on social media last night and saw a yoga class advertised at a studio that I've only been to once a while ago but decided that I would practice yoga then walk around Forest Park but got to the studio and the class was canceled so I went straight to Forest Park.

Listened to the rest of episode two, Gregor, of the Heavyweight podcast and then I listened to an episode of  Yoga Revealed. I'm really enjoying both podcasts.

How is it that I've never heard of Moby who was featured in the Gregor episode?...

I love taking on the trail at Forest Park; it's like an unofficial and short marathon route. I also have a lot of gratitude that I'm able to walk for that long with no real issues.

Police Horse Stables

Looks Like Winter but...

The Formerly Blue Shoes

A Record 18,000 + Steps (7.30 miles acc'd to Garmin)

One of my favorite #LastNightInSweden tweets:

#lastnightinsweden I ate shrimp, drank some wine and counted my lucky stars I don't live in the US.

— Ida Grasman (@IdaGrasman) February 19, 2017

Goings-on

This time last week I had already received an urgent text from my cousin about my aunt who she'd found on the floor. My aunt refused to go to the hospital and even refused to let my cousin call anyone but me to help get her off the floor.

When I told another aunt of the incident, she said Of course it's hard to get off the floor...

After my cousin told me about my aunt, my heart chakra was so tight and I still am not sure what to do with myself.

My aunt is feeling well enough to tell my cousin and me to go somewhere and sit down but she is still not out of the woods... Are any of us out of the woods?

There were also two other family members having medical issues which made for a really "interesting" week...

I ended up using over the counter allergy drops for my eyes and, wait for it, I had an allergic reaction to the allergy drops. My eyes are still itchy but at least they don't feel like they are on fire...

I liked the part in Salzberg's meditation lesson (#17), yesterday, when she said imagine your worries are like birds in your hands that fly away...

What Falafel Is Made Of

The watery part has subsided but I'm still waking up with itchy eyes. I usually give in and put two eye drops in and that usually does the trick for the rest of the day. It's like Groundhog Day.

I've been doing my meditation lesson at night a lot because I see the email then I forget. I like it when Salberg says Welcome back at the beginning of each lesson.

I really liked the body scan, lesson ten; those were the deepest breaths that I had taken in a while.

For the eating meditation, I did that one while eating a Cara Cara orange. These oranges are so amazing that I forgot about the whole pomegranate shortage or what seemed to be one anyway.

During the meditation, I squirted myself which was kind of cool because it was like the orange was affirming one of it's characteristics. It was also nice to take in the amazing aroma...

Today is my mother's birthday and several of us went to the Missouri Botanical Garden for Celebrate the Gospel.  We got into a conversation about Crazy Bowls and Wraps when my aunt Debbie asked me What is falafel? As I explained, she asked Where did this "child" come from? Haven't heard them ask that in a while.

Celebrate...

One of my favorite Salberg Instagram post; I need a set-up like this one:

Repost from @maemansfield - All the fixings for my daily meditation. #commit2sit #day7 #28daysofmeditation #realhappiness #holistichealth #holisticlifestyle

A photo posted by Sharon Salzberg (@sharonsalzberg) on Feb 9, 2017 at 10:20pm PST

Back At It

It was good to get back in the pool and good to catch up with my swimming tribe. Apparently, there are new tribe members so I didn't get in a lap lane which put me closer to the pastor's wife who does a water aerobics kind of workout.

At one point I was resting and she said that if we were on a boat that crashed, I would survive and she would be shark bait. I told her No way, I'd do the side stroke and take you with me. I'm still surprised when people compliment me on my swimming.

Later on she told me that she'd torn her rotator cuff about a year ago while picking louse out of someone's long hair...

As I finished up my laps this other woman said Hey, girl -- I barely made it.  She told me that her sons, 16 and 19, do a lot of stuff around the house but she still cooks for them. After our exchange, she got busy and hustled down the lane...

Got an email from the Y the other day which got me thinking about taking an intermediate swim class. I dunno...maybe I'll just read the book about swimming that someone gave me and/or look at videos on YouTube to enhance my swimming skills.

Saturday Shenanigans

Put coconut oil on my very tender nose a couple of days ago and, I swear, the healing seemed accelerated.

I've almost gone through a family-sized bag of Ricola but I feel functional again -- except for the watery, itchy eyes -- never had that before. Alison told me that when it's fall-like, her eyes do the same thing.

Why would anyone waterboard someone when they could just put them in a room with allergens?

Went to get Wal-dryl and couldn't believe that watery, itchy eyes is on the front of the box; I've never seen that before...

Opened up the window in my bedroom, again. Wiped down everything that I remembered touching, again. Stripped my bed, again, and headed to the laundromat...

All In: Decorative Pillow, Thin Quilt, Sheets etc...

I wasn't sure what to expect with the meditation challenge but, so far, Counting Meditation (Day 4 Lesson)  has worked the best. The lessons are short but I was still surprised when this lesson ended. Counting is definitely a technique I'll use again...

I've been walking a lot lately and, therefore, listening to podcasts again. Tara Clancy's Lesbian Babymaking 101 is so funny. It's one of those stories that I could listen to repeatedly. I also have Clancy's book, The Clancys Of Queens, on my to-read list.

Favorite tweet of late:

We already have extreme vetting for refugees. What is dangerous is the White House is not allowing a thorough vetting for cabinet nominees.

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) February 3, 2017