Inching Along

Tried to mow the lawn before I left for Vegas last month. And, wow, Vegas seemed like it happened eons ago... The mower would not start so I decided to use an on-demand mowing service. It worked three times.

On August 7th, a scheduled service date, it rained and the guy didn't come and he didn't come and he didn't come. Finally, I texted him to say that it was okay if he didn't want to mow the lawn anymore but to let me know. He assured me that he was interested, looked forward to my business...then nothing.

In the meantime, the grass continued to grow. I texted my brother who recommended a couple of things, including looking for troubleshooting tips for the brand that I have. It kept turning over but wouldn't stay on and I was so frustrated that I started crying.

At some point, my neighbor heard me trying to start the mower. This neighbor is good at fixing and building but I hadn't wanted to bother him because he had a health scare recently. Still, he told me that he'd check out the mower and that I could also borrow his.

Had today off so I called him at a respectable time. He put his foot on top of the lawnmower and it started immediately. I was gobsmacked. He said that, from listening, he didn't think much was wrong and he was also surprised by how long the cord is. He advised me to wait because the lawn was wet from yesterday's rain but I couldn't take the untidiness any longer. I tried to hack some of it down but where it was biggest, I just inched along. It took me a little over two hours because, of course, the mower stalled out because of the wet grass. I was so relieved, though, because I was on the verge of loading the mower in my car and taking it to a shop.

My yard, especially the back, was a proper jungle and, yet, I still didn't mention monkeys...

No one really uses the expression “monkey this up,” even when they’re not running against a black man for governor It isn’t whether he intended that to be racist. It was racist. No walkback changes that. Nothing to add. https://t.co/Tr0GsJXUOx

— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) August 29, 2018

Risks

The 'Fugee sent me a 'gram with Oprah and Gayle who are in Croatia right now and my first thought was Oh, it would be nice to be rich and in Croatia. What a thought...

I went to Croatia and I had a good time without the rich part...

Thinking about my mood and the word doldrums just popped into my mind. That's not a completely accurate word but I'm also not feeling light-hearted either.

Worked at a festival this weekend and I was at the entrance. Didn't get to do a whole lot of people watching but the people sitting near the park signage captured my attention...and so did the bumble bees.

The bag that I was carrying dropped from a chair and my camera (within a camera bag) was in there and hit the ground. The shell of my camera cracked a bit. I was so annoyed with myself for being careless but, of course, I didn't think my bag was going to drop out of the chair and I also thought the camera bag offered more protection.

What to say? Accidents happen. I like to take pictures and I like to have my camera and there are risks with anything.

Never been here before! Where?? Everybody looks great in a walking-sitting -shopping -when clothes match the door shot ...swipe left

A post shared by Gayle King (@gayleking) on Aug 24, 2018 at 1:42am PDT

When You Don’t Feel Like Sitting Up

Took a different way to work to see this hibiscus...

The teacher, Kelli, is about 4'11, petite and all muscle.  I've heard about her before but I'm pretty sure that I'm relatively safe in a Basics and Beyond class. Although, the beyond part can be played with...

The Kundalini teacher (who taught the class before Kelli's) explains that her class is new and that she enjoyed Kelli's 15 minutes during the special relay class that happened during the studio's one-year anniversary but that she is strictly Kundalini and will  have to work up to participating in Kelli's class...

Kelli checks in with everyone and hands out assist/no assist coasters. It's yogi's choice for how we start -- in easy pose or on our backs. I go with the back because, frankly, I didn't feel like sitting up.  The beginning of class is so sweet. Kelli asks us to remember when yoga first came on our radars and what kept us going back to our mats; she asks us to connect to that feeling.

I almost laughed when Kelli said that we were doing "Turbo Dog" -- I'd never heard downward-facing dog referred to in that manner but, you know, I'm better at taking care of myself so I modified. Plus, my body had not fully recovered from the hours of yoga practice that took place last weekend.

Deepen Your Practice

This was yoga teacher training (YTT) weekend (three). Also known as the weekend that I disappear.

Most YTTs advertise their training with the caveat that if you don't want to teach, you can do the training to deepen your practice. Of course, most trainers still want you to be able to teach. Although, I have heard tales of many emerging from trainings without the skill.

So, we broke off into groups of threes and were given a segment of class to lead and everyone had to be the leader of a segment at some point. I was sick to my stomach and I had company. My turn was today. I'm definitely glad that I didn't have to go first but it was also challenging to go last.

Stacy told us to "Fail magnificently..."

I am good at preparing "things" but not with a fifteen minute deadline. Because I'm fairly good in the preparation department, I'm willing to step up to the plate and, say, give a speech. Oddly enough, I felt comfortable planning for the opening (warm-up) sequence of class but had a hard time envisioning other segments, including strength and the cool down.

After we finished with our practice teaching, Stacy polled us to gauge our nervousness rate and she, for the most part, had been able to discern who would be the most nervous...

When I first started practicing yoga this woman named Kate subbed for one of my classes and one of my classmates wanted the lights off and Kate said that there was a lot going on for her as a yoga teacher in the role of teacher/observer. I can totally see that now. There are a lot of cues to give, and students to watch. Plus, you need to be able to go off script even if you prepared a sequence.

Training ended around 7:15 p.m. today. I went by the grocery store to pick up a few things and on the way home realized that I had forgotten bananas, yogurt and pineapple juice so I stopped at yet another store. It's kind of funny that I saw Stacy at the second store. She was like "You needed to see me again."

Decided to get Jonny Pops and the ones that I wanted, pineapple and coconut, were way in the back of the freezer. Thought about climbing to get them then nixed the idea. This clerk did exactly what I had thought about doing. He also gave me a coupon for one box free so I'm glad that I asked for assistance for once.

I’d Rather

Rolled out early this morning and got cooking out of the way since I was scheduled to meet Chiquita at the recreation center at 11:00-ish. I wasn't very optimistic that they would let me use her second guess pass since I'd already been there once but they did...

Had my eye on swimming -- even though Chiquita was going to be on the treadmill. Swam 10 laps because I wanted to shoot hoops too. I also went ahead with swimming because I knew that I'd be jonesing for it at some point in the week. 

I'd rather, informally, play basketball and walk/run after the ball than be on the treadmill. It was kind of funny that I hit the first five baskets that I attempted...

Decided to stop by The Sunflower Project since I would pass by Old North St. Louis on the way home. Thought the sunflowers were going to be big and chuckled when I stopped my car. Of course, they will be big sunflowers one day. 

Wanted to go by an outdoor pool but I also don't want to be running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Plus, I tend to feel like nesting on Sunday. So, I went home and stayed. Read a little and cleaned a little. It was also a "no" for observing a yoga class. I didn't feel like doing much of anything...

I like this poster that was on the natatorium's message board. For today, I guess that should be Why not stay at home?

The Eighth One

Finished reading The Body Keeps The Score and it feels weird but as Patti said On to other mind-expanding reads. There were so many truths/insights in this book:

Fear destroys curiosity and playfulness. (Pg 352)

I have seven of eight observations  (of a particular kind) done and I want to get the eighth one out of the way and had hoped that I would get up early enough to hit the 8:30 a.m. yoga class but I woke up then went back to sleep and when I woke up again it was 8:32 a.m.

Also wanted to go to Zumba but my uncle showed up unexpectedly and he was tackling the weeds which I am not very good at tackling. On any another day, I still would have been able to make it but my uncle needed electricity for one of his tools. So, no yoga observation and no Zumba.

Decided to workout to the Latin Zoom Cardio Workout which is available on Amazon Prime. I really like this workout but I need to replace my DVD player because I miss my workout DVDs and it's nicer to see the workouts cast from the TV. 

From zooming...

Ran quite a few errands today, including a stop at Talbots because when they have an end-of-season sale they really have a sale. This is the second time that I've tried on these capris. They feel a bit impractical. So, why do I keep trying them on? 

Got tired of listening to music during my errand marathon so I started listening to podcasts, including I Was More Angry At God featuring Jane Chung on Death, Sex and Money. Had already listened to it before but didn't mind listening to it again.

My hoarder tendencies extend to podcasts and I still have episodes from last year including The Moth's Denver Battle of the Slams. There was a bonus story by Cynthia Riggs and sponsored by Disrupt Aging that was added onto this particular episode. It is such a sweet story and is definitely going on my list of top Moth episodes...

Wanted to go the pool today but decided to stay at home since I've been running around a lot. Started reading Family Tree Magazine:

The enslavement of many African-Americans before the Civil War shut this group from legal personhood and the records this status entails. That includes newspaper mentions we're accustomed to finding on white ancestors: real estate transactions, probate notices, death announcements, and others. 

But mainstream newspapers didn't entirely ignore those who were enslaved -- especially when they tried to get away. (Jan/Feb 2018, pg. 27)

When I feel a little less overwhelmed, will try to start somewhere with creating a family tree...

Went to the park and I've seen this tent before and I've also seen camouflage in the form of tree branches with dead leaves. Today there were additional items. Overall, I just feel sad whenever I see this tent with the red top.

Familiars

Yesterday was Chiquita's birthday so I decided not to go to an exercise class so that I could unclutter and then be able to meet Chiquita after she came back from the movie theatre.

Years ago, I got Chiquita a glass wind chime for her birthday that she really liked but it was dropped at some point and I wanted to get her a replacement but couldn't remember where I'd gotten it from. Given what happened to the first one, I finally decided not to go with another glass one and spotted a fuchsia wind chime and, immediately, thought that Chiquita would like the funkiness of it  because she loves color but I was a bit put off by the length. Ran it by Patti and she said that if I really liked it to not be dissuaded. My climbing partner comes through again! Chiquita really liked it and the sound is really nice too. I found one a little bit shorter than the one I linked to.

As we talked, Chiquita continued to get texts. I used to get a lot of cards... I finished her sentence because I know the phenomenon now -- most people send a text instead of a birthday card. Even though card shopping annoyed me, the expense and wording, I'm glad that I'd persevered.


Chiquita also told me that my cousin, Katrina, was happy to see me at the fish fry. I noticed that she spent a significant time at our table but just thought she was being chit chatty. I was happy to spend time with her as well. When I was in junior high school, I was in the same class as Katrina's brother John during their stint in Illinois; they were military kids who traveled a lot. I don't think that I've seen John since junior high school, wow.

******

More whoa from The Body Keeps The Score:

Our sense of agency, how much we feel in control, is defined by our relationships with our bodies and its rhythms: Our waking and sleeping and how we eat, sit and walk define the contours of our days. In order to find our voice, we have to be in our bodies -- able to breathe fully and able to access our inner sensations. This is the opposite of dissociation, of being "out of body" and making yourself disappear... (Pg 333....)

Collective movement and music create a larger context for our lives, a meaning beyond our individual fate. Religious rituals universally involve rhythmic movements, from davening at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem to the sung liturgy and gestures of the Catholic Mass to moving meditation in Buddhist ceremonies and the rhythmic prayer rituals performed five times a day by devout Muslims. (Pg 335)

In the yoga classes that I've observed, I've found it beautiful to witness other people practicing and it's hard to describe the feeling of joy that I get on Monday evening when I participate in Zumba class. The particular teacher sets a furious pace. We joke, laugh and groan together. I know very few of my Zumba mates' names but they are familiar -- as are the people at the pool, yoga studio and climbing gym.