Okay

Dragged myself out of bed at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday. Also cannot manage to make it to work at the time that I usually do. I need a handler...

Had a really good yoga class on Monday night and, afterward, Joy handed me a calendar filled with pictures of our Jamaican retreat. Nice surprise...

April 

Before swimming yesterday, I imagined asking the minister who also swims what does he say to despairing church members but then I also imagined that swimming is his form of meditation and time away from despairing people. The minister wasn't at the pool  but the man who is one of the youth coaches and who recently had surgery and whose wife said he shouldn't be alive was there after a long hiatus.

I took my foggy glasses off and it wasn't long before they hit the floor. One of the teenage lifeguards picked it up and I was touched by that simple act of kindness. I asked her how she was doing and she said tired because of a swim meet and her home was no respite because her brothers are always on PlayStation and screaming like banshees...

Went climbing with Mike and Patti; we all had good climbing nights...

Some asshole hit my car while it was parked even though I've gone out of my way to park at the back of parking lots and away from people who can't park straight and, of course, they didn't bother to stick around. Not an earth-shattering amount of damage but it still sucks.

One of dramatic coworkers likes to ask Is everything under control? Today he said something about wanting to be a worry-free dolphin and also taking his wisdom from the trees who don't worry about bills and housing. Mmmm, okay.

The Wayside

At one point I was doing a few minutes of yoga in the morning but that's fallen by the wayside. I've also been intending to more yoga at home by working on a few poses but that hasn't happened.

What has happened is that I spotted Do Your Om Thing in one of BookBub's mailers. I borrowed the book from the library but I also purchased an e-book version  as my sticky notes were getting out of hand and I'd like to refer to portions of the book later.

What also happened is Geeky Fun with Hindu Deities, a Yogaland podcast (with Andrea Ferreti) and, next thing you know, I ordered Hinduism for Dummies. Maybe I will get around to deepening my practice.

I'm a little weary today but trying not to yield to that mood...

I was moved by Mary Elizabeth Williams' I Won't Let Cynicism Win but could not bear to finish Sarah Kendzior's Letter to Trump Supporters...

I've tried to watch Chelsea before and couldn't get into it but I did watch quite a bit of the episode, Dinner Party: Going to Prison; she talks to members of the Orange Is The New Black cast. Uzo Aduba said something about trying to figure out her place and Chelsea Handler responded:

"Well, we're always trying to figure out our place. Even when we have a place, we're like -- Am I supposed to be here?"

Also, like this Instagram post.

Blah

Abandoned Towel

In many ways, Monday night yoga continues to be good for me and helps ease the re-entry into the work week but, physically, yesterday's practice was a little intense and I found myself annoyed and wanting something more gentle but I guess no one can have what they want 100% of the time.

Patti asked me how I dealt with going swimming in the fall/winter and I told her that the pool deck is usually nice and warm and that I just bundle up afterward. She must have believed me because she went swimming today and loved her time in the pool.

Most of my pool people were prompt tonight. Dale gave a pep talk about pacing and I explained to Sean that Dale doesn't do laps and is, therefore, joking. David and I shared a lane and, about 13 laps in, I knew that Sean would be finishing up and after he got out, David moved over into that empty lane so I was able to stretch out a bit.

Swimming, thankfully, put me in a more peaceful state. Tried to play around with my DBPower but couldn't get it to turn on. There's something about the waterproof case that's off. At any rate, here are a couple of pictures that I took from inside the Blue Hole while in Negril. The pictures are not bad. I just hope that I can figure out what's wrong with the waterproof situation.

The Dream About Roses

On Thursday night, I dreamt about roses -- red roses. Even though it's almost winter, the backyard was full of opened up ones...

Was talking to Joy about Jamaica and she's trying to get back before the end of the year which, of course, made me start dreaming and looking at flights. I could leave tomorrow for approximately $242 (one way) but the return trip is the problem. I haven't gone through the proper channels to get time off and I wouldn't want to burn all of my vacation time in two months...

Went swimming last night and the house was packed. I ended up sharing a lane with David -- David of the mile goal every time he hits the pool. I had a swimmer to the left and right so that made me hunker down.

Patti, my rock climbing buddy, doesn't really like to swim and hasn't been in the pool in over a decade but decided that she would join the Y because she says that she needs to do some other activity. At first she told me that she was going for a lunchtime swim but that didn't happen so she was hoping to go later on in afternoon so I posted a 'gram with the picture below asking her if she'd gone swimming too. There has been no response yet.

The Inquiring 'Gram 

And since I still have a Jamaica hangover, here are more pictures from my trip. We spotted the first guy carrying a bazillion eggs and bicycling. Needless to say, there would have been egg all over the road had I attempted to transport in this manner. The second picture is of one of the boat crew members who kicked up into a headstand "just like that."

Green Fence and Eggs

How To Keep Swimming

Went swimming last night and the new tribe of three was there. The one guy mentioned Errol Flynn and Jamaica again. I talked to his buddy as our feet dangled in the water and neither one of us was particularly enthusiastic about swimming laps but we both got in and I kept swimming because my lane neighbor kept swimming.

At some point, the Flynn fan introduces himself as Dale then tells me a "joke" which he is prone to do:

Two men wash up on the shore and they don't speak to each other for 50 years because they were never properly introduced.

Dale is a retired math teacher and tells me some formula regarding swimming and burning calories which might be true for fast swimmers but not for me. Dale's friend and my lane neighbor, David, swam a mile and he thought that I should have been close to a mile but I wasn't.

Dale and David exited the pool and I kept my eye on the male kid who takes swimming lessons and whose mother takes him to the locker room. The kid exited the pool and his teacher gave a long synopsis of the lesson. I waited to go to the locker room to give the mother a chance to get her kid ready and ended up swimming longer than I intended to and, by this point, I feel that my body has molded itself to the water and I'm reluctant to get out but I want to go by Target and it was almost 9:00 p.m...

On another note, I'm having dreams of going to Kripalu for a month and when I go to Kripalu, I will dreadlock my hair. One of my colleagues tells me that people in Spain call dreadlocks -- rastas and I think that's super cute...

I finished reading The Twelve Tribes of Hattie and now I'm reading Do Your Om Thing. Think it's kind of funny that I'm only on page 25 but the book is already saturated with cat page markers.

A.K.A. Paradise or Yoga Retreat in Review, III

When I was in San Diego, the weather man said It's going to be another gorgeoussss day. Felt that way about day seven in Negril a.k.a. paradise.

We went to The Cliff Hotel on Friday to practice yoga and to have breakfast. I had been thinking about getting a massage at another hotel but it worked out for me to get one at The Cliff.

Outdoor Massage Space

The last yoga practice was sweet with equally sweet music. Joy did a Thich Nhat Hanh meditation that I like.

I am a flower; I feel fresh. I am a mountain; I am solid. I am like the (Caribbean) breeze; I feel free. 

Most of us were so serene after practicing yoga in such an awesome surrounding, that we tended to sit in complete silence after practice. You could really hear a pin drop...or the waves.

I found an opportunity to take pictures of my fellow yogis which I had been itching to do for quite a while without being disruptive.

The Conductor

Post-massage, I swam a few laps before it started to rain. Three children didn't care about the rain and it wasn't an issue because there was no lightning -- almost joined them.

At some point I remind my fellow travelers that they should check in with their airline but I had issues. I write down necessary information on the back of a Ganesha (remover of obstacles) card that I have in my wallet and when I get back on WiFi, I'm able to check in and I'm in Group B which is great...

Later on, when we meet for our final dinner, Joy makes a super sweet toast thanking us for coming and telling us how appreciative she is and how amazing we are... I'm totally registering at the high end on the warm and fuzzy meter at this point.

Photo Credit: Lorenzo from Lorenzo JAM Tours

*Love the picture that I took of Joy conducting class and also love Lorenzo's picture of us at the breakfast table.

To Coo At You

Yoga at the Rockhouse

On the fifth day of the yoga retreat, I note in my journal that the music during yoga practice was on point again -- very soulful and mild. I also enjoyed the story that Joy told about Buddha's quest to reach enlightenment and how he was attacked by soldiers but their arrows turned into flowers...

We head to Booby Cay Island on the fifth day and stop for snorkeling along the way. The trip on the boat is super fun.

Regarding the election I've been told twice, by now, that it's in God's hands...

Some of us hang out at the resort's bar during the night and I talk with Bezu about how I am reluctant to be photographed and when I tell her why she says So what? She goes on to tell me that maybe it's because she was told so often during her childhood that she was beautiful that she doesn't care about being chubby and, furthermore, the chubbier you were as a child the better it was because people really wanted to pinch your cheeks and coo at you...

When I went swimming on Tuesday, thought fondly about my swimming lessons almost a decade ago and how I was the only one to show for the swimming class the day before Thanksgiving and how it was also the day that I figured out the backstroke.

Also thought about how I sprained my ankle on Thanksgiving last year so I was extra careful moving around today.

On Sunday Chiquita told me that she overheard my aunt Al say that I used to make cakes for her. I was going to wait until Christmas but why wait? Bought eggs, butter and soda at Target last night after Zumba and got myself in the kitchen to make a 7-UP cake for my aunt.