Book thief

We went to lovely movie tonight - The Book Thief. It left me thinking about life and relationships and humanness. 

I think I would go to any movie with the word book in the title. I love going to a movie I know nothing about. Everything is a surprise. 

Yoga jeans

There they lie on the floor! Second Yoga Jeans, Canadian made with love.

They are very comfy - except for one place - the belly. I can stand, twist, and turn, but not sit or squat. I remember I could a few months ago when I bought them. They must have shrunk in the drawer or else I wanted them so much it didn't matter that they didn't fit. I thought I stopped doing that a long time ago.  How quickly I can slip into an old habit if I'm not vigilant. And of course, I could have gained weight. Ah, the belly! This soft, beautiful, warm, flexible sheath of skin that can grow and shrink and shrinking and growing is what it's supposed to do. In each breath it shrinks and grows. But I'd rather have mine stay shrunk. Or maybe the jean people can just make a nice little elastic band around the top with a fake zipper at no loss of style.

Emptiness

There is this delicious feeling of emptiness tonight. I did everything that I meant to do today and now I feel complete. And with an empty empty mind. Eating popcorn for a before bed snack. That's about it. Body relaxed and tired. Mind relaxed and tired. 

I wish everyone the same kind of emptiness - where nothing needs to be added or deleted. 

Smile to joy

I woke up early this morning and had the thought to smile. It was dark. No one could see me. I smiled from ear to ear so that the cheeks closed in on the eyes and I showed some teeth. A really big smile! It felt so funny I chuckled. I've had a great day! You've gotta try it. I plan to smile before sleep too and maybe I'll be chuckling during the night.

Breathing room.

A pile of books to the Friends of the library!

It feels so good to de-clutter. I have to get rid of something to be able to bring anything new in.

It doesn't matter if it's new ideas or new clothes or food or books, it seems to be the way.

Or else I don't feel I breathe as well as I could.

Chilled

The weather has turned chilly. It feels like an arctic wind. I have been chilly and achy too. Yesterday I slept most of the day. Today I am a little better. I've taken my remedies: oil of oregano, lemon juice, vitamin C, and black currant juice. Finns don't do chicken soup. They do black currant juice. Hot! That's what I got as a kid. I don't remember any other remedy. 

It's nice to be able to read and watch television today. When not feeling well there is permission to not do too much. Hmmm, maybe that should be more available other times too. It reminds of a woman who told me about her very large family. When they were growing no one was sick longer than a day. They had a sick room upstairs and when anyone was sick they had to go there - alone and with nothing to do. They got well really fast!

Perching

These seagulls were perched on top of St. Andrews church this morning. They stood on that very narrow edge looking north. What a view! I wondered how narrow that edge was and did they have one webbed foot on either side or both on the same side. 

Meditating is like being on that edge. If you veer one way you end up falling into sleep. If you veer the other way you end up in thinking mode again, at the surface of the mind. Awareness is right here right now. That's what we practice. 

And what about the seagulls?

A goose egg

Look at the size of this egg! It's a goose egg. The one egg filled the whole fry pan. 

A card

Monday morning after class I opened this card that had come in the mail. Yes the post! The Yukon in the fall. A very beautiful card and i wondered who it was from. Awwwww! A handwritten note from a former student. She's been reading my blog.

There is something so heartwarming about receiving a card in the mail. That someone actually chose a card with me in mind, wrote some beautiful words of gratitude, put it in an envelpe, bought a stamp, walked to the mailbox, and put it in. Thank you! And I remember you well! I talk about you in class sometimes because you were able to do the most amazing pigeon pose. 

Praise, as in simple appreciation, naturally leads to gratitude, which naturally leads to a feeling of union with another, connection, love.

What can you do today to brighten someones's day? Make a phone call? Smile at someone? Smile at everyone? Touch a shoulder? Give a hug? Say hello? Write a note?

Marathon man

This guy arrived from Marathon today!

A knitter's afternoon

I spent the afternoon knitting with Don's two young nieces, Madison, and Erin, and having tea. I finished my kid silk scarf this evening. 

Green and golden

I sometimes think about being unfinished.  Unfinished as in growing and changing. I think I am still green. Golden. As are you!

Love what appears

I've had a long day. It's been a beautiful day filled with sunshine and wonderful people. Right now I can't remember how much actual sun there was but it was still a sunny day in my life. At this moment I feel abundant, full, rich with experiences. 

It is good, at the end of the day, to see the bigger picture. To look back momentarily and be grateful for it all. Love everything that appeared. Just because it did. 

Love your gas station attendant

The little orange light that looks like a gas pump went on in my car today. Since my dad always said to never let my gas level get really low I headed over to my full service gas station. How did we ever manage without the reminders anyway, these little lights, beeps, and burps?

So, I said fill 'er up!

The young man said sure and plugged me in. He then came over and asked how my day was going. Excuse me? He seemed to really want to know. We chatted and went through the most common northern Ontario topic - the weather. We moved on to how some people are cold or hot and how couples are often opposite. We shared stories about how our partners were feeling the chill when we think it's 100 degrees. We moved onto skin sensitivities, and manscaping, which I had never heard of. That's when all these products and activities that women have bought and done for years: hair colour, body lotions, nail potions, hair waxing, etc. now it's for the man too! Manscaping! 

He wasn't buying it and neither was I. We had a lovely conversation. And you just never know when you find a kindred spirit. Stay alert. 

Love your nostrils

Just an opening for air? Nope. The nose does much more than simply let air in. Rhinologists ( medical nose specialists), can list about 30 functions for the nose. Some of these are: the nose filters; moisturizers; directs the flow of air; warms the air; registers the sense of smell; brings in oxygen; creates mucous to detoxify as necessary;  provides a route of drainage for the sinuses; and affects the nervous system. 

You may have noticed that we are rare creatures to have an external nose as well as an internal nose. Most animals have 2 holes on the front of their face or at the end of their snout. 

Anything going on onside the nasal passage is closely related to the brain and the nervous system. There is turbulence inside the passage due to its non smooth interior surface. The nasal passage is a beautiful system when it's functioning properly. It's nice to have the right amount of mucous. It seems a strange point at first thought but you can even have more mucous because you suffer from constipation. The body has to expel and eliminate toxins in some way from some opening if the other end is plugged. 

Even the shape of the nose is a factor in how we are mentally and emotionally. Makes you think about what plastic surgery can change besides the shape of the nose. 

How does changing the shape of the air change a person?

And since the nose is the main portal of breath to the body it modifies and prepares the breath for assimilation by the body. 

May we should be more aware of our noses!

Christmas family supper in November

Tonight we ate our Christmas turkey. We had 12 people in our tiny cottage house. It was crammed and  fun. No one had to shout across the room or go too far to fill their plate. Don's daughter, Laura, and her boyfriend, Byron, are moving to Vancouver this week, so we had the whole clan over for a farewell dinner. And now that it's over it feels empty, and oh yes, peaceful too. I would have taken a photo of our beautiful bird but it lost it's legs pretty quickly, and then a wing, and some breast, oh well, everyone has seen a turkey.

All the kids have left home. I guess that's how it should be.

Self love

What you do for yourself - any gesture of kindness, any gesture of gentleness, any gesture of honesty and clear seeing toward yourself  - will affect how you experience your world. In fact, it will transform how you experience the world. What you do for yourself, you're doing for others, and what you do for others, you're doing for yourself. 

Pema Chodron

Love

Just expand out into the space around you.  Love is expanding, filling, spacious, inclusive. It really includes everything. Lack of love isn't possible. You may not be aware of it but it's there. Always. Sometimes you are shrinking, closing, contracting, through fear and worry, so you aren't aware of love.

Love is all there is! Just love.

Plant love

I heard of a study done on plants by a bored scientist. He was working on something else with a polygraph machine when he decided to hook it up to his plant in the lab office - just for fun. He just thought about giving the plant water and the needle on the graph which was hooked up to the plant started to move. He was amazed and went on to do many, many experiments with plants - all with results that indicated that your grandma knew what she was doing when she talked to her plants to make them grow better. 

I usually have a hard time keeping a rosemary plant alive inside the house through the winter. So, here's my own experiment happening with my rosemary and a lavender plant. I have started to tell them how beautiful they are and how much I appreciate them for bringing greenery into my indoor landscape. I make sure I notice them every day. I think it's working. I will keep you posted. 

Buildings need love too

This house is abandoned. This house I would love to own. It's my idea of a dream home. To lovingly bring it back to its original splendour. This is the back yard. The front has an amazing porch to have tea and watch the people and dogs walking along the nearby creek. The other two photos are the garage in back. Brick! And big enough to house a cute little yoga studio. I walk by it often. The lawn is cut. The sign says no trespassing. It's been this way for 13 years at least and soon it might just fall gown if I don't get to it : )

Pecan cranberry granola

1/2 cup honey ( I used 1/3 cup, worked well)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 cups large flake oats
1 cup pecan halves
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1 cup dried cranberries

Whisk honey, oil, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl ( you might whisk them in a pot over low heat to get a smooth consistency). Add oats and seeds and pecans. Stir to coat.

Spread mixture on baking sheet. Oven 325 F. Cook until nicely brown, stirring every 5 minutes.
Cool in pan. Add cranberries.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from a Chatelaine magazine recipe.

Let go

I woke this morning grumpy.
No reason why.
I unrolled the mat.
Lay down.
And moved.
Back and forth, breathing.
Gently, softly, opening.
I shed and laid bare my feelings.
Better. Yes, better.

It came back later.
I had to stop and breath.
I unrolled the mat.
Lay down.
Back and forth, breathing slowly.
I wondered what's this all about?
No answer.
No thinking.
Or too much thinking?
Softening.
Opening.
Letting go of the need to be
Anything else.
Letting go of trying to be
Somebody else.
What would happen if I just stopped?
Lay bare my body, my mind, my Self.

Bliss is letting go of everything.
It seems to me that's it and all.
The only thing left to do.

Mayama

Wool dryer balls

I made these today and also tested them out. They really work.
You wind wool (wool that shrinks) into a ball and put it in a sock or pantyhose. Then wash and dry in hot cycles. When they were done, that is, felted, I put a few drops of essential oil on each and then put four of them into the dryer when I dried clothes. The clothes came out smelling gently scented, no clinging and the drying time was much less. Apparently drying time can be from 25 to 50% less.

I feel so accomplished today : )

The most miraculous healing spread

I have been making this spread since I discovered it in an Ascent magazine (a long time ago).

It's full of protein, B 12, calcium, iodine, and the nuts are warming food as our weather turns colder.

2 cups walnuts
3/4 cup almonds
3/4 cup sunflower seeds
(all raw and unsalted)
1 tbsp sea kelp
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Grind up all the dry ingredients to a fine consistency in a food processor. (I have tried a blender but it gets bogged down tight at the bottom.)
Put the mixture into a big bowl.

Add:
3 heaping tbsp of miso
1/2 cup tahini
juice of one lemon
2 tbsp tamari
1/3 cup warm water

Mix together to form a smooth paste and enjoy!
Makes 3 cups worth. It keeps for about a week in the fridge.