Last Saturday at the Arboretum
Not out of caution, but out of wonder, first someone pointed out the black snake to me and a friend, and then we pointed out the snake to others walking past. And how exquisite the mountain laurel.
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Today In and From the Garden
It is time to pay attention to the garden, to watch closely whether it will be a warmer fall or whether there will be an early frost. Yesterday, there was a chance of temperatures in the mid-30’s F in the next few days. Now, the first day below 38F (which is when I bring in the hardiest of the tropicals–they like to get nights in the 40s F, but not the 30’s F) is toward the end of the 15-day forecast. I gambled that temperatures would stay warm enough until the next time I would be able to spend the hour and a half moving plants inside. It is best when I can do it on a weekend, but in a pinch I have done it first thing in the morning instead of my regular practice before starting the work day. I wait until the last minute because the plants are so much happier outside. They don’t mind four months inside, they are ok with five, and they start really suffering at six months. This means I watch closely danger of first and last frost to keep the plants outside as long as possible.
Some things, such as the impatiens and begonias that I was taught by my paternal grandmother to bring inside as cuttings to root in winter and then replant in spring start struggling outside when lows are steadily in the 40’sF, which is why I did the cuttings today. The tomatoes are still producing, so I have not yet switched the raised beds from tomatoes to hardy greens, but the seeds I planted when I pulled up the peppers and the eggplant are starting to come up.
Today’s harvest included: Cherokee purple, roma, and cherry tomatoes, green beans, baby butternut squash, thai hot chili peper, white and orange carrots to eat now; sweet herbs to dry for infusions–stevia, licorice mint, lemon balm, lemon verbena, spearmint. Coming up: spinach, chard, turnip greens.
- Meditation | Photos | Poetry
I Wish
If only I could
Photograph the music of
The wind in the pines.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.
- Art and Culture | Asana, Pranayama, and Yoga Practice | Food for the Body | Food for the Mind (Yoga Philosophy, etc)
World Wide Knit in Public Day (and Vikalpa Samskara)
World Wide Knit in Public Day is this weekend — June 13th (and 14, 20, and 21). What will you be knitting? I have started a pair of leg-warmers. The pattern was really for ankle warmers, but I have chosen to make them longer than the pattern suggested. The nice farmers who raise the sheep, spin and dye the yarn, and sell it at the Dupont Fresh Farm Market, called them “yoga socks.” The yarn is beautiful. The sample pair looked like something I would want on my feet in colder weather. The project was small enough to tuck into my carry bag. Definitely a go for summer knitting (unlike the three-quarter finished mohair shruggy that has become a lapful of furry stuff).
“Why are they so short?” I asked. “We had originally designed them to be longer, but our teacher said we might need to grab our ankles?” they explained. “When would you do that, when it would not matter whether you were touching fabric instead of your skin,” I puzzled out loud, not out of criticism, but really wanting to know, thinking maybe in Pilates. The farmers could not really think of a reason. I bought an extra skein along with the kit to make the — oh, let’s call them footless socks — calf height. The yarn has a bit of a stickiness to it, so they are not slippery. They will be good to wear for yoga.
I’ve never knitted on double-pointed, size 2 needles, in the round before, though I happened to have four in the house (picked up at a yard sale for a $1 a decade or two ago and put in the sewing box). I tend not to knit from patterns for whole projects. So I had a little learning to do. The pattern did not explain how to use the double-pointed needles; that knowledge was assumed. I am not used to the contraints of following a pattern. Doing so, on occasion, though, forces me to learn a new technique. It took my a couple of hours to get into the rhythm, but now I’ve eased into the project.
I sometimes seek the same type expansion with cooking. Though easily able to cook something delicious without a recipe with most ingredients, sometimes I pick out a complicated recipe just to expand my skills in the kitchen.
Yoga, most of all, benefits from a combination of free exploration and attentive development to the knowledge imparted by a teacher. We are most full and expanded when we combine experience and teachings. We receive the teachings and then we practice again and again to make it not just our own experience, but part of our being. This process is called vikalpa samskara.
Signs Around Town
What a different message–signs on glass windows and those on boarded up windows. I was out of the house on Tuesday for garden supplies. How much things in the neighborhood seem to change when I’m going out only a couple times a month instead of a couple of times a day.
Ripple Effects (and personal yoga)
Yesterday I looked at the continuing news about the crash. Among all the other stories, it seemed fairly unlikely that there would be metro service between Capitol Hill and Takoma Park by the weekend. This created a complication for me. Living without a car and commuting a number of times a week to Takoma Park to teach and take class, I had to figure out how to get there. It will be easy enough (I think) to get to Willow Street on Saturday to teach by taxi cab and to find a bus combination to get home.
In addition to teaching, though, I had been looking forward to studying with Amy Ippoliti on Friday night and Sunday morning. I could take a taxi and a bus combination to study with Amy this weekend or just forego my tuition. All that would be easy enough. But I had invited a friend to come and visit to take the whole weekend with Amy — which includes another 12 hours of teacher training on Saturday and Sunday, where I will be off doing my own thing. Since my friend and I will have very different schedules for this yoga weekend, and neither of us are much of a driver, renting a car was not really a viable option. I thought about just staying in a hotel in Silver Spring.
Then I got to my personal yoga. One of the hardest things for me to do is to ask for help (of almost any kind). I am good at offering to help and am good at both helping when asked and saying I cannot help (the latter took some practice). What I know from being a “helper” is that I get great joy from giving and offering assistance. My never asking, then, means not giving those in my life the joy of providing assistance. I overcame my deeply ingrained reluctance and asked for help. Not big help. Just is there someone already attending the training who can give a ride from the workshop into the District each night or provide an extra bed for my friend. Fellow yogis were indeed happy to help; there are now a surfeit of options.
The minor inconvenience to me from this tragedy reminded me again to send healing energy to those who are suffering and to see things in perspective. I was given a sweet reminder of the warmth and generosity of my yoga friends and colleagues. I was able to practice with success addressing one of my continuing challenges. I have been blessed, then, in the aftermath. Contemplating these gifts with gratitude gives me more energy to send out for those in need.
For those of you who are local, I think there is still space in the workshop with Amy: come join us for all level hip openers on Friday night and intermediate/advanced backbends and standing poses on Sunday morning. See link to Willow Street above for more information.
