Gimping Around

On July 4th, while at my son's house, I did something to a knee that left me somewhat painful.  Don't know what exactly I did, but I think that it may have happened while chasing Jemma through the backyard.  At any rate, I listened to my body and did not attend yoga during the following week (last week).  

I was back in class last night, and George really put us through our paces.  He is one fine teacher.  By the time I arrived home, I realized that a week off does not work for a 68 yo body.  You need your fix frequently to stay limber.  Today, I am a bit sore.  He was concentrating on our hip flexors, so the hips/low back are speaking to me, and my shoulders are telling me that I have not done a headstand for over a week.

Of course, if your knee hurts when you bend it, you can't do standing poses or inversions too well.  Oh, well ... get over it and go on.  I did.

Yoga Convention

The folks in Portland, OR are enjoying a pleasant distraction this week.  The Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States is having its teachers' convention there including the appearance of  Dr. Geeta S. Iyengar.  All but one teacher at the studio where I practice have gone.  Sally is remaining here to keep the ship moving forward.  To assist her, Shanan has come to assist with classes.  She taught one of my classes Monday night and Wednesday night and I came away with some new "moves".   It was the first time that I have met Shanan, and she is quite good.   

My regular teacher  is so full of good ideas that he is addictive.  Somehow, he always finds a way to help you to learn to do a pose that you swore your body would never do.  Take handstands.  I tried for 2-3 years to learn to do them to no avail.  After he moved here, it took only one of his handstand classes to have me upside down and elated.  It was liberating!  I took good notes and wrote up the procedure for learning to do handstands.  I have had many requests for a copy of the teaching notes, and others have been able to accomplish this also.  So if you need to work on this, just drop me an email.  I will happily send you an attachment.

Do you get tired of a knitting project before you are finished?  Well, the Avocet B cardigan is getting tiresome, so I have taken a break by learning to do a shawl (actually it is a big bandana).  It is not a fancy shawl, very simple pattern -- but it is a good way to use some cotton yarn left over from Husker's green pullover.  It is certainly going fast!  However, before I can really claim it to be finished, I will need to buy a set of blocking wires.  Have you noticed how much stuff you can "need" for knitting?  We could take a small vacation on what I have spent in the last year for my new hobby. 

I went to the dermatologist yesterday about a little red dot beneath an eye and next to my nose.  Yup, it is coming off.  However, it will swell and generally look atrocious for a while.  I was asked if I was planning to go to a wedding or anything soon.  Lots of stuff coming down other than a wedding, so the little red dot will come off on June 3rd.  So I will look awful for my birthday on June 11th. 

We hit 90 degrees May 11th.  It was in the 60s earlier this week.  Texas weather ...  And the AC was not working.  The repairman came out yesterday, and fortunately, the offending part is under warranty -- barely.  However, enough time had gone by that the labor was not under warranty.  When you are hot, you don't care.  Just fix it!  We are now very very cool.  No one can live in Texas without good old air conditioning. 

George and Susan get Married

Husker and I went to a wedding on May 1, 2010, and it was a very merry time.  Actually, the wedding couple were friends of mine, but Husker seems to have decidedly enjoyed himself among so many strangers.  His route to a good time is all about degrees of separation ...

While standing outside the chapel, I introduced him to another student at the same yoga studio that I attend and her husband who happen to live in Denton.  Because of their domicile, Husker could not resist asking if they knew the Eli Young Band which started in Denton.  They began to talk about how much they liked the band, their daughter was a friend of a young lady who was engaged to a member of the band, etc., etc.  Bingo!  Was the young bride named Sarah and was she engaged to the bass player?  Yes!  The bass player is Husker's youngest son.  So we were all bonding then and there.  It is such a small world.

This morning proved once again that it is a small world.  The church choir had a guest soloist for Missa Gaia, Brad Leoli.  Brad is a teacher of saxaphone at Denton's U of North Texas.  Did he know Cheree W, a student there of saxaphone performance?  Yes!  The world shrinks a little more.  Cheree is another attendee of the said same yoga studio.

But back to the most important topic of the last evening...

George is our common yoga teacher (see how this all ties together), and one fine teacher he is.  Well, about 47 years ago, he asked out a certain fair-haired lady with whom he went to high school.  She said no because of some restrictions on dating by her parents.  He thought she didn't like him.  Fast forward about 45 years, and he moved back to Big D and guess whom he ran into?  As the wedding invitation said, a spark was kindled, and the rest is history.  The wedding was held in the first church founded in Dallas (1844) in the continuously used site (1856).  The venue was beautiful and packed with yogis, old classmates, friends, family.  The groom and best man wore their kilts, and the bride was beyond beautiful.  The reception was held at the home of the bride, and there were so many people there that one had to be careful about walking around the pool.  I was sure that someone would take a bath before the evening was out.  A band played, the wine and champagne poured, and the buffet dinner was stretched out over two rooms.

Husker was able to put a face on many of the names that I sprinkle through my conversations about my yoga classes at the Iyengar Studio.  He decided that he likes those folks.  However, he is not going to start taking classes.