No one can take away your uniqueness.
Like a snowflake, you are the same yet one of a kind.
Y4 – Day 298 – Unique
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Category Archives: Travel
Y4 – Day 227 – Balance, Equanimity and Peace
A Japanese tea set lovingly placed on a comfy, cushy white silky looking bed cover is my inspiration and emblem tonight of balance, equanimity, beauty, simplicity and Peace. Thank you to V for photo shot in Osaka, Japan two months ago.
This represents balance in its purest, mathematical, visual art form. The cup on the left is turned upside down with its white, tall circle a counter to the right cup facing up with its deep, dark round shape.
In the center, the tea kettle, spout due north, its lid evening out the east and west circles, the handle a straight line, halving the tray. The entire rectangular snug design is outlined in gold yellow, popping and framing the arrangement in strict lines.
Meanwhile, the white background looks pillowy soft and feathered with shading that suggests the heft of the tea set amid clouds.
Ah, the yin and yang of it.
The equanimity, the beauty, the simplicity represented in this photo creates a masterpiece.
I don’t feel thirsty when I see this, I see a symbol of peace, a labyrinth garden, haiku, yoga and contemplation.
Look inside yourself and study it, what emotions show up for you?
Y4 – Day 225 – Happy Birthday E!!!!
To my beautiful, youngest, E.
You are sunshine!
Your favorite color suits you well.
From Computers to Japanese, you shine.
Music, math and racquetball –
Your vegan baking and cooking, divine.
Dedicated, compassionate, strong and that’s not all,
You sing, you draw, you teach and excel,
And you have a heart of gold, everyone can tell.
We are so proud – our hearts just swell!
Happy 21 – you are one sweet doll!
MUAH!
Y4 – Day 219 – Manifestation 102
Continuing with yesterday’s post, I want to share with you that back in 2014, I had a desire to host a retreat up in the mountains after restarting yoga at home for my yoga ladies.
I wrote about it from time to time in my journal. I daydreamed about it up in the cabin here and there.
Then, I started feeling like an urge to do it. Call it excitement or a calling. I started writing about it more frequently.
By June of 2016, I had it pretty much visualized. I casually mentioned it in July or August to the yoga class to survey enthusiasm and commitment. I shared my thoughts with BFF after discussing it with my husband and getting his input.
I had little notes everywhere on what to do and what to make food wise and how to coordinate it all. It still had to marinate before I could pick a date. I decided to keep notes on my iPhone on a walk I took a little time later because I lose pieces of paper, I come up with lots of great ideas on a walk and the endorphins released while on the walk make me feel like I can do anything.
And then, we all agreed on an approximate date and time. One of my yoginis, got vacation medical leave and it fit into our time bracket. Once that was settled, I made up a flyer and sent it out.
The minute I got replies, I went to work on fine tuning the details.
I made up an itinerary and a menu. I am a dreamer and a schemer.
I planned, I shopped, I cleaned and I anticipated. I believed it would happen. And if it didn’t or it didn’t look exactly how I expected it to, that was ok, too. I let go. I let it go and went with the flow. I took the next right action and then released it into the winds, literally. Besides, I was too busy having fun to demand any outcomes.
Needless to say, we all enjoyed the experience and I am planning the next one in my head as I type.
Never say Never because you Never know
Y4 – Day 213 – Back from Hiatus
So, in the past week, I have been planning, lugging, shopping, packing, unpacking, driving, cooking and cleaning to get prepared for my first annual Fall Mountain Yoga Retreat which I aptly named the Poetry in Motion Retreat.
Sorry for the hiatus but I needed to use every available imagination, organizational and energy cell in my body for the getaway.
Everything went well. It was a small first women’s retreat. Only two yogini women, myself and our mascot, Cindi were there – which was perfect because the treehouse has limited space.
Lots of fun times were shared. We followed the itinerary and the menu I had planned. The weather was cool but not bitter.
I believe we all went home with a new appreciation for vegan fare, the depth and joy in yoga and a renewed sense of self.
Y4 – Day 190 – Avila 2016 Tour
Last year, approximately same time in August, we headed for Avila Beach for the first time. We are on our way today, same hotel that offers hot chocolate croissants at breakfast and fresh from the oven, home made fruit pies with vanilla ice cream in the evening hotel, different room.
Last time we stayed on the first floor. Our suite had a kitchen, a huge outdoor patio, two fireplaces (one in the corner of the outdoor room with seating) and spa tub for two. Let’s see what this year brings. It is for couples only so it’s awesome for honeymooners, romantic getaways and empty nesting with their dog Cindi mini vacationers.
I am looking forward to the cooler weather by the beach. Hopefully, we will go shopping in the town of Morro Bay where I found the organic Japanese charcoal and walnut scrub last year. That stuff leaves your face and body smooth as velvet.
The picture below depicts a partial face of the teeny town from the beach. La Fonda Hotel is two blocks in. A short and scenic walk. This picture was taken at dawn. Do you see the older gentleman sitting at the top of the steps? The pigeons and the one lone seagull are perhaps expecting a nibble or crumb.
That same evening, the boardwalk was covered in food tents for the Saturday market/fair and live bands played while leashed dogs barked. The pigeons and gulls had plenty to scavenge the next morning while everyone else was asleep with full tummies.
The following picture is Morro Bay at dusk. I tend to gravitate towards lower light levels and pictures of piers and sailboats. Notice the massive rock close into shore which gives this town its notoriety.
The coast of central and northern California never ceases to amaze in its raw, rugged beauty.
Y4 – Day 180 – Ten Day Vacay
I am baaaaaaaaack!
Ok – so in the last ten days a lot has gone down. In the world, in our country and in our own little neck of the woods.
My godmother, my dad’s sister in Argentina passed away, leaving a hole in our family. She was suffering so much though it seems merciful to let her go peacefully in her sleep. Yesterday was her (would have been) her birthday. Her daughter Gaby, rounded up all her mom’s cousins and had them over at my Tia Betty’s home where my son and I stayed back in 2004. She videotaped each person as she went around the large dining room table and sent it to my sister and I, here in the states via smartphones.
Le Tour de France is in its 16th stage as of today. Chris Froome (Froomy to his fans) is wearing the yellow so far. I have not seen today’s stage yet. We record the live tape from three in the morning and watch it together when love of my life gets home.
ML has come to visit and gone. Much fun, tears and laughter as we watched all twenty-six episodes of Grace and Frankie, shopped, went to see Bryan Adams at Verizon Amphitheater, met up with Dana and went up and down the mountain. This was my second time watching the two seasons of Netflix’s comedy with my adorable Lily Tomlin and it was even better and more nuanced this time around.
I had not been writing much due to the visit, but my real, true, I mean it this time, start date is August first anyway. That is when I will sit to write and make myself have office hours. This is the day I become a new woman and actually discipline myself. I owe it to my writing if not to myself.
My words take on a meaning and trip of their own sometimes. They fly out of my hands and I can’t take them back once they are in black and white. Hopefully, I will get some material down and then edit, edit, edit and edit and share and edit and workshop it and edit some more.
My memoir class is just about over with a weird space between the July class and the last one in late August. I began another online class I am not very good at attending. I think I hate online video classes just as much as I hated TV aerobics and VCR yoga tapes back in the day. GIVE IT TO ME IN WRITTEN FORM for G’s sake!
Today was the first day back for my yoginis too. We limbered up today after a long hiatus.The theme was third chakra or your core power, especially your will power. Together with emotion and heart, intentions materialize when you match it up with your yellow sun energy. Last night, I downloaded incredible new age and soothing spa songs, creating two fresh yoga playlists.
At Bower’s museum, I purchased yet another bell sounding Tibetan singing bowl. I saw the Mummy exhibit too and wish I hadn’t. I had nightmares due to the graphic nature of the displays.
My garden is out of control especially with cherry Heirloom tomatoes in golden yellowish orange, red and green Christmasy ones and teardrop shaped bright red specimens. I don’t even have to buy lettuce anymore because plot one is exploding with curly leaf, almost romainey salad greens. Zucchinis are sneaky and all of a sudden they become huge baseball bats from yellow flowers. One pumpkin, so far and herbs to last me a lifetime. The neighbors in Arrowhead and down here are both benefitting from our constant harvest.
Mastermind concluded but I belong to a writing community online now and have homework due every Friday that is critiqued by fellow writers and in order to stay in the group, you have to read and give feedback to at least three people. I am making writing friends with ex Pats in Spain and Germany and others living in the US. I am impressed by most of what I read.
Meanwhile, I have re-read through Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, and this time I made the commitment and wrote out the prompts scattered throughout the chapters. I am heavily invested in Writing down Your Soul by Janet Conner, working through the powerful and profound questions on a daily basis. I am also relishing Chapter by Chapter by Heather Sellers. I am doling out pieces of The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr, which J had signed (oh how envious) to myself as I somehow fit it in with my library lent copy of Writing Memoir Together by Joan Tornow. I also started the fiction novel, A Paris Apartment which ML said was very good and a new memoir by Joan Anderson, this one called, An Unfinished Marriage. I love reading so much at once so I never have to say goodbye to any one book right away.
I think that’s about it and you are caught up. My poor dog, Cindi is looking at me waiting on dinner and I am about ten minutes late starting M’s supper. Bye for now.
Y4 – Day 179 – Parisian Accommodations
I just have to share what I have done with my office. It is temporarily a guest room while ML is here. The wall bed is attached to my desk. All I had to do was clear space, pull it down and put sheets on. Now, ML has a Parisian getaway!
Y4 – Day 172 – UFO’s
There are several birds and one wildflower I have yet to identify for lack of time. Since I haven’t identified these two pictures you see posted here, I decided to call them UFOs. The bird is self evident, “Duh” it flies. See the seed in its beak?
The blossom looks literally like a colorful, maybe psychedelic spaceship with its landing gear exposed ready to touch down. Clearly, you can see that too, right? And, yes, this is an upside down bloom so it hangs off the stem – I did not rotate the picture.
Nature is amazing and often times quite stunning!
Y4 – Day 170 – Mountain High Vegan Meals
High altitude Mountain Momma strikes again.
I guess I get inspired up here in Arrowhead so I cooked up two vegan one pot meals at the same time. My old standby is a salad and throw everything I have in it. I wanted something more substantial to go alongside it and by making two different types of dishes in quality and quantity, I can skate through the rest of the week eating healthy without much thought by just tossing a salad and heating up ready made bowls of vegan goodness. Then, I can focus on my writing, painting and researching.
I basically started with the same veggies “sautéed” in water; yellow and green peppers, sliced, diced onions and some minced garlic. I added a can of diced tomatoes to one and a bottle of spaghetti sauce to the other. I also added pinky tan Northern beans, half a can each for extra protein but not so much gas. Both pans simmered with a combination of miso and veggie broth. Each pot was filled with a mix of organic, store bought items and ingredients from my OC, organic garden I cleverly and easily brought up the mountain in Trader Jo insulated bags (everything pre-washed, bagged and sealed).
Then, I added cumin, corn, cayenne, oregano, nutritional yeast, ketchup and smashed up black beans to my Mexican style hearty stew. I served myself a huge helping with slices of avocado and lime, punctuated by homegrown parsley.
I added Italian herbs, kale, vegan meatballs, zucchini and vegan sausage crumbles to my Italian style sauce and served myself yet another sampling of tastiness in the evening with homemade “parmesan” sprinkled on top.
Today, I intend on making tortilla filled tacos with the Mexican stew and add some vegan Mexican cheese sauce and/or salsa to it.
My Italian meal is going to be stuffed into this gigantic zucchini I picked in the garden just before coming up, baked with vegan mozzarella. I may or may not do this today.
While the squirrels, adorable teeny chipmunks (Simon, Theodore and Alvin) and at least five different colorful and extraordinary varieties of birds (mostly in pairs and romantically enough, they feed each other) feast on our feeders, I will dine in high altitude style too.
