gardening, Facebook - Dungeons & Dragons

Found myself sitting at the computer googling earthworms (for the garden!) and thought - I must post here! Don't ask me what the connection is ... :)

It's a wonderful time for gardening - I know it'll be too hot in a couple of months, so am really enjoying diving in at the moment! Amazing how quickly the weather changes. Last weekend I was sitting in front of the combustion (wood-burning) stove wearing many layers. Today I'm in teeshirt and 3/4 length pants with all the doors open and it was almost too hot to work outside in the middle of the day! Spring has definitely sprung!

Since Scrabulous has disappeared off Facebook I've just discovered something else there to amuse me when I'm at work, or sitting in front of the computer. Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures. It is curiously addictive, so beware anyone who has a go!! (I think you just have to seach for it in Facebook -> Applications)

Yesterday at yoga class I was distinctly hot again! In summer it's like a sauna at the shala. Winter not so warm - it's really a big drafty community hall, so hard to keep warm. It was good in class, although I think my shoulderstand wasn't quite as good as last time - I did feel a bit of pressure at the top of my neck. But I do think my hips are opening a bit again. Ever since I started back (January) I've felt completely jammed up in the hips. But a few weeks ago I started doing that 'thread the needle' pose (god knows what it's called) as a hip opener, and I do believe it's starting to show results - thank goodness!

Yoga and travel dreams

Went to yoga class yesterday evening. Another really nice class. All this year, since I started back, it's been a bit 'stop and start', what with one thing or another. And I've been holding back on doing some asanas until I'd got more strength back. Last night I decided to (mostly) stop doing that and do all the poses I've been given. So I've put back garba pindasana, and my attempts at supta kurmasa (laughable attempts!) It felt good ... R helped me with shoulderstand - getting my elbows closer together. Felt completely different!!

I've been enjoying reading blog posts from Mysore - quite a few people with blogs on ashtangi.net are there at the moment. Sounds so lovely, I wonder when/whether I'll ever get there?! Not on my next overseas trip I don't think ... though I'm thinking of trying to incorporate a yoga workshop in Bali or Thailand on the way there or back, when I do go. All still a dream at the moment of course. I'm saving like mad (or trying to!), hoping to go sometime next year. Time will tell I guess ...:)

In the meantime I'm enjoying life, pottering in the garden and playing with websites. And trying to organise a Sunday lunch at my place in the next few weeks. Time I pushed myself out there again and socialised a bit!!

dirty hands clean heart

Have been having a very enjoyable weekend out in the garden! I 'recovered' an old vegetable bed that had been unused and covered in tussocky grass for years. Well, I've cleared half of it anyway! the next half will have to wait till next weekend! I got in some organic soil, some compost and cow manure and spread it all over the bed, dug it in a bit, watered it and am now leaving it for a couple of weeks to settle in! Then I'll get planting!

And I did some weeding, compost-making, general clearing up! Feels great to be back in the garden! Spring is coming very soon, and come December it'll be too hot to spend much time at all doing things in the garden, except if I get up at 6am!! So now is the time to be out there!

Yoga on Saturday was wonderful! I had to be careful of my 'wound' where they pulled the portacath out. It's got internal and external stitches. The internal ones will melt away but the external ones have to be taken out at the end of next week.

But I digress - I wasn't sure what might be a problem, just felt it out. And, particularly in the sun salutes, it was one of those practices where everything just flowed. I so enjoyed it! I did have to be careful in chataranga (or my feeble attempt at that!) but that worked out and it was only when I got to setu bandhasana that I got a 'no! stop!!' message from my body!

Now that the Olympics are on again I'm getting glued to the TV again - at least I'm able to draw the line at watching weight-lifting!! The opening ceremony didn't start till 9.45pm on Friday night here ... I watched it for a while, swapping between watching and reading my book off and on! It was beautiful - that scroll of paper idea was amazing! But really it's not the sort of thing I can sit and watch for however long it took. I didn't even watch all of the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony ... I'm looking forward to seeing some of the gymnastics, and the diving though. And, go the Olyroos!! (Australian Olympic 'football'/soccer team :)

Goodbye to my Porta-cath

And I hope not to see you again, or at the very least not for a loong time! Yes, it's coming out - tomorrow. I have to be admitted as a day patient, but it's done under the wonderful 'twilight sedation'. That means no anaesthetic (which I hate!), I don't remember a thing and feel fine afterwards! I'm not allowed to drive, so I'm getting myself to the Wesley Hospital (where it's happening) by taxi and train (the train station is 4-5 minutes from the hospital) and Lorraine is picking me up and bringing me home. Then back to work on Friday.

Went to yoga on Monday, having missed it on Saturday as I went to a video event at Amaroo (which was lovely). Boy was I stiff the morning after yoga though! Even though I did that Rodney Yee DVD class on Friday. Shows how much that did for me (nothing!) I'm doing yoga at lunchtime today, but am not sure how I'll go in our Friday lunchtime video group, as I'll have stitches from the portacath removal the day before. But I'll just see how I go, what feels right.

The little website I was working on has now resolved itself and is up, thank goodness. So I now just need to explain to its owner how to upload the word/pdf files via the cPanel so she can make them available via her blog.

And ... I've been starting to think about getting a new kitten (Abyssinian of course). I had a look on the web for local breeders and sent off a few emails enquiring about availability etc. Didn't get any replies, so sent more emails further afield (like Sydney and even Melbourne). And then I thought to check my Spam folder on the weekend, where I found replies to all my emails!!!

So now I've 'ordered' a kitten from a local Abyssinian breeder, who is expecting kittens to arrive at the end of September. Which would mean I'd be able to pick up my new kitten shortly before Christmas (they keep them for 12 weeks before you can take them away from their mum). It is quite exciting! I still think about my Mieke but I just have happy memories now, the sadness has gone. And I think that by Christmas it'll be well time to have a new little friend living with me!

Holidays do energise you!

I came back from a week away last weekend, feeling energised and ready to take on lots - re-start old stalled projects (eg the garden!) and everything. And after a week at work I'm still feeling good which is great!

We had the 2nd meeting of our book club on Thursday evening - this time it was held at my place. A few people couldn't come but there were still 5 of us sitting round the fire and having a great time talking about Life of Pi. It was really interesting how different people picked up on different things and glossed over others! I guess when people read, it is to a certain extent filtered through our own life experiences and likes/dislikes. 3 people had made notes and/or printed stuff off the internet, and two of us (me and Georgina!) had read the book weeks ago and that was all! But still it turned out we all had lots to say, and it was a very enjoyable evening.

Today we had our lunchtime yoga group at work. I normally do my ashtanga practice while the others follow a video. But this time, for some reason I decided to join in with the DVD they were playing - one by Rodney Yee. It was quite fun to do for a change, but I'm not going to make a habit of that!

Still haven't quite finished that little website I was doing. Somehow the domain name has gotten 'lost' - floating in the ethers somewhere! I originally registered this on behalf of a client, and then a couple of months ago I transferred it to the client. Or so I thought! Now it's not in my name at the registrant place, but not in the client's name there either. And when I do a whois search, it is still in my name!! Hopefully this farce will get sorted out very soon!!