Sunny day news

I got a new iPad Air today - I'm thrilled! As I'm going from the first iPad, the difference is immense! Half the weight, double the memory, and the new (to me!) Retina screen. It's smaller dimensions-wise but the screen is the same size. And so so much faster!

I'm gradually being given more of my 'old' yoga poses back, which is great. Fingers crossed that I don't come down with some other injury to set me back again!

And tomorrow is the first 'open house' - yes, my house is now on the market. Caused a large amount of panic and soul-searching when I got the real estate agents in and signed on the dotted line! I seem to be ok at the moment, but I'm sure there'll be more of that to come ... !

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Location:Kholo Road,Kholo,Australia

Almost there ...

Have been keeping it very quiet (blog-wise) but I have paid everything for the Bali trip, and it's now just 2 days till I fly off!

My practice is definitely getting stronger - managed to get through a led series of sun salutes at last weekend's class which always has more than 5 of each! But for a reality check - I am only now just about able to grab a finger in Marichyasana A for goodness sake! I guess that's what 12-14 months away from yoga does for you, but ... ! In fact, I'm not even really supposed to be doing that - Richard hasn't given me that pose back! But I am practicing certain missing poses 'on the side' so I can do a more straightforward practice in Bali.

Today's my last day at work. Tomorrow (my normal day off) I will be supervising the arrival of a large (4,000 gallon) water tank to replace one that rusted away ... Luckily there are going to be 4-5 people to do the 'manhandling' of it! It will have to be rolled part of the way as after that water tank was originally installed, a row of golden cane palms was planted in front of it. They have gotten huge! I've had a couple removed and the others thinned out. So there should be just enough room to roll the tank between the edge of the house and the palms!! Fun ... must remember to take a photo!

Progress

Things are ticking over ... my shoulder injury is largely fixed (fingers crossed!) and I am back to doing 'normal' sun salutes and vinyasas. The only weight-bearing pose that still gives my shoulder a hint of a twinge is purvottanasana, so I'm leaving that out for the moment.

Mind you - I'm only talking about the effects of the shoulder injury (bursitis) being largely 'fixed'. The year or so of no yoga still shows in my practice (and what my teacher will let me do) ... Because it's only 3-4 weeks till the Bali workshop I decided to take things into my own hands and start practicing poses at home that officially I haven't been given back yet. Really, just in an attempt to be able to practice all (or most) poses up to Navasana while I'm at the workshop, which isn't a huge practice anyway ... I expect my teacher probably has an idea I'm doing this ... :)

Things are moving along on the home renovation front! Swimming pool/pond is gone, replaced by a lovely big deck area. New water tank should be delivered just before I leave for Bali. Just a few more tidying up type things to do and then I guess I'll have to get the real estate agents in ... (Scarey!!)

The Magic Carpet from Marrakech!

Here's my magical Moroccan carpet in its new home! Although I have to admit that sometimes it doesn't look as tidy as this - Miss Jedda Pussycat seems to think it's her plaything to take running jumps at (or from) and slide around the floor on it ... in fact that it's her very own Magic Carpet!!  ... :)

life returns to 'normal'!

Well, after my first week back at work (which seemed to never end!), I am settling back into 'normal' life. But I do still feel that lift that several weeks of wonderful new experiences/catching up with old (and new!) friends and family/being out of the daily routine, brings.

I have finally unpacked everything (this was brought on because this coming Saturday people are coming to stay in the bed that was covered with half-unpacked things!). Jedda pussycat is very happy with the new Moroccan rug, which she is taking as a place for her to sharpen her claws on (?!!!) and as a sliding game that she can take running jumps at! Sigh!

Can't say I've got back into cooking much yet. But next Tuesday Angela is coming for dinner and I'm going to cook a yummy Pasta and Aubergine (and cream) dish that Judy made one night in London. It's a Nigel Slater recipe from his 'Real Cooking' cookbook. This was one of the books that I got in London and posted home - everything I posted has arrived now.

And yoga ... I've got to class every Wednesday and Saturday since I've been back. And I've managed to practice quite a lot during the week (at lunchtimes at work). So I'm pretty pleased with that. However, last Saturday my practice was pulled back by R, or his assistant (who I think he uses to 'do his dirty work', or say things that the student won't like!) I was reading a blog yesterday - I think it might have been in Mel's blog, where she said something about how you have to go with how the current teacher teaches, whether it's at home or in a workshop or wherever ... And I do understand this, but it's still hard sometimes!

I've been stopped doing Marichyasana B and D, and have to replace them with that 'threading the needle' pose. Huge sigh!! I'm not even clear why, but a Mysore class isn't really the place for extended questioning that could lead to arguments (and tears!) if I wasn't careful! If I think about it (as I have A LOT!!) I'd guess the main reason/benefit of that pose is to open my hips. Which can't be bad, I know! There's lots of work to do there. But, but, but still ... !

In the end I have made a compromise with myself. I will do as I'm instructed in class (as of course I know I must, otherwise why go to class!) but when I practice at home/work I'm still going to do Mari B. I think I'll leave Mari D for a while until I can bind Mari C on a regular basis (as opposed to intermittently/occasionally!), at least on one side. It's that twisting around that I also need to work on, and if I can't bind in Mari C, there's no hope in Mari D! But this way I won't lose Mari B again, as I did before after I stopped doing it a few years ago when I was ill.

I'm also back to doing a modified chatarunga (well, my chatarunga was pretty much non-existent!) in an attempt to build up the strength necessary to do it properly. I'm OK about this - well, of course I'd like not to need to, but the fact is I do if I want to do chatarunga properly in the future!

Despite what I said at the start of this post, this has made for a challenging few days until I came to an accommodation with myself over it!

The Good and the Bad!

Well, good and bad to report on! I'll start off with the bad! As part of the government's attempt to stimulate the Australian economy they have been offering 'free' roof insulation to all home-owners - up to a certain limit. Well, my house is notoriously badly insulated - hot in the summer and cold in the winter. I'd always been told that the cathedral ceilings that are throughout the whole house are very difficult/impossible to insulate but when I went and enquired again, I was thrilled to hear they had some new type of 'blow-in' insulation that could be used, and was covered by the government's insulation rebate.

So, yesterday was the big day. But ... when they arrived they took one look at my ceilings and said - no, we can't do that! After lots of to-ing and fro-ing yesterday and today, it turns out that there's more than one type of cathedral ceiling, and the type I have (with the beams exposed inside the house) can't be insulated that way - there's only about 38mm space between the ceiling lining and the corrugated iron roofing. Big sigh!!

Ah, but the good news ... !
Today I saw my specialist, having had extensive blood tests on Monday. And counts are looking really good!

White cell count   4.6   (normal range 4.0 - 11.0)
Neutrophils   2.7   (normal range 2.0 - 7.5)
Platelets   155   (normal range 150-450)

Platelets were in normal range for the first time, probably in 2-3 years!! And Dr B said nothing to worry about - everything is normal, and as it should be.

And so really, that totally outweighs any disappointment I might have had about the insulation. There are much more important things in life ...  :)