Happy Holiday weekend

Australia Day long weekend is the end of the summer holidays for schoolkids - it's back to school next week! I had a really lovely long weekend - took the Friday off too, making it a 4-day weekend. I've been down the coast staying with a friend in Ocean Shores (which is about half an hour north of Byron Bay).

We had such a great time - went swimming in the surf almost every day. Went out for dinner with some friends on Saturday night, and a party on Sunday. Saw the wonderful film Milk - which I highly highly recommend, and also found time for lots of talking, plus of course keeping up with the cricket (Australia vs South Africa, one-dayers) and the tennis (Australian Open).

Did try to go to the wonderful Sunday Bangalow market, but just as we drove into Bangalow the heavens opened and a real tropical downpour ensued. I ended up being dropped off in the town while Vic went to do a small amount of shopping in the markets. But it was chaos - shops were sweeping water out the doors, the only business being done there really was in the coffee shops! And in the markets, apparently the stallholders were there but everyone was just sheltering under their stall umbrellas and wondering if the rain would ever end!

Yesterday evening we had to go out to a party, and were forced to leave the tennis with Roger Federer at 2 sets down, seemingly headed out of the tournament! Luckily there were a few tennis fanatics at the party, and after a while someone managed to turn the TV on (with no sound!) But that match had finished and we were convinced he'd lost till someone else got his laptop out (mainly to get some music playing) and we discovered that amazingly Federer had come back from the brink and won the next 3 sets and the match!


Since then I've come home via the cattery where I picked up young Jessie from her first (of many to come in the future!) visits there! Had the usual complaining all the way home but she is happily snuggled up between my back and the back of the sofa now, purring away!

And tomorrow back to work, and more importantly, yoga at lunchtime!!

New Yoga Mat

I got a new yoga mat at class on the weekend. It's a really nice thick, heavy-duty one - apparently comes from Germany. My yoga teacher said these are the best quality, and he's been using the same one for over 3 years! My previous eco-mat, that I was so proud of - got visiting friends from the UK to bring out for me - didn't last at all. It shedded bits all over the place, but the main problem was that it got really slippery where you feet wear away the surface.

Anyway - always nice to practice on a new mat, especially when I'd been reduced to using a very worn-out and thin one I'd got for travelling years ago ... :)

Went to a work-friend's birthday party on Sunday, and met up with some people who used to work with us last year (or before), It was fun sitting out in the backyard, drinking wine and talking to people.

Miss new pussy-cat is settling in nicely - which means she's getting wilder and wilder! I now think her name is Jess, or Jessie! That seems to be sticking better than anything else I've tried!!

And next weekend, which is a long weekend here in Oz (Australia Day), I'm going to Byron Bay to stay with a friend. Should be great! It's been a year since I've been there (and seen my friend) so we'll have lots to talk about etc!

Class (yoga) again at last!

Went to yoga class on the weekend - first time in about 3 months! Since I had that period of awful coughing every time I did any inverted pose ... For the past few weeks I've been doing yoga at home, and with our yoga group at work. But going back to class is definitely another level of intensity altogether. The energy was just wonderful!

I did some poses that I'd been leaving out for a while, either because of time constraints, weakness, or whatever! Shoulderstand (sarvangasana) was one - and I felt much more upright in that pose than in the past.

I hadn't made any particular new year's resolutions this year, but now I feel that one thing I really would like to do is move forward with my yoga practice, put more energy there. I feel that for the past couple of years it's been stop -> start -> stop -> start ... Understandable given the circumstances, but now it's time to get out of that cycle and go forward!

Mind you, I say I hadn't made any new year's resolutions, but one thing I do know! I am going to see Maharaji this year, whether it's here in Australia or somewhere else if he doesn't come to these shores. It's just been far too long!

I saw my doctor yesterday, and had the 2nd of the immunoglobulin infusions. All good ... I'm seeing a respiratory physician tomorrow, and after that will blog about them both on the lymphoma blog.

New Pussycat Photos

Here are some photos of my new Abyssinian kitten, Jaffa - at least I think that's her name! Not completely sure yet ...


(In the chinese bowl - my heart was in my mouth, but she seems to have given up on that now!)


(Manic playing with a toy!)


(Butter wouldn't melt in my mouth ... Oh really ?!?!!)

She is very cute although also very playful and skittish, racing round the house like it's a racing circuit!! The place is strewn with things she's grabbed to play with!! And she wakes me up at about 4am every morning wanting to pounce all over me!!!

This morning at breakfast - it was so funny, I wished I had the camera with me. She'd somehow managed to get inside one of my (rolled up) yoga mats and her head was peaking out the end, looking like a wild cat!!

why blog?

I read a newspaper article (ed: just added the link!) today about how people are sharing too much information these days - in reality TV shows, Facebook and MySpace, Twitter, etc etc etc.

"Today we all live with the expectation that we must happily spill our guts for whoever cares to slosh through them. Once considered a virtue, discretion is now viewed as either a character flaw or a sign that you're hiding one."

It made me stop and think about my use of blogs and Facebook. Am I being exhibitionist or something to like writing a blog (or two)? It's certainly not my nature to overtly draw attention to myself - I'm quite shy. I like to think that I do keep private the things that should remain private, but maybe I cross the line ... not sure!

I do know that I have always been a diary-keeper. Sometimes I'd let it go for a while, but then a year or two later I'd start another one. However until I started blogging, it was never for public reading. I started this blog when I went on an overseas trip and it seemed like a cool and easy way to keep friends and family in touch with what I was doing!

Then the ashtangi.net blog site was put together and I wanted to participate/join in, even though most of the other blogs there are from much more advanced and/or dedicated ashtangis than me! And so this blog did turn into an on-line diary, and my paper diary faded away! But really, I'm pretty much writing here for me/my benefit, not for anyone else. Just like with a diary, it's fun to look back to where you were/what you were doing a year or more ago. And with my yoga journey especially.

When I was diagnosed with NHL (Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma) 18 months ago it was different. I decided to set up a separate lymphoma blog to write about what happened, how it was in hospital and going through all that unbelievable stuff!

But this time it was not only for my benefit (and I have now re-read it a few times, from a distance, marvelling that this really happened to me!) But also for other people who found themselves in a similar situation, to read about someone's experiences, the good and the bad. I have certainly found it incredibly helpful to read other "cancer warriors' blogs" as well as discussion boards etc. You get so much information, and reassurance that other people have gone through the same thing as you, and they've come out the other side! I really think this is one big example of the fantastic way the internet has brought people together.

So, I can reassure myself that the lymphoma blog is definitely for a good reason! And this one? - well, I'm a web developer. I live in the technical and online world! So it just seems normal that I'd be using at least some of the tools that are around me. I don't think I need to be too concerned that I'm turning into a Britny or Big Brother type person!! Really!!

What I did on my Holidays!

Not a school essay - really what I wanted to blog about was a film I saw and a book (one of many!) I read!

The film I saw must have come out a year or more ago. But it happened to be having a return season at the cinema in Bowral when I rang up to see what was on. I'd wanted to see it when it came out but somehow hadn't. Mum had, and she had loved it, so we went! As it is in Heaven - that's the translation from the Swedish. Probably many people have seen it/heard about it. If you haven't, go and see it! Such a wonderful wonderful uplifting film - about a violinist/conductor who develops a life-threatening heart condition and returns to the village of his youth. He ends up conducting the local village choir, a mixed bunch (non-auditioned of course) of locals all with their own problems and issues.

There's a beautiful song that the woman with the husband who beats her (Gabriella) sings in their village hall concert. The words were just so inspiring that I had to search the internet to find them. Here they are (again, obviously translated from the Swedish!)

It is now that my life is mine
I’ve got this short time on earth
And my longing has brought me here
All I lacked and all I gained
And yet it’s the way that I chose
My trust was far beyond words
That has shown me a little bit
Of the heaven I’ve never found

All my living days I will live as I desire
I want to feel I’m alive
Knowing I was good enough
I have never lost who I was
I have only left it sleeping
Maybe I never had a choice
Just the will to stay alive

Being who I am
To be strong and to be free
To see day arise from night
I am here and my life is only mine
And the heaven I thought was there
I’ll discover it there somewhere
I want to feel that I’ve lived my life

It really struck a chord with me - probably it is better when you hear the music and see the lovely brave woman singing it out at the front of the choir stage, with her husband glowering in the back of the hall. But - yes, I too want to feel that I've lived my life!!

The final scene, of the choir on a big competition stage in Salzburg, with their conductor, probably dying from a heart attack, unable to get up the final flight of stairs to the stage to be with them, but still hearing them from below, was just utterly wonderful. I sat there with tears streaming down my face and a huge joyous smile plastered all over the same face!! As all the other (professional) choirs who were in the audience (and had previously been pretty snooty about this village group) slowly stood up to sing with them! Oh I'm nearly crying again writing about it ... :)

And the book that I read, which was perhaps in a similar vein, was Eat Pray Love. I know, I know, it's been out for a year or two, and I've finally got to it. (Although if I'd read that Julia Roberts was recommending it I'm not sure that I would! I don't know why publishers think that would make anyone buy a book!!!) But luckily I hadn't, and I really loved the book. It was so uplifting and - reminding me that there's so much more to life than I sometimes allow myself to remember! I know, I shouldn't need reminding. I do have that gift of Maharaji's knowledge. But I'm a very imperfect and easily distracted person and consequently am really grateful for all the reminders that come my way!!

Back home + new kitten

Back home after a nice Christmas down at my Mum's. Ate lots of wonderful food (too much of course!) and enjoyed good company! This photo was from the Saturday Christmas lunch (the 2nd one!) - typical Aussie Christmas. Everyone collapsed reading their presents, and/or watching the Boxing Day Test Match (cricket) ...

The weather was pretty dismal for the first few days I was down there - I can somehow never remember how cold it can get in Bowral at Christmas! In Queensland it's usually heat wave conditions, and so when I pack I manage to remember to throw in a pair of jeans, cardigan and a couple of long-sleeved teeshirts and think that will do it. Wrong! On Christmas Eve we took the dog to the dog park (off-leash area) before going on to some friends for drinks. It was drizzling, cold and the grass was wet. No one there could believe I'd come down with only sandals to wear. I don't wear any other shoes in summer!! And so my feet and sandals got progressively wetter and wetter! And the people we were going to were not the sort where you could kick off your shoes and go barefoot!

But I don't/didn't mind, really! I had a lovely time. Managed to do some yoga a couple of times. Peter, my nephew, told me that his work was offering staff yoga and he was enjoying that. Can't remember what sort - definitely not ashtanga. I guess that'd leave people a bit too sweaty to go back to their desks!!

And then yesterday I collected the new kitten on my way home from the airport. (No, it wasn't on the way at all unless I had moved north of Brisbane, but ...) She spent a couple of hours hiding behind the sofa and/or fridge, but then got bolder and ventured out. By the time it was bed-time she was ready to snuggle in my bed! Right now she wants to help me type this blog! I'm sure I'm going to be exhausted running after her for the next few weeks!