On the Road Again

Well it is time to put on my traveling shoes again.

My husband got a brochure from a cruise line in the mail a few days ago. There was a 12 day cruise to the Baltic Capitals that he thought looked interesting. And even though it would be very short notice; he thought we should look into it..…He should know better than to tempt me like that!!

I made a mad dash to the phone and spent several hours with travel agents and airlines to make arrangements and we are off!!! We leave Monday. I almost don’t have time to pack. I love being impulsive and spontaneous!! And thankfully I am able to do it.

I will miss my 2 daughters birthdays while I am away and I have a birthday party to go to tomorrow for my granddaughter.

So I will be running around like a chicken with my head cut off for the next few days trying to buy birthday presents to give to my 2 daughters before I leave, go to my granddaughters birthday party and pack my bags. (And, packing for a cruise is a lot different than packing for just any vacation.) While doing all this I have to find some time to spend at the bookstore and on the computer learning about my ports of call and planning how I will spend my days in port.

So, before putting on my traveling shoes, I probably should find a pair of roller skates to get around faster and these things done.

Life is grand
Gypsy Girl

Walls

“Before I built a wall I’d ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out
And to whom I was like to give offense
Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,
That wants it down.”
Robert Frost


I read this excerpt from Robert Frost’s Mending Wall, and it got me to thinking about my own relationship with walls, emotional ones as well as physical ones. They make me feel hemmed in.

In every house I’ve owned I’ve had my husband tear down walls to create more open spaces. Not just interior walls, but I also have him open up exterior walls and add huge windows to capture the views and let my spirit run free. Thankfully my husband knows a good bit about construction and is a very patient man who doesn’t mind catering to my crazy whims.

My yoga room is nearly all glass. The are no walls, just floor to ceiling windows, and doors of full length glass panels. And since I live high on a hill with no neighbors, I have all around views of my gardens and natural landscapes while I practice yoga.

I am often graced with a glimpse of a fox or a deer meandering by, or a red tail hawk soaring past my vision in the sky. My favorite friend is a little chipmunk who sits on top of a stonewall in my garden and watches me practice.

Sometimes when I am practicing asanas I catch him sitting up on his hind legs, looking like he is quietly watching. And on other days when I am meditating, all of a sudden his chirping will seep into my consciousness. He can chirp non stop. Once, during meditation, I counted his chirps up to 350, then he must have found something more interesting to do.

The absence of walls allows me to expand, commune and become one with nature. The earth and the sky become an intimate part of my yoga practice. And I find inner peace in outer landscapes.

Namaste
Gypsy Girl

"Four Things" Meme

Well, Gartenfische tagged me with this Four Things Meme. I have seen it on many blogs but wasn’t too sure what exactly it was. So I did a Google search on it. WOW, there are lots and lots of people doing it. So, I guess I’ll play along

FOUR JOBS I’VE HAD
1. Dry cleaning & laundry, pressing clothes
2. Clothing manufacturer, stitcher
3. Electronics Company, circuit board assembler
4. Real Estate business, owner

FOUR MOVIES I CAN WATCH OVER AND OVER
1. Scent of A Woman
2. My Cousin Vinnie
3. The Great Escape
4. The Sting

FOUR BOOKS I’VE RECENTLY READ
1. Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga
2. The Wisdom of Yoga
3. The Kite Runner
4. Meditations from The Mat

FOUR PLACES I’VE LIVED
1. San Rafael, CA
2. Malden, MA
3. Plaistow, NH
4. Simsbury, CT

FOUR TV SHOWS I LOVE
Sorry, don’t watch TV…brain drain

FOUR PLACES I’VE VACATIONED
1. South America, all over
2. Mexico, all over
3. Europe, all over
4. Waikiki Beach, Hawaii

FOUR FAVORITE DISHES
1. Most Arabic food
2. Sushi
3. Traditional Thanksgiving Turkey dinner
4. Maine lobster and Ipswich steamed clams

FOUR SITES I VISIT DAILY
1. Huffington Post
2. Digg
3. Lingolex
4. ProBlogger

FOUR PLACES I’D RATHER BE
1. Traveling with my husband
2. On the beach with my family
3. Kripalu Center for Yoga and health
4. In my garden

FOUR NEW PEOPLE TO PLAY THE GAME
1. Babsblog
2. Playin'TheEdge
3. Total-Health-Yoga
4. Asia's Prana Blog

Bad Hair Day

I don’t have bad hair days…I just have plain old BAD HAIR. It’s baby fine, very thin, mousy and very uncooperative. There’s not much one can do with this kind of hair. I have almost always stuck to a bob which can look limp and plain. And it gets pretty boring after years of the same style. I search through hairstyle books to find something that will work, but did you ever notice that they always use models with great hair…thick and luscious….the kind I only dream of.

Lucky for me I have a niece that is a hairdresser. Not just any hairdresser. She is a miracle worker. I always try to limit her to the bob for fear that anything else will be a disaster, and she has always reluctantly complied to my wishes.

But this time when I had my hair appointment, she told me she had been looking at my hair and thought she wanted to do something a little different. So I let go of my fear and sat back and let her do the thing that she does so well.
She decided to deepen the color and put a few foils in front for highlights.

Then came the cut. She was training a new girl, so she explained and showed how to create a stacked cut in the back and just how to work it in to blend the line with the front.

I watched as she worked her magic and transformed my limp mousy hair into a trendy hairstyle. I love it and so does everyone else. They keep telling me I look 10 years younger.

So today I am very happy!! Not only because I have a trendy new cut, but also because I’ve had the privilege of watching my niece grow from a little girl chopping away at all her Barbie dolls hair into a beautiful career woman living her dream of having her own salon.

Gypsy Girl

Yoga On The Beach

My daughter rents a house at the beach each year, and our whole family enjoys great beach days together. It’s only 20 minutes from our home town. So it is an easy ride to the beach each day for those of us who drive back and forth. This year the beach weather has been excellent.

Most of the time my daughter has the beach house filled with any combination of kids…cousins…friends. It is great for us all because generally the whole family shows up at some time during the day. It makes for memorable summer vacations for the kids. (and us too!)

Yesterday I did my early morning yoga practice on the beach to the sound of the surf. It was great. My 4 youngest granddaughters opted to sleep in, instead of practicing yoga with Gram, but I did get them to strike a pose for me!! I love that I have introduced my grandkids to yoga at an early age. I don’t push them, I just let them participate if they want to. One of their favorite things to do is to look at the photos in Yoga Journal and try to do the pose.

Last year we spent 2 weeks on Waikiki Beach with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. My sister-in-law and I practiced yoga on the beach each day at just about sunrise. It was an awesome experience. Sun salutations while the sun was rising. After yoga practice we would walk along the beach for a few miles, then jump in the ocean for a swim. What a way to start your day!!!

Tomorrow morning my sister-in-law and I will be practicing yoga on the beach in front of my daughter’s beach house. Then we will walk a few miles along the beach before going for a morning swim.

If only summer could last a little longer.

Gypsy Girl