So Chris and I scootered over to Citybites for lunch and we’re sitting there talking about scooter rides. We were supposed to do a group ride next Sunday, but I forgot that I have teacher training all weekend. Chris said something about riding out to Pop’s on Route 66. I know he said it with the idea that we would do it some other time. And maybe it was because we saw Up on Saturday and it’s all about living life, but I looked up at him and said “Why not go today?”.
And that’s what we did. Our first long scooter ride. No gear, no water. Just us, the scooters, a camera, and lot’s of sunscreen. And you know what? IT WAS FUN!
Today, I am thankful for the sun. The Glorious Sun. I am thankful that I am almost done with my work today so I can get out into that glorious sunshine (I have sunscreen!).
And even though I know the grand brats will be staying over this weekend and it’s usually annoying, I am thankful that they are coming. I’m planning to turn them into slave labor. If they help me clean up the back yard, I will take them to Pink Swirls (best ice-cream ever). If they agree, but complain and only pick up one piece of dog poop, then they get to come and watch us eat the ice-cream. If they don’t agree to help, they don’t even get to watch the ice-cream being eaten. Them’s the rules.
I am also thankful that my name is on this new paper being submitted for publication. It really belongs to the guy my boss works with in Germany. I am usually not involved with their projects. But this time I am! One more for the CV.
Two summers ago, I pulled up everything from the front “flower bed” at the old house where we were living. When I finally got all of the rocks out and hacked away a horrible shrub, I had to decide what to plant in the space. It had to be something I couldn’t really kill and things that could tolerate the harsh Oklahoma Sun.
This is when I became obsessed with grasses. I’d see these tall beautiful wavy grasses in purples and golds and greens and I’d want to go dig them up and transplant them to my garden. Every time I looked at them at the local garden center, the price tag prohibited me from buying them. What if I killed a $20 grass!?!
I don’t have my own home right now and have little gumption to invest in plants that won’t be mine in a year or two. Sometimes, I’m still tempted to fill in an area of our front yard with those grasses (I know they would drive the mother-in-law mad!). But I resist. Instead, I just enjoy them from afar and plan ahead for the future garden.
What on earth does this post have to do with love, you ask? Think of it as loving the beauty that surounds you in this moment, capturing memories to share in the future. Or you can see it as loving nature. Take your pick and Happy Love Thursday.
This weekend was crazy busy. It started with the Paseo Art Festival and ended with the return of Mrs. Swan. The Paseo Art Festival was a little uneventful for me. I only ended up with one student (the studio owner) for my free class. I had also agreed to hang out in the studio as part of the Welcome Wagon until eight that evening. So…didn’t get to see much of the festival or take all the pictures I had planned. Chris and I did have a splashing good ride home in the rain on the scooters.
The next day we had been invited to two different cookouts. We kind of just BBQ hopped. I unfortunately ate way too much at the first cookout, so ended up drinking my dinner at the next one. Sometime between the two I lost my keys, but didn’t realize it until the next day. I had left them at the first cookout, where we were invited back on Monday to help eat all the leftovers. Once again, I deserve an award for most potato salad consumed in a 24 hour period. We drove home last night only to realize that the mother-in-law has returned from her trip. The honeymoon is over.
I did take some pictures at the Paseo Fest. I also took some at the cookouts we attended. Just some random, candid people and kids shots. I haven’t gotten around to uploading and editing those yet. But enjoy the ones taken at the Paseo!
A few Christmases ago, my friend Robin gave me a set of wind chimes. Not only do they have cute wooden elephants dangling on them, the chimes have a very soothing sound. They are just the right pitch. I hung them in the living room of our old place and they would chime every time a breeze from the fan would hit them (those were the days of no AC).
I remember lying on the couch, trying not to move because it was so hot and hearing those chimes. I remember thinking how nice it will be when I have my own backyard sanctuary to hang those chimes. I can see the place so clearly in my head. Lush green ferns, some sort of gazebo and most importantly, some sort of swing. Better yet, I can even hear what the sanctuary will sound like, with a bubbling fountain of some sorts and birds. Oh and don’t forget the crickets.
Those chimes are packed away neatly in storage for now. I don’t know why I just thought of them or the image of them just so clearly popped into my head. Maybe it’s because the weather has been so nice and I’ve been dressing like an island girl with tank tops and flip-flops all week. We are on the very cusp of summer.
When we purchased the scooters the pecking order for best money spent on something went: the dog, then the scooters. For me the pecking order goes Chris, dog, scooter. Every thing else falls bellow that line.
One of the best parts of riding the scooter (besides the time I passed that old guy on a Harley) is being able to ride with Chris. I got my license first and had to ride behind Chris (with his learner’s permit) for weeks until he finally got his license. After that it didn’t matter who was in the lead. We tend to play scooter tag at stop lights and Chris’s general goofiness just makes me laugh. It makes for the best commutes to work.
My schedule has gotten a little out of control recently with all the yoga classes I’m teaching. Chris and I haven’t had many days where we get to ride together. But the very best days are those that combine my first love with my third love. Now, if there was only some way we could get Hooper to ride in a side car…
It is beautiful here today. The sky is blue; the sun is shinning. It’s warm, but breezy. Chris and I scootered into work together this morning. My daily walk got to be outside and since I had to cancel todays yoga class, Robin and I decided to have our own practice outside. And it was the best yoga class I’ve had in a very long time.
Robin is the best kind of “student”. I don’t ever really teach her as much as I just share my practice with her. I occasionally cue breathing, but I don’t have to. All I have to say is “in preparation for insert pose here” and Robin hops into that pose. And being outside just made our practice perfect today. We even did poses that I usually avoid because they are too difficult. But even the hard poses seemed easy today.
So, as I said earlier, I’ve been reading the War of Art. I haven’t finished it yet because I’ve actually been taking my time reading it, underlining things and writing notes in the margins. I even tagged the chapter about friends and family who criticize with a sticky tab.
At first glance this seems like a book for the creative type, a category that I really don’t put myself in. I know I like to take pictures and that is, in some circles, considered a creative endeavor, but it’s not something I ever plan to make a living on. But the book is really about getting off your ass and just doing the things you want to do. The author calls the obstacle that keeps us from doing these things resistance. Resistance employs everything, including ourselves and the kitchen sink, to keep us from achieving our goals.
This week I start my war on resistance. Time to turn off the distractions and take charge. Of what, I’m not quite sure yet, but I’ll figure that out soon enough. One thing for sure, which I realized after the long Thursday last week, is that I have to take time out each day to take care of myself. I can’t teach if I am too worn out and the way I’m going I’m going to make myself sick. So I’m vowing to do something nice for myself at least once a week. I also plan on taking more pictures, something I’ve done a lot less of since I finished my 365 day project. I didn’t take the greatest, most creative pictures for the project, but I had fun and I enjoyed taking the pictures.
So…Fuck off resistance! You don’t scare me. Well…maybe a little, but fear is a good motivator. It says so in the book.
I thought I’d make today a Plinky Friday, but when I went over there, the first question I got was “what do you do to relax?”. There’s no way I could write a whole entry off of that question with out sounding like a broken record. Instead, I decided I would post about things I am thankful for on this particular Friday.
First of all, I’m thankful it is Friday (can I get a Woop, Woop?). I know. I know. Every one is thankful for Fridays, but this one in particular seems exceptionally sweet. Thursday turned out to be the most physically demanding day. It did not help that I started out with a poor night’s sleep (thanks to the storms). I taught a 7AM class, walked, got some science started, spent the afternoon on the confocal microscope, and drove through crap traffic to the other side of town to teach my 6PM class. I was exhausted by the time I made it home. But that day is over and today, today is all new.
Which brings me to another thing I am thankful for. Today the sun is shining, the sky is blue and the threat of storms doesn’t happen until later this evening. I was able to scooter in to work this morning and do my daily walk outside. It’s breezy, but there’s that hint of summer in the air. It makes me want to take off my shoes and walk around barefoot.
Last, I’m thankful for the quiet weekend that approaches. I have zero obligations this weekend. My work load is light today and I’ll probably get out of here early. There are some serious chores that need to be done this weekend (mow yard, clean, clean, laundry), but it all is going to happen at my leisure. The most important things that need to happen is to spend some time with Chris. And maybe get caught up on some TV.
Because I’ve been so inspired by this blog lately, I’ve decided to contribute to love Thursday. Plus devoting a day’s entry to love is just so uplifting and positive and it’s a direction I really need to be taking not just in the blog, but in my life.
I took this picture in my mom’s backyard over the weekend. There’s a lot about my parents home that makes my skin crawl with all the clutter. But I can always find peace and sanctuary in my mom’s gardens. My mother is a true southern bell and she brought her green thumb to Oklahoma when they moved here from Mississippi many moons ago. And though there is very little rhyme or reason to her landscape design, the mess of it crashes together to create a beautiful escape.
In the back of the house Mom has created a bird sanctuary. Every time I visit it seems she has expanded the garden and added more flowers, bird feeders and bird baths. I can sit for hours at the kitchen table, staring out the window at all the different little finches, sparrows, woodpeckers, and doves flitting to the feeders. Sometimes the squirrels are out playing and sometimes the rabbits are out chasing each other.
I don’t believe that I’d ever miss the house when it’s gone, but I will miss the yard and all the memories of building forts, picking wild blackberries, and chasing fireflies. Even the injuries that occurred in that yard don’t seem so bad (broken arm, chased by hornets, scraping my back against the tree while swinging on the monkey swing…yeah, I was dangerous).
