Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, and autumn a mosaic of them all.
Stanley Horowitz
See everything; overlook a great deal; correct little.
Pope John XXIII
Tags: Quoting
The hubster has style.
Kelly has humor!
Matt has speeeed.
I am not a bowler. I bowl. I share shoes and forge community. We are strangers with a penchant for alternate identities. K-Gimmy and Bob Hughes on the line-up tonight, who are you? We are serious for the thirty seconds before the line, rituals combined with less thoughtful spasms of movement before hurling balls: at record speed, worryingly slow, and straight for the gutter. We erupt in joy, dissolve in laughter, or silently pump a fist in triumph, repeat nine more times, ten if you’re really good. Maybe drink a beer or eat nachos or both. Smile.
The Portland Timbers Corn Maize. Yup, we’re going in!
This makes total sense now. Turn left!
I’m all lost in the corn-maize. I can no longer walk happily. I came here for the special offer, a Groupon discount, that’s me! My apologies to the members of The Clash for trashing a fine song. I could not help myself. I really was lost and have a brain programmed for reciting song lyrics.
Random funny:
Lying in bed with the hubster, I heard a sound, while at the same time saw this drop onto the lamp next to the bed. The look of horror in my eyes made the hubster jump out of bed. The fact that it moved so quickly, and I could not see where it was going made me jump up on the bed and scream! I am not normally a jumper or screamer, but fifteen pairs of very long legs moving at high velocity changed my mind in a hurry. Besides, maybe loud noises will kill it. Hey, let’s shove the bed to the center of the room, sweep, and vacuum while we’re at it! You know, because it is better safe than sorry, even if it is totally harmless to humans. Just sayin’.
Random inside jokes for the hubster:
“It’s getting worse!”
“You look tired. I think you need a dough-nut nap.”
Happy October, gentle readers. It is with much anticipation and excitement that I welcome you to the very first edition of Art and Letters with Colleen Sohn and Maren Jensen! What is it, you ask? A wholly artistic collaboration where each week Maren (her most excellent blog: Maren Jensen) and I will take turns inspiring each other to create, she via the visual arts and me letters, words, and phrases.
I’m trying to keep it cool here, so as not to embarrass my friend (though she knows my brand of cheese very well), but holy smokes! I am thrilled, not just to be working with Maren (the cat’s pajamas!), who is amazingly talented (the Art and Letters banner is her lovely work, too), but to have the opportunity to learn and grow as a writer.
For this first edition, I sent the poem to Maren, and she produced the watercolor. I hope you like them both!
A Little Help from Thom
Forty circles,
Forty lines,
Forty people I wasn’t before.
Eyes, mouth, hands, knees:
It’s not me.
This isn’t happening.
Penning a new story.
Focus in before fading out,
Float down the Liffey and begin again.
Tags: Art & Letters, Poetry
Namaste, gentle readers. Unless you are new to Under a Red Roof, you know quite well of my fondness for yoga. It truly has changed my life. I know for many of you this might sound a bit precious, but it’s no exaggeration. Everything is better with yoga, everything. Even with a cat on my back. How cute is my guruji, Paris? Normally, she prefers to give her sage advice during savasana, but who am I to argue?
Anyhoo, I’ve got some more recommendations for videos and the like, even expanding my repertoire to include, holy crapper-doodle, works by people other than Shiva Rea! I know, even I didn’t think it was possible. This dog can learn new tricks, go with the flow, rhyme and steal…
However, since I do have such a longstanding relationship with Shiva and remain ever loyal, I’ll start with her. A.M. Energy is a really dynamic and invigorating video, and a departure from what I consider typical Shiva style. It contains four separate practices (about 20 minutes each) that can be linked via the matrix or done individually. Each ranges in difficulty and in style, from lots of not super yoga feeling floor work that builds strength through repetition, flowing movement, and some extremely challenging standing postures. I have much to learn and do here and continue to be dazzled by Shiva’s ability and grace.
Shiva’s Yoga Wave (thanks for this one, Mom!) is an audio only collection, though there is a booklet with photos, so I would definitely only recommend it to those practicing for a while. It contains a Solar and Lunar CD, and with the help of an i-pod or similar device can be mixed up in a myriad of fashions. Each CD has progressively more difficult waves of similar postures, building upon each other and kicking your behind. The solar wave CD is like doing seventy-five minutes of sun salutations, which is great for heating you up and developing your legs. The first time is a killer! The lunar wave is mostly spent on the floor opening hips, back bending, and twisting. This one is in a pretty regular rotation for the hubster, as it’s really great to counter the repetitive movements of bike riding.
Now for something completely different. Completely! My massage therapist, who has a beautiful and strong body, is as big of a devotee to Kundalini, Ravi Singh and Ana Brett as I am to Shiva Rea. After hearing her raves, I decided to give it a try. It is a real departure from the yoga I am used to practicing. I think, and this is by no means a slight, because I really like it, it is like yoga that was created by a child. Let’s grind our hips around while sitting on the floor, and then we’ll flap our arms, sit like frogs, dance, lie on our bellies and bounce, walk like we’re marching in a parade, and pant like dogs. Oh, and one more thing, it’s gonna be fun! And it is. I can’t help but smile during and well after. It must be all that good Kundalini energy! For those who already find yoga a bit out there, this will probably be too woo-woo for you. That being said, both of the videos are fun and challenging, especially all the arm flapping Gurmukh does. Seriously, I could not do it all, and I’m in pretty good shape. Sat nam!
Tags: cats, Gurmukh, Ravi Singh & Ana Brett, Shiva Rea, Yoga
