Christmas Lunch

Cinnie did it again, feeding us hungry, scrappy, but oh so pretty yoginis at her beautiful home. The food was scrumptious and the conversation, never-ending. Lily brought powdery, plump, translucent pouches of yummyness for dessert, which pretty much shattered the concept of "creating space" in my life. There was no space in my tummy. I was soooo full. 

After eating, it was gift giving time. Yay!

 I have no gifts to give. Instead I gave them the news of my ladies day! What a friend! Ladies, I promise to give your gifts when I get back. 

Here's me enjoying my gifts and trying unsuccessfully to look chic. 

Thanks ladies for the gift of friendship, and more importantly for the gift of good food! Love you!

Oh Urdhva Dhanurasana!

These past few weeks has left me occupied. Alex Medin was in town and I attended his weekend workshop and the 2-week Mysore class. It was intensive and there was a fervent energy in the air. Mysore in Yoga Mala totally felt different. In these two weeks my backbend was fully challenged, and it's already challenging enough for me on a "normal" day of practice.

Me practicing Urdhva Dhanurasan at home.

My Upper back radiated. It wasn't pain. It was more like a burning, shining feeling. Although I'm sure the only thing shining was my face and palms from sweat. Backbends have always been a hard asana for me to do. Given that my anatomy isn't reconcilable with this pose, I die every time I do it, but I do it anyway. The crazy things we do for yoga! 


My journey with this pose has been long and agonizing, and that "radiating" feeling is a milestone, microscopic to some people, but nonetheless a milestone for me! 


Really, sometimes we have to bend over backwards to see the bigger picture in life, to be more understanding of things that are different from us, to be more compassionate to others and especially to ourselves. 


Keep bending baby!

The Box

Frodo loves sleeping in boxes. He found this particular one very cozy. He went right to sleep after checking this box out.

Barney is a smart ass. He knows that the box has become a special place for Frodo to sleep in. So on this particular day, the moment Frodo left the box, he went to try it out himself. 

FRODO: Dude, that's my box.
BARNEY: Well, I'm using it now and I'm not leaving until I get bored with it OR until        someone offers me food.
FRODO: Dammit dog! Get outta there! My kidneys are failing so I have special privileges and that includes sleeping in a box!
BARNEY: Sorry feline brother, but you just have to wait.

Enter Sita. 
FRODO: Man, why on earth did you let her take it?
BARNEY: You crazy? You know how she is. If I don't give it to her, she'll slap me silly!
FRODO: What a sissy boy.

FRODO: Sis, is there any chance you'll be leaving this box soon?
SITA: Uhmm.. Let me think.... NO.

FRODO: I miss my box.
BARNEY: Get over it.
FRODO: Dweeb.

The next morning.
BARNEY: Good morning!
FRODO: Get out of my box!

END!

Birthday Girls

Winky and I celebrated our birthday together last Saturday. The ladies congregated at my place for some strangely diversified chow (prepared by me of course!), chit-chat, scrumptious cake (from Cinnie, of course!) and close contact with wildlife. 

Look at the faces on us as we opened our birthday cake! Thank you Cinnie! It was truly delicious and decadent.

The cake was so good that it quickly attracted one of the fiercest predators in Discovery Bay.... Barney the Pug. Check out his googly laser eyes honing for the grub.

Here I am preparing to cut the cake with my very fancy Agnes B. "cake" ribbon fashionably tied on my head. Micha being known for having an expressive face shows what I can only describe as her she's-out-of-her-mind! face. 

At the end of the day, after all the chocolate and coffee plus too much contact with Barney, Lily stole the show with this voguish cake hat cover (cue Micha's face). 

What can I say, it was a great afternoon. Thanks ladies!

Mr. Snail

Very interesting the things that you see around Discovery Bay, dogs, babies, mommies, babies, babies, children, babies, dogs...... then there's this very quiet mollusk. Mr. Snail!

It's very refreshing to see a giant snail glide slooooowy in front of you. Leaving behind it a trail of sticky mucus, just like when Hansel and Gretel left behind trail of bread hoping to trace their way back home. Thankfully though this particular snail doesn't have a bad parent who's intentionally leading him to get lost in the woods. 

Instead of getting into trouble with the witch with an eating disorder, it crossed my path and I took it home for a while to have its photos taken. This particular one is quite photogenic I should say. Very good with close-ups. Here's Mr. Snail being investigated by Frodo. 

I chose to call him Mr. Snail, although it's a known fact that snails are hermaphrodites (how sexually convenient!) because he does produce mucus-like drool like men do and boys are less moody. Here he is positioning himself on top of the ruler. I wanted to measure him.

Mr. snail is almost 6 inches long, and this when he's not even stretching out. Here he is relaxed next to the ruler. Of course I have to say goodbye to Mr. Snail. I don't think I would want to keep him in the house with his mucus trail all over the floor. I don't think I would want to keep those two bratty lost kids with the bread crumbs either. END!

Purple Haze

This happened once before, and every time a purple haze envelopes the sky outside, it rains heavily afterwards. On this day, everything was so still, hot and humid hours before the rain poured. 

Wongy

Let me introduce you to another family member, Wongy! He is a Parakeet, loves to sing and hates being held. 

4 years ago we found him and his late wife, Midori perched in their tiny cage abandoned at a bus stop near our place. The owner left them there with a note saying that he is moving and that he cannot bring them with him, what an ass! So my husband and I brought the budgies home, got them a bigger cage, some toys, fed them with tiny colorful seeds, treated their scaly beaks and they were good and happy again. 

Here is Wongy with his late wife, Midori.

Midori died a year after we brought them home. I took her to the vet but the vet was unsuccessful diagnosing her disease. She kept on falling from her perch. A month after the vet visit I found her dead on the floor of their cage. Sigh...

Wongy took it hard and was screaming and restless for a couple of weeks until I got him a mirror. Now he thinks that his reflection is another bird, He sings and chirps to himself everyday thinking he is singing to another bird. If it was a human doing that, either his coo-coo up there or just plain narcissistic.