All Europeans are frightened to death of drafts. Here the myth of drafts is debunked in the Huffington Post: Get cold, and you’ll catch a cold It must be true because your mother always said so. Right? The Truth: Mom was wrong. “Chilling doesn’t hurt your immunity, unless you’re so cold that your body defenses are destroyed — and that only occurs during hypothermia,” Vreeman says. “And you can’t get a cold unless you’re exposed…
My 8 year old neighbor came by today to bring a holiday gift for Tin. They had been up north during the holidays seeing relatives. I asked her if she was happy to be back at school and she just smiled thinly and said, “Ah, no.” My 61 year old neighbor came by today to bring me some Prilosec – this old mare ain’t what she used to be – and she is going back…
There are 18 birds sitting on the wire outside my window and they haven’t moved for a while. They appear to be talking to each other. Every few minutes one flies into a new spot and another flies into the spot it vacated. Do you ever feel like you’re having one of those days where you are seeking meaning in the nuances of the day. This morning, as the dogs and I came upon a…
The year has not kicked off in a groovy way and I hope it is no indication of how 2011 will play out. This morning my first love of my life died. A friend emailed that her cousin, a single mother with an 11 year old daughter, was found beaten to death in her house while the daughter was out. I need to re-smudge the house.
It is all in the mind, you say, and has nothing to do with happiness. The coming of cold, the coming of heat, the mind has all the time in the world. You take my arm and say something will happen, something unusual for which we were always prepared, like the sun arriving after a day in Asia, like the moon departing after a night with us.
I just did my budget for the new year and I’m in the red. Nothing like starting off in a hole to get you motivated to shake things up for the rest of the year, huh?
Well, I decided midway last year to practice nonattachment to my weight and exercise and began doing only what I wanted to do – which led me to more yoga, more walks, and less cardio and weights. So now having seen the collateral damage of that decision, I’ve decided to flip flop my exercise schedule to five days of cardio and two days of yoga instead. And you know what – that works for me.…
So I’ve been inside my head a lot lately because I have a lot of changes going on in my life. I’m getting used to the fact that I can’t call my mother when I want to and was told by a friend who lost her mother 17 years ago that I gets easier but there are moments that can make it seem like she died yesterday even 17 years later. I’m also striking a…
Chateau de Chambord My mother occupies her own light at the lowest aperture of winter. She is bundled up, walking Angel, her Golden— long dead now—from the carriage-house hotel where we are staying toward the black trees where kings of Europe once hunted. Thin snow blows from the monolith of a cooling tower by the wide frozen river. The chateau is closing, a last light or two; my mother calling Angel in the dark by…
Practice nonattachment Cultivate the habit of free – a) use the library, quit buying books on Amazon; b) listen to WWOZ, quit buying Itunes songs; c) revisit your wardrobe, no more clothes/shoes/jewelry. A mitzvah a day Quit making lists