Breath by Breath

Spring scenes

Sometimes life is just so very full. I've written before about the notebook I keep of my "accomplishments", big and small. As I review my notes from time since I've last posted, these are some things that jump out at me.

::: Teaching yoga two, sometimes three times a week and growing in intimacy, caring and engagement with my friends/students.

::: Managing tons and tons of financial and personal matters (insurance, retirement, education savings, taxes, mortgage, wills). I take all this on so that I am completely in the know about our situation and have educated opinions, suggestions and advice to offer.

::: Decided to buy a used car and then decided to get energy efficient windows instead. They still aren't installed.

::: Knitted a kindle cover, a scarf for a gift, one sock, and finished knitting a shawl my mother started but couldn't finish due to her arthritis. Spool knit another rainbow garland for the party supply box.

::: Finished stripping and staining our old 15-drawer dresser and another piece of furniture.

::: Silas spontaneously switched from a "join us in bed every night" kind of kid, to a "sleep in his own bed most of the time" kind of kid. We are all sleeping better and I feel great about how we've evolved.

::: Read several books for pleasure (all on Kindle) -- The Paris Wife, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, The Sense of an Ending. I've now tackled The Brothers Karamozov.

::: Read The Science of Yoga, (also for pleasure, but of a different kind).

::: Cooked and cooked and cooked some more. Our CSA is abundantly supplying us with vegetables and we are trying our best to eat them.

::: Sewed some jammies for Silas. Repaired three skirts, hemmed pants. Finished and mailed the last of the Picnic Rolls I made for gifts. Cleaned out the closets and donated all the discards.

::: Started voice lessons and love my teacher. Hard to practice with discipline.

::: Play groups, play dates, volunteering at school for every party and event, hosting egg hunts, checking out and booking after school and summer activities, field trips, strawberry picking.

::: Rose tending, palm pruning, tree trimming supervising, front entry way courtyard tearing down, vegetable garden pot planting and maintenance, kishu orange tree learning.

::: Spring deep cleaning, rearranging furniture, aquired a lego table off craigslist, finally chose a kitchen paint color.

::: Coordinated a fantastic mini-reunion with 3 college friends in the D.C. area.

::: Lots of visits with local and semi local family and friends.

::: Got up close and personal with Alice Waters and Sir Ken Robinson.

::: Said goodbye to the Byzantine Fresco Chapel.

::: First visit to Galveston of this year. Trekked at Brazos Bend State Park, visited Shangri-La in Orange, TX, spent a weekend in New Orleans.

::: Booked our whole summer vacation.

::: Riding bicycles everywhere -- school, library, grocery store, for fun.

::: Flying kites out on the green space behind our house.

::: Lego, lego, lego.

::: Star wars, star wars, star wars (and he hasn't seen one movie yet!).

::: Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter (we are halfway through book 1).

All is well.

Exploring the art of happy

I recently read this translation of Anna Karenina, my first reading of this, Tolstoy's self-proclaimed first real novel.  I was enraptured by the characters and fell a little in love with Tolstoy, who was so deeply flawed and human and therefore able to capture the fullness of each of his characters.  He made it impossible not to identify with or at least understand the motives, thought processes, weaknesses, strengths and vulnerabilities of each person, seen in relief against a background of a particular time and place in history.  I can't say enough good things about it.  I was deeply moved by Levin's spiritual maturation and his discovery that he's happiest when he is engaged in the work that needs to be done (solving disputes among his farmers, tending to his wife and son, ensuring preparations for the harvest, etc.).  When he stops to contemplate the meaning and purpose of his life, he becomes paralyzed and overwhelmed by existential longings and questions.  Hmmm.  I can relate.  

The pursuit of "happiness" being a tantalizing subject for me right now, I turned my attention to The Geography of Bliss, which a friend gave me about 2 years ago (sorry!).  But, it's one of those books that requires a certain mindset.  In my case, Anna Karenina strongly rooted me in a grand, sweeping view of human nature as essentially changeless, but expressed in a nuanced way depending on the social, political and historical circumstances in which a human lives.  The Geography of Bliss is the travel journal of a western worrier and grump who attempts to gain insight about himself by sifting through academic research about happiness and traveling to some of the "happiest" and "unhappiest" places on the planet. His goal?  To get a first hand view of happiness in practice from both cultural and personal perspectives.  As I was reading, I documented the keys to happiness that he identifies.  Here's a smattering directly from my notes:

•  Trust (personal, social, political)
• Lack of envy and either upward or downward comparison
• Embracing trying (and failing)
• Relationships (individual initiative, coupled with social responsibility)
• Creativity (at all levels and abilities.  To paraphrase:  You need a lot of crap to grow something great.)
• A culture of selfish altruism
• Belief in...something
• Being useful, helpful
• A social safety net
• Flow...the pure joy of being
• Hardworking and loving others
• Cold and dark yield coziness and interdependence
• Gratitude
• Happiness is 100% relational
• Not thinking too much
• Tolerance
• Modest expectations but 100% effort (let go of attachment to results)
• If it isn't fun it's not worth doing
• Let go of what you can't control (and all you can control is yourself and your attitude)
• The quality of a society is more important than your place in that society
• Everything you do and every memory of you will likely be gone in 3-4 generations, so don't take it too seriously
• Connection to place/nature

I'm now turning my attention from the theoretical to the practical.  I've resisted reading this book for a while.  The genre of "be like me" middleclass self-disclosure memoirs is a bit tiresome.  I read two earlier this year (Poser and Project Happily Ever After).  I frankly did not like either person as they presented themselves and I found myself full of judgments (I'm suspecting a little projection here...as well as internalized classism).  Nevertheless  I ended up identifying more than I thought with their feelings and experiences.  So, here I am reading, The Happiness Project, another middle class memoir/instruction manual.  I thought it would be  interesting to see a practical journey toward happiness and this is what was out there.  I'm 5/6 of the way through her year-long "project."  Frankly, I can't wait to be done.  I'm not sure I've gained anything useful for my own experience, but I'm reserving judgment.  Actually, I can think of a couple useful things...

• Be a keeper of happy memories.  I come from a family that doesn't talk about the past at all- the good, the bad, or the otherwise.  I didn't realize how much it matters to me to keep memories on behalf of my current family.  I don't scrapbook.  I don't record things faithfully.  But, I take tons of pictures, I keep notes about significant events, I blog.   I will take this role more seriously in the future.
• Do what you do.  Essentially this is a way of saying, "Be yourself."  She says this another way, "You can choose what you do, but you can't choose what you like to do."  If you are looking for more happy in your day, embrace the things you already find yourself doing (in my case, yoga, reading, cooking, bringing people together, writing, making things), and mine your childhood for the things that made your heart sing (acting, singing, building spaces, making up stories and characters).
• Your body matters.  Exercise, food, play and rest yield energy, vitality, stress management, feeling sexy, better sleep, increased patience, elevated mood.....need I say more?
• One of the best ways to get happy is to make others happy.  Conversely, one of the best ways to make others happy is to be happy yourself.  Small, daily happiness is actually really difficult to sustain.  At least one person was sainted for her almost invisible efforts at small happiness (Saint Therese, "I take care to appear happy and especially to be so").

(I guess I am getting more out of it than I thought!)

I think I'll turn to the Dalai Lama's The Art of Happiness next.  I can't help but be inspired by a person who exudes such positive energy and broad perspective in the face of cruelty to his own people and throughout the planet.  I had the privilege of hearing him speak in person once and I will never forget it.  If I ever doubted the power of one person's energy to ripple through and influence the energy of multitudes, I didn't doubt it after being in his presence. 

Here's to actually being happy. 

Nourishment ::: in praise of summer fruit

We are on the cusp of freedom. We've spent several months fixing up our former house and settling into our new life.  Just as the burden of the old is about to be released, it's time to embrace the fullness of the sweltering, humid, semi-tropical Hurricane season here in the Gulf Coast, even though this year has been odd and almost Phoenix-like ::: hot, dry, and windy. 

We live 30 minutes closer to the beach than we used to, and we are only minutes from Clear Lake, a beautiful body of water that dumps into Galveston Bay.  We've yet to explore the riches of the water culture here--sea kayaking, wind surfing, kite surfing, sailing, fishing(?)--although Scott and I had a lovely date one night sitting on a high outdoor deck over the water in Seabrook listening to a surprisingly terrific Rolling Stones cover band.  We felt as if we were on vacation, a mere 15 minutes from our house.  I had to wear a sweater!

The burdens of this winter/spring gently urged us against planting a garden at our new house.  Given the amazing drought conditions, I'm glad we didn't.  We now have time to really think about where and how a garden will succeed here, and we've also discovered some new and loved sources of local products. 

Today, as I wait for my fresh blackberry scones to bake, I savor the most remarkable local, juicy, sweet, succulent peach.  Do any words exist to describe the perfect peach?  It must be experienced. I all but devoured an entire cantaloupe before I made my coffee.  The melons this year have been perfect.  I heard that dry years, counterintuitively, produce incredible watermelons and cantaloupe(s?).    

 Fresh Texas watermelon.  Peaches.  Blackberries.  Blueberries.  Mmmm.  Cantaloupe.  Tomatoes!   

 I want to send a special shout out to some of our most recent providers of nourishing produce:

Rudy's Peach Orchard, Neal's Berry Farm and, our regular CSA, Wood Duck Farm.  These incredibly hard-working folks promulgate a cherished tradition of local farming against amazing odds in the sprawling greater Houston area.  They are encroached upon by surburbia and all the environmental hazards and challenges posed by a metropolis.  They are terrorized by fire ants (and other pests), and they are at the mercy of the elements in so many ways.  Rudy and Neal are not young men.  I only hope they have apprentices who are willing and eager to learn and who will have the courage to preserve and carry on local farming traditions for generations to come.

I send you all a heartfelt, "Thank you!" 

Home crafts ::: Hestia at work, part 1

 
I suffer from a little condition called, oh, "have-to-itis."  Once a certain kind of idea enters my consciousness, I "have to" execute it--immediately.  Of course this doesn't apply to cleaning the toilets or emptying the garage of all the stuff we don't know what to do with since our move. 

My bouts of "have-to-itis" primarily occur around rearranging furniture, getting rid of stuff from closets and drawers, cooking, and making crafty things that are seemingly simple, are usually not necessary to life, but make me happy and sometimes prove to be awesome improvements to our daily life.

I'm going to share some of my recent "have-to projects" over the next few days.  Today's entries:  seat cushions for our kitchen chairs, curtains (with black-out liners) for Silas' room, dresser toppers for the guest room. 

Tomorrow:  pillow & cubby talk. 

Friday:  birthday goodness.   

Guest room dresser topper(s)

The chance to have a dedicated guest room is one of the top ten features of our new house.  A couple of things need to be hung on the walls, but it is pretty much finished and has already been well used at least 4 weekends in the past 5 months and more guests are on the summer calendar! 

I am so happy to be able to offer a private, attractive retreat for family and friends who grace us with their presence.  Our house is actually too big for our tiny family of three, so the more the merrier! 

The peacefulness of our semi-pastoral setting and our proximity to the beach (less than 30 minutes) and other resort-y feeling destinations makes us a perfect spot to plant for a few days.  If you want to visit, please call 1-800-WELCOME.  Seriously, we want visitors.  We can sleep 5 extra people in beds, and more on the floors or decks! 

But, back to craftiness.  This reversible dresser topper for the guest room (I can't find a picture of the second one, so it'll have to wait for part 2) hides an ugly ring made by nail polish remover (oh, dear).  I made it from $1 / yd cotton floral print and thrifted table cloth.  The quilt is quite an heirloom, hand stitched by my husband's great aunt.

  

 

Dinosaur black-out curtains

(for Silas' very east facing bedroom window)

I purchased 15 yards of dino fabric to make comfortors for Silas' bunk beds.  I haven't stitched them up yet (it is 98 degrees today in Houston), but I cut out the comfortor tops and bottoms and had just enough left over for curtains and some pillows for the above mentioned cubby (to be shared tomorrow).  I love the colors  in the dino fabric, acid yellow, pale teal, terra cotta, lavendar and brown.  Awesome colors that allows my boy, who loves color, to move beyond the typical boy palette of navy, red, gray and brown.  The blackout liners were purchased at Target, and I have to say were a cheaper and much less stressful solution than making them myself.

 

His walls are acid yellow and terra cotta (his choices).  Simple (if somewhat time consuming) tab-top curtains.

 

 

 

Chair cushions for our vintage, thrifted kitchen chairs

We purchased a table and six chairs for $250 from our favorite thrift store about 11 years ago, right before the first joint parental dinner in advance of our wedding.  I remember serving portobello mushroom fajitas to our decidedly non-veg parents, but we rewarded their tolerance with awesome cake at Houston's Empire Cafe.  A good time was had by all.  Alas, the cushions on the chairs were stained to begin with, although in generally good condition.  I finally grew tired of their even more stained appearance (i.e., permanent marker, ink and other substances evincing 5 years of use by a growing boy!).  Reupholstering is not an option right now, so new cushions are the interim solution.  I used ecofoam from Hancock's and clearance cotton fabric from the home decor section. 

 

These little projects please me.  Besides the tangible sense of productivity they afford me, and the new skills I acquire in the process, they help me take ownership of our space.  I channel the Greek Goddess, Hestia, keeper of home and hearth.  Each small project infuses this space we have chosen with Spirit, transforming it into a welcoming, warm, comfortable, safe corner of the world for my family and our treasured guests. 

Once in a lifetime ::: Robonaut's Space Shuttle Discovery Launch

Silas says:  "The launch was the best thing I've seen in my whole life!"   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Springtime excursions

So far we've been wildflower viewing, kayaking, beaching, boat touring the Port of Houston, visiting NASA Johnson Space Center to see Scott's robot and the famous vacuum chamber.  We had a lovely evening with friends who used the excuse of introducing their new solar panels for a fabulous get-together.  On the homefront, we've been watching our very first tomatoes form, planting Gerbera daisies everywhere (thanks, Grand), and eating every meal on the deck.  I even "spring-cleaned" the refrigerator!

Today's main event was the second birthday of Discovery Green.  We biked downtown on a picture perfect spring day (I swear you can see part of our bike in one picture!), enjoyed a picnic lunch, took in a cute puppet/live performance of "Alice in Wonderland", partook of birthday cake (for Discovery Green), and had an hour of water fun at the splash fountains.   Then, we napped on the deck. 

 
Port of Houston tour (Oops!  No photos allowed!)

Robo-headed Silas at NASA.

The vaccuum chamber where the entire Apollo era Command Modules were testing prior to launch!

The solar panel "geek squad."

Waiting for the show to start at Discovery Green. (Or, posing for an add for Hilton Hotels???) 

"Off with her head!"

New friends.

Birthday cake (I told you the bike was here somewhere!)!

 

Ahhh!

A day (or two) at the beach

While Scott performed some messy, but much desired home repairs, Silas & I (along with my sister and her daughter) headed to Galveston Island for the weekend. 

 

Lunch at Joe's Crab Shack on a chilly, foggy Sunday.

Allison & Callie on a harbor cruise and dolphin boat (we saw about 10 dolphins up VERY close). 

Am I as tall as this bear?

 

 

One moment ::: beauty

For more gorgeous moments of the week, go to the comments at Soulemama today.

Time to try something new ::: mini quilting

I fell in love with this inspired piece of creative crafting when I first encountered it via this little blog (which I also love).  I've never made a quilt, never aspired to make one, but the technique of quliting with wavy lines has been hanging in my consciousness as something that  might actually doable for me.

I also recently unearthed some African textiles my husband brought back in 1996 when he climbed Mt. Kilamanjaro (when he was my yet unknown future husband-to-be).  I asked for permission to make a quilt for our bedroom from one particularly lovely piece, which was immediately granted.  But, caution is the better part of valor when using things that cannot be replaced.

Therefore, I decided to make a mini quilt in the style of "Liz's Quilt," to learn about techniques, try out my sewing machine on a multi-layered piece, and generally gain some experience that would either encourage or discourage me from trying a bigger project.

Here's the result.  My little 12 x 13 rectanglular quilt worked out quite well.  I learned how to make my own binding and attach it, although I completely messed up the mitered corners (I now understand what I did wrong).

I learned a lot about my machine's behavior. I learned how to hand-sew a "blind" stitch.  I like how my fabric choices work together.  I''m generally pleased with the result.

I don't know when, or if, I'll proceed on a larger project, but I don't feel any pressure since the fabric has been sitting around for the better part of a decade and a half.

Perhaps there's some other mini quilting to be done in the meantime -- potholders and such.  I liked that I could do it in just two or three hours over two days and I'm sure my efficiency will improve. 

 

Reflections

The BEST snow play images are still to come (they are on Grand's camera), but here are a few scenes of our holidays.  Some of my best moments came from solitary walks in the cold, nice gentle yoga sessions, and "date" trips to the hardware store with Scott, so he could do minor repairs for his parents.  I get why people were healthier when they lived with extended family.  With four adults around, one can disappear for a couple of hours and hardly be missed...

Christmas Eve skating at Discovery Green in downtown Houston.  It was cold and perfect.

Santa visited our little gardener, bringing a wheelbarrow and a hoe & leaf rake to add to his tool collection.  His first comment upon entering the living room:  "Did Santa light all the candles?"

Our first family snowman with Papa Bob in Ponca City, Oklahoma.  Wood chip eyes, a celery nose and black licorice for the mouth (we worked with what we had...Thanks, Faye!).

We were pretending to be Peter in The Snowy Day.

At the Science Center, Oklahoma City.

In the train room (we could have stayed for HOURS).

My project over the week:  A sample ballet leg warmer for my niece.  These were the specifications:

No wool (this is Berroco Comfort), 25 inches long, 12 1/2 calf, 13 1/2 thigh, green.  She's trying it on and I'll start again after I receive her feedback.