This guy has an injured foot.  I noticed his injury about the same time I hurt my foot.  I try to keep an eye on him and make sure he gets some nuts.  And he makes sure I know he wants nuts.  He will find a spot where he can look in a window at me and stare.  He will stare at me until I go outside and give him some peanuts.

He is doing that now.  Staring.  Of course, I went outside and gave him some nuts.  Did you notice how clear the sky is?

Sometimes the squirrels drop whatever it is once they get it up to the roof.  There is often fruit in our yard that doesn’t blog to any tree we have.

Here is a picture of the cat enjoying the sun.  She will stay in the sun for a bit, then get too hot and move.

The blue jay was getting some nuts.  I took a few shots “through” the chair then I went out and turned it so I could get a clear shot.  And of course I sat there for a long time waiting.  I got bored with staring at my camera at a peanut filled chair so I started taking pictures of the cat.  What happens?  The blue jay sneaks back while I wasn’t paying attention.  But I managed to get a few.

Of course the squirrels wanted some too!

I wanted to get some shots of our blooming rose bush.  A while back I was unhappy with the wilderness that was out the window so I went outside and did some pruning.  It was completely “Edward Scissorhands” style as I just took the saw and went right and left and left and right and up and down and down and up and all around.  I just wanted all the wildness gone.  So I was very concerned that I wrecked the bush.  So when I saw one rose I was very happy.  And now that the whole bush is blooming I am really happy and wanting to share.  I’ve posted about how weird our roses are.  But I still like them, even though they start out really sunset orange and then fade to a washed out peach.  They SMELL really good. 

One bush has a single flower on it.   The single flower is pictured below.

Well, thank you for stopping by and visiting our yard.  We enjoy the entertainment the wildlife offers and the beauty that the flowers share with us.  I hope you did too.

Do you have a flower garden?  Do you have a vegetable garden?  Fruit trees?  Does any wildlife visit your yard?

When I am learning a new routine I would love to be able to take a perfect “product” into my class. But there is often a point where I know it is not perfect, but I can’t learn anymore by myself. So I take it into class and usually that first time in that one hour I learn more than (or just as much as) I had learned in the time it I spent getting to the point I where I took it into the class. Amazing. I might have actually said this very thing before in a previous post, so it might sound familiar to you. Or it could sound familiar because you have experienced something similar. Learning as you are teaching. I love that!

Well, it is May and for the past week, maybe two it has been cold and raining here in the San Francisco Bay Area. I don’t mind it so much. Especially since, as you may know, I have a new found love . . . making soups with my immersion blender! The last one I made I made it too spicy and I couldn’t eat it. I was very sad.  But my husband loved it which was great because he was stuck eating the whole pot. I was thinking it would be the last batch before the warm weather comes in and I might have been right. The past two days have been pretty warm and very beautiful.

It seems like spring might actually finally be here.

During the cold one of my friends posted a picture of some of her flowers. She had cut them and brought them in the house and posted “At least it’s springtime inside the house.” She inspired me. It took me a few days, but I cut these from a tiny rose bush we have in our yard. These are VERY small roses. The bush is probably not even two feet high.

I just wanted to share. I wanted to share the beautiful flowers, the beauty in a sign of spring, the excitement of learning as you teach, the wonder and beauty of the world. I wanted to share and I wanted to say I am looking forward to living in the beauty that is, and learning as I go.

As with any supplement you are thinking about taking you should talk to your doctor so s/he can advise you of any adverse side effects that might occur when mixed with any medication you are currently taking.  

As I look at the information out there today I cannot find but one thing that says it helps with “upper respiratory phlegm”, but not more about lung health.  There is a lot of information that says it helps with a lot of things that could be associated with lung health. It actually looks as if this herb does everything.  I see that it is used as an antiseptic and an astringent. 

Information states that it aides in digestion and is used to treat inflammation.

It is used to treat colds, flu, and hay fever.  Since it is used as an anti-inflammatory then it makes sense that it would be a good thing to use if you have a cold, flu, or hay fever because inflammation is a symptom of those ailments. 
 
Yarrow contains flavanoids which are linked to antioxidants. 

It is used to help with muscle spasms, gas (both preventive and expulsion), and over production of sweat.

As with most herbs there are several ways to use or take Yarrow.  I myself have capsules and a liquid.  There are oils and teas and compounds that can be applied topically. 

I think that some of the things that yarrow is stated to help might actually need medical attention so even though this herb sounds great be cautious and don’t necessarily substitute medical attention with an herb.  For me, even though herbs have side effects and we cannot always be certain of the purity of our herbs, I personally believe that herbs are a good thing to take as a supplement to a healthy diet.

What do you think about herbal supplements?

I have learned a lot from our backyard here in San Jose. One thing I have learned is even rose bushes change.

I am posting pictures of our roses because they have changed over the years. When we first moved in there were ORANGE. I had never seen roses so orange. My husband wanted to rip out all the rose bushes and rearrange the yard and I requested that he keep the orange rose bush. I didn’t care about anything else in the yard but that one bush. I was fascinated by the orange roses. And so were many people that saw them. When we first moved in we had a ton of roses, all the time, or it seemed like all the time. We would have flowers in the house all the time. I would also take them to work. People would stop and ask me about the orange roses. That is how vibrant their color was.

While I am not sure about how my hubby felt about the orange roses, I know how he felt about the rose bush. He HATED it. It was one of those bushes that had thorns everywhere. At the top of the stem near the flower there would be hundreds of little tiny thorns. When they got in your fingers, they felt like fiber glass. The thorns were progressively larger as they went down the stem. There was never any room on the stem to put your fingers. So working with these roses always resulted in bloody fingers. The thorns at the bottom where huge, sometimes as big as a half of an inch.

Also the blooms had “less petals”. I think of the “less petal” roses as “real” roses.

Early this week, while I was practicing Nia, I looked out the window and saw a huge rose on the bush. I decided I wanted to have it inside. So I went out to cut it. Even though the rose was next to a bud, I decided to cut them both so the stem would be long enough to put in a tall vase. I also cut another rose. I was holding them while I was looking for a vase to put them in, it occurred to me that there was one (ONE!!!) thorn on the big rose’s stem. And the other one hardly had any. Then I looked at the rose itself and noticed it too is different.  I had previously posted about the color change of our roses, but I had not noticed the lack of thorns nor the increase in the amount of petals before. 

They are still very beautiful and I love having roses in the yard and in the house. But, there are not the same roses that we had when we moved in. So I learned that roses morph. The rose bush that has been in our yard since we moved in eleven years ago has changed. Interesting. I guess most things change huh? I had noticed that the flowers were not longer the striking orange color they had used to be, but I just noticed the flower itself is different and there are less thorns. They have been changing over the years. Do you know why? Is it cross pollination? Do all roses do that?

It is funny to me because when we first moved to San Jose, this rose bush had JUST orange roses.  Bright orange.  Now some come in pink.  The ones that do come in orange turn pink. 

All of our rose bushes are multi-colored now.   Funny how it worked out that way.

I still think they are awesome.

I wish you would smell them.

My blogging intent was to blog about healthful things, exercises, nutrition, but I keep thinking that readers might like other things too.  And I keep thinking of things I want to share.  I have so much I keep learning about Nia, we are doing more things in San Jose, and life is just full of stuff.   I am going to try to start posting three times a week instead of two.  I think that I am going to keep up with my opinion on healthful things on Tuesdays and Saturdays, but on Thursdays my posts will be different.  We will see how this all goes.

With my first post that is less-in-the-realm-of- wellness-and-the-like will be simple.  I wanted to share, that my house smells like flowers.  I love Star Gazers** and recently (almost two weeks ago), my husband bought me some.  He bought roses and Star Gazers, but the Star Gazers have lasted longer.  And they make our living room and dining room smell so nice.

You cannot walk down the stairs or sit on the couch without getting a big whiff.

They are so gorgeous.  What is your favorite flower?

**Lilium “Stargazer” (the Stargazer lily) is a hybrid lily of the Oriental group according to Wiki