Don’t you love three day weekends? I remember when I worked a corporate job, three day weekends were looked upon as revered things. I had been in the mortgage business all my working life and for some reason there was a practice of companies closing a bit early the Friday before a three day weekend. Rarely was it announced too far in advance, but just sprung upon us a little before lunch. The management would let us know we would be getting out at 2:00 pm or 3:00 pm. We would get to start our holiday early! Eventually it became such a common practice that we kind of began to expect it. And some companies would even be so kind as to announce the early departure time the day before so that people could actually make plans. Ahhh, yes, the three day weekend is something corporate America loves. Sometimes the actually Holiday is forgotten in the joy of having an extra day off. Forgotten in the excitement of the prospect of gathering with friends. Forgotten in the moment. Usually there is a mention of it somewhere and we say, “Oh yeah, THAT’s why we have an extra day off.” In the case of Memorial Day it really is more than an extra day off, isn’t it? Because of the people who have served and died in the United States Military, we, in America, have so much more than a day off.
Memorial Day is actually May 30th. In 1968 an Act was signed into law that changed the federal observance of some holidays to be on Mondays so that federal employees could have a three day weekend. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect on January 1, 1971. According to the all-knowing Wiki:
“The Act moved Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day from fixed dates to designated Mondays.
The Monday holiday dates this act established are:
Washington’s Birthday: third Monday in February (formerly February 22)
Memorial Day: last Monday in May (formerly May 30)
Columbus Day: second Monday in October (formerly observed on October 12)
Veterans Day: fourth Monday in October (formerly November 11 and subsequently moved back to November 11 effective 1978)
Though the holiday was not in existence at the time, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (established 1983) is celebrated on the third Monday in January, instead of King’s actual birth date, January 15, for the same reasons.”
So it is no wonder we might sometimes forget what the holiday actually was created for, because at one point it DID become about having a three day weekend.
I do hope that you take advantage of the time off and I hope you do enjoy yourself. I really believe that having time off from work is necessary to help recharge the body, mind, and spirit. While you are sharing good time with family and friends maybe you can take a minute to remember those that died serving in the military. In fact, in 2000 there was a White House Memorandum issued that would be a wonderful thing to participate in. It encourages “Americans everywhere, to pause for one minute at 3:00 p.m. (local time) on Memorial Day, to remember and reflect on the sacrifices made by so many to provide freedom for all.” Will you join me?
Since Nia is a workout/dance/practice that recharges the body, mind, and spirit I am not taking Memorial Day off. I will hold both my morning Nia class and my evening Nia class which will allow those that are normally working to participate. The focus will be sacrifice and freedom, the intent will be to express gratitude for the sacrifices made for our freedom.
I hope you enjoy your weekend. If you have a three day weekend, I hope you take advantaqge of that extra day off. I also hope you will join me for a minute at 3:00 pm this Memorial Day and every Memorial Day and take a moment to remember.
Just a few posts ago I talked about simple stretches that could possibly bring relief to tight hip flexors and lower back pain. I referred to a yoga pose called the pigeon pose. This pose is where one leg is stretched out to the back and the front of the leg (the front of the thigh, the knee, the shin, and the top of the foot and toes) are on the ground, touching the ground, and the other leg is bent at the knee with foot towards the body, but the shin at a right angle to the body. The hand can hold the foot. The back is long and straight and upright. There are variations. Some are where the leg is bent more and the foot is more pointed toward the opposite hip. In some the back is still long and straight, but the body is lying over the bent leg.
In Nia the variation is called a Side Yawn. The leg is bent so the foot is near the opposite hip, as I mentioned above. The arm on the side of the bent leg is bent while the arm on the side of the outstretched leg is straight with palm on the floor. As the body lowers to the earth over the bent leg the outstretched arm moves on the ground reaching out further. Allow the entire body to sink into a comfortable fold. The lengthened side of the body yawns open.
For the more athletic version there is more weight on the bent leg and instead of just stretching out over the bent leg there are push-ups involved. Pushing away from the earth and sinking slowly back into it. After a few push-ups then allow your body to release to gravity and lay over the bent leg.
This is one of the moves that I mentioned were in the back of The Nia Technique Book. Both the classic version and the athletic version of this move open and release the hips. With the classic as you sink to the floor the side of the body is receiving a long stretch. The athletic version enables strengthen of the arms and core. This move is one where you would do as many repetitions as you would like and then switch to the other side. Or you could do one side then switch and do the other side. The point it to be sure that you do both sides. I would bet, as with most of us, one side is more flexible than the other.
In the Nia routines I do we are often in the pigeon pose or the side yawn pose, but we do not always sink into the yawn. Often we are dancing with our hands on the floor, not necessarily doing straight up and down push-ups, but using our arms to lower us to the earth and push-off again. As with all moves each individual is invited to do what is best for their body at that moment in the Nia class. So some might sink into the yawn. So usually in addition to stretching our hips we are using our core and our arms in our cool down or floorplay.
Do you ever sense your hips are tight and need stretching? Might you think to use this stretch to loosen up?
Even though I don’t have a Nia class on two of the days I post sometimes it is still a challenge to get my post up. Other things need to be done. Anyway . . . .way back in February I posted about Nutritional Yeast. I can’t remember if I had ordered some at the time of writing that or if I was about too. I do know that it was in the month of February that I ordered it because I never received it. One day I heard the delivery person ring the door bell and by the time I got downstairs he was gone. I also hadn’t heard the “thump” of a package being dropped over the fence, but I looked for a package or a note. I looked in the bushes in front of the fence. I looked in the area behind the fence. I found nothing. The reason I know that I ordered it in February is because just this past weekend (May) my husband found a package in the bushes. The delivery person HAD to have HURLED the box over the fence for it to have ended up where it did. I have never had a package end up that far behind the fence so I never even thought to look behind those bushes. AND the only reason my husband found it is because he cut the bushes down severely. So I went looking for the e-mails in regards to the non-delivered package and it was from February. It is funny too because – just within the past two weeks – I decided to buy some Nutritional Yeast from another source. I have been using it. I wanted to give you guys and update on MY experience with Nutritional Yeast.
I have been putting it on a lot of things. The package says, “Sprinkle some on hot popcorn, garlic bread, add a spoonful to cereals, juices, smoothies, or use as a seasoning for salad, soup, gravy, casseroles, and so much more.” Well, I kinda see how people think of it as cheesy. It does taste cheesy to me, so my first thought was, “I don’t want cheese in my juice.” I still think that is weird, BUT . . . I also have a feeling the flavor might be influenced a little bit by what it is added to, so it might add a rich woody flavor to juice.
One thing I find interesting is the information on the nutrition labels. Both have almost the same calories 80 vs. 70. Both have the same amount of fat. Both have the same amount of cholesterol. One has almost half the sodium as the other. Both have the same amount of potassium. The difference in carbohydrates is minimal. Protein is the same. What is interesting is the serving size. In one you get 1 gram of fat and 8 grams of protein in 3 tablespoons, in the other it is 1 and a half tablespoons. HALF the size as the other serving size. Hmmm. I guess in this case it is better to judge based off GRAMS and not teaspoons.
I don’t want to open the one I just received yet. I think it will last longer if I don’t open it. I would like to know if they taste the same so I am going to wait until I am almost done with the first one before I open the second one.
I have been using it a lot. At first I barely used any because I didn’t know what it would taste like. But I rather like the taste to what I have used it in so far. It adds a cheesy flavor to me. So I have been using it in things that I have already used cheese in or in things I would like to use cheese in. I think it makes cheesy things cheesier and helps have the flavor of cheese without the cheese. For instance I put some one our pita bread pizza the other night with some low fat ricotta. Ricotta does not really have a flavor, but the Nutritional Yeast added the cheddar type flavor. I have been putting it on my salads.
I like it. I would recommend it to people who what to try something new. I like it because it adds more protein to my diet and I think I need more protein because I am not the biggest meat-eater.
I have a friend who commented on the last post that she does use it. I have another friend that said she wanted to try it. What about you? Have you tried it? What do you use it in?
I didn’t teach my Nia class today, I had a wedding to go to. I love weddings. About five years ago I was sad because I thought we were done going to weddings because most of my friends were married. Then about a year ago it dawned on me that the young friends that we have would be getting married eventually, plus there are kids of friends and relatives that would be getting married. That made me happy. I love weddings. Weddings are so wonderful because they are about love, they are about expression of love and expression of oneself and the couple. People can do whatever they want for weddings and that is one of the things I love. You love to scuba dive, get married under water! You love to sky dive, do a jump ceremony! You love horses, get married on horseback! You love dogs, let your dog be the ring bearer! You love to dance, have a reception filled with dancing! Whatever your hobby, it can be the theme of the reception. Whatever you want, you can do. It is basically a reflection of the couple. A lot of the time current trends have an impact and people might do the latest thing, but some people do the traditional wedding and reception. Whatever the case as long as it is what the couple wants then that is what makes it so special.
Often weddings are in the evening, but this one was at the same time as my Nia class so I couldn’t teach and then rush off to the wedding. The wedding was in the morning, at 10:15 am. (Wow! Now that I think about it, I think this is the first wedding I have ever been to that started on time! Wow. I just realized that.) It is my opinion that they could not have asked for a better day weather-wise. It was so gorgeous. There was not a cloud in the sky. The sky was clear and blue. The ceremony was performed out in the open so the sun was shining, but there was enough of a cool breeze that kept if from getting too hot in the sun. It was just perfect. The setting was amazing. It is somewhat of a local place that I had never even heard of. It is a gorgeous spot. The Pulgas Water Temple.
After the ceremony the reception was held at the same place that my husband and I got married and had our reception fourteen years ago. It was so nice to see how the place and “grown” and thrived. The bride’s room is full of glass cases where they have a favor from the weddings and receptions they hold there. I spotted ours, but the picture didn’t come out.
The real reason I am posting about this wedding is they did something so lovely at the reception I wanted to share. I have never seen this done and I loved it so much I wanted to put it out there. After the bouquet toss, they called all the married couples to the dance floor. Then they invited all of us to dance including the bride and groom. Then the DJ started calling off years. Asking who had been married less than . . . . as they called the number of years couples left the dance floor. So at the end the couple married the longest was left dancing with the bride and groom. This might be a tradition of the reception hall because the couple that remained received a bottle of champagne from the bride and groom “and Freedom Hall and Gardens” I thought it was so cute. So special. It is a reminder that marriages can last.
The couple that remained was the grooms grandparents. They have been married 61 years. That is definitely something to celebrate and deserves a bottle of champagne. Of course, it didn’t even cross my mind that I would be posting about it so I didn’t take a picture of them. But it really was special. I love this idea!
The day was gorgeous, the wedding locations was gorgeous, the reception hall was gorgeous, the bride was gorgeous, it was all just gorgeous. And I really loved the “married couple dance”. I look forward to the day when my husband and I are the last ones remaining on the dance floor for this very special dance.
After teaching Nia a couple of weeks ago I realized I had a knot in my back. It was one of those things that felt fine while I was moving. So in my Nia class I didn’t notice it. When I was moving about the house I didn’t notice. When I stopped moving is when it starting hurting. It was one of those body issues that is so uncomfortable it is painful. I mean no matter which position I sat in, stood in, lied in, it was there. It was painfully annoying. I believe I tend to hold my stress there. I have posted about this “spot” before. I tried using a ball to rub it out. I asked my husband to massage it. Both helped but it came back the next day. It even kept me awake the next morning. I just wanted a few more minutes of sleep but my muscle was saying, no.
I had noticed when my husband was trying to work out the knot I had the strangest sensation. The spot of the pain was right beneath my shoulder blade but when he was pressing on it a tingling poking kind of sensation travelled up my entire shoulder blade. I thought that was very odd. I thought the muscle must contain a lot of nerves that run along the scapula. I thought it was odd that I had this disbursing sensation over my shoulder blade.
That was over the weekend and after Nia class on Monday one of my Nia students, a physical therapist, said she would look at it. She found the knot – as it was easy to feel and she began working on it. She said it was fascia! Ahhhhh! That explains why when my husband was trying to rub it out think it was a knot in the muscle I was sensing it all over my shoulder blade. (Wiki: “A fascia is a structure of connective tissue that surrounds muscles, groups of muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, binding some structures together, while permitting others to slide smoothly over each other.”) She pressed on both ends of it and was able to work it out. The next day it was sore, but I used the ball and it has been fine since. Fascia is fascinating. Fascia is the yellow stuff that is sometime still connected to chicken breast. And I am sure if you work with whole chickens you can see it too.
Here is a video about “fuzzy” fascia. Below the video on YouTube, Gil Hedley has noted that since the video was made in 2005 he has somewhat changed his ideas a little bit. But the video itself is still fascinating as it shows you the fascia in the body.
WARNING this video is of a cadaver. Mr. Hedley is using it to show what fascia is. He stated in his updated write up “ . . . it is normal for there to be “fuzzy” tissue between “individual muscles” within the muscle layer. As with all tissues of the body, all the matter of which it consists is transitioning at various paces, some quicker, some more slowly. “Fuzzy” tissues indeed cycle more quickly then some more dense tissues.”
As we know it is not just keeping our fascia mobile as the reason for moving, but it is interesting to see another part of our bodies that benefit from movement. I knew about fascia before discovering Nia, but I was introduced to Gil Hedley via Nia. Nia often makes the scientific connections in our continued education. There is a lot of continuing education material that deal with anatomy. Moving our fascia is just one reason why we dance.
The past two Thursdays have been pretty cold here and since I don’t teach Nia on Thursdays evenings I have been cooking soup. One Thursday I had it planned so I actually did go to the store after my Nia class on Wednesday to buy the ingredients I needed, but yesterday it was cold so I just decided to use what I had, which was not much. While I think that a bowl or two of soup can easily be a meal, I like to serve something else with it. When I looked in my fridge I saw the eggplant I had bought. Yay! Perfect. I saw a recipe on icancookstuff that sounded interesting. While I do not eat spicy hot food I thought I could use the garlic and the cummin. But it turns out I don’t have any cummin. So I decided to use ginger and turmeric. I have them in powdered form so I got the bottles out of the cupboard and set them on the counter. Then I put the eggplant in the oven to bake it.
The recipe said to bake it at 200 degrees for 45 minutes.** I didn’t think I had 45 minute so I put the temperature up to 300 and left it on for 30 minutes. I didn’t feel that the eggplant was cooked enough so I turned the convection oven on and set the timer for 30 more minutes. I turned it four times because it was getting flat on the pan side.
In the meantime I was cooking my soup. I only had one bunch of baby bok choy, a bunch of kale, and some broccoli. I swore I wasn’t going to put broccoli in a soup again, but . . . I didn’t think the rest would make it. So while I was trying to fake making soup I wasn’t really paying attention to the eggplant. My soup finished before the eggplant.
By the time I finally thought the eggplant was cooked enough to split I split it. I was thinking that I would make one half for me and one half for my husband. I salted it, I put a bit of garlic on it, I put a little bit of parmesan cheese on it. Then I looked over and I saw the onions I had chopped to put on it. And the kale. So I decided to put the onions and kale on one half and hubby and I would just get a half of each half making a whole half.
I put it back in the oven and let it bake for a bit more. Half way through the end of baking portion I saw the ginger and turmeric on the counter. Snap! I forgot to put it on. So I sprinkled a little turmeric on both halves. I put the broiler on for about 10 minutes.
Here is the result.
From the time I thought to cook the eggplant to the time I put it in the oven to finish baking I had thought of three different ways to flavor it. I had originally thought to use garlic, turmeric, and ginger, then I thought of garlic, onions, and kale, then I thought of garlic, and cheese. That really is not a big deal the big deal is that I forgot one each time I thought of the new one. Geez! What I ended up with was ok. I think it needed a little bit more flavor. I will work on that. I don’t even think I tasted the turmeric.
I like cooking eggplant this way because it is much less time-consuming than turn the slices all the time. But I think I like the roasted slices better. But I will continue to experiment with this. I might try slicing it into three pieces next time. Although a baked eggplant is not easy to slice.
**It just dawned on me that the 200 degrees was probably Celsius and not Fahrenheit. So it would actually be about 400 degrees F. Ha!
I can’t wait to try this again!
What do you think of this way of cooking eggplant? What would you put on the eggplant?
When I first discovered Nia I bought The Nia Technique Book to see if I would be able to do it. I don’t mean do it as in do the moves and participate in a class, I mean do it as in “get into it”, as in understand it. It sounded a bit “woo-woo” to me. Listening to your body, voices of the body, energy this, moving energy that. I wasn’t sure I could sync it up with my beliefs. But as I studied it more I realized that it is based on science. It involves human kinetics. Most of the moves, although called the 52 Nia moves are quite common and are seen in many other types of exercises and workouts. The ones that I consider unique are probably part of some other dance I am not familiar with. And the “woo-woo” part, well, I realized that it is woo-woo – at least that is how many people think of certain things like energy, chakras, mind-body, and body-mind practices. I mean look at yoga, when I was young that was one of the “woo-wooest” things around and now people have embraced it. There are so many types of yoga it is difficult to keep track. For some they just ignore the woo-woo while others embrace it because they realize it makes sense. I mean cultures have been using “woo-woo” stuff for centuries. There is meditation, herbs, chanting, drumming — all types of other things that some people think of woo-woo. The woo-woo must not be too far off base though because it seems to work. Recently my posts have been about healing sounds and making sounds, this post is about the vowel sounds related to the chakras and I am sure to some people it sounds a little, or maybe even a lot, “woo-woo”. But I like to imagine that if you are reading this you are somewhat open to new things — even woo-woo things. So you might be willing to try the healing sounds or even the vowel sounds of the chakras.
The vowel sounds related to the chakras are as follows:
CROWN CHAKRA: EEE as in “me”
BROW/THIRD EYE CHAKRA: AAA* as in “say”
THROAT CHAKRA: EYE as in “my”
HEART CHAKRA: AH as in “ma”
SOLAR PLEXUS CHAKRA: OH as in “go”
PELVIC CHAKRA: OOO as in “you”
ROOT CHAKRA: UH as in “cup”
The idea is to say these sounds in a specific note. If you have a keyboard or a phone with an app that has a keyboard or an app that can give you examples of the notes it might help you. Or you might be musical and know what the notes sound like.
EEE is to be made in the B note AAA is to be made in the A note EYE is to be made in the G note AH is to be made in the F note OH is to be made in the E note OOO is to be made in the D note
And UH is to be made in the C note
These sounds are to help open and heal the chakras. Or to keep them balanced, all depends on your needs and your practice.
As with everything there is a wealth of information out there on how to “do” the vowels. The commonalities I am seeing is to sit comfortable with a lengthened spine. Be relaxed. Use a normal breath. Repeat each sound seven times.
I have used these sounds in my Nia classes when we are using a chakra as a focus. I am going to take this list and use the vowels sounds just as I did the healing sounds. The focus can be the chakra vowel sounds and we can create an intent from there. Yay! I love thinking of things to use as focuses in my classes. I also think that sitting down to make these sounds as a specific exercise is a good idea. What do you think about chakra vowels? Might you try the exercise?
*Many places note this as “AYE” but to me that is AYE, as in what a pirate says. So I noted it as AAA, like Fonzie would say. 🙂
I’ve post about the Healings Sounds. I’ve posted about how we used the Healing Sounds in our Nia class. I’ve stated that making noise is a great way for people to know that you are breathing. There are other reasons to sound, one being it helps stabilize your core. In Nia or in other dance exercise classes there are times when you are moving and playing with balance so having a stable core can assist in proper balance. With the effort to stay stable there is also strengthening. On the exhale the abdomen is tightened.
In Nia we do a lot of movement where core stabilization is key. Some of the moves we do that require a stable core are punches, blocks, and kicks. In order to punch and/or block with strength and authority the spine needs to be straight, the ribs squeezing, and the abs tight. All of this can be accomplished with one loud sound, any sound can do it. Kicking is the same thing, even if you are doing a side kick where your body might be leaning, the spine is still straight and the torso needs to be tight. A joyful “HA!” can take care of all that!
Another reason to sound is release. We are often taught to be quiet. It could be as deep and as damaging as we were taught our opinions don’t matter. It could be more of a social “norm” where we were taught to respectfully keep one’s opinion to oneself or respectfully not sing, shout, or cry out loud because it would be inappropriate even though that is what we really want to do. All of these social confines can lead to blocked energies. Having to behave can lead to us feeling bad, so sounding in a Nia Class is a huge release. We can experience a release. Healing sounds aren’t the only ones to be made, anything will do.
Often times for me I am busy with listening to the music, thinking of the next move, getting ready to cue, dancing, and breathing I don’t THINK about sound it just comes out. Sometimes a move makes its own sound. Also depends on the move. I did a routine recently where the moves were very quiet for me. It was odd. It was as if the moves had no sound. I am wondering if that is because it was so new. I am looking forward to doing it again to see if sounds reveal themselves.
In addition to breath, stabilization, strength, and release sounding is fun. Children are expected to shout, laugh out loud, and be joyfully noisy, but adults not so much. Kids can run and scream on a playground, adult aren’t often afforded such a luxury, but in Nia we can. It really is fun. It is fun to make noise. It is fun to HA, HOO, FOO, SHOO, HI-YA, WAHOO, WHOOO, and SHHHHH to the top of your voice. It is fun to play with the volume and the tone of the noises. All of this playfulness adds to the joy. We can whoop it up as we did when we were young. The vibrations of sound heal the body. The fun heal the spirit and the soul.
I often wonder how people are able to keep quiet in a Nia class. I believe they have not yet experienced the good it will do for them. There is the breath, the added stabilization, the strengthening, the emotional release, and the fun that it brings all good for the body, mind, spirit, and soul.
While I am saying we do sounding in Nia class, don’t think it is restricted to that. So while you are exercising don’t forget to breath. Try making some noise. If you are in a class that doesn’t allow for it find a Nia class and whoop it up there!
A post ago I posted about Healing Sounds. In Nia classes participants are encouraged to make noise or what we call sound. One reason to sound is to let the teacher of the class know you are breathing. This holds true for many exercise classes. Wanting students/participants to be breathing holds true for all teachers. There are a lot of reasons to sound, it does not have to be for healing or feeling better. But as I stated in that post, I just happened to come across that information and those sounds so I thought it would be fun to bring the list to class and use them as a focus.
The first time we used the Healing Sounds in a Nia Class, I had written each sound down on a separate piece of paper and I taped them to the mirror. Before class I verbally reviewed each sound. Our focus was the Healing Sounds with an intent of bringing some healing. I invited the participants to make these noises during class. The general invitation was to make them any way; they could breath in and make the noise on one long exhale, they could make them quick and staccato, they could make the tone high or low. Whatever they wanted. Whatever they felt. As with most focuses I do bring them into play specifically at times so when we were punching or kicking I might have encouraged them to make loud and forceful sounds. I encouraged them at one point to try each sound. I also had them play with saying a sound at least six times as was mentioned in the information I had found. For my own practice I know that I used the sounds in a pattern and as with many things when one person does it others follow. So we did a lot of lead and follow with sound as each person thought of different ways to use the sounds. It was very fun.
After the class I read to them what the sounds were related to and what they assisted with. It was very fascinating. Some commented that they had been drawn to a particular sound and they could see how that would be an area in which assistance would be appreciated. Some had fun doing a good job of using all the sounds. Some admitted that some sounds were more fun to make than others.
The most recent time that I used the healing sounds I again taped up the papers with each sound written on it. But this time I read the information before class. So the participants were aware of what each sound was prior to dancing. The focus and intent were the same, but with the knowledge of what each sound assisted with some Nia students decided to focus on the specific sounds they felt would help them. Again we had the freedom of how to make the sound and when to make it. It is so exhilarating to hear my students weave sounding into the dance and to hear them make the sounds in their own way.
This second time around it was rewarding to hear my students say, “Yay! I was just thinking about the healing sounds and hoping you would do them again soon.” So they enjoyed it the first time and were looking forward to it.
I think I just decided today that with each routine I teach, with each round, I am going to do at least one class at each location (Willow Glen San Jose, Campbell, and Blossom Hill San Jose) where the focus is the healing sounds. Whether the belief is that they actually heal or not we all have a lot of fun with it. And they are sounds that my class actually make!
You don’t have to be in a Nia class to experiment with the sounds. Have you used them?
To me life is about learning. I have learned a few things since I started my Nia Class on Monday in Campbell in the evenings and my Nia Class on Saturday. It is much better for me to have Monday’s dinner cooked on Sunday. So I have been planning my weekend meals so that I have leftovers on Monday. You may have noticed that I didn’t post anything last Saturday . . . . lesson learned: I need to make sure my Saturday post is done on Friday. I have too many other things to do when I get home from my 10:00 am Nia Class. It ends at 11:00 so I don’t get home until 11:30 (at the earliest) or noon! So I really need to have my post done because the next thing I know it is 1:48 am on Sunday morning and I am just noticing I forgot to post on my blog. 😦 Well, it was only the second time I forgot. The first time also was a Saturday. This past week the weather has been gorgeous here in San Jose. I haven’t spent much time lately getting any pictures of our yard happenings. This past week while the weather was cool and nice I took a few. I thought I would share some with you. It has been awhile since I have shared some fun pictures on my blog.
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?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 