Wow. We are having the best weather here in the South Bay Area. It is June and I have my windows open! Usually it is too hot and we have everything shut up until it cools down. At about 8:30 or 9:00 pm we open the house and try to let it cool down. We keep the windows open for as long as we can hoping that will help keep it cool for the next day’s heat. But we have not been having heat! YAY! So excited. So loving it. The other day when I got up, I was enjoying the hummingbirds around the feeders. There was four to five of them. When I got home from teaching Nia and yoga, I noticed the feeders were empty, so I texted my hubby asking him if he would make food that night. He is the expert hummingbird food maker. That is his job. I made sure they were cleaned out so all he had to do was “cook” and fill the feeders. And, today, I was able to enjoy the fruits of his labor. With the weather being so awesome, I had the doors open so I could hear their chittering. I can also hear the buzz of their wings. So awesome. I love it.
I was watching them fly all around and I was able to take this video. As I often say when I take pictures or videos – and it sounds lame, but hey, that is the way it is – I couldn’t see what I was shooting. The sun was very bright and I was at an odd angle – half in, half out of the house. I was trying not to disturb the birds. I THOUGHT I was capturing two birds on the feeder. I also was fascinated by the crazy one that is off in the distance. See him? He was flying around as if he were drunk. It was so funny. When I looked at the video I was so surprised to see FOUR on the feeder. I mean, that happens, that is why I wanted to be sure to fill the feeders again right away. But I didn’t even see them, when I was recording. That portion of the feeder was out of sight. Basically only my arms were sticking out of the house trying to capture the birds eating.
I could sit there all day and take pictures and make recordings, but . . . I do have other things to do.
I have not been able to get a good picture of an oriole yet. They are very shy and fly away the moment I move towards the door or window. I hope to have all summer long to try to get a good photo.
I love our hummingbirds – oh, except the on that was getting back at me for walking by him. I was outside, there was a bird on the feeder. I didn’t want to wait for him to finish so I squeezed by as close to our yard furniture as I could . . . giving him as wide of a berth as I could. He flew off the feeder. I turned around to and said, “Sorry about that.” And he flew up and then flew straight at me! Bugger!
They are so entertaining.
As a note . . . there is no added coloring to the water, it is that color because of the sugar. You can read about that in my post Another Case Where Less Might Be More.
Do you have hummingbirds? Do you have other birds?
In Nia we teach facing a mirror with our backs to the students. The mirrors help me stay connected to the class. I can look in the mirror and make eye-contact with someone. I can peruse the room and see what is going on. It is different from the way it used to be when I took Jazzercise so many moons ago. The teacher faced us and would do mirror actions. When the class went left the teacher would actually go to his right. When we went right the teacher went to his left. When we moved forward the teacher also moved forward coming toward the class. When the class moved back the teacher would go back. The teacher facing the class allowed for face-to-face connection. The other day I was teaching a class and I was doing the “mirroring” and as I was pausing in the movement, I realized why I didn’t like “mirroring” as much as teaching with my back to them. I couldn’t share my sensation. I could not teach what I was sensing.
I think part of what makes Nia so joyful and fun is that the teacher is having fun. We are taught to be in our bodies and dance. We learn routines, but if while teaching the music motivates us to do something off from the choreography, that is fine. We get to play. We get to sense what is happening in our bodies and share it with the class. Then the class gets motivated to dance what is in their bodies . . . their individual body.
When I was paused in that stretch I wanted to tell them what I was sensing and have them explore their bodies sensation, but I couldn’t. I had to pause and adjust my mind and my words because we were not bending the same way. So, yes, I could say, “side” leaving out which side, but it felt less authentic because we were not experiencing the same side. Silly, I know, but it was a thought that popped into my head as I was teaching. Sometimes there are no mirrors available in the classrooms I am assigned to teach in, so I have to teach facing the class and that is fine, but I really like having mirrors.
Also, I notice that when I am facing the students even when I used left or right or even use a landmark in the room . . . there are some that pause for a second in confusion. They are looking at me and seeing me do the opposite from what I am asking them to do and you can just see the internal struggle in the face. This is especially the case when instructing twists. Twists are already a little challenge for the brain so when the arm goes up and around and the leg goes up and around, crossing over the mid-line of the body, the brain really likes to see it as the body is to do it. The mirrored way really has people all twisted.
While we don’t have really complicated steps in Nia, it seems like the students learn them faster when they can see exactly how it is to be done. They don’t have that extra brain work to do of adjusting for left and right. They see my left foot going over to the right side and they get it. It takes a lot to see the right foot going towards them and over to the left while I am telling them to take their left foot front and over to the right.
It is nice to dance without the mirrors sometimes, as I wrote about in my post Mirrorless Inward Reflection. For some it helps them be less concerned about how they look while they are dancing. It can allow people to be more introspective. It can enable people to connect to their own Conscious Personal trainer. It is a good thing and definitely something I / we can do when we do not have access to mirrors, I just happened upon an insight recently and thought I could share.
Do you like to take classes with mirrors? Do you find it easier to follow when the teacher has his/her back to you?
I am just going to put this out there. I have this on my website, but not everyone goes there and someone might see it here and . . . well, why not, right? I could be teaching a class at a time when you want to take a class. You could be somewhat curious about Nia, but maybe haven’t gotten around to clicking on my website to see my schedule. It could be on your list of things to do. Maybe you are looking for a yoga class. I teach Nia three times a week. I teach yoga twice a week. I just started teaching a stretch class but we are taking an eight week hiatus (until August 11, 2016) during the busy summer months because the community center doesn’t have the room for us. They have so many summer programs for kids, it is crazy (good). I am subbing a gentle yoga class for three weeks at Mind Body Zone. And I have one Sunday Nia class rotation at the NW YMCA this month.
Nia is a cardio dance . . . meaning it is an aerobic workout. It is low impact, meaning we don’t jump high and land hard, but it can be INTENSE. You control that part. If you get low and reach high and move a lot you will get a big workout, if you don’t get down and keep your movements small then you will get a smaller workout. You get to decide what type of workout you want when you attend class. The music is varied from a little bit of Pop, with some Jazz, all the way to Rock. It is a place you can go to get some “me” time and have fun.
Since there really is no standard definition of gentle yoga you might not know what you are getting when you go to a yoga class. So you might want to know that I make yoga gentle by not holding the poses for a long time or flowing through poses. We do a pose at least two times so that we can tryout the modifications. If you know a pose we are doing and you want to get right into it right away, that is fine. We general do a few poses either standing or on the floor then we switch. It is an important thing to be able to get down on the floor and get up again. So we make that part of the routine. “Gentle yoga” does not mean beginner, it means that we do yoga gently.
In stretch we just work our way down the body. We stretch from head to toe. We hold the stretch from 20 to 30/40 seconds. We do standing, sitting, supine/reclined (on the back), and even some prone (on the belly) poses. Sometimes we use straps. Everyone is encouraged to stretch honoring their own body.
You may know from reading my posts about Nia, or even other material about Nia, that it is made up of three groups of movement forms. Those three groups of movement forms are made up of three movement forms. The first group is Martial Arts, which include T’ai chi, Tae Kwon Do, and Aikido. In martial arts we can have moves like punches, kicks, blocks, and strikes. The elbow strike is one of Nia’s 52 Moves. Now remember, the 52 Moves of Nia are not moves that Nia claims are unique to Nia or that only Nia does. The 52 Moves of Nia are named that because they are incorporated into the Nia Routines. The Elbow Strike might even be able to be counted as three moves . . . perhaps not, but there are three ways to do it. I am betting you understand that all three ways involve the elbow. There is the elbow strike down, the elbow strike out, and the elbow strike back or the Downward Strike, the Outward Strike, and the Backward Strike.
To do this move you would first get into Riding Stance also know as Sumo Stance. Have a strong and stable base. Push into the earth with your feet. Engage through the core and the whole body. The fists are in ready position, which is palms up, at chest height and at the side of the chest . . . so elbows are drawn back past the rib cage. The downward strike is with the elbow moving downward into the open palm of the opposite hand. The outward strike is the elbow moving out away from the body using the opposite hand to push the power through the elbow. The backward strike has the opposite hand pushing the elbow backwards away from the body. All of these are done on one side then the other.
As I have mentioned with all the moves, there is an exact way to practice it or them, in this case, if you are just practicing each move. But when you are dancing the exactness can change. In a Nia class, we might do elbow strikes from an A Stance or while we are stepping into a stance. Or we might do them from a bow stance. Sometimes we might not use the opposite hand to help push the power, or strike down into the open palm of the opposite hand. It all depends on the dance. The above is just to help you learn the move and how you would practice it on its own.
The Nia Technique Book says: “Benefits: Practicing Elbow Strikes is excellent for releasing stress and anxiety. These moves will strengthen and define upper chest, back, hands, and arms and will enhance your sense of confident determination.”
Elbows strikes do feel powerful and give you a sense of confidence. It is really fun to do them while sounding, perhaps saying, “HA!” or even just saying, “Strike!”
Well, what do you think? Did you try it? Can you feel the power in this move?
Recently I attended a yoga class just to observe. Sometimes just observing is difficult because the desire to get up and participate is often there. But I thought this class was beyond my level of doing. I like slow mindful classes. I am not a fan of the speed of a flow class. I also know this teacher to be a bit of a tough cookie. And I have come to the studio AFTER this class – in the past – and the participants are just dripping and wobbly legged, so I had never thought to participate before. So . . . I thought that observing would be a piece of cake. There would be no desire to jump to participate. Now, let me explain this “observing,” it is for me to become a better teacher. I am not there to judge or criticize the students nor the teacher. But I am there to gain knowledge. Observe how one sequences a class. To observe how assistance is given. To observe the yoga teacher’s pacing and volume. To learn by observing. I have three separate papers for three separate types of notes. I have POSES, for poses I want to either do myself or bring to my classes. I have Cues and Things I want to bring to my classes. And I have just notes that I will refer back to. While I was doing my best to listen and look without staring at the participants I got a little misty eyed. My breath caught in my throat and I thought, “Damn! Bodies are beautiful!”
You probably know I have a tendency to ramble on and on when all I really wanted to tell you is – if you want to learn yoga stop staring at the Yoga Journal, stop looking at models on websites – GO TO A CLASS TO OBSERVE!!!!! Look at REAL people DOING yoga. Look at REAL bodies doing yoga. Just watch, just observe, don’t judge. We do this in Nia all the time, we call it witnessing. We “witness” without judgment. So just go to a class and witness. Appreciate what you see. Notice the strength. Notice the weakness. Notice the flexibility. Notice the stiffness. Notice the intention. Notice the determination. Notice the frustration. Notice the effort. Notice the triumphs. Notice the concentration. Notice the distraction. Notice the trying. Notice it all!
I was struck by it all when I looked up and saw someone in a pose perfectly. I thought, “Dang. I will glance back over throughout the class because that is awesome and I want to see more of that.” Then I looked back a few poses later and I thought the person had moved spots because what I saw was misery. The person could barely get into the pose. And the next person was Yoga Journal perfect whereas they couldn’t do the previous pose. A few of the people I noticed in pose “perfection” in one pose were in the total opposite of perfection in other poses. The class was full of perfect poses and not perfect poses . . . all at different times by the same and by different people. And I wanted to jump up and join in!
This was not a beginner class, it was a class of real people doing yoga in real bodies. Some bodies whose arms are not long enough to hold the foot when the leg is extended. Some bodies whose hamstrings are too tight or too short to do a straight legged fold. Some bodies whose bones or bodies get in the way. Bodies that come to class and do real yoga.
The models in the magazine and on the websites more-than-likely were chosen to do that particular pose because they can. Their limbs are just the right length to do the poses. Could also be that the model only did that one pose or was put into that pose whereas in a yoga class there is a sequence and it could be that by the time you get half way through your muscles are tired and so the poses might not be picture perfect. Yoga is a practice not a photo.
I am not organized in all areas of my life. Who is, right? But I do find that when I am organized it makes things easier . . . faster . . . quicker. And, most of us can benefit from that, right? There is so much going on, if we can do something faster it helps. Even if it is just to allow us time to slow down. Hurry up and cook dinner so we can sit and relax. Hurry up and clean up so we can go off to play. Whatever . . . hurry in one area of life to make it easier so we can get to the OTHER things in life. Well, I teach Nia, which is a cardio dance that is done to a variety of music. Nia Teachers purchase routines from Nia Technique. They are playlists and choreography. Ok, really they are A LOT more than that, but if I got into ALL of what the routines are in this post it would be really long and I would probably not even get to the point of this post. The point is some information on how I “organize” or arrange my music in iTunes.
So, Nia teacher purchase routines and for some reason sometimes the Album is titled the name of the routine and sometimes it is titled “NiaSounds”. Sometimes it is the name of the routine-NiaSounds. It is NOT consistent. The artists are all over the place from the ACTUAL artist to “Nia Technique”. It is not consistent. And the genre is spotty too, sometimes it is “Alternative”, sometimes it is “New Age”, and I am not even sure what else. This inconsistency does not make it easy to organize the music. And it is very desirable, if not necessary, to have the music labeled consistently so that it can be organized consistently.
What I do, is I make certain the genre is “Nia”. The ACTUAL genre could be anything because we dance Nia to all types of music. So what it REALLY is, is not what I am looking for. I want my Nia Routine music to come up all in one spot when I look at it if I am looking at it via genre.
I change all the Albums to be the name of the actual Nia Routine so I can find music easily by the name of the routine.
I don’t bother with the artist because I like it when it is the ACTUAL artist, but I am not going to spend the time to correct all the music to be the actual artist. As I said, the way Nia labels it is not consistent.
iTunes changes the way it functions WAY TOO often for me. I notice that the length of a song doesn’t show any longer where it used to. I have to go in and out of playlists to see the length of songs. When I have a playlist pulled up, I have to go out of it into the list of playlists to see the length. I have been delaying the update that is currently out there because I can’t even imagine the new changes they have done, the last time an update came out someone on Facebook asked a question about where the total time of the playlists had gone to and that made me think I had better not update because one of the things that makes an iPhone and iPad useful to me is that it can be used to create playlists. And when you are teaching you need to know how long the playlist is.
One of my devices is on a really old iOS (6something) and the other one is at 9something. I think my iTunes is a few versions behind. But I am afraid to update because I don’t want to lose the function that I use.
Another way I organize the music is I have three separate playlists for the Nia music. One is arranged by Album. So I can easily see what song goes to which routine. I can pick out a song that I know is in a routine, or identify a routine when I know the song. Also, I have a playlist arranged by BPM . . . which means Beats Per Minute, but in Nia we don’t go by BPM we go by the 8BCs. So once I figure out that count I try to remember to put it in my iTunes (under BPM). I have not successfully remembered with all the routines, so not all of them show up properly in that playlist but enough to help me when I am trying to put a particular speed song into a routine I am trying to create. Then I also have a playlist arranged by time because sometimes I need a LONG song and sometimes I need a short song. When they are all clumped together by time it makes it easier to pick the length of time I need then I can just pop it into the correct Nia Class cycle. So these three separate “playlists” allow me to see the music in ways that I need, in order to create playlists on my device that I will use in class.
That is what I do to help keep my music organized in a manner that works for me. I am sure there are different ways that other Nia teachers do it as this is not the only way.
Whether you are a teacher that uses music or not – how do you organize your music?
I teach a cardio dance exercise called Nia. It is dance, it is exercise, it is a cardio workout. It is done to music. Nia teachers pay a licensing fee and included in that are routines. The Nia Technique creates routines. One part to learning a routine is to listen to the music. I listen to it a lot. Sometimes I have difficulty or I feel I do, if I don’t like the music. But most of the time I like it. But either way, I listen to it a lot. Sometimes I listen to it while I am cleaning, but when I have the vacuum on I can’t hear it so I have been wanting some Bluetooth headphones. I have had my earbuds in with my phone in my pocket or tucked in somewhere when the wire has gotten caught and the earbuds RIPPED out of my ears or out of the phone. Neither one is good. So I thought it would be cool to have a wireless pair. Originally I was looking for headphones. Everything I found was expensive. I didn’t even realize they made wireless earbuds! My husband found some that were affordable. It turned out he liked them and they worked well. Sometimes the affordable things don’t always work well, so it is nice that these did. So I went looking and I found a pair that looked almost exactly like his but were even less expensive. I’m only talking $4.00, but, $4.00 is $4.00. So I got some. And I like ’em. I like mine better than his.
Both pair are over the ear type of wearables. Both pair stick IN your ear. On mine, the earbud part seems to be made of metal whereas his are plastic. Also, the over-the-ear holder on mine seems a little softer more flexible. I liked that a lot better. It made them more comfortable. When I tried his on, one of my ears started to hurt. With the softer holder they might flex more and allow for better movement with my glasses.
Of course, at $13.99 they are from a brand I have never heard of – Parasom. But they work. Who knows if they will keep working. I have experienced many off-brand – or more accurately – not a name brand – product that has stopped working after a couple of months. So we will see.
Mine also had a little clip, which I liked. The control portion of the earbuds on mine is about an inch or so closer to the earbud than his, but that is ok for me. I am not using mine while running like he is, so it is easy for me to stop what I am doing if I need to in order to work the controls. Although they are pretty easy and pretty standard controls.
One button powers it on – and it says, “Power on” and off (it says “Power off”). The same button starts the play of music and pauses it. One button turns the volume up, goes to the previous song, and restarts the song. Another button turns the volume down and advances the music to the next song.
I haven’t used it as a headset for phone calls because the first time I tried it with my hubby’s he said he didn’t like the quality of my voice, so I haven’t bothered trying mine. I know when I am using my regular headset and driving I can’t be on the phone that long because the quality of the caller’s voice is distorted. Probably has to do with the fact that it is only coming through one ear bud.
Anyway, I am always excited when I get a product that I think of as expensive at an affordable price AND it works. So, I like to share. So far, this was at an affordable price, it works, so I am sharing. I would like to point out that I did NOT receive this product for free or at a discounted rate for my unbiased and impartial review. But, hey, how do I do that? I read A LOT of blogs and reviews where the people say that. Sign me up for that!
Anyway . . . if you are looking for an affordable wireless headset the one my husband got is good or mine is – which I think is better.
Have you ever had your earbuds ripped out of your ears because the wire to the phone get caught on something? Have you been thinking about a wireless pair?
In my last post I told you how I was recently reminded of the Cootie Catcher. I explained how you can make your own. Did you? What did you use it for? Well, I also mentioned that I would be using mine for picking a focus and an intent for Nia class. Well, I used it today and I liked it. It worked. In Nia we set a focus and an intent for each class, which allows us so many different things. It could help us move differently to a familiar routine, it could allow us to help work out some kinks in the body and mind, it can do many things. It is a powerful tool in the Nia tool box. Most often I ask my students if they have anything they would like to focus on. Then we go from there deciding an intent. One of the most requested focuses is shoulders. So many of us hold tension in our shoulders. Rarely is there a time when no one has something they want to focus on, but I thought it would be fun to mix it up giving us an alternative for picking the focus of the class. Plus I thought it would be a good way to get some focuses in use that we don’t use that often. So I made a cootie catcher to assist us.
I wrote four of the seven Nia Class cycles on the outside. I used the number of the cycle. Warm-up is cycle 3, Get Moving is cycle 4, Cool Down is cycle 5, and Floorplay is cycle 6. I could have just used numbers but I wanted to remind people that Nia has cycles. I wish I could have used all seven. So we have someone pick the cycle, then we open and close the catcher that number of times. Then someone picks a focus or I might have them choose a number . . . that way they won’t really know what focus they are picking. Ha, I will probably do it both ways. Anyway . . .we now have our focus. Then the catcher is opened and closed as many times as the corresponding number. Then someone picks another number and we open that triangle and read the intent that is behind it and that is our intent for the class.
Today in class we picked Natural Time . . . to empower us to connect with our body. NICE!
Each focus can work nicely with each intent. So no matter what combination is picked it will work.
You may notice the underlining on the focuses (Joints is underlined, Extension is underlined), originally I was going to use the words, spelling them out to open and close the catcher, but I decided to go with the numbers. But again, I might try that way, too. There are so many ways you can do it. That is one thing that makes it so fun!
There are many ways we can decide on a focus and intent, this is just one. If you are going to make one to use to help with a focus and intent you need FOUR things for the outside (that is where I put the cycles). Then you need EIGHT focuses and EIGHT intents. So that would be the same formula for anything you are going to use the catcher for. Four, eight, eight.
I would love to make more and have all kinds of different focuses and intents. So, you Nia teachers and Nia students, share with me your favorite focus and intent!
Somewhat funny that I have one last niyama to write about. I started writing about the Eight Limbs of Yoga in January. First I talked about the fact that there is More To Yoga Than Just Asana (that is the name of the post). Most people are familiar with the fact that there are yoga poses, but not everyone knows there are eight parts, or what are called “limbs”. Then some of the limbs have even more “branches” you could say. Two of them have five branches or offshoots. I was making my way through each of them writing about them briefly. They are the yamas and the niyamas. As with many things in Nia – the cardio dance exercise I teach – the many aspects of yoga are deep and volumes can be written about each. I have barely scratch the surface. But the last one I have to write about is the fifth niyama, Ishvara Pranidhana. Some people refer to it as surrender to the Devine or surrender of ego.
Some debate the concept of the Devine, some saying it is God, some saying it is the universe. Then you have to decide what surrender means. So, if you are going to follow the path of yoga and practice all the limbs, I would say that the first thing you might need to do when practicing this niyama is decide on your “Devine”. I actually appreciate the texts that translate it as God because that is my Devine.
The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar says it means “to lay all your actions at the feet of God.” That to me sounds like surrendering to the Devine to me, but then “lay all your actions” is up for interpretation. Again, I will say that I am just barely touching the surface and with that “barely touching”, the idea of it can change. But it seems as if that could mean to trust in what is happening. Surrender and let things be.
One teaching I received described it as “bringing about serenity, letting go, opening to silence.” The teaching also suggested to use “devote” instead of surrender. But just like with the poses the translation of all of the ancient writings are mixed. Some say it says this and means that and some say it says that and means this. So it can be confusing with so many conflicting and contradicting translations.
But just because I have my “Devine” decided doesn’t necessarily make surrendering easy. It is still a challenge sometimes to accept what is. Although, as I mentioned first, having to write about this niyama at this time struck me as funny because the first thing I thought of is that I did surrender to the “Devine”. I did not write my last two self imposed scheduled post because I surrendered to the fact that I was taking a few days away from home and in order to get somethings done, I had to skip writing my blog. Ok, I did not HAVE to, but I had to let it go since I couldn’t come up with something to write about. At the time I hadn’t even thought about posting about this last niyama. Or I would have at least posted on Wednesday.
Also, we took a couple of days and stayed near the ocean and to me nature is just a reminder of the Devine. So . . . I felt as if I surrendered a bit.
Ahhh, surrender to what is and have faith that all is as it should be. Relax and let go a bit.
Today is April Fool’s Day. I am not one to play pranks or enjoy pranks played on me. But today, I wished so hard that I was the victim of a cruel joke. I pulled into the parking lot where I teach Nia three days out of the week and I was so sad to see that ALL the trees are marked for removal. So the tree-lined parking lot that one must drive down to enter the main parking lot will no longer be tree-lined. There will no longer be trees and sky to look up at. I was running late today, but the supervisor of the center was walking by as I was getting ready for class and I asked him about the trees. I believe he said that they will be removed and relocated. I really was in a hurry so I was unable to get more details, but I think he said if they can’t fit in the parking lot most of them will go to parks. But that doesn’t change the fact that the trees will no longer be at the center. They are putting up those solar parking canopies.
So, I saw the solar parking canopies go up in school parking lots and I thought it was ridiculous that they need to add shade for cars. But then I was informed that they are solar. So I thought that was cool. The few school parking lots that I have seen them go up in were just barren plots of asphalt. That makes sense to me. But at this center they are taking down trees. This makes me sad.
There just seems to be so much metal and concrete around, I think it is so sad when a tree gets taken down/moved/removed to put up more metal and concrete. A comment made was “it is being done to be green”. I am just not convinced that removing green trees is the way to be green. It just seems so wrong. Also, I was told that now there will be shade for cars, more than there is already provided by the trees that they are taking down. Again . . . not convinced that cars having shade is more important than birds having homes and places to eat.
As I was standing in the parking lot talking to one of my students who was equally sad that the trees were going away we were listening to the birds and watching them flit around in the trees. While we enjoyed it, it was somewhat bittersweet because at one point, there will be parking canopies going up in place of the trees.
No April Fool’s joke here. Actual live trees, green trees are being removed so we can be green. Places that birds and bugs live and feed will be removed so we can have shade for our cars. Makes me sad.
The center is quite large and so I am bummed that trees have to be removed instead of some type of roof top installation of solar panels. I mean, solar panels are great to help with energy. It makes sense: sun, power — good. But it is so sad that the trees have to go. It is so sad that they will be replaced by metal and concrete.
It was even more prophetic that when I got in my car the radio was playing, “It’s The End Of the World as we know it.” I am not even certain that a more appropriate song would have been Big Yellow Taxi, ya know the one that says “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”
Sigh. Good-bye pretty tree-lined parking lot. I’ll miss you.
I love our hummingbirds – oh, except the on that was getting back at me for walking by him. I was outside, there was a bird on the feeder. I didn’t want to wait for him to finish so I squeezed by as close to our yard furniture as I could . . . giving him as wide of a berth as I could. He flew off the feeder. I turned around to and said, “Sorry about that.” And he flew up and then flew straight at me! Bugger!
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