The time change has officially occurred. It is only 7, but feels like 9. I thought we were supposed to gain time, yet it keeps disappearing. The time change also marked the official transition from October to November. We had hoped to post an October blog before the Halloween party because we had a lot happen since our last blog.
I had my first yoga weekend which was pretty amazing. I learned a lot about anatomy, especially the back. I learned how the vertebrae work and about the common problems that occur in the spine. I met a lot of very interesting individuals. There are over 30 other people in the program with me. I got to know a lot of them very personally as yoga is very touch oriented. We learned a lot of adjustments and how to help people into poses and maximize their benefit. Over the course of the weekend, I did about 10 hours of yoga and the other seven or eight hours was spent sharing experiences, meditating, and doing actual classroom learning. I am excited about the program and think it is the right choice for me right now. My November yoga weekend is coming up and I am excited. I have established a home practice and have been enjoying practicing my poses and mediation most every day. I have noticed improvement in my poses and increased flexibility and confidence. My most favorite recent exchage was me telling Sam that I can get my knees farther under my armpits now and Sam replying with "you don't hear that very often." Sam, a very willing student, often joins me. We are trying to work on his tight shoulders. He urges that the tightness is due to his muscles. However, I learned in class that it is actually bone structure that inhibits some people's flexibility, especially in shoulders. (Don't tell him that)
Our next adventure was an excursion to Mt. Mitchell with Sam's parents.
From a very high altitude, we enjoyed looking down on the patchwork colors of fall. Good thing we went when we did, or we would have been looking down on barren trees. The trees up where we were had lost almost all of their leaves. I would say that the reason the trees had no leaves is no secret. There was a very brutal wind up there that day. I don't see how any leaves were still hanging on. After gazing upon the "wool" colors of fall, as Sam's dad terms them, we went on a short hike. Then we found a nice spot in the sun for a very delightful picnic complete with chicken noodle soup, good-for-you foods, and cookies.
We soon thereafter made our way down the winding mountain to host a pumpkin carving party. We had people come over and each one carved a pumpkin and donated it as a decoration for our Halloween party which we had the following weekend. It was a fun little pre-Halloween event. I made soup cooked in a pumpkin, a recipe I got from Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miralce. It was pretty tastey, but a little thin. I don't know the remedy for that as cooking soup in a pumpkin seems like a very tempermental task. The festivous nature of the endeavor overshone it's thiness, plus with bread for dipping there were no complaints.
The next noteworthy event of October would most definitely have to be the Halloween party. It was our first big party co-hosting at the house, so it was a pretty big deal. It was complete with pumpkins, a goblin cheese ball, costumes for the cats, games, and most importantly, people. Sam was a yard gnome, an idea we got from a child's costume hanging in Walmart. After the inspiration, we quickly set out on a hunt for the right materials. Once we found them at Michael's, I used the very little knowledge I have about crafting things out of material to create some sort of gnome hat with a beard and eyebrows attatched to it. Nevertheless, my safety pin job was flawless, and his costume was all the rave. I was Daria Morgendorffer. I put my new bangs to good use. If you are not familiar with Daria here is a link that gives some information about her and the show which I thought was pretty brilliant back in the day: DariaWe also had costumes for the cats. Delilah was a pumpkin; Weezy a chicken.
October has been a busy month, but well-worth it. We are just savoring the many events of fall. It seems like the next few months will be busy as well with the upcoming holidays. November holds a beard and Thanksgiving. With Thanksgiving, we are still ironing out the details, getting accustomed to the joint holiday family responsibilities that marriage presents. As with yoga, we are learning to be more flexible, finding balance and possibly tapping into Michael Keaton's secret in Multiplicity. More family around the holidays is never a bad thing though...and neither is more food! We are excited and are in no way falling back, but always falling forward.
