The Mountain Thymes

"Every beat of your heart is the rhythm of your soul."  Yogi tea bag Sunday night did not bring a peaceful or relaxed sleep.  Earlier last week, Anita, our yoga instructor, asked me to sub for her on Monday. Without hesitation I agreed, then thought about what I had just agreed to do.  As a participant, yoga is meditative and healing.  As an instructor, it's a continuous guidance session with demonstration and voice. I needed a theme or focus for the 75-minute class so spent a few hours Saturday and again Sunday researching, watching YouTube yoga, making notes, and practicing on my mat. Basically, the same people show for the three classes each week and we're all very comfortable with each other.  So it was not a class of strangers.  But...... it's different being in front of your peers than being on your mat following someone else.  I decided my focus would be Inner Wisdom and listed more than enough asanas to fill the 75 minutes.  Cliff placed...

Cliff has been spending hours working on the North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshall incident reports for one of his volunteer stations. It's a good thing he enjoys sitting at a computer for hours because I would have hurt someone by now if I had to do all those reports. The garden has been tilled and Mantis-ed as deeply as one can on the side of a mountain.   Cliff rebuilt the raised gardens for me which gives me lots more room to over-plant and more room for some wild flowers, honey bee and hummingbird attracting flowers.   Our compost and Wayne's mushroom compost should enhance and lighten the heavy clay for good root growth.  Radishes are kind of like cockroaches.  Nothing bothers them and they thrive even under the worst conditions.  There's no sign of carrots or beets yet that were planted the same day as the radishes, yet the radishes have proudly sprouted their little leaves through the rocky clay. Rhubarb has really grown nicely since ea...

It's convenient to have enough leftovers from a meal sometimes to warm up later for another meal.  I used to chuckle at my parents saving small amounts of leftover vegetables that hardly seemed worth using space in the refrigerator.  But every small amount eventually went into a soup or some concoction that ended up being eaten.  A few weeks ago we had about 1/2 cup of corn left from our supper that could be thrown into a soup so I left it cooling on the counter.  Most of the time I remember to cover things with Saran wrap within an hour after clean up.  About three hours later I went to the kitchen to set up my coffee maker for morning and discovered the corn was still sitting on the counter.  I hemmed and hawed.........hmmmm.......wondering whether to pitch it in the trash or save it.  It got covered with Saran and  placed in the fridge.  When I get home from Zumba and yoga, I'm hungry and usually grab an apple or some leftovers to hold me ...

As the previous post stated, Cliff and I were in Copperhill, Tennessee Thursday for his scheduled doctor visit and for my upper respiratory virus that was out of control.  He likes me to sit in with him sometimes and be a second set of ears, especially if there's anxiety or new information.  In the history taking info, Cliff mentioned that his mother had dementia.  At this time I asked the doctor how a wife knows whether the husband is exhibiting signs of age-related dementia or just shutting her out. He smiled and said husbands have to stick together on that one.  Cliff was given three things to commit to memory and recite back in the order given.  His long-term memory is excellent and he can still recite all the numbers on his first driver license.  Once he focused and concentrated on the three items, he was able to recall them each time he was asked during our hour in the room.  It was such a relief to be told that all he needed to do was concentra...

No whining about weather in this post as my northern followers are probably outside clearing driveways with their snowblowers and cursing Quinn and other recently named snowstorms.  We're cold again with winds to 17 mph and temps making it to 36.  This morning on the way to the doctor in Tennessee, we drove in snow showers with no accumulation.  NOT complaining, just stating conditions.  Cliff decided to get a second opinion on his blood panel from my doctor.  While he filled out the clipboard full of questions, my doc poked his head out into the waiting room, took one look at my red nose, raccoon eyes, and pale skin and immediately put his stethoscope to my chest, then with his normal gentle smile, asked why I hadn't called him.  I figured it was only the common cold and would run its 10-day course and I'd be better.  Didn't know I was running a low-grade fever because I never took my temperature.  After a half-hour in the exam room, an anti-infl...