Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Yoga and me.


The view from the from the front terrace of the Kripalu Yoga Center. In the distance you can see the Stockbridge Bowl.

When I was younger, my Mother started to practice yoga. Now, this was in the 60's and 70's. She had a friend, Zelda Johnson, who was very involved in yoga. Now, Zelda was an interesting lady, she had a PhD in heavy science, but no place to use it--instead she was a housewife and mother, who was so unhappy, that she developed a drinking problem. She and my Mother were an unlikely pair. Zelda's husband was a friend of my dad's in graduate school, and he knew Zelda too. This led to a long time custom of him always dancing a polka with Zelda when my parents were at dance parties. My Mother and Zelda did Northshore lady things, went to lunch, meetings and community activities, but my mother was more involved in that stuff than Zelda was. Somehow, my mother started to practice yoga on Zelda's recommendation. She loved it. She would show me poses and comment on their difficulty. she was an athletic person, who thought that exercise was the solution to most problems. When she moved into the retirement apartments, she took up yoga again.
When I was young, I thought that anything that involved Zelda was wacky. So in my mind-- yoga=wacky.
Now, ahead about 35 years. Zelda in long gone, my mother is gone, and I am practicing yoga and loving it. I started about a year after I finished physical therapy. I started in golden yoga--which was for seniors. Then I moved up to gentle yoga. For the past few years I attended a basics class every week. Now, I am confident enough to do multi-level yoga several times a week. I even have my own mat.
When I was in the Berkshires, I decided to spend a day at the Kripalu Yoga center. My son had been there two years ago, participating in a study involving musicians, stress and yoga. So, I had to prepare so I wouldn't make a fool of myself and fall on my face at Kripalu. I started to go to the multi level classes at my health club, and took my practice more seriously.
The experience at Kripalu was wonderful--the setting is beautiful, the food is tasty, the people I met were nice. I really enjoyed myself. I attended a class, a Yoga dance class, a moderate yoga class and meditation. The yoga dance class was so much fun. I didn't fall on my face in the yoga class--my classes at home prepared me well.
So, how do I relate this to my Mother and Zelda? My mother told my that Zelda attended yoga retreats, and I think that my Mother may have gone too. So, does this make me wacky too?

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

My Summer Vacation

Taking a bow after performing Carter's Sonata for Harpsichord, flute, oboe and cello at in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood. David, my son is on cello

The Mount, summer home of Edith Wharton, Lenox, MA
Chesterwood, the studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French, Stockbridge, MA


Ozawa Hall,Tanglewood, Lenox, MA






Norman Rockwell's studio, Stockbridge, MA

The Kripalu Yoga Center, Stockbridge, MA
There is a lot to do and see in the Berkshires!





Saturday, July 26, 2008

A Lot of Carter

We are back from Tanglewood and a week of concerts. We arrived on Sunday, and I saw a concert Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights and one at 5pm on Tuesday, so that makes 5 concerts, all of the music of composer Elliot Carter. I have heard his music before, my son played 3 of his pieces on the Masters recital at Rice, but I was not very familiar with this modern composer. He is 99 years old, and has been composing for close to 70 years, This is a lot of music. The five concerts only gave the audience a taste of what he has produced. Also, I have never been so immersed in the music of only one composer. It was an interesting experience.
My son played in 4 of the 5 concerts. It is very difficult music to play, and also to hear. However, as he grew older, Carter's pieces became shorter. Some of the middle period work was very loud, and needed a huge orchestra. Some of the chamber pieces were so complex that they required a conductor. I enjoyed his piano music the most. Next, I liked pieces that used a harp. The full orchestra pieces were also interesting. The works that featured oboe got a little tiresome.
How was this received? The hall was full for most of the programs. Carter attended most of the concerts, and stood up after each piece to applaud the performers. At the end of each concert, he received a standing ovation from the audience. For someone of his age, he is mobile, walking with a cane. He was signing programs, and visiting with people during the intermissions. What is most interesting is that he is still composing!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Internet Petitions, Forwarded Articles and Other Interesting Issues

Recently I received a forwarded e mail petition about a bill in Congress concerning illegal immigrants and social security. It was sent to me by a friend who was concerned about one of the issues mentioned in the petition. I was ready to delete it, but instead, I thought about it, and set her an answer. As I looked at the petition, I saw a long list of people who signed the petition, and long list of people who had forwarded it, but no where could I find who started it or a date. None of the "facts" in the petition were substantiated. And finally, I thought, if this was such an important bill, why hadn't I read about it in the newspaper, or heard about it on the news. (I watch a lot of CNN and listen to an all news radio station)
Earlier this spring, I got the Barak Obama Muslim petition. As I think back on it, many of the same issues were present. No one took responsibility for sending it, but it had been forwarded many times. There were no substantiated facts. This time, I just deleted it.
Now, the question: what should you do when you get one of these petitions or e mails? Should you forward it to every body on you list? Should you delete it? Is there a way to check out the information and find out if it is true? I did a bit of research, and found out that there are two sites that will help you to determine the truth in this kind of e mail.

1. FactCheck.org This site's longer name is the Annenberg Political Fact Check. It has a list of news articles, and verifies the facts in them. It is easy to use, and is a legitimate site.

2. Snopes.com This site is a little more sketchy. It appears to debunk urban legends--which are often the subject of many forwarded e-mails. It also has a lot of ads sprinkled amid the information, and doesn't look as polished as the FactCheck.org site. I decided to look further and check out the big chart on the first page. I clicked on immigration, and found information about the petition I received. It does this in a easy to use way. It presents a statement, and next to the statement, there is a red dot, a green dot, a red and green dot or a yellow dot, each explained. Red stands for false, green for true, red and green for partially true and so on. There are also articles and quotes that explain why the statement is true or false.
Next, I clicked on Barak Obama, and there was the Muslim e mail--also debunked.
My conclusion--this is a good site and a legitimate one, since everything is backed up by reputable sources.

I know that people like to help out others, and one way they think that they are doing this is by sending important information to their friends and family. But the next time, you get one of these things, take a minute to check out the information in the e mail. If it checks out as true, then forward it. You will be helping them by sending information that you know is accurate.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

City Animals




















Mythical, fanciful, sculptural, human, canine.
Today is another beautiful summer day. Hope you are enjoying it.






Monday, July 14, 2008

beautiful days

Yesterday was the most beautiful day of the summer, but today is rivaling it. It is warm, but not hot, breezy and the sky is bright blue and cloudless. Am I outside enjoying it? Not yet. I am fooling around with moving pictures around from CD and camera cards to my hard drive, stupid, tedious work. But it was successful.
I have a new avocation--drying flowers in my basement. It all started with the Roadside flower people--I was going to be out of town and wouldn't be able to enjoy my slavias, so I cut them down and dried them in the basement. That went well, since I have a good dehumidifier and a dry basement. Then it expanded to taking flowers home from the garden, drying them and bringing them back the next week. That involved bringing home boxes from Costco in order to transport them back to the garden. Now I am selectively cutting flowers from my garden, and hanging them. Since I will be out of town again, I probably will do a big cut before the end of the week. I may be getting into making note cards and montages--pictures from dried flowers. This is a volunteer job that doesn't quit.

Friday, July 11, 2008

A Different New York

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum


Gramercy Park through the locked gate.






A guy entertains his dog at the Union Square dog park





A cherry vendor in Chinatown
The pedestrian walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge

Misty view of Ellis Island






Sculpture outside of the old Customs House
A triceratops fossil at the American Museum of Natural History.







Thursday, July 10, 2008

Strange Things I Saw on my Vacation

The Big Cow, Wegman's parking lot, Geneva, NY








Fingie at the Finger Lakes.






The Gorge, Watkins Glen NY.







Katz's Deli, Houston St. NYC








Made to order tee shirts, Soho, NYC. (Notice the Barak Obama shirt, bottom right.)










My brother Pete in front of Pete's Tavern, NYC






Dachshund, Union Square Park, NYC






Fingie in a Spiderman costume, Wall St, NYC











































A Big Cow trailer in the Wegman's parking lot is Geneva, NY

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

No pictures yet...

But they are on the way. I have a lot of pictures from out latest trip, and I haven't gotten around to putting them into the blog yet.
My basement is full of drying flowers. I have been volunteering at the Botanic Garden, working on the roadside flower show. Our building is involved in construction, so after we finish picking the flowers, we put them on hangers and several volunteers take them home to dry. I have a dry basement, and a dehumidifier that keeps it that way, thus an ideal place for the flowers.
There are alstilbe, and some others that I don't know the names. In a few days, I will take them down and put them into boxes. I already have 2 crates full of dried material. Today I went to Costco to get boxes, as there don't seem to be any more plastic crates available at the garden.
We spent the morning picking flowers at the garden, I shook a dahlia flower to get the waqter off, and it dropped petals all over, and I had to pick them all up, because you can't leave loose petals on the ground. Thank goodness the garden has a ton of volunteers to make sure it looks perfect all of the time.
My garden looks very nice, actually quite lush, mostly because of the rain we have been having. It certainly isn't perfect. I still need to weed, and my weeding tool needs sharpening--just another thing to do tomorrow.
It is raining again right now--more lushness, but more weeds.