My doctor thinks I may have endometriosis, which is such a funky little disease. He’s not sure, but he’s treating me as if I have it. If I do have it, I’m asympotmatic. So now I’m taking Clomid.
I don’t quite understand how this is supposed to fix things, but it seems to be a good step towards achieving our goal. 🙂
It’s a question Cyndi posed on her blog: “Do you consider your Yoga practice to be spiritual? What makes your practice spiritual?”
So, I’ve been thinking about this, and my answer is a quiet and humble “no.”
It’s something I struggle with. I guess it’s kind of like going to a fabulous restaurant and wondering why everyone raves about the food. But that’s not even a very good comparison, because I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.
Let me explain by saying that my yoga practice is not simply physical. I do love the physical aspect of yoga. But more important to me, my yoga practice helps take me away from “I should have cleaned the bathtub” and “Did I leave the iron on?” and “OhmygodlookatmythighswhydontIworkoutmore?!” to a place where I can focus on other things.
It gives me a place to work on my biggest life goal: to change who I am. I wish I were less sarcastic, and I wish I were more openly honest with people, less guarded. I wish I didn’t use humor as a screen to keep people out. I wish I could more easily and sincerely say things like “I’m sorry” and “You’re right, I’m wrong.” I want to craft a better person who thinks before she reacts, who always considers other’s feelings before making a move, who greets life’s challenges with a smile and patience rather than cussing and glowering.
In the same token, yoga also gives me a place to be okay with who I am. Non-judgemental acceptance is the party line, and I’m down with that. My yoga practice, thanks in part to my soulful yogini and the supportive community of our studio, creates for me a space where I can be more honest with others and myself, and more satisfied and generous with myself at the same time. For at least one hour a week, I feel unstoppable and confident. Whole.
So, no, there is nothing spiritual about my yoga practice. There’s no God (either uppercase or lowercase) and frankly, there’s very little meditation. But there is a wellspring from which I can draw patience and candor. And there is some good framework for building the person inside of me as well as the person on the outside.
I guess it’s because it’s winter, but we’ve been drinking lots and lots of red wine. The wine cube was running low (which means I can see too much of the wood of the frame) so I picked up a case this weekend. I like to go to Wine N’Things. I like shopping local and I like Jerry, my helpful sales guy. I tell him what I like and let him pick out the wine for me. He’s really nice, and clearly adores wine, so I think this is fun for him. I learned recently that he’s a pastor – he wasn’t in one Saturday because he was officiating at a ceremony!
Anyway, I ended up buying a baker’s dozen. Here’s what we bought.
When I don’t see a plus sign this week, I’m going to be disappointed.
Inspired by Ele’s Bird People post and the upcoming Great Backyard Bird Count, I thought I’d take inventory of our backyard birds. We’ve been feeding the birds for about two years now and we’ve had lots of different species pop by. Sadly, we’ve never yet seen a Cedar Waxwing. Ele, I can’t explain how jealous I am!
Here’s our list of birds viewed at our feeders:
American Goldfinch
Cardinal
Chickadee
Common Grackle
Eastern Bluebird
European Starling
House Finch
Indigo Bunting (female only)
Mourning Dove
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Yellow-shafted Flicker
Pine Warbler
Purple Finch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-headed Woodpecker
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Slate-colored Junco
Tufted Titmouse
Here are some pictures we’ve taken of birds at our feeders. Most are taken through the window screen.
A ruby-throated hummingbird
Red-headed woodpecker – these are gorgeous to see!
The cats love watching the birds, so close they can almost taste them!
We have updated and expanded our bird feeder system! We have totally bought into the Advanced Pole System from Wild Birds Unlimited. We now have four feeder poles, a birdbath and a Bluebird house.
There are two main feeder poles, set up right behind our family room windows. Our guests and our cats, as well as us, love being able to watch the birds all day long as they come and go. One pole has a Supreme Blend feeder, a Thistle feeder, a Peanut feeder and a branch for birds to rest on. The second pole has a Supreme Blend feeder, a cup feeder for mealworms, raisins and other treats, and another branch. We have one small feeder pole (near the birdhouse) that has a peanut feeder, and another larger feeder pole (near the deck) that is currently empty. We’ll put at least two hummingbird feeders there once it gets a little warmer.
We placed two suet block feeders in trees out in the back of the yard. The suet tends to attract Mockingbirds, which we love, but Mockingbirds are so very agressive that you don’t really want them on your feeders. So we put the suet in the back of the yard to attract them and yet keep them away from the feeders. In this close-up picture, you can see the red suet cage and a Mockingbird!
We installed a birdbath on the railing off the deck, near the feeders. Now we have to go out and dump the ice every morning. 🙂
Lastly, we installed our Cele-Birdies infrared camera into Dave’s new Bluebird House and put it up in the yard next to our bedroom window.
Here’s us testing out the camera in the house, before we installed it. If you look closely at the TV screen, you can see me taking the picture! We’ll post more pictures when we get some inhabitants – right now all you can see is empty wooden box. 
I’m always surprised at what a fun hobby this is! Our birds are definitely spoiled. 🙂
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