day tripping

With this quick trip 'home' to Boston I'm trying to make the most of summer adventures. I have always wanted to take the ferry from Boston to Provincetown at the end of Cape Cod. You get a boat ride, you get to hang out in Proviencetown without the hassle of a car and traffic... so my friend, my partner & I hopped the boat and headed out. It was a perfect mini-vacation, no schedule, wandered around, ate, drank, waded in the water... even though it was just one day it really felt like vacation! What a perfect, beautiful day!

invasion of the squash

Oh how my garden has grown... I've missed my yard and watching my garden grow. It has exploded while I was gone. The 3 squash plants are creeping up toward the house and out trying to creep through the fence into the neighbors yard...

My heirloom beans are growing. I get so excited being able to walk outside, pick these beautiful pods and find these gorgeous beans inside! It's pretty incredible that one little bean planted in the ground, given water and sun has grown into an incredible bounty. I have two varieties and can't wait to eat them!

my dahlias are blooming, bright red and different shades of pink, think petals, thin petals... these strong, beautiful plants seem to have grown up overnight since they were barely breaking through the earth when I left.

And there are vegetables to be harvested, this beautiful cauliflower with a purple tinge, chard, beets, carrots, kohlrabi... what an incredible bounty to enjoy!

smoking glove

This was not the first time we saw her... driving her fancy, white SUV, riding our tail... this same stretch of road too. 
We got a look at her, older woman, well put-together except there's something strange about her hand... a blue rubber glove and it's holding a cigarette. 

Maybe somebody could be marketing this somewhere, maybe somebody already is,  love to smoke but hate the way it makes you smell? Then wear this lovely glove to absorb the smell while you absorb the 'benefits' of smoking! 

hideaway

Everyone needs some of their own space. Since I've been out of the house for years now and since my grandparents have passed and furniture from there house is now in "my" room I don't really have space here anymore. However since I'll be here for most of the summer it seemed necessary to try to claim some space of  my own. Hooray for Ikea and a cheap table and chairs and Cost Plus which I always love shopping at for the mat. Now I have my own little space on the porch upstairs that is otherwise unused. The only challenge is that for most of the day it gets direct sun but for most of the day I'm running around anyway so it should be a nice evening retreat.

Kirtan - Chanting

I was skeptical but it is my sister's birthday and she wanted  go chant with Krishna Das so I went with. She had told me that she had an amazing spiritual experience attending one of his concerts and that there was an incredible energy and power in this chanting. I thought she "drank the Kool-Aid." I went. And I waited. Ready to be wowed. And here comes a guy, plaid shirt, glasses who sits down on the floor behind a harmonium, a woman with a violin, guy on drums, guy on bass and a woman with small symbols, all just sitting there... and I waited...I was holding this paper I was handed entering the room with all these words that I wasn't even sure I could pronounce let alone have any idea what they mean. Sanskrit? My mind is going in all sorts of negative directions, wondering how long this whole chanting thing could last anyway... And then after some silence there's sounds from the harmonium and an "om" rising... the call and repetition for a response begins and I struggle to look at my sheet and figure out where we are and what I'm supposed to be saying... 


I started singing along with everyone and it was ok but I kept finding myself waiting for this great spiritual breakthrough or something to happen... and then it did... for me, there was something about this song - My Foolish Heart/Bhaja Govinda - that I felt deeply connected to and I felt the energy in myself change and became in touch with the energy in the room, everyone chanting together like a unified heartbeat which resonated in the building and every inanimate object in the building seemed to take on this pulse too, everything together, connected, pulsing, connected down into the earth and up into the sky, beauty and light pouring out from everyone and back the universe... and I was full, my heart was open and my light was shining...


When Krishna Das sang 'Hare Krishna' it seemed like the building may explode from all the energy pulsing through it. I remember when I was younger seeing people with shaved heads and dressed in draped robes dancing around on street corners and in airports singing 'Hare Krishna' and thinking they must be part of some crazy religious cult. I remember thinking they always seemed really happy but also thinking there must be something 'funny' going on. I hope that I have learned better than that. I hope I can move beyond those callous judgments and truly be a better, more loving and open person. The practice of love is so much more powerful than the practice of hate and it serves us all  instead of serving the ignorance of a few.


I drank the Kool-Aid. 
Krishna Das is in San Francisco for 2 nights so we will see him again tomorrow.

Friendly Yoga

 The founder of Anusara Yoga, John Friend, was teaching a few classes at a studio near here. I am going to Wanderlust in Vermont with my sister and signed up for some of John Friend's classes there but those will be huge amounts of people so the opportunity to participate in a class in a smaller setting was really appealing and absolutely terrifying - I've had 3 individual classes, I don't know what I'm doing and to then be in front of the founder of the method... 

The classes sold out quickly but the universe conspired, a class was added so my sister and I registered. What a wonderful experience. There were about 40 people filling this studio with their love, beauty and grace. John Friend welcomed every level of ability and participation and valued each person. When we entered the studio we were given name tags to put on our mats, so when people came by to offer adjustments they were able to talk to students by name. As John moved through the space directing these eager pupils he walked by my mat and said "Good job, Angela." My teacher in Boston had said that John Friend can get you to do things you never thought possible. She was right. My fourth yoga class and I was standing on my hands - with some assistance. 

What beautiful experience. It feels like the beginning of transformation. 
When's the next class?

suburban splendor

It's such an interesting experience coming back to the suburbs now that I've been living in a city and haven't had a car in about 5 years. I do miss driving at times, particularly around here - San Francisco Bay Area - where it's a quick trip over the hills to the ocean or up to San Francisco or East to the Bay or numerous hiking trails... I used to just go for drives... but being a more urban dweller now I'm used to walking everywhere, even with great public transportation in Boston if I can walk there instead of taking transit I probably will. We all need the exercise and I take transit too to keep up with the transit culture which is a brilliant eclectic mix. Here although it's less than 2 miles to the grocery store I take the car... but when I go "downtown" I tried to find a central place to park and walk around. In between buildings and on sprawling sidewalks are planters and courtyards perhaps so you don't feel disconnected from your own yards when you're out in the world. It's almost like a competition to see who has the prettiest planters. My nomination today goes to the Wells Fargo bank in Palo Alto with their beautiful poppies and snap dragons. If I'd done drive-thru banking I would have missed it entirely.