dreaming of strawberries

recently i took advantage of my tax refund and joined clagett farm (a local csa). now despite our wintry weather i can't wait for fresh carrots, broccoli and tomatoes. fortunately clagget has it's own blog and has kept me entertained (and eager). just imagine 6083 row-ft of strawberries...

energy to sit

yoga teacher training has started. i have gone to two weekends which have been tiring, but great. i can't think of the last time i have been in a room of 20 plus people that i was so eager to meet. most of us are not sure exactly what we are doing in the training, but somehow it feels like the right place to be.

and it isn't as scary to teach other people who are also learning to teach, although it still is frustrating when i know i am doing something poorly (and they know it too). during my one practice teaching so far the only feedback i got was to talk louder. i feel like the confident voice i have in my head does not really verbalize into the outside world. yet, hopefully.

sitting can be exhausting. sitting and trying to absorb as much knowledge as possible. the saturday session runs 2:15 pm to 9:15pm. i haven given up on attempting good posture and taking good notes by about 6:30 and am just trying to stay conscious.

Feb - asana of the month

I am not sure what about sub-zero Feb. has made tranquil space decide that dove pose should be the pose of the month.

Happy Tax Season to Us!

For the last few years, despite all of the money siphoned out of our checks on a regular basis, jak and I have both owed even more to both state and federal government. This year, however, perhaps due to the out-of-control earmarking process, the government has been nice enough to give us some of our money back.

soul of a carrot

I really like this article in the nyt magazine by Michael Pollan. And while I do tend to eat more vegetables and less meat, sort of by definition, than most people I am susceptible to what he calls nutritionsim. Drinking my Blueberry B Monster Odwalla beverage and taking my multi-vitamin supplements -- He would say this isn't as good as eating food, say a carrot.

The article is quite funny and surprising in pointing out what we don't know about nutrition and what we do know about food.

When William Prout isolated the big three macronutrients, scientists figured they now understood food and what the body needs from it; when the vitamins were isolated a few decades later, scientists thought, O.K., now we really understand food and what the body needs to be healthy; today it’s the polyphenols and carotenoids that seem all-important. But who knows what the hell else is going on deep in the soul of a carrot?

The good news is that, to the carrot eater, it doesn’t matter. That’s the great thing about eating food as compared with nutrients: you don’t need to fathom a carrot’s complexity to reap its benefits.

Molly Ivins

Edit: Jim Hightower on Molly Ivins:

Damn, I thought, no human can write like that! She could knock you over and lift you up in the same sentence. It was her spirit coming at you.

I learned this morning that Molly Ivins has died. I started reading her columns when I was working on environmental issues in Texas, a time when her humor and inspiration were greatly appreciated. She made me proud to be a liberal in Texas. My natural tendency often is to be frustrated with the state of the world, with our lack of true democracy, war, poverty etc. Molly Ivins was a person who knew to keep fighting, you have to be able to laugh.

"... keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was."

Read more about Molly Ivins here.