Books

I have finished reading King Dork and Eat, Pray, Love. I am currently reading The History of Love.

Gardening 1

Yesterday night was my first gardening class at the county college. I had expected the content of the class to basically be "Ok, you plant stuff, lots of stuff" and presto, in a month I have more plants in my yard thanks to the weekly motivation. But no, the class is much more. I have to look at this much more deeply. What kind of garden do I want to express myself as a person? Do I need it to be well organized or do I thrive on chaos? I have really been thinking about this. First of all, I love English cottage gardens. I love the wild beauty of them- the depth, the color and texture so whimsical and complex... And anyone who has ever seen my workspace knows I operate in a "messy" unordered way. I find both comfort and inspiration being surrounded by lots of things at once. And may be it is that I find tremendous fulfillment imposing order on a tumultuous environment...

But my house isn't. The instructor told us we have to consider the style of architecture of our houses in our design. Our gardens should be constructed in a similar style so that they match and flow is created. The garden is an extension of the house. My house is a formal federalist style brick. A "formal garden" is definitely its style. A formal garden has more distinct planting areas, more space, more order. So, this house and the garden I will create for it will teach me to allow "space". This is where I learn more about myself (and gardening). After all, I love my house to a point of obsession. That must mean I like its style. And I have always thought of the yard as "magical", even now with hardly anything growing in it. So I'll accept trying to promote classy elegance, nothing wrong with that. If I can actually pull it off and my plants survive, I will be both surprised and delighted!

Yoga

This week's practice was centered around calm mindfulness, and contentment (santosha). My mind wanders back to this as I accept what the day brings.

Last week's practice was centered around awareness, the moment by moment process of actively and openly observing one's physical, mental and emotional experiences.

Calvin Calvin Calvin

Second Blog

Cool music heard today on my commute. I was listening to WPRB Princeton and was mesmerized by End of Tyranny by Chris Lastovicka. It is my first venture into listening seriously to classical music.

First Blog

I went to a wedding this past weekend, March 24, 2007. It was the inspiration for starting to blog. I want to remember these good days. This may be the last wedding I get to be a bridesmaid in, at least for a while. Too bad, I rather enjoyed myself.

highlights:

• being with my friends
  
• seeing a good friend through one of her happiest days
• remembering William Blake
• eating orchids
• dancing (check out the song, I'm Dancing for a laugh)