Surrender to the Flow

Raining Cats & Dogs

It has gotten pretty wet here the last few days.  The Johnson Creek behind my apartment is like a raging torrent (well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration) but it is WET.  Took these clips yesterday; they don't even really do it justice...it was pouring so hard a small lake formed in the parking lot that the ducks decided looked like a good place to touch down and swim around.  Winter is here.

More Rain 11/7/09

and yet More Rain 11/7/09

Classic

It's the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street and Google's cute home pages this week inspired me to look up some of my old favorite clips.  This one has always stuck with me...and I love it now just as much as I did when I was three!  Enjoy!

Full Moon Rising

Sweet Surrender

It doesn't mean much
It doesn't mean anything at all
The life I've left behind me
Is a cold room
I've crossed the last line
From where I can't return
Where every step I took in faith
Betrayed me
And led me from my home

And sweet
Sweet surrender
Is all that I have to give

You take me in
No questions asked
You strip away the ugliness
That surrounds me
Are you an angel
Am I already that gone
I only hope
That I won't disappoint you
When I'm down here
On my knees

And sweet
Sweet
Sweet surrender
Is all that I have to give

Sweet
Sweet
Sweet surrender
Is all that I have to give

And I don't understand
By the touch of your hand
I would be the one to fall

I miss the little things
Oh I miss everything

It doesn't mean much

It doesn't mean anything at all

The life I left behind me

Is a cold room

Sarah McLachlan

Coming out of the Fog

So I'm still here.  I have not been blogging for awhile as the last few months have been sort of a rough transition for me.  Slowly, I feel like I'm coming out of the fog and I'm feeling a whole lot more like ME these days.  I have been getting back into the things I love, the main one being my yoga practice.  I started going to the Yoga Shala about four months ago and I have been going 2-3x weekly on a solid basis.  It has helped me through my emotions and is really changing my life, not to mention my body is also doing a transformation of sorts. 

I've been hitting the gym, I've gone salsa dancing (and can't wait to go again) and I am getting ready to get back to ballet classes next week...that has been a long time coming and I finally am feeling ready to do it and start learning more about the Portland dance scene.  I am much more active these days, especially since my apartment is on the 2nd floor and I take Maggie in and out about five times a day.  She is such a great dog; my little hound dog/watch dog.  So anyway, I have established a routine and I'm taking life one day at a time.  I tend to overwhelm myself with trying to make too many decisions at once so I am trying to go slow and take life one moment at a time...and to enjoy them. 

A few weekends ago I stopped by the Rose Garden and got some beautiful pictures.  I had a nice walk around and it was nice to literally spend some time to "stop and smell the roses".  I also spent a very nice Sunday that weekend driving out to Hood River and then down to Mt. Hood via Hwy 35 that is just loaded with farms and fruit stands...I even stopped at a Lavender Farm!  It was a beautiful sunny day and I was grateful for life as I blasted my tunes and cruised along with my pup.  Got some yummy apples and made a great pie later in the week and had some killer apple cider from Draper Girls' Farms.  I will share some pictures below...

So if anyone still checks this blog out just wanted to let you know I'm still here...just truckin' along...trying to stay busy.  The leaves are really pretty here now and it is only a matter of time before I will be skiing on Hood...I'm really looking forward to that.  It sucks that the Red Sox are done for the season...but there's always next year! 

Let Go

Poem

I loved my friend.
He went away from me.
There's nothing more to say.
The poem ends,
Soft as it began--
I loved my friend.

~Langston Hughes

Contentment

Stop seeking.
Where is there to go?
Everything you seek
is already inside of you.

~unknown

This Moment

No one behind, no one ahead.
The path the ancients cleared
has closed.  And the other path,
everyone's path, easy and wide,
goes nowhere.  I am alone
and find my way.

~Dharmakirti

Just Because

One can never have too much Maggie...

And then she danced...

"The skin is an organ
of perception.  It does
not act.  It receives."

~B.K.S. Iyengar

So Foolish

Love's Fool

Love.
What is love?
What is love.
Love is a fading memory.
Love is piercingly present.
Love is full of charm.
Love is hideously in the way.
Explosion of love makes you feel ecstatic.
Explosion of love makes you feel suicidal.
Love brings goodliness and godliness.
Love brings celestial vision.
Love creates the unity of heaven and earth.
Love tears apart heaven and earth.
Is love sympathy.
Is love gentleness.
Is love possessiveness.
Is love sexuality.
Is love friendship.
Who knows?
Maybe the rock knows,
Sitting diligently on earth,
Not flinching from cold snowstorms or baking heat.
O rock,
How much I love you:
You are the only loveable one.
Would you let me grow a little flower of love on you?
If you don't mind,
Maybe I could grow a pine tree on you.
If you are so generous,
Maybe I could build a house on you.
If you are fantastically generous,
Maybe I could eat you up,
Or move you to my landscape garden.
It is nice to be friends with a rock!

~Chögyam Trungpa