Monthly Archives: September 2014

LA Ceremony & what happiness really is …

The picture above is L-R, Ehrman (the Mighty Ruler), Gloria Goldberg (my teacher) and me. As I mentioned a couple days ago, Gloria was awarded the Lighting the Way award for her dedication and service in the field of Iyengar Yoga. I met Ehrman a couple years ago at an Arrowhead retreat. He’s an opera singer (baritone), and he sung the most beautiful song for Gloria and Guruji following her receiving the award.

Happiness is …

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… Alo, under the highchair with his belly button.

… and being IN the highchair with his best friend, Ernie.

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… and HUGS!!

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“AAAAhhhhhh”

Blogged on Amma’s iPad with LOVE!

Lighting the Way

I’m in LA this weekend for a workshop and 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Iyengar Institute in LA, and my teacher, Gloria Goldberg, was presented the “Lighting the Way” award, which is a very high honor in the Iyengar Yoga community. Somehow keeping this a surprise for the past 6 weeks or so was a success even though everyone except Gloria knew about it.

On my drive to LA yesterday, I finished a 20-hour audiobook “The Emperor of All Maladies“. It’s a book on the history of cancer, its treatments, subjects and victims. If Evan hadn’t been diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer, I probably wouldn’t have given this book a second thought. But the book details which give an overview of the book sounded interesting enough for me to give it a shot. It turned out to be quite informative about many different types of cancer, case studies, oncological breakthroughs (and failures), among other topics. This book is well written and easy to understand for the ignorant lay person that I am.

It looks like Alo is doing a good job of taking over my chores while I’m gone …

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Whew! It makes me tired just looking at these pictures. It’s no wonder why he’s hungry for “more!”

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Don’t worry, it’s not all work. There’s a little time for play.

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Today – a morning workshop session followed by the drive home and the beginning of a new book. I’ve decided to delve into the twisted mind of Stephen King once again with “Mr. Mercedes“.

Blogged on Amma’s iPad with LOVE!

Alo

I took these photos a couple days ago of Alo out on the porch of the patio.IMG_0088.JPG

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Showing off those New teeth 🙂

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

The kids… What else?

We went to help Ron with the kids last night because Jen was out of town. Big help I was … Maya wanted chocolate milk, so I fixed it for her. She didn’t want me to use the smaller cup and pointed to a larger one. So I grabbed the bigger cup, mixed the chocolate milk, put the lid on & handed it to her. Next thing you know, Maya’s standing in a puddle of chocolate milk. Evidently there’s a little plastic piece that belongs in the lid that wasn’t there. So it was a hole.

We sat outside for a little while and Maya wore her helmet while she pushed her little pink lawnmower around the yard. Pretty adorable.

Then she decided to take an outdoor shower fully clothed …

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Then I undressed and mummified her.

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Bruce & Sparty …

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This morning, day 5 of a day in the life – Akuch feeding Alo breakfast.

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Blogged on Amma’s iPad with LOVE!

Robb’s in SF!

Although I haven’t actually talked to Robb since he made it safely to SF Sunday night around 9:30pm, he sent this photo of his view of the Golden Gate Bridge from his new job. I don’t know any details, but thought I’d share this.

Something funny … Sunday afternoon, Bruce was showing Akuch how to use the tv in her room and I was doing something in the kitchen. All at once we heard Alo crying for help. Akuch made it first to the bathroom where Alo had tried to save Ernie from the bathtub (no water was in it) and was teetering on the edge, arms and head inside, feet in the air on the outside. Unhurt and recovered from his misadventure, he moved on with Ernie in his arms, looking for trouble elsewhere…

Blogged on Amma’s iPad with LOVE!

Flo turns 80!

It was a nice birthday party for Flo yesterday. Flo looks good. In fact, she hasn’t changed a bit since I last saw her. I showed her some pictures on my phone of the grandkids and she really enjoyed that.

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She was truly the Birthday Queen for the day.

Blogged on my iPad with LOVE!

A day of grandkids

It started at noon when I went to watch Maya and Sparty for a couple hours. Sparty was awake most of the time and he cried only minimally. He spent a while in his ultra playground. I thought I took a video, but realized later it turned out to be a bad, blurry photo instead.

Maya got a package in the mail from Grandma JoJo – a brown scrubby monkey for the bath and a soft, lightweight Cleveland Browns blanket. Maya loves it!

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We took a couple Sparty selfies …

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Then Alo’s big move-in at our house. While Robb & Akuch organize their belongings, Alo stakes out his territory.

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Robb will be leaving shortly to begin his drive to the Bay Area to start his new job tomorrow.

The view from the kitchen window tells me today is going to be another beautiful sunny day. Flo turns 80, and Janni would be 64.

Blogged on Amma’s iPad with LOVE!

YouTube for You

Above – I had a small class this morning (only 3 people), so I was able to turn the class into a mini backbend workshop. Above, Gail & Lara in a chair modified backbend. I love doing this modification because when I come up out of the pose, I feel as though my sternum is going to float away. This pose is really good for people suffering from depression or anxiety, and when taught correctly using the proper actions, it can be beneficial for those with low back issues (another reason I love it!). My classes are growing, and my Saturday class has been much larger – up to 8 students. I like having a lot of students, but I enjoy and appreciate the smaller classes because I can give more one-on-one attention to my students. They like that too.

Here’re a couple YouTube videos of what Alo is up to when he spends time with Amma & Pappa.

This one is short, but I had to record that he finally learned the sign language for “more.” We’ve been working with him on this for two weeks. He’s got it down now.
http://youtu.be/FGOZKeOmmUc

And here, if you have the time, Alo explores his new-found freedom of walking and getting into everything. Hogan doesn’t miss a beat when the gate is open, so while Alo was playing with the gate, Hogan made a run for it.

http://youtu.be/nhRHGbP4ixM

Lastly, a little game of peek-a-boo. Although Alo can say “Peek-a-Boo” he doesn’t say it here. I think he does a fine job of hiding though. You will have to look long and hard to see if you can find him …

http://youtu.be/AswfeuBq9Vo

Blogged on Amma’s iPad with LOVE!

Maya & Sparty yesterday

It started when we picked Maya up for music class. Sparty was playing in his modern-day play-go-round (I wish these were around when I had babies!). He really likes it. Evan and Jill bought this as a baby shower gift for Jen before Maya was born.

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Then at music class, the group sitting (almost) quietly for a story.

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Coming full circle, here’s Sparty again. Num num num.

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Today – class this morning and Alo this afternoon!

Blogged on Amma’s iPad with LOVE!

Corporate Yoga

My corporate yoga class. This Tuesday I had 7 students. In a matter of an hour, we clear everything out of the conference room, set up & get in some YOGA! I’ve come to the conclusion they will do anything I tell them to do. I feel so powerful!

These 3 students (L-R Joanne, Kristin & Ray) have been doing the weekly corporate class with me for over 3 years. They sit at desks mulling through numbers all day, so turning upside down clears out the “stuff” from their brains so they can go back to their desks with a fresh clear mind.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!