Above – Bath time is fun time at Daddy’s House.

Below – Alo & Kando check out the locally grown veggies that get delivered to Daddy’s house.

Sparty & Maya dunk their cookies in milk at Amma’s & Pappa’s.

Photo day at school …

Amma & Maya practicing yoga together – Bridge Pose (aka Urdhva Dhanurasana).

“Kiss the wall, Maya.”

I made this loaf of whole wheat bread with craisins, pine nuts and pumpkin seeds on the new Traeger wood fired bbq!

Hogan likes hibiscus flowers.

Back yoga therapy for Ron.

Extended Side Angle pose (aka Utthita Parsvakonasana). Not bad form.

Shoulder stand (aka Salamba Sarvangasana). Tight shoulders need a little help from the bench.

Bear doing Corpse pose (aka Savasana) while my Saturday morning class does chair Sarvangasana during a restorative class.

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Above – Robb and the boys on the ferry from Alameda to San Francisco for fleet week last weekend.

Below – Waiting for the ferry.

Fisherman’s Wharf.

And some sort of parade.

Here in San Diego Maya and Sparty hang out locally.

And go camping at the bay in this high class custom camper.

Bear the Dog not so patiently waiting to go for a walk.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!!

Above – This week’s full moon in the early morning hours (from our bedroom deck).

Below – We made pizza last week on the Barbie!

Maya’s – Cheese with mushrooms

Sparty’s – Cheese and pepperoni.

Pappa’s & Ron’s – Pepperoni, mushroom, sausage.

Mine – Feta, roots of palm, basil.

Meanwhile, in the Bay Area, Robb and the boys at Tilden Park.

Ali’s still a bit apprehensive.

The need of waffles before an outing at Tilden Park couldn’t be more needed or welcomed!

Little tree huggers, climbers and jumpers!

I upgraded my phone yesterday and I’m not very happy with it. Very frustrating.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook with LOVE!

Above – At the Moana Street Block Party last weekend. I forget the name of the girl riding shotgun.

Below – Making fresh apple juice after gymnastics.

Was it good? That’s 2 thumbs up!

At the OB Pier Pancake Breakfast last Saturday.

Later that day at the Moana Street Block Party. The kids had a blast!

Bike decorated for the parade. We missed the parade to allow Sparty to finish his nap but Maya didn’t seem to mind.

Sunday morning Skype with Robb and the boys. Alo is showing us his tooth that finally got fixed. Kando’s showing us his teeth too.

Robb and the boys at Redwood.

Making pancakes. Robb’s phone camera is broken – not focusing.

Having dinner on the patio. Robb just moved into a new place and there’s this nice little patio (still unpacking).

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Above – Flowers Maya & Sparty brought me from the OB Farmers Market.

Below – Designs on the OBYoga t-shirts I had batiked while I was in Pune – a hot item.

Swim time.

Maya using an overabundance of chalk at gymnastics. Imagine that …

Gymnastics friends James & Sparty being silly after gymnastics.

Here are some videos to show what the kids are up to at gymnastics (taken Sep 13).

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone with LOVE!

Above – Hogan missed me.

Below – someone violated the yoga studio

and visited regularly.

Robb and the boys went to the Jelly Belly factory.

and the Zoo.

and the train museum.

AND train ride.

AND the carousel!

I received a package.

Ziggy missed me.

So did Bear. Horribly.

Pappa and I Facetimed.

The new yoga cabinets got finished (as in paint finishing).

Bruce had to move all the “stuff” into the spare bedroom.

Pappa put felt on the “package.”

and put it on it’s own special shelf in the yoga cabinet.

Everything got put back in place.

The Birjoo Mehta Workshop took place at Williams Barn in San Marcos. This has been a work in progress for the Iyengar Yoga Association California Southern Region of which I’m Communications Chair. I already had my Pune trip planned before the date was set for this workshop so I couldn’t make it. I hear it was, although very hot, a great success. This venue was filled with 150+ attendees when it got going.

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Above – Sirsasana on the hill behind Fergusson College.

Below – The day before I left I said goodbye to the team at Ayurjoti.

Then a final walk in the rain. That’s Jill with the umbrella.

This little fella didn’t seem to mind the rain.

He also didn’t seem to mind that he was blocking our sidewalk.

Oblivious to the fact that we were amazed over the size of those huevos!

A photo after our last class at RIMYI.

On the tarmac – me, Jill and Deni (Maui). We all caught the same flight to Mumbai.

Finally on my Emirates flight from Mumbai to Dubai.

Here’s the flight path.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook from HOME with LOVE!

Above – L-R  Jill, Archana, Nirmala, Nana w/me in front.

Below – When we pulled up in front of Nana’s house in the rickshaw we were greeted by Chamely (English translation = Jasmine), Nana’s sweet little dog.

Looking out one of the windows.

Hey Bruce, check it out. Nana has reverse osmosis!

Nana likes to pour his chai from his cup into the saucer to drink.

View from one of the decks looking out at the farmland surrounding Nana’s home.

A condominium structure is being build to one side of the property. The workers, including women and children working together to mix cement. What’s rare here is the presence of a compressor and cement mixer. On most of the constructions sites workers mix the cement manually.

This small structure houses some of the workers.

Back in the house on the top floor is the family altar.

One of two family kitties.

There’s a small pond outside.

Here’s Nirmala (Nana’s wife) with the cat.

Wheat storage. Nana said they go through one of these big bags a month. That’s a lot of wheat.

Nirmala makes quilts. Here she is holding up several of the quilts she’s made.

Deck at the top (4th) floor.

More views from the deck.

While we were up on the deck, a goat herder herded these goats past the house.

Dinner time.

Selfie eating homemade bhaji. I got the recipe for this tasty veggie dumpling.

Here’re my dinner plates. I ate all of it and more. Very delicious!

Nirmala cleaning herbs.

Nana isn’t very techy …

Here are both cats.

Archana (daughter-in-law #1) joined in the cleaning.

This is what the bhaji looks like before it’s dropped into oil.

Group photo.

Nana’s entire family lives in the 4-story stand alone home. The living room (which also serves as the dining room) and kitchen are on the 1st floor. Both sons and their wives have bedrooms on the 2nd floor. Nana and Nirmala’s quarters on the 3rd floor, and the outdoor deck is on the 4th floor. The last time I had dinner with them was in 2013 with Sharon Maruca. At that time, they lived in a smaller flat. Since then, son #2 got marred and they moved here three years ago. It’s nice to have had this homemade meal in a more intimate setting.

I am home now after two days of traveling. I’m a bit jet lagged but I slept on both legs of the trip and slept fairly well in my own bed last night.

There was a bit of a scare the last couple days before we left because of heavy rainfall and severe flooding in Mumbai because of the monsoon. Much of the city was shut down because of the floods, people were stranded and public transportation was at a stand still. There was more rain this trip than my previous trips, but the temperature in Pune was moderate and with umbrella in hand everywhere I went, it was quite comfortable.

I’m looking forward to spending the next couple days getting caught up on 5 weeks worth of mail, resting, recovering and practicing.

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and iMac from HOME with LOVE!

Above – SCORE! Selfie with pigs and piglets. I’m seeing and taking so many pictures of animals this trip I thought I’d start adding a twist. Selfies with animals. These pigs eat anything and everything. Just look at them groveling in the garbage. And they were really pigging out (pun intended) …

Nana picked Jill and me up Monday afternoon at 3pm to begin our journey to have dinner with him at his house. On the way we stopped at Mohammed’s Happy Heart store so Jill could pick up a pair of earrings he was fixing for her. The plan was for Nana to go into the store and get the earrings while we waited in the rickshaw for him. Neither of us wanted to go in there for fear we’d buy something (else). Next thing you know Mohammad was standing outside the rickshaw so we got out and followed him into the store. I said “I’m not buying anything,” and “Don’t show me anything,” and “How much is that Patanjali up on that shelf?” Seriously …

Here’s Mohammed holding MY new Patanjali. He was so proud of himself.

Here’s another gas station, Bruce.

Pune version of Nurseryland.

Cow.

Nana insisted I take a photo of this sign “Don’tworry Puja Bhandar.”

Calf and cow.

Here’s my selfie.

This picture was painted on the side of a tuck-truck next to us while we waited at a red light.

A family hay ride in the rain. How fun.

A look down a side street.

Nana lives in the country so we saw a lot of dirt roads and green fields.

“Nana, pull over!”

These ladies are shucking lemon grass.

This is Nana’s street. He lives in the last house at the end of this dirt road. I was surprised the rickshaw made it. We’re expecting more rain so I’m guessing this road isn’t going to get any better.

Nana’s house very nice. I took lots of photos I’ll share with you tomorrow. I’ll have plenty of time at the airport … or wherever I end up.

Today is the last full day I have in Pune (I think). I took my last women’s class with Sunita who taught Maha Mudra brilliantly, I had my last Ayurveda treatment this afternoon, and I’m almost done packing.

Tomorrow morning is the last Prashant 7am class. After class I pick up the class recordings I ordered and get a last practice in before finishing packing and heading to the airport.

Is it the end of the month already?????

Blogged on Amma’s iPhone and MacBook from iNdia with LOVE!